"What do we do now?"
Ceruledge carried Gui Ling on his back and looked at the black smoke gathering again, a cold sweat running down his spine.
"How does this guy seem completely unharmed?"
"I think I saw a small wooden hut to the south earlier. Should we check it out?"
"There are buildings in this broken place? That's ridiculous!"
"We can't possibly just set up camp here, can we?"
"Alright... if anything goes wrong, I'll cover our retreat."
After discussing, Ceruledge and Darkrai ran towards the south, but just like with Rayquaza, they ran for a long time without reaching their destination.
"Logically, we should be there by now, shouldn't we?"
"It couldn't be that guy messing with us again, could it?"
"It shouldn't be. That guy must be half-dead, if not fully dead. There shouldn't be any danger for a while."
Ceruledge heard this and realized it made sense, finally letting out a sigh of relief. And just as Ceruledge relaxed, the small wooden hut immediately appeared before him.
"We're here!"
Ceruledge was about to burst through the door, but with a thud, his head solidly hit the wooden door.
"Ow ow ow ow ow ow!"
"Why are you so silly? Why did you suddenly run into it?"
"What? There shouldn't be anyone here! How could the door be locked from the inside?!"
"Huh? No... could there really be someone inside?"
The two blinked, then looked at the locked door. Ceruledge placed Gui Ling on a nearby stone and used Bitter Blade to cleave the wooden door open.
"Boomburst!"
The moment the wooden door was cleaved open, a Noivern suddenly burst out from behind the door, unleashing a Boomburst directly at Ceruledge's face. However, Ceruledge, reacting quickly, swatted it away like a mosquito.
Whoosh~~~ (Flying sound effect)
Inside the wooden hut, there was a still-burning oil lamp, surrounded by several hungry-looking young people, and some Pokémon that were almost starved.
However, these young people looked at Ceruledge standing by the door, then at the large Noivern-shaped hole in the wooden hut's roof, and fell into thought.
......... (The air fell into a brief silence)
Ceruledge saw that there were indeed survivors inside the wooden hut. However, he also recalled what had just happened, so he extended his burning twin blades and slowly walked over.
The twin blades dragged on the ground, making a wood-cutting sound. The exhausted Pokémon that were previously lying on the ground stood up again.
"Dragon Pulse!" x3
"Hyper Beam!" x2
Facing the incoming attacks, Ceruledge once again used Bitter Blade, directly disintegrating all the attacks with one Slash, and then hitting all the Pokémon away with another Slash.
Whoosh~~~ (Flying sound effect) x5
"What are you doing there?"
"I don't know, it suddenly attacked me."
"Stop playing around! Quickly make some space for Gui Ling to enter!"
"Oh, right, please help me find those Pokémon that flew out. I have something to ask them."
"What do you take me for?"
"A sucker."
"Lemon!"
.........
"Alright, tell me truthfully what happened here."
The few survivors slowly stood up, looking at Ceruledge rubbing his twin blades in front of them, his eyes like he was looking at dead people. The panic in their hearts couldn't help but rise again.
"We were trapped here... people..."
"I know you're people. It seems you're also trapped here."
"You're a Pokémon, right?"
"Otherwise?"
"You're not that guy's accomplice, are you? How could there be a Pokémon that can talk!"
As soon as a young man finished speaking, he met Ceruledge's gaze, then looked at the six holes in the wooden hut's roof. After thinking for a while, he shrank back.
"I didn't say anything..."
Ceruledge yawned, feeling speechless at these survivors. He then placed Gui Ling in a corner and began to investigate the wooden hut.
"That person... is he your Trainer?"
"Yes."
"Are you really survivors trapped here?"
"Are you blind? Can't you tell?"
"No, we've been tricked many times... but what that guy conjured never broke through this door. You're the first..."
"Couldn't break the door?!"
Ceruledge suddenly remembered what Rayquaza looked like when he saw him, and couldn't help but break into a sweat.
"The guy who messed up Rayquaza like that couldn't break this door?"
After nearly 10 minutes, Darkrai brought all the Pokémon that had flown out, and at the same time, Gui Ling slowly woke up.
"What... what happened?"
"Master, you're awake! That's great, are you alright?"
"Before the Bond Evolution is completely finished, this situation is inevitable..."
The survivors retrieved their Pokémon that had lost their battle capabilities and slowly moved towards Gui Ling.
"Hello, brother, do you know... how to escape?"
Gui Ling immediately stood up upon hearing the others' voices.
"The monster in that Haze should be a little injured. It shouldn't launch another attack for a short period. We should be able to leave during this time."
"So that thing really is a monster?!"
"Right? At least I think it is..."
Gui Ling then remembered that he had seen the monster's full appearance through Yveltal's vision at the time: a giant red vertical eye.
"That thing isn't that simple... If possible, could we bring our deceased friends?"
"Some of you have already died?! Actually, I was sent by Ba'er Lingze to rescue you, but I almost..."
At this point, Gui Ling couldn't help but cover his face. He had six Divine Beasts, yet he was in such a pathetic state. He came to rescue people, but he almost got himself killed...
"It's alright, I understand. We also came to find Ba'er Lingze's granddaughter... but we also ended up in such a pathetic state, haha."
"Sigh... where are your companions?"
"In that room."
With that, the survivors led Gui Ling into a room. As soon as he entered, Gui Ling felt a chill all over, as if he had walked into a morgue.
What met his eyes were two young men, but there were no injuries on their bodies. They just lay quietly, as if asleep.
"This is?"
"Our companions."
"There are no injuries on their bodies. How did they die?"
"You wouldn't be able to guess. That thing... is very strange..."
The strong young man leading them slowly walked to one of the bodies and pointed to its chest.
"Blissey, you explain it to him..."
.........
"You mean... their bodies were completely unharmed, but their hearts were dug out?!"
"Yes, that brother too. His body had no injuries, but his brain was gone... It's too bizarre..."
Hearing this, Gui Ling couldn't help but swallow, but he had gained some understanding of that monster from the previous battle.
"That monster is indeed very strong and bizarre, but the key is the two ultimate moves it unleashed at the end. Logically, Yveltal and I shouldn't have just fainted, nor should we have escaped completely unharmed. At the very least, we should have been half-dead if not fully dead. But why do we seem completely unharmed? Is it just due to extreme mental exhaustion leading to fainting? This doesn't seem right either..."
Gui Ling watched as the young men lifted the two bodies, and he couldn't help but start thinking about his experience in the mist and what Ceruledge had told him.
"Ineffective moves... able to defeat Rayquaza but unable to break a wooden door... bizarre killing moves..."
Something came up recently and caused a delay. I'll write another chapter tonight.
Also, the human-machine prison, first is mine ( . )