[Deleted]

Upon the relief that was seeing the cool, edgy fellow standing around, Zeroara felt a hefty sigh escape her lips. He was okay, thank Arceus he was okay. She had half a mind to throw her arms around him, but no, not now. The briny air and the foreboding aura this place gave off was something that didn't quite set the mood for 'hug a hunk'. For the time being, Zeraora shuffled her feet a little, the water rising causing her a little worry, but clearly, Bisharp had this under control. To make things worse, the Runes on the walls gave her a little bit more worry, a long squint and scratching her chin punctuated her next thought.

"Zeraaa..?" (Huuuh?) "Zer-Zera Ora ora ora." (I don't understand this stuff.) "Zeraaa-ora zer-zer-zer-zera." (It's complete gibberish.)

Zeraora looked right back to N, still glad to have such a charming young fellow around her, and pointed almost demandingly, paws and horn still glowing, to the Runes. She takes her other paw, and reaches to take his hand, pulling him forward a little and closer to the letters inscribed backwards upon the wall. Clearly, she was incapable of solving such a riddle right now, given her stress and anxiety of this place.

"Orazer zer ora." (Read these, please.)

ZERAORA 

HP: 130/130 

Shield: 30/30 

Static: 2/8 

Status: Incredibly Stressed Out (Mama Zera No!) 

Cooldowns: None

[TartoonHand94]

(Has the Pokéball with which you intend to capture #290 Shedinja been recently acquired?) As much confidence as Nintenda had in N as a trainer and his prowess in taming Pokémon, it was clear she had yet to be convinced to relax about this situation. (What was it last inspected for quality and what were the results?) She continued to anxiously pry in Pokéspeak. N claimed to be prepared, but Nintenda wouldn’t feel secure until he had proven that he was better prepared than Purple was back when all this really started.

“Is that who you think I am?” The voice replied N. “Is that-a who you recognize?” (Who you remember?) The voices asked in a unanimous sense of accusation. “You judge me not for what I say, but rather who I sound like?” The voices ceased for a moment. All was still besides the rippling droplets on the floor that echoed throughout the increasingly spacious halls beyond the voice. “Very well. If it means you will finally listen to me...” “Finally acknowledge me…” “Care about me…” the voices contemplated out loud as the drippings became splashes and the ripples became waves. “Then I am indeed Nintenda’s trainer.” (I am Nintenda’s Master.) the voices came forward, stepping in the way of luminescent ruins in the dark distance, revealing a figure with no arms…and no legs! Hovering suspended in the dark air above, with no wings of propulsion! Just a static solid shape where they should be! The voices were coming from this inert lifeless shell! This was it all along! This is what they came here to find! And now it has found them! With its eyes now seen to be glowing read in the darkness, it was Shedinja!

“And now that I have the power as with her as I please, I command her now to-”

Shedinja was cut off by the waves behind it rising and falling at a violent rate, culminating in a rapidly approaching rumble of water.
“Wh-what’s-a that noise?”
“Ninjaaask!” (Everyone! Brace for emergency!)
Before Shedinja could turn around, it, Bisharp, Nintenda, N and Zeraora were all swept up in the darkness by a massive salty wave that submerged the entire cavern. Through the miracle of buoyancy, the swirling torrent of water whisked the cast up through open groves of the ceiling, rushed them down another hall on a higher floor, before flushing them all out of the ruins into the ocean, which then promptly washed them all against the shoreline. The sunset had just bowed out, welcoming the night sky headlined by a full milky moon to the stage.

Couging and wheezing up glasses of water, a panicked Nintenda pried herself out of the sand and frantically looked around for the rest of her team.
(#265 Bisharp? Trainer N? Zeraora?) She called out in distressed search.

Nintenda was too busy searching for her friends to notice that among the assortment of trash that washed up with them, the empty husk that was Shedinja had washed up as well. Rather than empty, it was filled to the brim with water. Overflowing even. Streams ran down out of the holes where its eyes would be like tears.

As it lay there motionless and inconspicuous, the ocean waves which recently rejected it, returned to claim it, sweeping it gradually and pulling it adrift into the sea.
Down from which, bright luminescent liquids bled down from it under the surface. Multiple streams of multiple colors rolled and danced under the waves before sprouting back up to the surface and into the air as magnificent fountains. They came in colors of green, blue, pink, lavender, orange and purple.
They shot high into the sky to splash among the stars before dispersing in several directions towards all the corners of Li.

Having seen this, Nintenda, with what little she could understand of what she just saw, was overwhelmed with the compulsion to return to Kappineapple to check up on her trainer’s body. She had to round up her party first, however.

CLEAR

[Mr. Game & Watch]

Even with his full party present, Bisharp was still quite unsteady about the situation. The voices continued and become more frequent. There was an oddity to their speech though. Maybe he hadn’t picked it up before, but the multiple voices seemed to be speaking as one. Far be it from him to figure out what that meant, but it certainly wasn’t making the situation easier to understand. An explanation came in the form of Shedinja emerging from the shadows, revealing that it wasn’t merely stray spirits that were communicating with Bisharp, it was the creature he had come to slay.

Upon seeing the Pokemon’s figure, Bisharp immediately took a battle stance, readying his blades for combat. As the revelation came to him of the voices’ origins though, a sudden confusion came over him. Shedinja was talking to him the entire time. There were plenty of moments for the creature to get the drop on him, yet it didn’t take it. What was this evil entity holding back? What were its intentions? Did it matter? Should Bisharp just ignore these questions and attack the spirit?

Thinking wasn’t quite Bisharp’s strong suit, and luckily, he didn’t have to ponder much on this. Another rumble gave way to one of Bisharp’s greatest fears of the cavern. Frantically, the armoured warrior searched the walls for a weak point or a crack he could dig his metal mitt into to prevent himself from being thrust into the bottom of the sea, but he had no such luck. He was swept away with the rest of his team.

Moments later, Bisharp found himself at the beach once more, a face full of sand. The Pokemon sputtered a few clumps of sand from his mouth, thanking Arceus that he somehow got washed ashore instead of sinking to the bottom of the ocean. Not having to worry about being dead brought his attention back to the situation at hand, rushing back up to his hooves and searching their new battlefield for their enemy.

He would soon find that Shedinja’s carcass was adrift at sea, lifelessly floating away. As Bisharp observed the shell, he had an odd somber feeling. Why he felt pity for a creature he thought was his enemy, he couldn’t quite place. It seemed their job was done though.

Bisharp spotted Nintenda along the coastline and met up with her. He looked to the Shedinja’s body and then back to the Ninjask. He was unsure of what to say considering he hadn’t a clue of what their relationship was like, but he muttered (sorry for your loss) nonetheless.

[heirtothemonado]

 "The Pokeball I'm using is in perfect condition. It's never been used. Honestly I'm lucky that I managed to find it" N replied to Nintenda. He was about to go into a bit more detail when the eerie voices interrupted him. N was even more bewildered by the voices that were echoing throughout the halls of the ruins. A lot of what they were saying didn't make much sense to the Pokémon trainer, but he was thankfully distracted by them when Zeraora pulled him toward the wall of runes. "Hmm..." N muttered under his breath. "These are definitely letters but.....not any words that I've ever seen. Unless--" N stopped himself, because another presence had made itself known. Something that he had expected to see, but not this soon. Shedinja.

Turning his attention to the hollow shell of a Pokémon, N held out the Pokeball he had stored on his belt. "Shedinja! You're toment of the souls you have taken has gone far enough! Now, face me! I will triumph against you. And I will capture you!"

As N pulled another Pokeball from his belt, intending to summon Darmanitan to defeat this bug, a loud rumble sounding from deep within the ruins. And then something sparked in N's memory that made him freeze.

This was Abyssal Ruin. No one had explored it fully because if someone stayed to long the ruins they....

Flooded.

Looking past Shedinja, N's eyes grew as wide as saucers when he saw the rapidly approaching wave flooding the entire hallway. Before he could even do anything, he was swept away by the undertow.

...

Coughing and wheezing up water, N pulled his face out of the sand it had ended up getting buried in. They...had survived? How? The answer eluded N, but as he looked around the beach for the rest of the group, he spotted the husk of Shedinja, lying face down in the water. As it was pulled back into the water, N just....let it go. Perhaps it was not his destiny to control Shedinja. Perhaps this was meant to be. Sweeping his hat off his head in a brief sign of respect, N went to look for the other three. Since Shedinja was defeated, those whose soul it had stolen should be restored. They had to get back to the Life Sphere. Nintenda was no doubt anxious to get back to her trainer

---

N
MISSION CLEAR
END PRESENCE

[TartoonHand94]

(You need not apologize, #265 Bisharp. For I am not the one currently at loss.) Nintenda shook her head at Bisharp’s condolence. (If anything, it is more appropriate that I be the one to apologize.) She sighed mournfully at the horizon. Looking up to the sky and seeing the souls scattering across the sky toward the Life Sphere seemed to change her attitude.
(…Especially considering the fact that I am now in a state of gain. Where is Trainer N?) She hovered up to look around, soon finding the only human that had joined them.
(Trainer N? Are you alright?) She buzzed up into his face and circled around him to inspect.
(Apart from copious amounts of silicone dioxide and calcium carbonate accumulated in regions whence they do not belong, you appear to be in stable condition.) She sighed in relief.
(Now come, we must traverse the quickest and return to the Life Sphere immediately!) She took both Bisharp and N by their hands and practically flew them off the beach and back to the Life Sphere.

Once again, the shoreline was barren, deserted and empty. Footprints of those that had once gone by, now erased by waves, whom were now the only moving things left to be seen as the sun was nearly out as well. The sounds of the breaking persisted, singing a familiar lonesome song that none would hear this night. This was the end another day, and begin a new night, calm, still and sacredly so. A sky crowded with stars looking down at their reflections on an empty sea. A sea that perhaps by imitation could hope to appear not to be so empty, so deserted, so alone. So wide, so vast, but why so vacuous?
With so much open space, why could this ocean not harbor a life? Had its population left it behind as well? To pursue a life elsewhere? Somewhere dryer perhaps? Whatever the reason be, the fact remains now, it has been deserted. That is to be understood. The question now becomes, are all things meant to share this fate? Is it destined that all unwanted things be left behind, abandoned and forgotten? I don’t think so. You may not think the beach can follow you home, but the sand can. And so can I.

THE END?
niagateemewlitnu