Pokemon Fan Fiction / Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Charon's Pursuit ❯ Conflicts with the Restless Dead ( Chapter 17 )

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN


What the hell are you doing, you idiot?! I thought I told you to use paralysis as a last resort!

Hey, it’s not my fault! That chikorita was there. You know how much of a fuss that crazy pear puts up whenever she spots us! I had no choice!

Don’t you remember ANYTHING I’ve taught you? You, as well as any of my minions, are supposed to wait until the target is alone. You’re not even supposed to reveal yourself to a mortal’s eyes unless strictly necessary! Now look what you’ve done: now the raichu is running for his life to who knows where. You’ve screwed up the plan! You’ve pulled one hell of a boner! Cripes!

…A boner?You know what I mean! Now we have no choice but to subdue him the hard way. Join up with the others, track down that rodent, and remind your group leader to use ONLY paralysis! He’ll be no good to us if you morons shatter his mind or cripple his body! However…don’t you guys forget to try some diplomacy first this time, ok?

As you wish, Forest Warden.


The woods seem to go on and on infinitely to the raichu, as he continued to scurry through the multitude of trees and shrubs. The ground beneath him proved wet and squishy beneath his heavy steps, threatening to topple him over with the slightest error in balance- quite difficult to avoid considering the paralyzed chikorita Charon carried on his back. Combine that with the sensitive wounds of his shoulders, little knowledge of the landscape, and the looming danger of the unseen ghosts that seem poised for an ambush, and one would find it hard to imagine that the Raichu enjoyed himself. No, in fact his state of mind was quite miserable.

“Hey! Botana, can you move yet?” Charon asked in mid-stride, trying to stay on as level ground as possible, “I don’t know how long I can keep this up.”

Botana didn’t respond, still trapped in the severe paralysis the gastly – or was it the raichu? - had inflicted on her a short while ago. She could only manage to keep a steady rate of breath.

“Yeah, I figured as much,” Charon said in annoyance. “Where the hell did that scent go? I could’ve sworn I was right on track.” He started to slow down to a walking pace, catching his breath before sniffing the air once more. Despite the danger that the ghosts may be waiting for him to stop, without any lead to follow Charon might as well be running in circles.

“I’m getting nothing. Wonderful. I’m lost in the woods without a soul to help me,” He seethed. Despite having no lead anymore, he nevertheless pressed onward in case a ghost happened to appear again.

By now, the raichu doubted that he would find his companions again anytime soon. Now he just wanted to find SOMEONE that could help him gather his bearings and get on the right track, even if not directly. The reputation of his species, he knew, would scare away most woodland creatures, so for now he had to lay low and quietly observe the activity of the local wildlife, assuming he could actually find any life to begin with. He sardonically speculated that perhaps the violent light show from yesterday sparked an impromptu migration.

Any plan to seek out the local wildlife got shot out of the window, however, when a ghost popped out of nowhere right in front of him. “Stop in your tracks, raichu!” commanded the gaseous entity.“Gaaah!” cried Charon in fright, at once involuntarily throwing Botana off his back as he recoiled into a defensive fighting stance. The chikorita made an unintelligible sound of protest as she fell upon her own back, the air forced out of her lungs. “What the hell is your problem? Are you trying to kill me? I’m not done with my life yet. Back off!” Charon barked.

“The Forest Warden wishes to peer into your mind to determine your motive and character, foreigner,” replied the ghost solemnly, “It is not your life we want. There’s no need to flee from us.”

Charon could tell, despite the near-identical features of this apparition to the first, that this ghost was not the same that so rashly tried to ambush him. However, that gave him no reason to trust this ghost any more than the last. He replied to the specter in a loud, defiant voice, staring down the ghost through its translucent, undead eyes.
“Tell your ‘forest warden’ I’m only here to seek a mate. That is my motive! Tell your ‘forest warden’ that I act on my own will, not the commands of a stranger. That is my character! And you can also tell your ‘forest warden’ that I don’t trust you damn ghosts one damn bit, not after what your buddy did to Botana!” He pointed accusingly at the poltergeist before him. “Now get the hell out of my way!”

“Foreigner, you don’t have a say in the matter,” answered the ghost, “If don’t comply with the forest warden’s wishes, we will take you to him by force.”

The raichu’s eyes narrowed. His glare was so sharp it could almost kill. “I am not afraid of you.”

The gastly copied the hostile gaze. “Whether or not you’re afraid of us is irrelevant, but if you’re so eager to be subdued my companions and I will be more than happy to oblige.”

As the ghost spoke, the raichu slowly began to realize that he had already made a grave mistake. Their exchange of words merely served to keep him in place so that the swarm of gastlies that appeared before his eyes had no trouble surrounding him. The forest almost disappeared from Charon’s vision, replaced by a tall, cylindrical wall of purple poltergeists eager to collapse upon the rodent in the center.

“Grunts, do not neglect your brain and make the mistake of attacking one at a time,” commanded the head gastly in the swarm, the one who was talking to charon, “Charge all at-!”

“WAUGH!” A ghost yelled as Charon, not intending to be such easy prey, dashed right through it like a bullet piercing air. The swarm of ghosts seemed intimidating, but it was a safe to assume that a ghostly swarm lacked solidity. Now he had a few seconds to take action. Unfortunately, he almost stopped to slap his head when he realized he left Botana dead-center in the midst of the poltergeists.

“Pursue him! He must not escape!” cried the head ghost, before the mob shot after Charon like a school of piranha fish. The raichu at once sprinted away from the incoming threat, shooting through the woods at a breakneck pace. He had only a moment to look back at the solitary chikorita, lying on her side and undoubtedly feeling abandoned and helpless, before his vision filled with the purple hue of his pursuers. It would sicken him were it not for the adrenaline rush that barely kept him out of the ghosts’ grasp. The fact that he led the swarm away from the helpless chikorita, thus saving her from being trapped in her living nightmare, proved to be little comfort.

“You can’t run forever, foreigner! Give up!” cried the head ghost. “You’re only delaying the inevitable!”

Botana won’t be able to move anytime soon…she won’t last long if I don’t shake off these ghosts and get back to her, Charon thought, his vision focused on the woods before him as he practically flew through the woodland scenery, not even realizing he was ripping open his shoulder wounds anew in the process. A typical shock won’t work on a group this huge. I’ll have to do something more risky…

While the raichu ran, he concentrated the remaining energy in his body into the electric sacs in his cheeks. They started to cackle with small, electric sparks, like small Tesla coils charged to the peak of their power. Soon, however, the sparks began to grow ominously in size. Charon clenched his teeth together, now starting to wheeze through his teeth, as a pain far greater than his impaled shoulders threatened to stop him dead in his tracks.

“Heads up, grunts, he’s preparing to attack!” warned the head ghost, “There’ll be an opening once he discharges. Take it without hesitation!”

You think you’re so damn smart, Charon remarked in his mind, as his stride began to stagger. Charon’s electric sacs throbbed in spasms. No longer able to run, the raichu stumbled to a halt before standing straight and tall on his thick, strong legs. He lifted the jagged end of his long tail high above the ground, straight as an arrow. A moment later, what once was merely sparks escaped from his cheeks and swarmed around his body as arcs of lightning, multiplying rapidly as they scattered all around the rodent’s flesh like excited maggots feasting on the dead. It bathed the surrounding woods in a white light that invaded every crevice of the nearby woods, banishing the shade of the flora.

None of the grunts or the head gastly had ever seen such a sight. It was as though the very skin of the rodent transformed into pure electricity, jumping frantically about in a futile attempt to escape from its host into the air. Out of instinct the mob of purple poltergeists started to float cautiously around Charon, predators circling a highly dangerous prey. They muttered amongst themselves, trying to deduct what the raichu was attempting to do, hesitant to charge in to attack in light of his deadly aura. Had Charon not required so much concentration for his technique, he would have taunted them for their hesitation. In his current state, he could only glare into their ethereal eyes as the enamel of his teeth grinded together, his only relief from the electricity surging through him that seemed to be eating him alive.

“What should we do, sir?” one of the grunts asked the head ghastly, “That’s one hell of a charge and he hasn’t even released it! Just touching him now would do any of us in!”

“Sir, we could shoot him with a shadow ball,” suggested another grunt, “He’s clearly past his threshold. The blast would make him falter and disperse that charge. He’d likely have no strength left to run after that.”

The head gastly didn’t like that suggestion one bit. “You forget, Ether, that the Forest Warden has ordered for paralysis only. He doesn’t want a hair harmed on that rodent’s head. Like it or not, his word is absolute, lest you want waking nightmares until the next moon.

“Say that we do shoot a shadow ball at him: We don’t know how well he’d take the shot. He might just slip into a coma and let that charge quietly fade, or all that pent up electricity could literally explode out of him and kill that rodent in the process. Even if that doesn’t fry him into a crisp, the collateral damage could be devastating!”

Charon could barely hear the chatter of the ghosts. His senses almost totally isolated from the outside world, his mind focused purely on the suspension of the tremendous charge flowing dangerously through his body. The raichu could only wait and see what the ghosts would do. He hoped they would give up their chase so he could return to the chikorita, who by now could be attracting ominous attention.

“He is certainly desperate,” continued the head gastly, “if not insane. Honestly, if Alucard hadn’t missed and paralyzed the chikorita we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“Hey, you saw how fast that rat was! Not my fault!” cried that particular grunt in his defense.

“You were too reckless, nevermind clumsy!” snapped the head gastly, “We had a chance while he was unaware of us; now we’re trapped in this stalemate!”

Such incompetent fools!

The unexpected boom of an ancient chorus of sylvan voices froze the gastlies in their tracks. They looked up to see the branches of the towering trees swaying violently in the morning air. No wind rode on the skies to cause such motions. The very forest around Charon seemed to come to life in unadulterated fury, as tree-dwellers, hiding in the trunks and branches to escape the ghostly swarm and the raichu, fled from the scene in droves in a last-ditch attempt to preserve their lives.

How can you let this demon creature terrorize this land?! You saw how he abandons the helpless! You see now his disregard for the lives of others! All the demon knows is destruction! He will throw this land into Armageddon! The humans will sweep in like vultures and make spoils of us! All we strive to preserve will be forever lost!

Were it not for the warning of the forest warden, those trees would’ve crushed Charon with their own bark. They continued their tirade: Don’t you see your leader has a hopeless cause? One herd is not worth risking the fate of all these woods! Kill the demon before it is too late! Kill him! Kill him!

The spectacle of chaos filled Charon with barbed thoughts that wrapped around his mind, mercilessly gutting it. It killed the glare in his eyes. Their dark, opaque hue glistened as the thoughts threatened to break his concentration and guarantee his demise.

You’re a monster, Charon.

The world around you knows this, Charon.

Its very maw is opening to swallow you, Charon.

Can you fight it, Charon?

Do you want to fight it, Charon?

Do you still believe you can atone, Charon?

You should’ve taken her when you had the chance, Charon.

But you couldn’t, Charon.

You wanted to suppress the monster in you, Charon.

So much for posterity, Charon.

You just seem destined for death.

Charon staggered as the electric flow began to lose stability. The trees shook even harder in their fervor. The swarm of ghosts retreated some distance as tremendous arcs of lightning shot out of the rodent, indiscriminate of whatever it struck before disappearing into the ground. His cheeks, close to nearly bursting, shot spikes of electrical power that ravaged his nerves, flesh, and bone, doing everything in its power to rid itself of its own tremendous energy. He cried out through clenched teeth, almost ripping his ears right off his head in the iron grip of his trembling hands, as he endured the terrible onslaught of his own power betraying him.

“He’s losing it!” cried one of the grunts, “At this rate he’ll kill himself!”

“What do we do, sir?” cried another, as the grunts began to panic in face of the faltering aura that threatened to explode and devastate the woods.

The head gastly was at a loss. He wasn’t sure they could do anything by the book anymore. Charon’s only hope of survival remained in discharging the pent-up energy through his tail into the ground, but in his current state the head gastly wasn’t even sure the raichu could even think straight to do that. The rodent had purposely made sure not to let the tail touch the ground in order to prolong the overcharge. Now that raichu writhed and struggled to keep standing as he, as surmised from the gastly’s point of view, deliberately tortured his own body. Such a state of mind was beyond reason.

“We have no choice, then,” whispered the head gastly, his tone deep and solemn. He turned to his subordinates, speaking to them in a loud, clear voice. “Grunts, we have no time, so clean out your ears and listen! Very soon I will give you the opening you need. When that time comes, paralyze him without hesitation. Until that moment, however, keep your distance.”

“Sir…what are you going to do?” asked one of the grunts hesitantly.

The head gastly paused, as he searched for the right words to tell them. “Let’s just say I’ll be gone for awhile.”

For a split second, the head ghastly could see in the eyes of his subordinates the roar of protest about to burst out of them. He knew better than to stick around for their pleas; emotional baggage would only make the task harder. At once he flew from the swarm. The bright glow of Charon’s volatile energy nearly blinded him as he rushed towards the raichu and his deadly aura. The sound of Charon’s suffering drowned out the cries of the grunts in the head gastly’s ears as he touched his gaseous, spherical body to the large rodent’s electrified flesh. The eyes of the two met together as the gastly, bound to Charon by electric current, now took the full brunt of the raichu’s own electrocution.

Charon, the torment suddenly usurped from him, stared in horror as the gastly’s vaporous body violently rattled in its spasms. He could see the arcs of lightning fanning out dramatically from behind, escaping to the earth. The ethereal eyes of the ghost froze in a widened glare, the ruthless electricity threatening to tear him apart from the inside.

What the hell is going on?! This wasn’t supposed to happen! Charon cried in his mind. You idiot! You goddamn idiot! You were safe if you stayed away from me! Why didn’t you just leave me alone?!

The glow of the immense charge disappeared. The lightning withered and eventually died. Once every sign of Charon’s electricity ceased to exist, the gastly silently fell to the earth, his expression of hatred cast in stone. His gaseous body’s purple hue faded, leaving behind a spirit trapped in deep sleep, unlikely to roam the woods again for generations to come. To the swarm of gastlys struck dumb by the sacrifice of their superior, he might as well have died.

“No! Not again! I won’t have another death to my name!” Charon yelled despairingly, rushing towards the gastly. He ends up passing through, however, tripping on his feet to fall face-first into the ground. The ghostly swarm, wailing, at once smothered the raichu. The rodent felt the paralyzing touch of their tongues seize the senses of his body from him. Drained of whatever energy he had left to resist, the rodent’s conscious soon faded outright, escaping into the realm of the comatose.

You just seem destined for death…


“That…that brightness, out in the distance…”

“His penchant for violence has not wavered, it seems.”
“Calien! We don’t even know if that’s Charon or not!”

“Lily, I know neither of us had seen many creatures who wield electricity in the past, but Charon might as well be made of it. It does not help that he is quick to anger, either. I doubt being alone and lost mitigates his fuse.”

The vulpix couple, after the drama of the previous night, had eventually fallen asleep in a close embrace once they lost the energy to shed their tears. They awoke to discover Ivy, the pichu, sleeping alone in the mud. After panicking and rushing to ensure the offspring hadn’t died overnight, the three of them eventually gathered their bearings and pressed onward, the two foxes walking in stride as Ivy rode upon Lily’s back, the three of them stained by remnants of the mud that had caked against their legs. The maiden fox and her mate-to-be mutually decided to set aside their troubles until the task of saving Ivy, at least, is accomplished, for Calien understood, despite his frustrations and sacrifices and growing cynicism, that Lily’s maternal instincts proved too strong to outright ignore.

Their first task, however, was tracking down the missing raichu. Lily, in particular, feared for his well-being, seeming so traumatized by killing the zangoose. She wanted to seek him out, ease his emotional strife, and tell him that, for better or worse, the raichu had what it took to be a guardian. Her gratitude to the rodent for saving all of their lives, she felt, would help Charon get back on track. Calien, however, harbored speculations that Charon’s issues might run deeper than confronting the act of killing in defense, though we wasn’t quite sure what exactly those issues could be. He chalked this up to petty jealousy, however, and voiced no complaints when Lily took the lead in the search. They had both paused, however, and watched with trepidation the bright light that had arose in the distance, joined by the violent shaking of the distant trees and a chaotic disturbance of the morning ambiance, fading almost as soon as it appeared. After their brief exchange of words, the offspring clutched upon Lily’s ears.

“Do we have to go back to him?” Ivy spoke meekly, her gaze turned away from the direction where the bright light had shined.

“Ivy,” Lily said soothingly, “I know he can be very scary, but he’s one of your kind. He wants to find family for you-”“But mommy’s gone,” Ivy interrupted, pouting, “And I hate my daddy. I don’t want a family. I just want you.”

The maiden vulpix sighed. “I know you do. I don’t want to let you go, but it’s for the best. Calien and I have to make a family of our own someday, and we wouldn’t want you to feel like the black sheep.”

“But…but I’m not black. I’m yellow!” Ivy rebutted, unfamiliar with the expression Lily used.

Calien peered over to the pichu from a side glance, careful not to show his scar. “Would it make you feel any better if you knew Charon would most likely confront your father? If indeed he remains the head of your herd, and he is as terrible as you say, your father would see Charon as a threat to his power. They will probably fight for dominance, whether Charon wants to or not.”

“Calien, don’t talk to her about such things!” Lily interjected sternly.

The male vulpix frowned. “She has a right to know, no matter how gruesome the outcome may be. I thought it would be a glimmer of hope for her.”

Ida’s trembling suggested otherwise. The thought of Charon usurping the rights of the patriarch from her father seemed akin to exchanging one poison for another. Calien, upon taking note of this, bowed his head and sighed. “Young one, you should realize that, despite his flaws, Charon’s intentions are benevolent. I’m not even sure he would keep the right of the patriarch; but if I was in his position, it would be quite tempting. At the very least it would make acquiring a mate a great deal easier, I believe.”

“That’s enough, Calien,” Lily again interjected, though not as harsh this time around, “We shouldn’t make Ivy worry about it. It is stress she doesn’t need. Besides,” At this point she glanced away from Calien, feeling guilty for wishful thinking, “If luck’s on our side, we might find her mother.” The mention of the possibility eased the offspring’s anxiety somewhat, ceasing her trembling, but she still held tightly to Lily’s back.

Calien took a few steps forward, scanning the direction in which the bright light had shined. “Luck nearly abandoned us yesterday, Lily. It is better not to get our hopes up.”

Suddenly, a frantic voice cried out from the wilderness. “Ayúdeme! Ayúdeme!”

The unfamiliar tone of the voice tensed the offspring, clamping firmly upon the maiden vulpix. Calien and Lily, upon hearing the foreign tongue, shot their gaze deep into the direction from which it came.

“Was that a call for help?” Lily questioned, the muscles in her legs preparing to move her rapidly to the call.

“I know not the tongue, but the despair in that voice is unmistakable.” Calien replied.

Ivy suddenly pointed ahead of them. “Someone’s coming!”

Indeed, a creature rapidly approached them, a green blur relentlessly cutting a path through the shrubbery standing in its way. It continued to cry “Ayúdeme” until it suddenly stopped right before the vulpix couple and the pichu, revealing the green blur to be a chikorita, who had brandished her large leaf like a machete in order to pierce through the flora that had threatened to trip her step. Lily, Calien, and Ivy had never seen a chikorita before. They unanimously felt the urge to retreat when a crazed pear with eyes the size of dinner plates stared at them, panting, as though they were a divine gift of the heavens sent to bring her salvation.

“Um…can we help you?” Lily meekly offered, afraid that the pear-esque quadruped had an even greater level of psychosis than the zangoose.

A crestfallen frown suddenly invaded the chikorita’s hopeful glance, only to be expelled by a stern gaze of determination a moment later. “You three! Help! My rodent lover…chased…by phantasmas!”

Did she just say ‘rodent lover?’ The connotations of that phrase send shudders through the vulpix couple and the pichu, as the thought of Charon desperately indulging in liaisons with a chikorita, of all creatures, proved less than pleasant to their moral conscience. There was no way Charon would ever do such a thing…would he? Surely she meant some other rodent!

“Follow me!” The chikorita urgently commands, at once sprinting down the path she tore through moments ago. Not given the chance to think things over, Lily and Calien reacted instinctively and pursued the distressed creature as Ivy hung onto the maiden vulpix’s back like a barnacle, fearful of losing her grip and tumbling into the muddy ground of the woods. The chances were slim, but at the moment there was no better lead to find the lost raichu. If the chikorita’s words were true, however…

I can’t let him throw his life away like that, Lily thought in mid-pursuit, he needs me now more than ever.