Prologue (Wimp Out!)

Sevve was running on fumes. He had been to this blasted sector of the guild at least a dozen times in the past two days, listening to the boring chatter of guild scientists and hauling around heavy machinery.

He wasn’t ecstatic about his situation; menial labor was hardly his idea of an enjoyable weekend. However, he was perfectly aware of the necessity of his task. Corsair had assigned him to ensure everything was in order for the first test run of the Project. He dared not undermine the efforts of his team by being careless, and he wanted even less to upset his team leader. The delphox guildmaster was more than feisty.

The lucario sighed as he reached a drab, stone room at the end of the labyrinthian sector. He pressed on his badge, causing the back wall to slide downwards into the dirt, and entered another room. He looked up as the slab closed back up behind him. The room he emerged in was… interesting. It featured an incredibly tall ceiling, had a set of triple reinforced and soundproof walls, and was almost three typeball fields long. At the end of a short stone stairway sitting on a wide bronze pedestal was an imposing metal box, spanning almost the entire width of the room.

The Soul Cannon Project. Sevve’s Team Vigilant, Cressinger Guild’s administrators, had been working tirelessly on this magical contraption for the good portion of two years. No one but the team and a handful of trusted guild scientists were even allowed to know of its existence. But recently, some guild members had begun growing suspicious.

“That cold-blooded bastard…” Sevve muttered under his breath as he carefully inspected a freshly installed latch on the backside of the machine. Team Metaphys’s Torr has been a real thorn in the administration’s side lately. Somehow, the krokorok had caught wind of The Project and was doing everything in his power to expose it. Sevve had been wanting to get rid of him for the longest time, but it would just further increase suspicion among the upper echelon teams if one of the most prominent explorers at the guild mysteriously disappeared after raising concerns.

The grinding of stone snapped the lucario out of his disturbed thoughts.

“Good afternoon boss, we have successfully acquired an uncouth specimen from the treacherous depths of the dungeons!” a nasally voice called out. It belonged to the cloaked yanma who hovered through the doorway. Behind him stood a familiar tired-looking sandslash, who crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. To the sandslash’s side was a stern looking morgrem wearing an undersized lab coat and dragging a large sack across the dirt floor. The imp cleared his throat.

“What my over-articulate partner here means, sir, is that we have obtained a suitable test subject from the guild penitentiary.” The morgrem plopped the bag at the top of the stairs. An unconscious luxio rolled out of it, falling to the bottom and landing splayed out in front of Sevve.

“Appreciated, gentlemon. May I have the subject’s identification?”

“Rayonn Luxio of Roseland, age 27, charged with three accounts of robbery with intent to inflict bodily harm, apprehended by Team Renegade twelve moons ago on floor six of Haswell Mystery Dungeon, sir.”

The “subject” began to stir, letting out an audible groan. He abruptly opened his eyes, yellow pupils staring directly at Sevve.

“Where the fuck am I? And who the fuck are you?” The feline screamed, then twitched about violently. “Wh-why can’t I move? You can’t paralyze me, I’m an electric type! What the hell did you do to me?”

“We have our methods,” Sevve said, his face not betraying a shred of emotion. “Greene, help me load him in already, before his rambling gives me another migraine.” Sevve reached down and lifted the luxio’s shoulders off the dirt.

“Yessir,” replied the morgrem, clambering down the stairs and lifting the electric type’s torso. They carried the immobilized luxio towards the machine.

“PUT ME THE FUCK DOWN YA GUILDIE SHITHEADS! WH-WHAT IS THAT THING? WHAT ARE Y- OOF!” Rayonn’s head made a dull thunk as it collided with the bottom of a cylindrical compartment at the back of the machine. The door closed in on him and latched shut, muffling his vulgar protests. Sevve walked back up the stairs and to a box, opening it to reveal a red button.

“Will our glorious Guildmaster not be present to bear witness to the… grand reveal? Ehyehyehye…” the yanma asked, laughing maniacally.

“Corsair has other matters to attend to, doctor.” Sevve replied. “Besides, this is just a test run. We will simply report the results to her posthaste.” He turned to the sandslash. “Derato, I assume the sector is cleared?” The sandslash just nodded and continued staring blankly at the machine, seemingly uninterested.

Derato was the only one of his teammates that wasn’t a chore to be around for extended periods of time. Mainly because he rarely comments on anything. Sevve could never have enough peace and quiet. However, “peace and quiet” would be the opposite of what would transpire here today.

“Perfect. You are excused, my friend. Go inform the others in the lab that the test is commencing.” The sandslash nodded again, tapped his badge, and left the room. “And Doctor Iyen, please confirm that these conditions are satisfied.” He handed the crazed yanma scientist a note. The bug zipped around the machine for a few minutes, inspecting the crude switches and knobs protruding from it.

“I have examined the aura colliders with great scrutiny! The V380 psychic accelerators will ensure that the palkianically condensed auras of the two hydroelectroflamatic components in the collider come into contact in precisely one point eight five pikaseconds after initiating the manual launch…” The bug explained. Then, seeing his boss’s annoyed expression, he added “In layman’s terms, boss, everything is in working order. We are ready to proceed! Ehyehyehye…” The bug then landed on a notepad at the right corner of the room near the entrance and dipped one of his legs in an inkwell.

“Without further ado, then. Stand back.” Sevve said as he slammed his fist into the button and kept it there.

His body began to glow and a blue barrier materialized between the onlookers and the machine. Sevve could feel the aura coursing through and out of his body.

“Aura shield activated. Commencing in five. Four. Three. Two. One…” Corsair’s pre-recorded voice resonated. Sevve braced himself.

A bloodcurdling scream rang through the air as the room filled with the light of a thousand suns. The pokemon in the room shielded their eyes as a massive explosion ripped through the air, leaving behind long streaks of smoke everywhere. An onslaught of debris bounced harmlessly off the aura shield. The walls of the room creaked under the pressure of the blast, but remained intact. Then, there was a moment of silence save for the faint sounds of Doctor Iyen’s scribbling.

“Arrgh, this will not do! The auric blast is not nearly at its destructive potential,” the bug screamed in frustration as a tired Sevve released the button. “I’m certain the missing constituent in the schematic is essential to producing the sheer quantity of cosmological energy we require.”

Sevve let out an annoyed growl and fished out his copy of the blueprint from his satchel. They had come so far; he and Corsair had hoped that they could make do without the last component. After all, where on Araegis were they going to find a huma-

CRASH!

The sound of a crate smashing onto the ground from behind him broke Sevve’s train of thought. He turned towards the source of the disturbance, and his expression instantly soured. Lying at the corner of the room under a supply shelf was a scarved krokorok, a bag slung across his shoulder.

“Oops…” the intruder muttered, picking himself up from the dirt.

Sevve leapt forward with staggering speed and launched a bullet punch, glancing off the krokorok’s arm as he tried to tumble away from it. The lucario was preparing to launch another punch, but the krokorok countered with a swift low sweep of his tail. Sevve hopped backwards, narrowly avoiding being smacked in the shins. Noticing the krokorok still had his back to the wall, Sevve aimed another bullet punch to his right side. The reptile was forced to leap to his left, losing his balance and crashing into the corner of the room. The lucario loomed above his cornered opponent.

“Man, curse my fat gut,” the krokorok groaned. “Raize was right, I should seriously lay off the mago pudding.”

“You have some explaining to do, Torrenek,” Sevve seethed, unamused. He resisted the urge to fire an aura sphere straight through Torr’s ribs.

“Just Torr, please. And I could say the same about you and the rest of the head honchos,” Torr replied, his expression turning serious.

“You are in no position to ask anything of me. You can’t best me, lizard. Now tell me what you are doing here before I rip your spine out.” Sevve didn’t really know what response he expected from Torr, nor did it matter in the grand scheme of things. He had to get rid of the troublesome krokorok for good anyway, now that he had witnessed the Soul Cannon in action. He just wanted to see him crack.

“Well, you see I…” the krokorok started, then suddenly glanced over Sevve’s shoulder quizzically. “Uhh, is the metal box supposed to be doing that?”

“Doing what,” Sevve instinctively looked over his shoulder at the machine… and almost instantly realized his mistake as the krokorok released a torrent of sand from his outstretched claws aimed straight at the lucario’s face. Sevve let out a howl of annoyance as Torr darted out on all fours from his left, deliberately dragging his claws on the dirt floor while he ran. Dirt and sand filled the air.

“Hah. Oldest trick in the book.” Torr’s mocking voice echoed around him. Sevve swore as he punched blindly in the sandstorm, his fist connecting with the sturdy wall. Tears welled up in his eyes as particles of dirt obstructed his vision. He tried to use his aura to detect the krokorok, but his power was too spent from earlier.

Sevve heard commotion coming from his right. Then, Greene let out a disgusting scream, which was followed by the sound of stone grinding. Sevve swore again and ran in the direction of the exit, but it was no use. The sandstorm subsided as he finally found his way to the door, but it was too late. The krokorok was already gone.

Sevve growled and stomped in frustration, causing the latch on the box to spring loose. The luxio tumbled out of the chamber, rolling to a halt right before Sevve, facing him.

The lucario could not help but stare back into those empty, lifeless eyes.