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Xerxes spent only a few hours walking to the supposed city where the Zoroark awaited. She couldn't help but trust the Honchkrow from before, despite the ominous aura and displeasure it exuded; And, as a result, she was making this tiresome journey to help her little Dusk.
It was a bit odd walking towards the so-called city, as there seemed to be some kind of activity or such that caused the local Pokemon to become ever so xenophobic as to shrink at the sight of Xerxes, covering the eyes of their children to protect them from the malevolence outside the world that was their own. Xerxes briefly considered that everybody was reading her mind, able to see that she intended to kill their so-called God right before them, but then she also considered the fact that she was quivering at the very thought of this, a behavior much abstract to an ice type like herself. She simply ignored the onlookers and carried on, finding signs of worn passages and commonly traveled routs that would surely signal the approaching of her destination.
Sure enough, she heard a rhythmic beating somewhere not too far off, one that she thought sounded in the slightest like a kind of ritual or dance. The air was a bit bitter for the other Pokemon, the frost from the ground and air nipping away at the warmth from their skins. As she calmed herself down and made it farther into the forest, the Pokemon around her stopped giving her glances of disgust; In fact, nearly nobody payed her any attention. Most of the folks were perched up high in the trees for some reason unknown to Xerxes, making her feel even more uncomfortable as everybody stopped looking down upon her.
Soon, the sound of beating became clearer and louder, taking the form of drumming and pounding of many tiny feet. This worried Xerxes, as there was still the slightest bit of snow out and she always overheard others speaking of how it's bad to stay out in the cold too long... She decided that this dancing was done unnaturally, for she rarely even heard of groupings as large of this forming, none the less dancing outside (although she never understood why this was dangerous). As she approached even closer to this rhythm, Pokemon disappeared from the ledges an all the grounds around her. She had the opportunity to even spot a few fragile wooden structures, devices which she'd never seen any Pokemon construct before (although she had heard of numerous occasions where such devices were built far into isolation).
As she approached a clearing filled with a great deal of creatures and bonfires all about, all dancing in beat to the music around the fires or playing some kind of beautiful music themselves, all singing nonsense verses about Arceus, Giratina and Zoroark. Wow, these Pokemon have really lost it...
Suddenly, a Granbull danced her way in front of Xerxes, making his way around the fire closest to her; And, as he almost crashed into her, he stopped dead in his tracks and shouted above the music, "Want to daaance?"
Xerxes crossed her arms and replied calmly, "No, I'm fine. Do you happen to know of a Zoroark?"
The Granbull dropped his grand smile and tilted his head in the slightest. "Zoroark? Oh, no, he wanted today off. We're dancing for him because he'll love us even more!"
"Oh." Xerxes looked around a bit. Although most of the Pokemon looked uncomfortable in this frost, they were really enjoying themselves. "So you're dancing for him?"
"For love and respect, me lady! Care to join?"
"So, where did you say this Zoroark is?"
The Granbull rolled its eyes and replied, "He's in his den. Care to dance now, miss?"
"I'm fine." Xerxes tried to push past but was blocked by the hulking Granbull. "I don't want to dance."
"Where you from? Never saw you around before, miss." The Granbull was definitely suspicious.
"I'm from far north. Now really, I need to go..."
The Granbull continued to block her way. "So you've not seen him yet, have you, lady? It that what the fuss is about?"
The dancing and music got slightly louder. "S-sure! Would you be willing to escort me to him?"
The Granbull thought for a second, considering something as if his head depended on it. "Well, I shouldn't really, but for an angel like you... Follow me!"
The Granbull yanked Xerxes by the arm, running through the crowd of rampant creatures around her. She was disgusted by the very presence of a fairy type like him for some reason, although she couldn't explain why. She just hated fairies. Despite the awful speed of the Granbull, it took at least ten minutes to shove their way past many fires and dancers to make it to what appeared to be a simply hole in the ground. The Granbull turned to hear and gave a stupid smile, ending with, "This it it. He's sleeping, though, so you'll have to be real quiet."
Could this be it? Would it really be this easy to kill him? He, who simply lied in a small cavern unprotected in a crowd of zealous followers, would be ended so quickly by a simple lady who posed as an acolyte of a fake God, ending him with a simple claw to the neck? She shuttered at the thought. No, it couldn't be this easy; And yet, the Granbull was gone, and nobody payed her any credence, save a familiar Honchkrow to her side, one who appeared without any hint or warning.
She jumped back, shocked at his sudden appearance. He simply started a short message, stating, "There's something I need to tell you about his powers. He's good with them."
"... Okay."
"Don't believe a single thing he shows you. He is the master of illusion, and well deserving of that title. Don't take him lightly." The Honchkrow suddenly flew off, leaving but a single feather as he soared away.
She thought this odd but continued down this odd hole, finding a stake attacked to a rope at the top that acted as a means for vertical transportation. The hole led to a dark den, although Xerxes could see through it naturally due to her type. There was a single passageway that led to a faintly illuminated room in the distance, the tunes surrounded by white bags full of food and other goods; Most likely tribute to this creature.
She walked down this short tunnel, finding its well treaded floor and finely decorated engravings on the wall a bit to fancy to belong to just any Pokemon. As the approached the end, she found it opened up into a slightly larger room with tunnels on either side, leading far into other dark passages. In the center sat a lazy Zoroark on its side, protected on either side by a multitude of Pokemon on either side, ranging from Machoke to Phanpy and all oddly female. The Zoroark seemed to be focused on a lone Zigzagoon in the center, viewing some kind of imaginary creature which danced around it. A few seconds later, however, she also joined in the spectacle, observing a projected, holy-looking older Zigzagoon. The mirage soon disappeared, the Zoroark stating, "Oh my. A visitor seems to have disturbed the ritual."
The real Zigzagoon cried a bit, stating, "You are... Why did you have to leave..." It left quickly, shooting Xerxes a few dirty looks before finding its way out.
The Zoroark looked disinterested in Xerxes but went on to speak to her anyways. "What do you want, peasant?"
She couldn't believe how smug this guy was, considering how much he's received from all the innocent Pokemon he'd been manipulating. He barely even bothered to look up towards Xerxes as she approached, focusing on some stupid little drawing on the ground; However, as she got closer and closer, he suddenly put his hand up and started shouting, "Woah, woah! Back off!", to no effect. Even the guards were uncomfortable as she closed the few inches between her and the demise of Zoroark, even if it was only at a mere walk.
She had done escapes before. She could easily make it out of here. In fact, she felt safer doing escapes. Why did this feel so wrong and dangerous? She certainly wanted to kill him. Why wouldn't she? He's the perfect prick. On top of all of that, there was a reward at hand, all for the pleasure of killing him... What was this nagging feeling then? She was but an inch from his face when she extended her claws and raked at his neck...
...Only to wake up an hour later, imprisoned in some kind of shoddy cell, likely still part of Zoroark's den. "Damn." She didn't expect that.
All she remembered was slashing at Zoroark's neck... And missing. The guards were rushing her, Zoroark shielding himself at the side of the wall. Xerxes couldn't believe he had gotten up and made it all the way there in a mere fraction of a second, for he was far from nimble and quick enough to do so. She charged and slices at him again, aiming for the neck and striking once more; And, to prevent any escape, she used her body to block him off. Unfortunately, as she sliced again, she remembered her arm almost phasing through his body, touching but the wall behind him and seeing the body phase through her body...
So that Zoroark was an illusion! She knew it! It was too good to be true, for it to be true that he just lied there defenseless and without any kind of safeguard. His caution payed off nicely now, considering his likely only assailant was finely secured in his prison and, as he was likely thinking, no longer a bother. Unfortunately for him, Xerxes had her fair share of blundered thefts and like punishments, so this was somewhat routine for her. That didn't do her any good, though, if she didn't have any kind of plan in place to finish her job; After all, she came here for a reason.
How would she get at him? Surely, he'd be maintaining that illusion with an even greater vigilance than before, considering how much danger he had been in, and the guards are likely tenfold; But, as with all things, he surely has some kind of weakness, and a way to exploit it. He never let his guard down, from what she could tell, and he didn't cease to use his own followers to his own ends. Surely, he wasn't the perfect god he claims to be, though, and he couldn't truly use an actual source of divine power; However, considering how blindly everybody seems to be following him, it's not likely she'd cause an uprising. Even if she were to outright kill him in front of everybody else, she'd be doing nothing but making them angry. After all, with all of those ladies out there...
She suddenly came up with a rather odd conclusion and looked to the guard outside her cell. It was a rather brutish Spinda, but it was definitely female. Was the Zoroark really that... Shallow? To be... Surely, considering how big of a perv he must be, killing him would only be all the better. The the thought of his soul leaving the flesh of his body, blood all around the room... What was she thinking about? She cleared this thought from her head and focused at the task at hand... Did the Honchkrow have this in mind all along?
She was bound with her arms behind her back, tied with a poorly made piece of rope, likely just a few strands of intertwined roots. She focused her internal, frozen energy and channeled it into the rope, covering it with frost and making much more brittle than before; And, with a quick twist of the wrist, the shackles snapped off. Her next obstacle were the small reeds that formed a lattice that served as a cage; Like the rope, it was shoddily made, with the lower and upper ends of the twine buried in an inch or two of dirt. She dug out the first few strands, attracting the attention of the guard and causing the Spinda to walk over.
"Hey, stop that! I don't want to have to hurt you!" While the shackles and cages were nothing to worry about, the guards were, for they served as the middle, front and last line of defense against escape. She started on one of the middle horizontal bars at about head level, digging it out as the Spinda simply continued to shout out threats. "Hey, stop it!"
The Spinda picked up a rock and threw it, but due to the structure and spacing between the reed bars, it simply bounced off and had no effect. Xerxes ignored this and switched back to the ground reeds, eventually letting one loose. The Spinda, having enough of this, walked right over to the cell and tried failingly to punch Xerxes, leaning into the reeds as she did. This being exactly what Xerxes wanted, she immediately went for the upper reed she loosened and wrapped it around the back of the Spinda's head, locking it in close to the cage. Not exactly what she wanted, but she could work with it. Xerxes started tugging at the bar, pulling against the back of the Spinda's head.
The Spinda shouted again, "Hey, stop!", to no avail. Xerxes tugged at the rope while the Spinda struggled to break free, but without a proper grip or anywhere to push off of, she was simply helpless. Xerxes, not making any significant progress, clawed at the face of the Spinda; Being the resilient creature it was, though, the claw had little effect besides turning its head; And yet, that was all she needed. As the Spinda turned its head, the rope drew it in even farther, pressing against its neck and starting to choke it, Xerxes' plan all along. Soon, the infinitesimally small yelps of the Spinda faded into shallow breathing, knocking her out and causing her to collapse on the floor.
Xerxes smirked and worked her way through the lower bars, eventually crawling underneath and escaping the cell. She looked back at the Spinda for only a second, realizing that the commotion she made likely didn't give her too much time to dabble. And to think, this was all because of a movie Hank showed her...
She took but a few moments following the only corridor down to the main den, the humble abode of the Zoroark. She was met by furious glares from everybody, especially the Zoroark, for the most dangerous prisoner had just escaped. The guards quickly took a few steps towards Xerxes before she put her hand up and shouted, "Stop!"
The guards stopped and stared at her while the Zoroark sat unmoving. She started again, continuing, "I love you."
The Zoroark raised a brow. "So?"
One of the guards decided to jump in and accuse, "That's just an excuse! You tried to kill him!"
"... I got scared?"
"Very funny. Back you go." The guards moved again, only to pause a brief second for another outburst.
"But I can make it up to you, senpai!"
The guards ignored this and continued to advance, only to be halted by the Zoroark. "Now now, ladies, let's hear this lost child out. Surely, you do not jest, young Sneasel?"
"This is stupid!" One of the guards contested Zoroark's decision, only to be met by his nasty stare.
"I can show mercy when I want, acolyte. Now tell me, what do you have to offer?"
Xerxes shuttered at the words she dared to utter, but managed to do so anyways. "I can offer you anything you want..."
The Zoroark raised a brow. "Does that mean something?" However, suddenly understanding the implications of what she stated, he blushed furiously. "I- I mean..."
"Shut up, wench! Gods trifle naught with such things!" One of the guards interrupted once more; Seeing the look on Zoroark's face, however, she turned to him and asked, "You don't really believe her, do you?"
However, in Xerxes' favor, the Zoroark was just as shallow as she hoped and fell for the ploy, shouting, "Everybody! Get out! NOW!" He was blushing even more furiously than before, almost cringing at the overwhelming feeling within him.
The guards, not wanting to question the will of a god, no matter how questionable, left in an instant, simply leaving him to his business. The Zoroark started pacing around the room, mumbling to himself about some kind of ploy "Not working" and "Too complicated" to function. Xerxes simply stared in awe, wondering just how manipulatable this creature was.
"So, uh. Everybody's gone. What now?"
The Zoroark looked around before darting into the wall, an illusion created to conceal a room far out of sight. Xerxes couldn't believe what she was seeing, but as the Zoroark hopped out of this wall and back in again, motioning for her to follow, she didn't question the extreme lust of this creature and advanced in after him.
The following cavern was dim for sure, only lit by the dim illusory beacon above; As she approached, however, the beacon went from a subtle gold to a rather... Suggestive purple. The Zoroark stood in the center, its arms shielding its chest. "Look, there's something kinda important before we do this... Actually, a few things..."
Xerxes tilted her head a bit in confusion. It was almost comical that she even cared a little at this point, but she simply replied, "What is it?"
The Zoroark lost all expression when uttering, "I don't know how."
"Really?" This did honestly confuse Xerxes.
"Also, you can't tell anybody the next thing."
"And that is?"
A giggle was heard in the corner of the room. "I'm not really a Zoroark. I mean, not yet at least..."
"Oh?"
The Zoroark suddenly faded from view as an invisible Zorua uncloaked itself and revealed its true form. "I'm really just a Zorua..."
"... So you're a kid? That's a little messed up."
"Yeah." The Zorua gave a small smile, an innocent look crossing its face. "I mean, I can still do it! I... Well..."
"Oh, sure, it will work." Xerxes lost all faith in Pokemon kind seeing how stupid the entire situation was. "Just do as I say, and you'll... Enjoy it. Sure."
"Oh, boy!" The Zorua jumped around a bit, giggling to itself as it did a happy little dance. "So I can tell my friends and stuff, right? Because they'd so be jealous of me."
"Just close your eyes."
"Okay missy!" The Zorua closed its eyes as it trembled in anticipation. "What now?"
"Now... Hop up and down three times." Xerxes wanted to see just how far she could push this brat.
And the brat did a little hop about three times, revealing a confused countenance as he did. "Are you sure this is how it works?"
"Now spin around."
"This is stupid, I know that's a lie." The Zorua opened its eyes, clearly irritated at Xerxes. "Just tell me how to already."
Xerxes walked up to the Zorua and brushed her hand over his ear. Was this all really at the hands of a kid? Could she really kill him? She felt the fur underneath her claw; Hence, this couldn't be an illusion. "Why would you do this?"
"Look, lady, if you're not going to do the thingy with me-" the Zorua spoke its last words as the unfeeling claws of Xerxes dug into his throat, giving him an extended, painful death as he choked on his own blood. His eyes were simply full of shock, an expression so alien to Xerxes that she nearly panicked at the sight of it. He fell to the floor, lifeless and ever colder than before. Did she really just kill him? For Dusk? And what was this odd feeling welling inside of her-
She suddenly started ripping at the Zorua's flesh uncontrollably, sending fur and bile across the walls and floors. Some evil, malicious force swept over her body, far darker than the one she experienced when she saw the Honchkrow, even surpassing the pure fury that Giratina exerted at Eros' match. What was this newfound evil writhing within her, forcing her to eat one of her own kind? She wanted to simply throw out all the meat she was eating but couldn't help but continue eating.
Soon, she saw some kind of flesh, one she knew for certain to cure this insatiable hunger. It appeared to be the Zorua's heart, one she assumed as beating until she realized her vision was pulsing in madness. She wanted to stop whatever she was doing, for she had no control over her body. As she bit into this heart, she suddenly blacked out once more.