Conquests of the Underground

Keel'alla , the dark Marrowak, had sent a lavitaur , Wrok, on its way to bring its father to fight. The young cubone, Norra' Flecka has been the focus of Keel'a's attention, after having learned some new words from the dark Marrowak.

Keel'alla looked down at the cubone. "I am Keel'alla, your master and the master of that colony" Keel'a pointed to the stalagmite filled cavern. When you tell them, you will say to them 'The Master calls you to this place'." Keel'alla lifted his scythe and held it close to his body, "Now move!"

"Yes'a, Keel'alla, sirra!" Norra' Flecka cried, and ran off in the direction Keel'alla pointed. Soon enough she came upon the Marrowak colony Keel'alla had taken over. "Um'ma, erra..." Norra' Flecka gained their attention. "The Master'a calls you to thissa place!" she said, pointing back in the direction she came.

"You mean'a master Keel'alla?" a Marrowak asked.

Norra' Flecka nodded.

"Well, we should trust Cubone kin. Besides, she can't attack us. She doesn't have a bone nor a chance!" another one said.

Norra' Flecka blushed angrily under her mask. The Marrowaks agreed, and overwhelmed the little Cubone in heading in the direction she pointed. "Wait'a forra me!" she cried, taking off after the colony.

Kazzm and his son wandered down the tunnel. Being of such short attention span they had begun to enjoy themselves by tossing pebbles at one another until they had come close to thier destination. "Thass the place daddnn." said the Larvitar.

~*~

Keel'a smiled as the colony gathered to his call. He turned to them and brandished his scythe. "Today , I will show you just how powerful I am !"

Heavy footsteps could be heard echoing towards the colony. Some of them were scared!

Kazzm peered short sightedly out of the tunnel mouth into the cavern and saw the gathered marrowak. "Brrf...stoopid smelly dertnalizard sillies...GONNA EEETCHUUUU!" he yelled mockingly, before setting red baleful eyes on thier leader.

Keel'alla turned and smiled wickedly. "Have you come to call me master? Or will you die here ?"

Kazzm seemed to cough, but it lasted ten seconds or so, and some of the sharper marrowak might have picked up that he was actually laughing "None of dat silly, come break you lots n make yee cry. Might eetchu to...Kazzm has not eaten dert leezerd whiteface many a year now..."

Keel'alla answered with a roaring laughter, " You think you will dine here but you -will- die here instead." The dark Marrowak narrowed his eyes at the tyranitar. "Make your move ...."

The tyranitar moved forward and stomped once, leaning down to the marrowaks level and unleashed a bellow unlike anything that the marrowak had ever heard. His fetid, stone cold breath washed over Keel'alla and the noise caused smaller rocks to shower down the walls and even a few fell form the roof.

Keel'alla yawned. "I've been through the gates of Hades and back. Your morning breath is nothing!" The Dark Marrowak slashed at the Tyranatar's snout with the claws of the sneasle he had slain. 'That should be ennough to annoy it!' he thought to himself.

Dust fell from the scratches in the tyraitaurs snout, but the slow witted creature didnt seem at all phased, and swung a mighty paw at the marrowak in a fashion resemblant of a playful cat.

Keel'a ducked the heavy hand and rolled between the pokemon's pillar like legs, jabbing up with his scythe. "Bet he feels that one!" he laughed.

Kazzm grunted. "OIY!! Play fair stupid creacheer!" he said, pulling his own legs form beneath him in an effort to squish the annoying thing with his more than ample backside. Keel'a snickered as he sidestepped the massive bum plumeting towards him. He dashed over to Wrok's side, giving the rock-type a good shove. "See , your old man can't even touch me!"

Wrok smirked. "He na even trying jerk na head...he playing wi' you...yer his toy!"

Keel'a dashed back towards the battle grounds. "Hey big and &%\\$#@!'n stupid! Do you like the cold?"

Kazzm looked at Keel'a "Nar, cold herts mineself...you like to be squished..?" he said, and the face of the behemoth began to crack and make creaking noises as the creature did somehting he hadn't done for close to a century...he began to smile.

"You're too thick and slow to squish me! Your own little deffective brat couldnt' even lay a scratch on me! " Keel'a teased at the tyranitar from the top of a stalagmite. "I , on the other hand " Keel'a raised his sneasle claw armoured fist, "Will be more than happy to show you what happens when Ice and Rock meet!"

Kazzm was grinning now. He said nothing, but set his feet far apart, and raised a mammoth fist into the air. "Seen na eart shake?" he asked. "Mine faaaavrit moove...i can bring down na cavern on squishly little head o Yers...whole cavern fall in go smash...wanna seee?" he asked in an almost childlike manner "I dun need Tack you at all squish you....whole place squish you I want it to..." he smirked.

Keel'a pointed over to the Tyranitaur's son, " You'd kill him too, idgit!"

The tyranitaur again laughed in his soft coughing amnner. "Why for you think mine skin made like na rock only harder dert thing? Look at me.." he said "These rocks softer than me. Softer na Wrok to, and he can get away down na tunnell." he said, pointing at the now escaping child. "See? You leave me, n mine keeds alone...or i make whole unnerground yer enemy...whole lotter rocks above you...anywhere you go, i find yew...i break yew...i keeeell yew...no scaping me down here...WHO DA MASTER NOW?!"

Keel'a licked his lips under his mask and charged the tyranitaur, readied to use the Ice-Puch attack that had cut the life of the colony's old leader short. At the base of the dark-rock pokemon's body, he swung his balled up fist, now glowing blue white.

Kazzm struck out a leg at the Marrowak. The leg toucched the glowing fist, and mid air crystalised and cracked, but crashed into the marrowak.

Keel'a reacted with a breif flamethrower, melting the ice to a puddle. "I -AM- the master here , beast , and you will know it as your last thought!" Keel'a snarled and spat, concentraiting on what he knew about sneasles. The claws glowed dark blue as he prepared for a new assault.

Kazzm fell onto the stump of his leg, and bellowed in agony, raw rocky flesh colliding with the earth. A red mist clouded his vision and he began to thrash around wildly, showing surprising speed in his movements, cracking the rocks he lay on and making enough noise to shake the sides of the cavern.

The Marrowaks and cubone of the colony backed away from the falling debris produced by the thralls of the giant pokemon. They looked to thier leader to do something soon! Keel'alla held his armored fist out in front of him, pointed towards the tyranitar. "DIE!" he shouted as the icy burn of a great Aurora Beam shot forth from him.

Suddenly the red mist cleared from the Tyranitars eyes and a calm realisation of impending death set in. He knew he'd had it now...ice could kill him with no problem. He raised a paw to the roof and bought it down with all the speed he could muster, about to deliver his earthquake attack. The massive fist struck the ground, opening a chasm under the tyranitar just as the ice attack hit him. The earth opened beneath him, and his frozen body fell and shattered...and the chasm opened still wider.

Keel'a beat a hastey retreat from the opening chasm, shouting to his colony to get a move on! As the dust settled, it was clear they no longer had a home. The cavern destroyed, Wrok had no idea what was going on, but began to burrow his way through the walls of the tunnell he was in in order to find some way to get back to where he had last seen his dad. He and his father weren't exactly close per say..but the larvitar still had a lot of respect for the old guy.

Norra' Flecka ran back with the colony, and she just barely got through the cavern when it got the big hole in the middle. Amidst the chattering and panicked Marrowak and Cubone, she pushed through. She wanted to make sure of the outcome of the battle.

"Wherra' you go'a?!" a young male Cubone asked, towering over Norra' Flecka.

She looked up. "I make'a sure'ra Tyrannathingie dead'a dead'a!" Norra' Flecka said.

Several other Cubones stepped behind the first one. "Wherra' you bone'na?!" one taunted.

"That badda' badda' rock'a took it!" she cried.

"I bet you didn't even have a bone to begin with." another teased.

"No! I havva' bone'na! Justa' wassa' stolen!" Norra' Flecka stomped her foot.

"Stupid'a Stone na' Flecka. Everyone knows'a Cubones dun letta their'ra bones be stolen'a!" the big leader said.

Norra' Flecka had it with the bully Cubones. "I Norra' Flecka! 'Cause I norra' flecka!" Norra' Flecka kicked the big Cubone in a place most people don't like to think about. He groaned and stumbled, using his bone for support.

"WAHH!! I WANNA' MY MOM'MA!" the leader Cubone ran away.

"Oooh, you in bigga' bigga trouble!" another Cubone said.

"He deserve itta!" Norra' Flecka yelled, melting back into the crowd of Marrowaks.

"Badda baby Stone' na Flecka." one of the Cubones shrugged. "Herra name'a Norra' Flecka, na Stone' na Flecka! She kawaii'a (cute'a)!" another Cubone protested. The other Cubones stared.

Keel'alla stared at his colony. "SILENCE!" he bellowed over the noise of thier confusion. He waited for the cubones and marrowaks to be still. "Now, are we missing anyone?" Keel'a asked in a flat tone.

A cubone shuffled forward after cutting through the crowd to make a quick count. "N-n-Norra' one miss'a gone... 'cept'a old'a deaded leader-Marrowak's little kins."

Keel'a looked down at the cubone, " How many are missing?"

"She have'a one bigga' girl'a-kin, three bigga' male'a-kins, one little girl'a-kin anna' one little male'a-kin. Bigga' girl'a-kin anna' little male-kin long'a gone-way from before." the cubone recounted the old marrowak leaders children.

"Then we will hunt them down as soon as we find a new home for ourselves." Keel'alla declared. "Come, I smelled sandshrew a while back... we will take thier home!"

Marrowaks and cubones barked thier support. Keel'a had proven his strength to them. His leadership would not be questioned. Norra' Flecka meekly barked along with the others.

Keel'alla stood out boldly at the front of his colony as he led them through the underground to find a new home. The scent of sanshrews and thier evolution , sandslash filled the dark marrowak's nose. "Keep an eye out for anything that may lead us to the sandshrew colony. If you see one, try to kill it."

Norra' Flecka kept an eye out for the Sandshrew and Sandslash. Their scent was quite overpowering in her nostrils, but she didn't see any in particular that another Marrowak or Cubone didn't get. She walked along and waited patiently for one. Her stomach growled, but she wasn't going to stop for it. She would need to find a new bone. Soon, the colony had passed by a Sandshrew skeleton. Perfect! Norra' Flecka glanced back and forth, and when no one was watching grabbed it and snapped off a rib bone. The end was pointy. Then she got back in line with everyone else.

***Inside The Sandshrew Colony***

Dosha slunk in carefully, glad to see her brother was no where in sight. She was about to slink off, hoping to get some sleep, when she heard a familair voice from behind her. "Where were you Sandy?"

She cringed. Behind her stood the 'great' Migakizuna, looking worried. Dosha forced a smile,"Ummm...I just wanted to spend some time alone Father. I was just...around."

He seemed somewhat satisfied by this, and smiled,"Well, at least you're alright. You shouldn't worry us like that."

She had to work even harder to keep that sugar sweet grin on,"I'm sorry father."

He nodded,"That's alright. Just try to give us a warning next time." He patted her on the head," Now that's a good little Sandy." He walked on.

It was a good thing he did, especially since at that moment, her smile broke, changing over to a scowl. Why did he ALWAYS treat her like a child!? Dosha sighed in exasperation, and went to finally get her sleep...

***Outside The Sandshrew Colony***

A young Sandshrew trotted out of the colony to get a quick drink at the underground river. He yawned a bit sleepily, not really looking where he was going. He was shocked when he collided with something. Even more shocked when he saw what it was.

Keel'alla grabbed the tiny sandshrew and brough it close to his fearsome mask. "Where is your home?!" he snarled as he closed his grip tightly on the little one's body.

The little Sandshrew went stiff from fear, and was still for a moment. Finally, he looked as if about to burst into tears when he said in a shaky voice, "H-home? Back there. In those tunnels. Just don't hurt me please!!", he pleaded as he began to cry.

Keel'a grinned under his mask, "Hurt you? ... I wouldn't dream of it!" The dark Marrowak tossed the cubone to a pair of cubones.

"Follow me!" Keel'a moved on towards the city of sandshrew, his colony following close behind.

Norra' Flecka turned her head to see that a young Sandshrew had walked into her! How RUDE! She turned on the Sandshrew. "Master'a Keel'alla's orders." she said, and whacked the Sandshrew on the head with her bone in a Bone Club attack.

Dosha had wandered outside the borders of her colony, took attention to that, and lifted her head. She knew that voice.

The mass of ground pokemon soon arrived at the beginning of the sandshrew dwelling. Keel'a motioned for a hault and stepped forth to address the sandshrew colony. "I am Master Keel'alla! I have come to take this place for my people. You have two choices. Join my colony as our servants or die!"

Dosha began to carefully make her way up the tunnel, only to see her colony was in utter chaos. She wasn't surprised. She already knew her father would be out there in moments. And that he was. He stood behind her within moment,"Everyone, calm down. No harm can come of us. All we need to do is settle this, all will go well."

The Sandshrew colony cheered, delighted that the all powerful Migakizuna was taking this into his own paws. He made his way to the enterance, and stood before Keel'alla, doing his best to look threatening. The colony gazed at him with pure admiration in their eyes. Dosha turned slightly red. This was embarassing.

Migakizuna looked Keel'alla square in the face,"You will do no such thing while I, the grand Migakizuna, still stand here before you! Relent now and I may let you live!"

Dosha ,who stood to a side, began silently gagging. There was no way she was related to that guy... Her brother glared at her, and whapped her with his clawed paw, "Show some respect runt!"

She simply glared at him, and went back to see what the dark Marrowak's reaction would be.

Keel'alla laughed maniaclely. "You dare threaten me?!! I am Master Keel'alla, slayer of the dark cat, conquerer of a tyranitaur, adept of Fire anf Ice! Prepare to beg for mercy before I take your worthless life !" Keel'alla whipped out his scythe and slashed it in an arc towards the Sandslash's chest.

Migakizuna hadn't actually EXPECTED the Marrowak to attack him! He jumped towards the side, but he still recieved a deep gash in his side. He looked visably shocked, but did regain his cocky look after a moment...even if not so much as before,"Ha! As I said, you stand not a chance against me!"

The colony cheered their approval. Dosha sweatdropped, and thought to herself *What, is this the battle of the cliche males now?!*

Migakizuna took a slash at Keel'alla with his claws...and missed by a mile. He sweatdropped,"Urrrr....that was just to show you how powerful I am! And that's not even full power!"

More cheers of approval. Dosha sweatdropped more, and put a paw on her forehead *Jeez, can this GET any worse?*. The 'mighty' Sandslash continued in his attempts to slash the dark Marrowak Lord, only hoping one of his attacks would eventually make contact.

"Feeble old wretch!" Keel'alla kicked sand up from the floor at the Sandslash. "Do you think you can beat me with such pitiful moves ? Do you know I could freeze you where you stand?" The mob of marrowaks and cubones laughed at the sandslash's follies in the background.

Dosha again sweatdropped. This was pitiful... Migakizuna grew enraged when the sand landed in his eyes. He again began swinging, this time in a fury swipes attack. Dosha sighed, still sweatdropping. At least his aim had gotten better...

Keel'alla gasped in shocked pain as the sandslash finally made a hit against him. Two wide red welts came up across his unprotected arm. "Arrrrgh, you son of a ......" the enraged marrowak was through playing games.

He raised his good hand and fired a beam of frozen power at the floor of the cave under the Sandslash's feet. The fury of a fire attack bubbled in his throat. "Surrender, old one, and I will make your death quick!"

Migakizuna was terrified. The frozen floor...the dark Marrowak...all this??!

All watched in shock as Migakizuna suddenly collapsed into a heap, without a single new attack from Keel'alla.

Dosha walked up, slipping slightly on the icy floor, and felt for a pulse. She couldn't help but think it ironic. He had died of a heart attack, just as the old leader had. She turned her gaze to Keel'alla and shrugged, "Guess you win by default."

"I win because -I- am the Master of this world!" Keel'a harshly corrected the young sandshrew. He turned to the surrounding members of the Sandslash colony. "I am Keel'alla, I am your master ! This colony is MINE! Those who will not serve me in life, will serve my army in thier death! What is your answer!?"

"Keel'a Keel'a Keel'a!!!" The marrowak-cubone colony members shouted thier praises. Thier new leader may be harsh, but he was strong and would take care of them well.

The Sandshrews and few young Sandslashes quickly muttered their agreement to Keel'alla as their new leader. Dosha's brother glared at him. Dosha sighed inwardly, "Whatever." *Jeez...away from one macho guy and onto another! Well, I'll give him a shot...but if he starts treating me like a kid I swear I'll...*

She put on her sweet smile,"So what do you wish for us to do now Master Keel'halla.", she asked purposely mispronouncing his name.

"YOU, will learn to speak your master's name properly," Keel'a growled, "And you will find and bring forth the best fighters of your pitiful clan."

The dark Marrowak turned and motioned to his followers. " Take whatever home you like and get settled. Tommorow I will take the strongest fighters beyond here and expand our territory. We will rule here, then one day, we will emerge into the Upperworld and take it as well!" Keel'a waved his scythe around, each pass was answered with more cheers from his followers. He felt more confident than ever and smiled.

His colony rushed into the dwellings of the sandshrew/slash and claimed thier new quarters. Keel'a walked casually towards his new territory and paused by the fallen sandslash. An idea glittered in his eyes. He still had some use for the old fool after all! Hefting the dead leader by its tail, the dark marrowak dragged it into the primary home at the gates of the Sandshrew city.

Dosha sighed, and looked briefly at Keel'alla as he dragged her father's body away to do who knew what. She looked to the other Sanshrews, "So, let's just do as he says. So how do we figure out which of us are the 'best' fighters then?".

Her brother glared at her,"I will not do as some queer Marrowak demands! Not now, or ever!".

She sighed, exasperated,"Fine. Do what you want. Just don't come crying to me when this Marrowak deals with you. If he had used the ice beam in the first place, he could have killed father easily, and he won't hesitate to do such to you."

Her brother glared again, and stormed off.

Dosha rolled her eyes,"Stupid macho jerk.."

One of the younger Sandshrews poked her, trying to ger her attention.

She looked at her,"Yes?"

The young Sandshrew looked afraid, "Wh-what's gonna happen to us Sandy?"

Dosha sighed again,"I don't know. But one favor? Don't call me Sandy, ok?".

The Sandshrew nodded. Dosha seemed to think a bit hard,"So, how do we tell which of us are the strongest? We don't want to fight each other I'm guessing, so we need to try and guess."

Norra' Flecka saw little else to do, so she cheered with the rest of the Cubones and Marrowaks. Then, as they went into the Sandshrew colony, she quickly got into a hole that Sandshrews used for living area, but, soon there were a lot of Cubones and Marrowaks wedged into the same hole, so Norra' Flecka hastily made room for herself by digging slightly with her bone.

In the privacy of his new headquarters, Keel'alla butchered the carcass of his defeated foe. The skin he set for curing into a crude cloak, the meat he seared with his flamethrower attack. Keel'a stepped out from his dwelling and called out to the colony, " Where is my follower Norra' Flecka!?"

Norra' Flecka heard in the back of the burrow. "'Scus'a me! Pardon'a! Coming'a through!" she pushed and shoved outside. "What'a, Master'a Keel' alla?"

Keel'a barked back through the darkness, "Norra'Flecka I am over here. Come , I have something special for you to do!"

"Ok, Master'a Keel'alla!" Norra' Flecka followed his voice in the darkness.

Keel'alla used a flamethrower attack on a medium sized rock until it turned white hot, providing a little bit of light to guide the cubone. He turned back into his new home and grabbed a hunk of meat off the cooked carcass.

After some time, when Norra'-Flecka had failed to appear, Keel'alla was grew imaptient. He was working the sandslash hide with the blunt of his scythe, scraping away all the flesh that would ruin the skin for leather. If the cubone did not show up soon , he would punish her harshly.

Some time later, Keel'alla was finnished with the sandslash cloak. He tried on the fruit of his many hours long labors and smiled with satisfaction. The scaled hide cascaded down his back in a reagal fashion. He was truely an impressive sight by now. The cubone he had called to him had not made it yet.

"How could one of my kind lose it's way down here so fast?!" Keel'a paced the area outside his lair. The sandslash had grown cold again, but still smelled strongly of charred flesh. Keel'alla would wait a little bit longer before he would leave to hunt the cubone down. He tested the edge of his blade on a few stalagmites..... just in case.

Norra' Flecka made her way through the Sandshrew colony, until she found a silhouette that looked like Keel'alla. "Umma', issa' you Masta' Keel'alla?"

"Yes, it's me!" Keel'a responded rather harshly, "What in the &^^%\\$#@! took you so long?" Before he would let the cubone respond, he barked, "Come inside here... there is something I want you to do!" Keel'alla retreated back into his lair, spitting fire onto the ground where the cubone could see him clearly. "Hurry up already!"

Norra' Flecka opened her mouth to explain about the crowded burrow but shrugged and followed Keel'alla inside. "Whatta' masta' Keel'alla wanna' me do?"

Keel'alla looked at the little cubone. His eyes lit by the fire in the room glowed evily. "I need you to gather those worthless sandshrew here. We are going to march our fine warriors out to the Upperworld and see what we can find in the way of allies. You, little Norra, are now my voice to the minions. I give you the power, by my name, to recuit or kill any pokemon you feel worthy or worthless enough."
Keel'a stood up and ripped a haunch off the sizzled sandslash, "This is your payment for serving me. I will keep you and all my loyal subject well fed and strong. Now go ... gather the warriors of our kind , and the strongest sandshrews. It's time we began the journey to total control of both worlds." Keel'alla , for a moment, looked as if he cared, then turned from the cubone, leaving the lair to attend to other matters privately. There was something on his mind, and he'd have to be rid of it.

Norra' Flecka nodded and took the Sandslash meat, eating it quietly. "Yessa' Masta' Keel'alla. I will'a gather strong'a bigga' warriors." she finished and left.

"Excussa' me, but alla' pok�monn'a thinkka' be'a warriors please'a form'a bigga' line. Alla' who dunna' be warriors will'a be killed."

A wild scramble was made to form a line, and Norra' Flecka observed every Cubone, Sandshrew, Sandslash, and Marrowak warily, seeing if they were strong enough to be accepted into Keel'alla's army. At first the ones she rejected, sick, young, elderly, and overly weak, were just left, but as soon as she picked out the strong warrior-types, there was a massacre of the sick, elderly, and overly weak. The young, she decided, would have to be trained. Cries of pain echoed through the cavern.

Fallow was near tired of walking. Where was she headed anyway? The echoes she had heard earlier seemed to be getting louder as she progressed, though. She heard something, and readied her claws, in case whatever was ahead wasn't the friendliest of things. After all, she *was* walking into another pokemon's territory. She walked into the place, turning around so that nothing could try and sneak up on her. She turned her head to one side, looking around her some more - and because of that, she couldn't see the others that were already there.

Keel'alla was having trouble in his mind. Part of him wanted to kill , every thing and anything in his path. The other part of him wanted to nurture and help the pokemon in his army become the very best they could. In the end , the median for him was to work the ones who were strong enough, and kill any who faltered.
Only the strongest should survive... and he would test them... all the time. No one should be stronger than him , after all! The marrowak returned to inspect the pokemon he had sent Norra to gather. He smiled as the echoes of pain sang in his ears. She was doing her job, and doing it well. Perhaps.. she would even be worthy of keeping around longer than the rest.

Keel'a smiled in a very evil way and walked into the cavern of the colony. "Good job, Norra.... You may make a warlord of yourself yet." Keel'a pat the cubone on the head in approval and walked up and down the line of the remaining pokemon. "Today , we will set forth.. to move up into the world of daylight. Our mission is to find those who are strong and willing to battle on our side... and kill those who will not join us."

Keel'alla waved his scythe around , cutting dangerously close to some of the pokemon. "I will need a few amongst you, who think they are trust-worthy and loyal to come forward." Keel'a waited to see, who would be brave/ foolish enough to seek his favor.

Norra' Flecka puffed her chest in pride. A Sandshrew, Shrewer flexed his powerful looking muscles. He curled into a ball and rolled into the front of the crowd. "I am ready for whatever you need me to do!" In the back of his mind he was thinking perhaps to make a rebellion of Sandslashes once he became strong. After him pretty much the whole crowd tried to rush forward.

"Only few'a brave'a loyal'a trust'a worthy pok�mon'na!!" Norra' Flecka shouted as loud as she could but was enveloped in the crowd.

A Sandshrew tottled after Fallow. He was tough looking with a torn off ear. Grinning evilly and ran after Fallow, keeping unseen but still heard. The Sandshrew that was following Fallow snickered and moved closer. His name was SoilBurr, a tough pokemon. He hurried along, wating Fallows moves carfully.

Keel'a reached in to retrieve the cubone from the crowd. He belched out a large fire ball above the mass, almost close enough to singe a few ears. They scattered.

"Now, you will come forth in a manner that beasts with some sense in thier heads would use!" He pointed his scythe at the sandshrew who had come first, " You there... get over here. "
Keel'a pointed to a few others at random, " You.. and you and you... and you too!"

The four pokemon, a marrowak, a sanshrew and two more cubones timidly made thier way to the front of the ranks.

"Now..." Keel'a looked at them grimly, "Kill him."

The four pokemon looked at eachother, then decided, it was eithre going to be him or them! They charged the Sandshrew. Norra' Flecka thought herself lost in the crowd when she felt Keel'alla's paw on her shoulder. She nodded her thanks and watched the mayhem.

Keel'a smiled down at the small cubone. He wasn't sure why he favored her. There were certainly stronger pokemon in the crowd before him. Perhaps it was because she reminded him of himself, before the change. "You chose well, Norra.... now lets see if these pokemon have any guts at all..." Keel'a chuckled as he watched the 4 pokemon he picked advance on the sandshrew.

Norra' Flecka smiled nervously back. Why did Masta' Keel'alla favor her? she wondered. She certainly didn't have any good qualities, at least she thought.

Ah....so it appeared to Fallow that she had walked into what appeared to be a large group of ground-type pokemon - she saw some sandshrews, and some other cubones, too. She noticed that she herself was lost for the moment in the din caused by that great marowak's command. For a few moments, she considered going up there. But..such brutality among this group! Was it really worth her own skin just to try and gain favor, she wondered?
Fallow edged up to the back of the crowd. She thought she heard something behind her, but wasn't entirely sure. A glance behind showed nothing. Probably just one of the others, she thought. She turned her attention back to the scene up front.

Dosha watched from her perch on a rock. She had scrambled quickly up once the crowd had developed...to avoid trampling. Her gaze fell on Keel'alla. He was wearing a cloak of Sandslash. She figured she wouldn't need to guess where that came from. So, father had come to some use after all? Dosha was a bit hesitant about putting much faith into the Marrowak. For all she knew, he could be as bad as father was. She curled up atop the slightly flat ledge of the oversized rock, watching the events of the fight below...

The Sandshrew, Shrewer, backed off nervously. The four pok�mon advanced on him. He felt a wall suddenly on his back. He made a weird whimpering noise when he realized he was cornered.

Suddenly, the four attacked the Sandshrew, wherever he turned, a sharp bone here, a hard bone here, a claw there! He couldn't take it anymore! The fight commenced, horribly one-sided. The four pok�mon ripped the Sandshrew apart.

Keel'alla roared with laughter. "I guess he wasn't the warrior he though he was!! Any one else of you lot care to try ?"

Fallow made her way forward, not caring who she pushed out of the way. She was gonna be the one to get up there, not any of these other wimps! "Pick'a me!" she called out. "I'm worthy 'nough!"

"You'll have to kill these 4 rouges who who have murdered this sandshrew then....." Keel'a snapped his fingers at the 4 pokemon and pointed at Fallow with his scythe. "Get her!" The 4 pokemon gulped. Was Keel'a going to keep sending them out until they died?

Dosha rose from her rock, until she was stnading straight up atop it. She grinned, "Hold off newcomer. I'd like a shot a this.".

"Well ... I'm feeling generous ... you may both take on these 4 proven warriors.... " Keel'a looked at the sandshrew wickedly, " Then ... I'll see if either of you survive... who between you will carry on."

Dosha grinned, and looked at the newcomer, "Alright, what say we both take on two? I'll take the marrowak and the sandshrew, you take the two cubones. Sound good?". Without really waiting for a reply, she went in, slashing with surprising accuracy.

Fallow grinned under her helmet. "Sounds'a good ta' me..." She glanced at the fallen sandshrew in the corner and decided that she wouldn't end up that way. And this other sandshrew....quite a good fighter, it seemed.... But not better than herself!...Fallow thought.
She launched herself at the nearest cubone, her claws ready for battle.

The cubones, marrowak and sandshrew charged to meet the two challengers in battle. They would not give in to these two youngesters easily! Keel'a leaned on his scythe and waited for the first strikes. In a few moments, he would either have two winners, or two losers.

Dosha aimed her first shot at the Sandshrew's eyes. It dodged to the side...but left itself vunerable in that time. She slashed then at its unguarded stomach. The Sandshrew fell back at bit, with its Marrowak companion trying his luck. Dosha curled into a ball, letting the first blow from the club hit her somewhat armored body. The next time, she rolled to the side, watching as the Marrowak struck only the rocky ground. She let lose a sand attack as she uncurled, and slashed them both again. After a moment, they nodded to each other, and charged at her. Dosha grinned,"You want more? Then come and get it.".

Fallow attempted to try and grab the other cubone by the throat, which was the first thing she thought of doing. The cubone, though, realized what Fallow was trying to do, and swung its bone club at her. She reacted quickly, and grabbed her opponent's club. For a moment, the two wrestled with the bone, and then Fallow let go, catching the other off balance.

The second cubone was coming towards her, she noticed. It feinted with its own club, but turned around and tripped Fallow with its tail as she tried to dodge it. Fallow growled, and kicked out with her feet at the second cubone, which startled it enough to allow her to get herself back up. "Well then...." she sneered at the other two. "You're'a tougher thanna I 'spected, but you're'a not about ta' beat'a me THAT easily..."

Norra' Flecka watched Dosha and Fallow battle the four other pok�mon. She was aware that sooner or later she would have to battle one of Keel'alla's army and she had to win. If she did not, she would die. It was certain. She wanted to go off and practice fight an imaginary opponent, but she would have to ask permission to go. And she had a feeling Masta' Keel'alla didn't want to listen to her right then, so she decided to enjoy the battle. She could almost feel the desparation and intense adrenaline of a to-the-death battle from the pok�mon. It was a very interesting feeling.

Keel'a watched as his minions fought amoungst themselves. He looked down at his right hand cubone, "So, who do you think will win?"

"Well'a..." Norra' Flecka gazed at the battle. "I'm notta' sure. The four pok�monna' have the advantage, but that'a Sandshrew'a and that'a Cubone'na arra' defending themselves pretty well'a."

SoilBurr scrathed his head "I'll wait 'till the others are done then I'll see what I can do"

Running between the pair, Fallow swiped out with her right paw and managed to scratch the wrist of one of the cubones. She heard it hiss slightly, but she kept going forward, until she was ahead of both of them, and then pirouetted around to face their direction. One of the others flung its bone in Fallow's direction, hoping to catch her her as she turned. It rapped her near on her forehead, and she stood a moment, dazed slightly.

The cubone who had flung the bone took its opportunity and tackled Fallow. Down they went, rolling on the ground as each tried to gain an advantage over the other. The other cubone kept trying to attack Fallow also, but it couldn't get a clear shot at her. Fallow was getting a bit worried. This cubone was stronger than her, and if it happened to be the one to get the advantage, then it would surely defeat her. The very idea quickly turned her worry into rage, becoming fuel for her strength. Another roll, and she was on the bottom......there was space enough to move her feet, and she swung one upwards, catching the cubone in the stomach. It grunted, but didn't let its grip go.

That made Fallow irritated, and she kicked twice more, until it DID let go. She noticed a bit of a gash on the cubone's stomach, and realized that she had injured it while kicking. That heartened her greatly, and she went to finish the job up.

"Looks'a like you're'a goin' down!" she hissed in its face. She ran almost into it, attacking whenever she could - not easily, as this cubone was still dangerous. Fallow wasn't sure what was happening, but she knew she better keep it up or she would surely die.

Fallow found herself being slammed against a wall. It hurt, but she did her best to ignore the pain. The cubone made as if to throw her against the wall again, but Fallow reached out and slashed at the first spot she could, which happened to be the cubone's neck. It down in a heap, and whether Fallow had gotten the vital artery or not, she didn't know. At least it didn't bother her at the moment.

Wiping off her claws, Fallow knew she had to deal with the other cubone - and that one still had its club. Even though the thought disgusted her slightly, Fallow ran and grabbed the fallen cubone's club. She really didn't appreciate using another's bone, especially one as ill-fitting as this one, but if she didn't have one, then that other cubone would have a slight advantage over her. She growled at it, and, holding the bone horizontally in both paws, she charged.

The cubone, expecting such a run, swung its weapon - and Fallow brought up her own bone. There was a slight *thunk* sound as the two bones collided, and both the cubones backed off slightly. It had been a while since Fallow had used a weapon. She hoped that her technique hadn't degenerated much. Her opponent tried to hit her hand, in hopes that Fallow would drop her own weapon. Not a chance! Fallow tried spinning around, something she had seen her brother perform years ago, and which always seemed to work for him. It worked only slightly well for her, as the attack missed her and she gave her opponent a slight rap on its helmet. Fallow smirked. This could get quite interesting.

Soilburr was itching to fight, he growl and got ready to run in any second.

"Yes! Yes!" Keel'a shouted with excitement. His eyes were alight with a fire of pure joy at watching the carnage before him. "Norra.... isn't this just wonderful? Strong powerful pokemon duking it out.. fighting to the death, all to impress me" Keel'a's tooth rimmed skull-mask seemed to grin savagely.
The cubone seemed to be winning .... but how was the sandshrew fairing?

Dosha yawned as the two oppoenets charged her from either side. Too easy...didn't they know that NEVER worked? She stepped to the side, and watched as they collided head on with each other. The Sandshrew took more damge due to the Marrowak's extra protection. The Sandshrew fell unconcious then, leaving only the Marrowak.

Dosha chuckled,"So, it's just you now then, eh?".

He glared at her,"Mesa gonna be da winna! You'sa just a puny lil Sandyshrew!"

"Oh, really?". She flicked her tail at him, "You know, looks can decieve." She suddenly leapt foward and slashed with a fury swipes at his stomach area, finally stopping when he fell over.

She grinned at Keel'alla as she hopped back onto her rock, "Well, that was fun at least.".

Norra' Flecka watched Dosha's battle. When the Sandshrew won, she clapped. "Amazing'a! Amazing'a!" Norra' Flecka cried, suprised that a little Sandshrew won. Wait a minute, did that Sandshrew look familiar? Norra' Flecka, still applauding the victorious Sandshrew, gave her a closer look. Was that the Sandshrew she had once battled? Maybe. If she ever got the time, maybe she'd ask.

Dosha grinned at the Cubone, knowing too well who she was...she had announced it aloud after all, and how could Dosha forget?
"Why, thank you Norra.". Dosha gave a slight bow, and a wink as well.

Another charge at her opponent, and Fallow found herself at a standstill. The way it seemed now, neither her nor her opponent could get the edge over the other. The two of them stood, trying to fore each other to back down. It surprised Fallow that while the other cubone was bigger than her, its weight didn't seem to be much more. She was getting tired of this. Lashing out with a foot, she distracted the other cubone long enough for her to push it back. It fell on its back, and managed to dodge when Fallow tried to whack it.

She narrowed her eyes. "Little...." she muttered, not finishing the sentence, and dropped her weapon. She grabbed the cubone by the tail, effectively stopping it from being able to rise. "You may'a be bigga'," she told it, "but that'a does'na stop me!"

She kept the tail pinned down with her foot, and then put nearly all her weight on the fallen cubone's chest. It lay there, gasping for breath...but this wasn't good enough for Fallow. She didn't want to just sit on it....she wanted to physically do it in. She jumped off, and allowed her opponent to rise. While it tried to catch its breath, Fallow headbutted it viciously, ramming it against the wall. The cubone's head hit the wall with a sharp *crack*, and it slumped down, not moving. Was it over...? Fallow looked around her immediate area. Both the cubones were dead...or at least not moving. She waited a few minutes, to see if the job was indeed complete.

" Bravo!" Keel'a clapped his hands together in approval at the two remaining pokemon. "Now ... make sure they are dead ... I want thier heads!" Keel'alla pointed to the sanshrew who had spoken up before, " You! .. step forth."

SoilBurr narrowed his eyes but desided not to speak. His turn would come, but now he had a chance to study the moves of the others. SoilBurr grinned and walked forward standing ready.

Dosha yawned, wondering if she had yet proven herself to be more adept at fighting than her appearence let on. Hopefully...if this guy was anything like her father, she would go completely insane. Curling up on the rock once again, she settled herself comfortably to watch more events unfold below.

Keel'alla grunted in satisfaction as the battles came to an end. "You two have proven your strength. Come forth!" The marrowak glanced over to the sandshrew called Soil-Bur, "I have no time to test you're strength, now. Judging by the scar you have , you are either strong ... or just very weak!" Keel'alla waited for the cubone and two sandshrews to join his side.

Dosha gave a satisfied grin, and hopped down once more from her rocky perch, espcially pleased with the surprised looks on the faces of some of her kin. Maybe now they would not see her as a weak child, but for who she was in actual! She was quickly by Keel'alla's side. Although she couldn't help but wonder if he remembered her somewhat mocking comments earlier...or did it really matter? Most probably not...but later she really should let Keel'alla know that her brother had dissapeared. Keel'alla would probably be his target after all...but she would let him know that at a more...appropriate time. He wouldn't very well appreaciate it NOW after all.

Fallow glimpsed over the two dead cubones, shrugged once, and walked over to where Keel'alla was standing. She stood there, and waited for whatever might be said.

Norra' Flecka looked at Dosha. Yeah, that was the Sandshrew she had battled! What a coincidence! She smiled to herself on remembering.

"Warriors," Keel'alla greeted the 3 pokemon who had come forth from the crowd, "Two of you have proven your worth to me in battle, and the other may not live to see the end of my plans," Keel'a gave Soil-bur a wicked sidelong glance.

Dosha smirked in Soil-bur's direction, but said nothing.

"You will come with me to the Upperworld and search for pokemon who would be useful to us. If we can't convince them to join us , we will kill them." Keel'a didn't wait for a yes or no from the young warriors, his word was law. He turned to the crowd of sandshrew, sandslash, cubone and marrowak.
"My followers, you shall remain here, train and grow stronger. I am going to the Upperworld to find more pokemon to enslave. When I return, I expect you to be able to defend yourselves properly from them. If you die under thier assault, then you did not deserve to live in the first place."

Dosha gave a semi-quzzical look. So, was THAT his plan then? What good would it do to enslave more? He had quite a good army right here...although it might be nice to see the world above. As long as no one called her a weak child... She also wondered just how many of these Pokemon would still be alive when they returned. After all, whatever Pokemon that hadn't yet been conquered would retaliate...especially with thier leader gone. But, this wasn't really HER immediate problem, now was it?

There was a general murmur of dismay and doom through the crowd, speckled with a few shouts of readiness to battle. Keel'alla belched out a flame to quiet them all.

Again, Dosha gave a slight smirk. This was rather amusing to watch at least.

"If any of you desert this place , I will find you. When I find you , you will learn the meaning of pain in its rawest form. You will die a slow miserable death and pray to me for days to finnish your worthless life." Keel'a's voice tolled out like the echoed sound of an avalanche. The crowd was stunned silent.

*Well, I suppose that speaks for brother then, doesn't it?*, she thought to herself with a grin.

"I will return" Keel'alla turned his back on the colony, walking past his 4 chosen pokemon. "Come."

Dosha trotted along behind him, throwing a victorious grin back to those of her and another colony. The faces gazes that met her were stunned, causing her to grin yet more before turning her back on them as well.

Norra' Flecka trotted behind Keel'alla cheerfully. This was going to be fun! She had no doubt that soon the whole world would bow to her master, Keel'alla! She gave the crowd of Cubones, Marrowaks, Sandshrew, and Sandslash a sideways glance as they passed. She wondered what would happen while they were gone. But that thought was pushed away by the thought that even the Upper World would be conquered! She knew there was an Upper World, but otherwise she didn't know much about it. She imagined a horribly bright place with really strange pok�mon and the tops of those roots that came far below the ground. Soon she would find out what the Upper World was like!

Soil-Bur followed silently. He was smart with experiance to know that if he proved himself by suceeding in Keel'alla's mission, then he would gain the respect the others had. He wriggled one of his ears, the only one in tact and followed the Marrowak.

Fallow watched as the dark marowak passed by her. She fell in line behind him, along with the three others. The upper world, hmmm? It had been a while since she had last been up there...Fallow wondered if it had changed much since then....but no time to dwell on that thought now.

Keel'a chose on of the west-bound passages. There was a strange instinctive drive for him to go there. There was a loose end in his life he couldn't put a finger on , but knew he had to cut. Keel'a pushed further, towards the sound of the underground river. If he followed it long enough, he would find a way out.

*****

Chomp was feasting on a good size Sandslash, when he heard something nearby. He ignored it and went back to his meal. 'What ever it is should know better then to mess with me', he thought. He let out a warning flamethrower to who ever it was, and went back to his meal.

Keel'alla haulted the group just as a shot of flame whizzed by. 'heh.. a fire pokemon. A perfect target!' he thought to himself. "Ladies," He looked directly at Soil-bur, " looks like our first opponent has crossed our path. Let's see if it will be of any use to us."

Dosha smirked, and repressed a slight giggle.

Keel'alla walked towards the source of the flame, " You there, Fire- thing of the upperworld. I am Master Keel'alla... Dark Ruler of all the land. What is your buisness here."

Dosha followed behind Keel'alla. This thing may very well be a higher level than herself...but she had a definate type advantage. That and she knew that Keel'alla was definately more than a match. Hopefully, there wouldn't be anything to worry about. She had decided to take the chance and put some faith into the dark Marrowak, only hoping that it wouldn't turn out to have been ill-spent!

"I live here and I haven't been to the upperworld in quite some time. There all a little to weak for my tastes. If your the dark master, then how come I've never heard of you? And the names Chomp, not fire-thing", Chomp said. He finished his meal and wiped the blood from his mouth.

Keel'alla growled, "I am he who should not be named in the dark... the Master of the lands south of the volcano. My form may change , but I do not. The houndoom is no more .... in its place is the form you see before you. I am master of stone, ice and fire. Those who do not bend to my will, will be crushed!" Keel'alla gripped the end of his scythe tightly. If the fire-pokemon gave him any trouble , he would be ready.

Dosha couldn't help but grin. So far, when it came to introduction speeches, Keel'a sure had this guy beat..she just hoped that it would go the same with battle skills as well.

Norra' Flecka prepared for battle, as the weird Upper World pok�mon didn't seem satisfied with what her master, Keel'alla was saying. She held her bone in both paws, gripping it more with her left paw then her right, ready to use her Bone Club attack if she had the opportunity, or to defend against whatever the red lizard with wings would do and start to use Growl and lessen the damage it would do to Keel'alla, Dosha, Soil-Burr, Fallow and/or herself. She glared at the Upper World pok�mon, and was ready for whatever it would do.

"You can ease up on your weapon. I may be brave, but I'm not stupid. Not only have you got me out numbered, but you also have the advantage since were underground. How come your coming this way, anyhow?", Chomp asked. He wouldn't mind a fight, but he was had recently battled with the Sandslash and was still a little sore. He had a slash across his chest that he covered with a flamethrower. It wasn't enough to damage to do him any real harm and it would heal pretty quick, but it would leave a scar.

Dosha grinned again. Well, at least she knew that the Charizard had SOME brains up there. And here she had thought they were all braindead. Of course, there were exceptions to all breeds, weren't there? Keel'a was a prime example of such. Perhaps her faith in the Marrowak would get her soneplace after all.

Keel'a looked at the charizard with suspicion. Thier kind were known for putting up great battles. He had slain a few when he inhabited the houndoom's body. He rather liked the way they taste. "I am on my way to the Upperworld. I will rule it too, one day, but not until I have seen whether it is worth my time." Keel'alla spoke in a manner of authority, " I have warriors to train and ready for thier roles as my higher servants. You have a choice ... join me , or become thier next training exercise." Keel'alla leaned on his scythe while awaiting the fire-pokemon's answer.

Charizard pondered it. He didn't like the idea of joining someone, but he also needed time for his wound to heal before he battled again. "I will join you, but besides my life, what will I get in return.", Chard asked.

"Nothing." Keel'a spoke flatly, "Not until you have proven yourself." The Dark Marrowak glared grimly at the flying beast. Something would have to be done about any advantage the Charizard might try to take. The Marrowak continued down the passage that would lead him to the world above, certain he would accomplish all his goals with such loyal pokemon on his side.

Chomp followed Keel'alla. He walked behind the others. He had joined, but he still then quite trust Keel'alla. "What is it you plan to do exactly once you take over?", he asked.

Keel'a grunted as he walked along. " I will ensure the future of those who are worthy of living.... the weak must be culled to make way for the strong."

"But once all the weak are gone. Then what. Kill the strong ones, who arn't quite stong enough.", Chomp said. He realized, he was proabily pushing it, so he stopped there and kept on walking.

Keel'a turned on the charizard and spoke in a low mean voice, "After the weak ones are gone , I'll be rid of the noisy ones."

Dosha smirked again. This Charizard...was it Champ? No...maybe Chopper? Well, whatever his name was, he sure had a big mouth...not that she didn't, but....well, she knew when to keep it shut. Still, she stayed close by Keel'a in case this guy tried anything. You can never really tell with pokemon like that. Dosha gave Keel'a a smile, and asked,"So, master Keel'a, when do you think we will arrive at the above world?"

Chomp walked on in silence. He couldn't stand the idea of following someone else. But he did like the ideas this guy had.

Keel'alla trudged onward, his tail lashed to and fro under the mantle of spiny scales of his sandslash cloak. His eyes glowed with a dark red hue as his mind fumbled with questions.
'Why do I need this lot? Norra' has been useful, but the others? That damned noisy charizard.... should have killed him. I don't need anybody .... I've never needed to have others around me. It must have something to do with this form. The lousy cubone was soft, weak... It's my power alone that keeps him stronger than he could have ever achieved. Still ... that cubone fights me. This will be intresting... very intresting. ' Keel'alla turned down a southward bend in the path before answering the sandshrew.
"When we reach the river, we will cross it. From there, it's a half a day's march." Keel'a doubled his pace, nearing a trotting jog. "If you want to live , you will keep up!"

Dosha's typical smirk appeared on her face *So, is he testing our durability then? Simple enough...* She quickened her pace, making sure to match her stride to that of Keel'a. Although she dared not move faster than him...that also would be a foolish move. And foolishness would not be tolerated, she had also seen THAT proven already.

-Do I want to live?- Fallow thought, mentally laughing. She stepped up her walking speed up a bit. -Of course I do!- She had survived thus far....she was not about to let something like lagging behind do her in now. Nearly running up behind the others, she slowed down a tad. It wouldn't do for her to use up all her energy right now.

Norra' Flecka ran to keep up with Keel'alla. She was somewhat worried about crossing the river, but, Keel'alla seemed to have it figured out, so she didn't ask questions.

Soil-Bur followed wordlessly. He cursed in his head when the oppertunity to battle the Charizard was vanished. He was pretty speedy so he had no need to hurry to not lose the Marrowak. He hoped the time would come for his chance to prove himself to Keel'alla, he hated being looked down upon but atleast he was a warrior at the moment. Soon, the Marrowak would see his power.

Keel'a noted the sharp left turn the path had taken... away from the sound of the river. He still had a way to go to lead them to the upperworld. A tight gurgle in is stomach made him realise how hungry he had become. Fire and dark types required alot of food and used alot of energy. The thought of butchering one of his party members crossed his evil mind, but left quickly enough. He had already eaten a sandslash. He wanted more variety. Keel'alla decided he would wait until he reached the river. There were plenty of things to be eaten there. He turned his head back to check on his followers. Good , they were all there. The dark marrowak kept up on his tight clipping jog. The path took a sharp turn to the south. The river could no longer be heard, but he knew he was getting closer.

Dosha knew this area well enough...she had ventured out here a few times to escape her home. Not to mention her brother... Easily keeping her pace with that of Keel'a, she knew that they were coming close to the river. It wouldn't be very long now...

Keel'alla slowed as he neared a fork in the road. One path would lead them to the river , the other back where they came from. He decided he would test his follower's abilities to manuver underground. He stopped and turned on them. "Hold up your right paw if you think we should go right .. and yer left paw if you think we should go left .... and it's best that you not be wrong!" Keel'a snickered to himself and waited for thier answers.

Chomp wasn't one hundred percent sure, but he rose his Left Hand. He waited patiently for the others to answer, hoping he was right.

Norra' Flecka remembered which direction she had heard the river from. She raised her right hand silently.

Dosha lifted her right paw into the air without a word. She looked quickly at the Charizard....Chally?...and wondered to herself if either she had gotten confused, or if this guy had no clue what he was doing. Maybe Charizards really WERE braindead...or perhaps he was doing it on purpose? Chairzards weren't supposed to like the water after all. Dosha was almost positive that the correct direction to move was right...and felt more reassured when she saw Norra point in the same direction. She looked straight in Keel'a's direction once more, no longer looking out of the corner of her eye, a more confident look stamped upon her face.

Fallow watched as Dosha, Norra, and...that charizard, whoever he was, make their choices. Hmm...two for right, one for left. Her impulse was to choose the right also, but she wasn't entirely sure... Taking a moment to think of where the group had just come from, she also listened for any echoes that might be of help. Finally she shrugged and picked the right also.

Behind her skull helmet Norra' Flecka observed the others. The Upper World thing had it's left paw in the air. That thing was just asking to get killed by Keel'alla. Dosha, had her paw in the air. Fine. The Sandshrew didn't matter much to her. The other cubone, Follaw? Fallow? Whatever... She didn't care much about it, she was absolutely confident now that they had to go to the right. Her stomach rumbled painfully, but she ignored it.

Soil-Bur blinked and lifted his right paw.

Keel'alla watched as the pokemon raised thier paws. Three had answered correctly. The charizard had not. Keel'a raised his scythe to point to the upplander-beast. "You have chosen wrong."

Dosha felt somewhat relieved, although her eyes betrayed nothing.

Keel'a turned his gaze to the two sandshrew and the cubones, " You four now see how superior the underground is to the upperworld? That is why we will conquere it, take it for our own. "

Dosha nodded. This made...some sense to her. Although....Champy was it?....had come from the upperworld, he should have known how to navigate at least a bit, insteading of answering foolishly and quickly like he did. So, it WAS true that these things were braindead then.

The cold icy tone in Keel'a's voice was reflected in his right paw. The pain stung him deeply, to the core of the bones. "You .. fire- beast... you have failed. Prepare to deal with your punishment."

Dosha felt a somewhat wicked grin appear on her face. So, the fire lizard...Chlompy?...would pay for his errors after all. This would be a great show to watch.

Chomp stood bravely and said, "What ever my punishment is I deserve I. What is it?". He hoped it wouldn't be to severe, but if it was death, he would not stand for that.

Keel'alla strode boldly over to the charizard. Anger still burned in his eyes. Failures would not be tollerated. Chomp's punishment would be severe. "Since you favor your left, your left will suffer the consequenses." the dark marrowak snarled, balling his fist tightly to unleash his attack. He punched Chomp hard under the shoulder of the left wing, unleashing the full force of his ice-punch, puncturing with the sneasle's claws. The dark marrowak tore through the vital sinews the fire-lizard would need to fly. The air around them crackled in quick-frozen sweat and blood.

Dosha was surprised by the ice attack. She had heard Keel'a say himself that he could have frozen father on the spot...that had been what had caused the heart attack after all. But she had never even thought that he could actually DO it...she'd have to make note of that...and make sure to stay on his good side.

Keel'alla pulled away, snearing at Chomp as he licked the sizzling blood off his fore-arm. "Your lot are weak. I will kill all of your kind I meet in the upperworld. "

Dosha smirked. THAT didn't sound so hard at this point... Keel'alla turned away from the wing-crippled charizard," Follow me if you wish.... but fail me again and I will let my warriors feast upon your flesh."

Dosha smirked again, obviously in....Chalampy's?...direction. Hopefully he would learn a lesson from this.

The Dark marrowak pushed past his warriors and turned down the hall on the right. He disapeared down the dark hall, knowing his warriors would not fail to keep up with him.

Dosha kept pace with him, taking another look back at the crippled Charizard, before turning her gaze back to Keel'a. He was definately looking to her to maybe even be someone to look up to...at some point anyway.

Soil-Bur kept a steady pace. He was impressed by Keel'alla's ice attack, although he didn't change the expresstion on his face. That stupid Charizard payed for his mistake but losing the use of his left wing, a fair price to pay for stupidity the Sandshrew thought.

Norra' Flecka showed no emotion over the ice attack. She knew, or at least thought, that Keel'alla was capable of doing most things, so it didn't really surprise her. Norra' Flecka was happy she chose the right direction, as sometimes you couldn't always depend on your senses....Norra' Flecka ran to keep up with Keel'alla, yet staying behind him a little to show respect.

Charizard held his pain inside, he mended the puncture the best he could. And seeled it with a flame. He then quickly caught up with them again. He would have his revenge someday, but for now he would try and gain Keel'alla's trust.

Soil-Bur looked up at the Charizard, blinked, then turned back to Keel'alla but keeping come eye on the Charizard

Fallow had watched in morbid. She winced slightly, but, oddly, she felt a strange sort of satisfaction from watching it. The charizard had been punished because he was wrong. Fallow grinned under her helmet. She had not been wrong...or wasn't weak, not like that winged lizard. She started to walk again, but slowed down for a moment to glance at the charizard again. She turned away again, not paying him any more heed. Silly upperworld creature. Before she could lag behind any, Fallow caught up with the rest of the group.

Keel'alla marched them onward, down the dark tunnel path until once more, the slight sound of the river could be heard, eachoed through the underground. They passed into a larger coridor, heading southwest. Keel'a felt the presense of something above them, something ancient and powerful... more powerful than himself, but weak against his power. The Dark Marrowak decided it would be best not to disturb such power at the moment, but he would have to investigate it when he returned. The sound of the river was getting much louder. Keel'alla continued his march. His warriors would soon have to brave one of the greatest perrils to thier type..... water!

Dosha surpressed a slight shiver. The sounds of the river weren't uncommon to her, but she had a distinct feeling that she knew what was coming. Would this be another test of Keel'a's? Perhaps...but it would be something they would all have to brave.

Soil-Bur narrowed his eyes and grit his teeth. He hated water! But he would have to go to it.

The river's noises echoed in Norra' Flecka's bone helmet. She briskly marched on hiding her emotions though. No need for ANYBODY to know she was afraid of the river except her. She took in a big deep breath of air. Water was fine!
Just....wet....and....OH MY GOSH! What if the current took her away?! She was a very small Cubone! She gave herself a mental slap. She would cross that river when she came to it. Norra' Flecka thought. Her back wasn't so vulnerable to water, ne? And her bone could be used to anchor her if the current started to drag her, ne? And her bone could also be used as a paddle, ne? Water wasn't so bad. Norra' Flecka calmed down as she thought of ways to crush her fears.

Fallow's eyes widened slightly as she heard the sound of the river. Her heart pounded in her chest for a moment, until she managed to calm herself. No use getting hysterical over something like a bit of water in front of the others, she thought.

The roar of water poured steadily into the section of the tunnel the underground warriors traveled. Keel'alla moved southward, parallel to the wide water path until he reached the spot he was looking for. Straight above them was a rift in the cavern's ceiling. Through it , streamed air laden with the scents of the world above. Light peirced the darkness and glittered off the surface of the water. On thier side of the river , it was impossible to climb up the side of the wall and out of the underground. They needed to cross the river to get to the steep, but climbable wall that would lead them to the upperworld.

Keel'alla paused to think his actions over carefully. He knew his body was weak to water and would suffer greatly if he remained in it for too long. He walked up the riverbank a few yards to look at the current's speed. It was steady, forceful ... but not so strong that it would carry him away quickly. The dark marrowak slid his scythe beween his back and his sandslash cloak and dove in. He let the current do half the work of manuvering himself across the river while paddling hard with all his might against the pain of the water hitting his body. About half-way across the hundred yards wide river, Keel'alla felt himself begin to sink. The Sandslash cloak had taken on alot of water and pushed him down. Keel'a' mask began to fill in with liquid too.

"&%\$#@! &%$#@! &%$#@!!!!!" Keel'a repeated in his head over and over, forcing himself to carry the weight. His breath grew shorter as pain shrouded every last one of his senses. His time immersed in the river was taking it's toll. His sinking form had little time to think. The other side was there... almost there, just a few more feet to go. He had to make it. After all the things he had gone through to get here ... he had to make it across the river!! Keel'alla dissapeared under the flickering white froth of the river. The dark marrowak felt his breath being stolen from his lungs. In place of air, there was burning thick liquid gripping and sealing off every chamber.

The marrowak felt his body being jerked further downstream. The river spit the underground's dark warrior out onto the opposite bank, seemingly lifeless as a clump of mud. As luck would have it, Keel'alla's face was pointed down, and lay lower than the rest of his body. The position was enough to tilt the water from his lungs. As dry air found its way in, the dark one felt his mind coming back to him. Being wet hurt him terribly. Keel'alla coughed and sputtered more of the terrible river out. Feebly , he lit a small flame onto some debris on his side of the river bank. The warmth helped. The Dark marrowak looked out to the opposite side. If his warriors abandonded him now, he wouldn't blame them. He had nearly died, and the river would surely take one if not all of his followers. He removed his soaking cloak of sandslash scales and waited to see which of his followers were dedicated and foolish enough to cross after him.

Norra' Flecka took a deep breath. The river had nearly killed Keel'alla! How was SHE supposed to cross it?!?!?! She began to get gripped with fright, when she remembered her idea. She turned her back on the river, and slowly entered it backwards, gasping at the awful freezing water. Then she leaned back, using her back as sort of a boat. The water stung her back miserably! And the current was swift! She was still on the bank and it was carrying her down. She remembered her other idea. She jammed her bone down. It stuck in the mud. The water beat at her back. Using her bone as an anchor, she pushed away from the shallow part. The water started to carry her downstream swiftly. She paddled as quickly as she could with her bone. It suprised her as she actually made progress!

The pain ripped and tore at her back. She started to uncurl in pain. NO! She couldn't do this! If the water got to her vulnerable stomach, she was doomed! She curled back up and paddled more. Suddenly, she felt something brush her back. She looked down. AHHH!!! Some weird orange aquatic creature had bumped into her!!!! The weird thing surfaced. "What?" it said, confused by the weird thing on it's back. The Magikarp, as that was what it was, went back down, and Norra' Flecka pushed on twice as fast, scared the weird thing would attack her. Huh? Was that her imagination? She felt ground underneath her bone! The bottom of the river! She was almost across! A little further.

Norra' Flecka collapsed inches near the shore. The current did the rest, and carried the unconscious Cubone entirely onto the river bank. She mumbled and slowly opened her eyes. The pain! She scrambled up away from the waves and collapsed again, but got up. If she showed such weakness Keel'alla would surely kill her! She swayed a bit while standing up, and moved near Keel'alla's fire, which felt really good then. "Made'a it, Masta' Keel'alla..." she managed to say, and sat down, spitting water out, resting her skull helmet and her head on her bone and feeling the warm heat of the fire evaporating the water. She fainted there and then, slumping to the ground.

Dosha took a deep breath, trying to figure out how exactly to get across. She halfway debated asking Chalky for help...no way. She was strong enough that she didn't need ANY help from some fire lizard. Well...she had seen Norra float...Keel'a had tried to swim... She debated. Floating on her back probably wouldn't work out so well...even if her back was tougher than the rest of her, it was weaker to the water. Not to mention she didn't think she would just float as Norra had. Swimming seemed like a better idea to her. She may not float easily, but she WAS notibly lighter than Keel'a was. And she could hold her breath if she went under as well.

Better to try and swim for it...and hopefully, it would work out for the best... Taking a deep breath, she plunged in. Oh how the water stung! It burned at her, almost like a fire of some kind...of course, fire didn't really work on her, but you get the idea. She gritted her teeth and began to do almost like a doggie paddle across. She was getting there...but sinking bit by bit as she moved as well. She was about three quarters of the way there...but had nearly sunk. Taking one last deep breath before going under, she did just that. She kept paddling, lungs nearly bursting...until she finally made it. Gasping for air and coughing slightly, Dosha sank into a heap by the bank shivering slightly, glad for the warth of Keel'a's fire. Her vision swum, making it hard for her to see. But, she had made it. That was what mattered. Dosha's vision slowly came back to normal, her breathing slowing down to normal. She curled up so she was in less of a heap, and looked back across the river. No one else had yet crossed. Would they try? Or would they not?

Chomp got in the water slowly and swam out on his belly with his tail in the air as high as he could. The water stung his him a great deal and stung his wounds even more. He paddled as hard as he could with his hands, and feet, making sure to keep his feet under water so not to cause to much of a splash. He held his wings up in order to stop any water from his hands didn't splash to his tail. He kept his mouth under water, but kept his nostrails above water so that he could breath. Just when he felt like he couldn't take any more pain, he made it. He used a weak ember to start his own fire and curled up by it. He felt like he was going to pass out and the wound on his chest had opened up a little, and was bleeding. But he forced himself to stay awake, so that he wouldn't look like a weakling. He waited watched and waited, to see how the last ones would get across.

Soil-bur looked nervously at the rippling water. Dosha, Norra and Keel'alla had made it across, even the Upper World creature had managed. The sandshrew took the plunge, rolling himself into a ball. The water tossed him painfully along the surface, then sucked him under. Soil-bur used every ounce of his strength to force his body along the bottom, rolling. He emerged on the other side and uncurled, panting for air and resisting the urge to writhe in agony.

Even though she had seen the others cross without seemingly mortal harm, Fallow still wasn't sure about this. Picking a direction was one thing, but this...? It was a river. It was water. She REALLY wasn't too fond of water. She pondered on how she would cross. For a moment, Fallow considered taking off her bone helmet and floating on that, but...no. Not while there were others around. What a silly idea anyways. Frantically thinking of a way to cross, Fallow paced the shore slightly. When no other ideas came to her, she decided - a bit glumly - that swimming was the only possible thing she could think of. Eck, anything but that....last time she had tried it, she had sank like a, um, rock.

She glanced at the others already on the opposite shore. She hated the idea of swimming, but she hated even more the idea of being the only one left behind. Trotting away from the shore a bit, she ran as fast as she could, and jumped right into the river. The shock of the water made her gasp. What pain it was, just to touch it! She started swimming as best she could, until she faltered a bit from the shore and her head went under. Panicked, she started thrashing around, forgetting for the moment which direction was which. She thought she was still moving forward, but she wasn't sure.She could have been moving backwards for all she knew.

Her head came back up, and she managed a breath of air. She took a quick look around to see indeed she was going the right way. Shutting her eyes tight, she tried to clear her mind off everything, especially this blasted water, and she tried to swim forward again. It seemed an eternity for her...she didn't dare open her eyes, for she knew all she would see was the water, which she was trying not to think of. Pain and swimming...these were the only two things that she was aware of at the moment. Finally, after that eternity, Fallow felt something underneath her feet. About time...she had been ready to collapse, which would have meant her doom for sure. Opening her eyes finally, she ran onto the shore, where she fell in a heap, trying to catch her breath and trying to stop the flashing lights that appeared in front of her eyes. She stood up, though a bit dizzily, and supressed a laugh. She had made it, even for all her doubts, though she was definately NOT about to try that act again. Righting herself, Fallow looked at all the others, and then waited for any other orders that might come.

Keel'alla grunted quietly to himself. His warriors had taken the challenge, and made it across. He felt almost proud of them, in a strange way, there was almost a bond. "We will rest here." Keel'a looked up through the rift in the tunnel. Night was falling, and it would be cold for himself and the others who had braved the river. It would be best if they warmed up and started up the the wall after they were restored.

Dosha surpressed a sigh of relief. She was still on the ground in somewhat of a ball.

"If you are hungry, the river has plenty to offer. If you need sleep ... well don't take too long. There's still a world above us to conquere." Keel'a shakily stood up, feeling every fiber in his body scream in protest. He managed to spill forth more flame into the fire that already danced between himself and the others.

Dosha smiled at the warmth of the flames, relieved that her shivering had nearly totally stopped...of course, she had tried her hardest not to shiver in the first place. To shiver in front of Keel'a would show weakness, and weakness led to death. Death, to her, was out of the question. She had come to far to simply die or be killed now.

"Soil-bur .. go find some more things to feed the fire..." Keel'a decided the flame needed more fuel. "You ladies should think about gathering food..." Keel'alla tore a mushroom off the wall of the cave, "These are edible," He tossed it to them to examine.

Dosha surpressed again a smirk. Either Keel'a was to tired to be bothered remembering Charle, or he was indirectly insulting him. Either way, it was funny. She nodded to Keel'a in response.

The dark warrior spread out his cloak to dry over a rock. The sandslash pelt was still a soggy mess. Keel'a leaned back against it, his body refused to move any more.... not until he had had some sleep. The firey-hades' glow in his eyes dimmed.

Dosha pulled herself up onto her paws, nearly collapsing into a heap once again. Again, she refused to. To do that was, again, showing weakness. If Keel'a could force himself up, she could as well. She looked over at Keel'a. He looked...rather different to her now than before. And as much as Dosha hated to admit it...she felt slightly worried for the dark Marrowak. She admired him more than she ever had her father, and it wasn't like that went without reason. The firey glow in his eyes had dimmed. Dosha came to the conclusion to stay nearby Keel'a, and not wonder to far from him...just in case.

Soil-Bur touched a claw to his forehead in salute and trotted off to find some fire-feeders. Once he was out of hearing he began to speak softly aloud "So I made it across...good for me" He spotted a scattered mess of sticks, grinning slightly. Hoisting them up he balanced it on his two claws, his knees bending beneath the weight. He began to make his way to the 'camp' when he nearly stumbled on a stick, where he wedged his foot under the stick and kicked it up onto the stack. Staggering, he made it back to camp and tossed a few into the flame. Yawning, he chewed on a mushroom he found and feel asleep, keeping his ears open to the sounds of the others and Keel'alla.

Chomp managed another week ember attack, to self heal the wound back up on his chest. He managed to get up and shake some water off of himself. He made sure not to get it on the others. He then layed back down.

The light of the upperworld faded as sunset passed. The only light was from the fires of camp. Keel'alla's body remained slumped in slumber as the dark consiousness stayed alert. How could he have let so many of them live? If he were still in the houndoom's body , he would have killed them as they weakly crawled to shore. Why did this marrowak's mind fight so hard to let other's live? The darkness would have to dive deep into the young pokemon's memories to find out for himself.

The darkness felt the hatred of the marrowak and followed it to its root. There, he saw the origins of his anger in the young cubone. There had been a rivalry in his familly and his sister had run away. He had followed and was angry that no one else in the family wanted to help find her. His sister took the place of his mother , raising him to be independant and strong. Then the sneasle came along calling on any who were strong enough to serve his master.

The darkness flickered with delight as it recognised itself in the early memories of the marrowak. The cubone had become angry when his sister told him one day that he wasn't strong enough to play with her 'friends' ... she told him he must get stronger before she could introduce him. He had worked hard at being independent and strong.... but somehow , he lost contact with her.

That's when he met some upplanders. A nidoran, otachi, kangashkan, meowth, mew and some flying creature the darkness could not recognise from previous encounters. The darkness then realised what it was he was seeing. Two of the creatures in the group had been there when he lost his houndoom's body. Those pokemon were the ones the marrowak had learned his quirks from. The darkness smouldered... he would have to find those creatures and be rid of them, or the marrowak would continue to fight his will.

**~**~**

Keel'alla could be seen moving in his sleep, as if he were trying to brush a fly from his head.

Dosha, sitting not too far from Keel'a...but far enough...felt a bit relieved. At least he was looking better than he had before. Not that she cared...she shouldn't. He had provoked father's heart attack after all. Of course, that wasn't really something she felt angry about, even if she should have. Her shook her head...thinking about it made her too confused. The fire's warmth had warmed her up to the point that she pretty much felt back to normal. She was nibbling on a somewhat large mushroom, and keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. Some were sleeping.

Norra had wondered off for some meat...it was quiet. Too quiet... She changed her train of though. What would the world above be like she wondered? She herself had never been there...of course, if they were all creatures like Chagle, she didn't see what the big deal really was. It would be easily conquered if THAT were the case. Would it look different from the underground? Probably...but would it be good, or bad? She had could see the sky of the aboveworld from here at least...it was odd though.

Since they had arrived, Dosha had made note that its color had changed. Of course, it wasn't like she hadn't HEARD anything about that...but it was something else to see it so clearly and all. Well, whatever it was like, she would see it tomorrow morning when they headed up. She smiled, and went back to resting...yet keeping a bit of a watch, just in case.

Norra' Flecka woke up and heard Keel'alla. She blinked and got up quickly, catching the mushroom and turning it a little before sighing and giving it to the others. "I want'a some'ma meat now'a." she said, and walked down to the river. Paras and Parasect scuttled away, and she glanced into the raging water again. Her slightly distorted reflection stared back at her. Norra' Flecka knew there were aquatic pok�mon living in the river, but would she brave the stupid river again?! Very bad idea, especially as she was still weak from the it in the first place. Yet those fat little blue things looked appetizing.

Nah. She turned and hid behind a boulder. Soon the Paras and Parasect came out again, drinking at the river, having no weakness to the water. Norra picked out a Paras that looked appetizing. She snuck silently to a boulder behind it. Her stomach growled loudly, so loud Norra thought she might be heard by the whole world. The Paras glanced up, then seeing no Totodiles or anything, went back to drinking the river's water. Norra' Flecka crept on all fours down against the floor silently as near to the Paras as she could. Suddenly, a Parasect started to clack loudly with it's mandible-like things. The Paras glanced up again and spun around. Norra' Flecka froze, and her brown colour somewhat camouflaged her against the ground. The Paras saw a skull and a bone. It turned to start drinking until it remembered seeing that the skull wasn't exactly on the ground! It turned and started to fire a Stun Spore, but it was too late. Norra jumped onto the Paras and bashed its head in with her bone. The Paras sagged and died. She cracked open its exoskeleton and started to eat the meat inside.

Chomp walked to the waters edge and quickly snaged a Goldeen. He cooked it with a Flamethrower and then scarfed it down. He looked at his injury on his shoulder, it didn't look like he'd fly for a long while, if ever. He then went back over to his fire and layed down and went to sleep.

Keel'alla's eyes blazed brightly as he awoke in body. His mind was sharp to a destiny he must achieve. He looked around to see many of his warriors resting. "Off your wothless hides n' tails. It's a wonder I don't flay the lot of you lazy of you to tripes to feed to the fish! That's 'bout the best you're good to me for iffn' you sit there like lumps ... " Keel'a charged through his followers, giving any who weren't standing a sharp kick. "Move it you doozy beasts! I haven't got all night to wait on you!" Keel'a barked at the five who travelled with him.

He stomped over to the side of the wall closest to the fracture between the two worlds. Taking a firm grip on the craggy wall, he hefted himself onto it. "Last one to the top might live to regret it...!" he snickered evily in his deadly sense of humor. The Dark Marrowak began to scale the wall. It was a good 200 yards to the top and would take time and skill to climb it sucessfully. Keel'alla wasn't concerned about either .. his destiny lay at the top and he would meet it ... with or without the pokemon who followed in his wake.

Norra' Flecka jumped and, putting her bone in her mouth to prevent it from falling, immediately began to scale the wall. She didn't want to die for being the last up the wall! Norra climbed rocks, sweat from her paws making them somewhat slipperier. Suddenly, Norra heard a rumbly sound, and her feet lost their footholds entirely. She had put too much weight on her feet and the rocks under them rolled to the bottom. Norra swung precariously, scrabbling for a foothold. She spotted one near her thigh. Bringing up a leg, she lifted herself up, shaking, and her other foot found a foothold about what felt to be a gazillion miles away , and, finding new hand holds, boosted herself up a little more. She was getting there!

Dosha grinned inwardly. At least this she was almost sure she could do. When you compare rock climbing to getting across a river...rock climbing seemed like a piece of...what was that phrase again...? Blah, it didn't really matter. She took a firm grasp on the rocky wall, and began to climb. She wasn't exactly moving _slow_...but she wasn't really going very fast either. She tried her best to speed up as best she could, and kept going, knocking a few rocks down here and there as she went.

Fallow walked over to the wall. To her, it didn't look THAT hard to climb...although from past experiences, she knew that looks shouldn't be the main judge of things. Taking hold of part of the wall nearest to her, Fallow boosted herself up onto the wall itself. Within a moment she realized that indeed it wasn't as easy as she thought. She had to stop for a moment, and dug her claws in to help steady her. The top seemed further away now that she was on the wall....but that wouldn't stop her. She had survived the river somehow...this was a similar challenge, but nowhere near as life- threatening. A moment later she was at it again, scaling up the rocky wall as best she could.

Soil-Bur immedietly lept onto the wall and began to climb it. He wasn't as big as Keel'alla, so he was having a little time. He kept a steady pace, trying to get to the top before the others, but after Keel'alla.

Chomp woke up as soon as Keel'a spoke and went to the wall as soon he said too. He dug his claws in as he climbed. He had a lot more weight to pull, but he was strong enough to still make good progress. When ever he couldn't find a foot hold he made one, using the sharp nails on his feet. He hurried as fast as he could. Making sure to stay behind Keel'alla, but that he at least wouldn't be last.

Norra' Flecka noticed the other warriors starting up the wall. She desparately didn't want to finish last. She scrabbled past Soil-Burr, then lost her hold and slipped back several yards. Norra made a determined noise and suddenly had an idea. She took her bone out of her mouth and dug it into the stone. Pulling herself up, she found footholds, and brought her bone up higher above some rocks that could be nice footholds, and pulled herself up again. This repeated until accidently she pulled herself to where there were no decent footholds. Norra swung desparately and swung onto her bone, where she found decent handholds and footholds, and she grabbed her bone and continued up.

Soil-Bur saw the cubone pass him. He was slowing down, he had to hurry up. He dug his powerful digging claws into the wall, it hurt but it worked! He began to speed up the wall, hopefully he wouldn't be last.

Dosha smirked, and sped up, digging her own claws deeper into the wall. She was moving quickly, and gaining on Soil-Bur. She would NOT be the last...and she also wanted to prove in her own way that being a rather small female made her any weaker than some macho male! She climbed past Soil-Bur with a grin, 'accidently' knocking a piece of rock down right on his head. She put on a sympathetic look,"Oh, I'm so sorry.", she said in a sweet voice before speeding up again.

Soil-Bur growled, pushing himself speedily up. He gained some footholds and looked up, spotting a few close to Dosha. Leaping up, he balanced greatly on the holds and tossed a loose rock he had found at Dosha, scaling the wall.

Fallow watched as the others passed her. She glared at no one in particular for a moment, then tried hurrying up her pace, going as fast as she could without slipping. Her foot slipped once, and she feared she would fall, but somehow she righted herself. Gripping the rocks more tightly, she continued to climb.

Norra' Flecka watched the two Sandshrews pass her. Well, even though Fallow was still behind her, Norra was NOT going to lose to those *inferior* Sandshrews! She increased her speed a little and again passed Soil-Burr, but her mission was not complete! She *had* to be the one up just after Keel'alla! She advanced after Dosha in hot pursuit. She just barely dodged some rocks Dosha had kicked up, but then she took hold of a rock that broke! Her hand slipped and she nearly fell if she didn't grab her bone and jab it into the rocky wall again. She somehow managed to grab a rock with her hand and her bone in her mouth and continued, and her head soon became level with Dosha's shoulders. She scrabbled faster and began to think dark things about the speedy Sandshrew. If she just...no! If Keel'alla caught her doing dirty against those speed demons.

Suddenly a rock tumbled down and landed on Norra's skull helmet. She stopped for a bit, somewhat confused, but then hurried again. She was NOT going to lose to that pathetic Sandshrew! She continued to grab every rock she could and pulled up, up, up!

Dosha simply smirked as the rock hit her. So, he still wanted to play then? Norra was also coming up fast...alright then... She sped up again, once again passing Soil-Bur, and hopefully gaining more ground over Norra. She very nearly slipped a few times, but handled it well. Finally, close in front of her was Keel'a himself! Satisfied with her position, and knowing too well that no one in their right minds would dare PASS him, she kept her pace, staying in her stratigic position. The best they would be able to do would be to keep dead even with her...if they could.

Chomp had passed the others up and was not to far behind Keel'a. He made sure to knock some rocks loose everytime he changed the foot holds he was using.

Soil-Burr growled lowly, how dare they pass Soil-Bur! He scrambled up thw wall and was soon close behind the cubone. With some quick monuvering, he could get in front of it. Soil-Bur shuttered and watched the Charizard try to pass him. Arg! He wasn't going to be last of this uplander! He lept nimbly to the side and tore past the cubone, in the attempt to pass the uplander. Being much lighter and smaller, he slipped under the Charizards body, and scaled the wall untill he passed the Charizards head, knowing if he used a fire attack, he'd hit Keel'alla. Smartly, the clever sandshrew skipped up halfway to Dosha, glaring at her. He knew he couldn't pass her much, she was too close to Keel'alla. Cursing his luck in his mind, he stayed steadily behind Dosha.

Norra' Flecka growled at the crippled Charizard as it passed her. Soon a shower of rocks hit her helmet, although not damaging her too much. This was angering her. Whether or not Keel'alla was going to see, she was NOT going to lose to those wimpy Sandshrews and that weird Upper World pok�mon! She became level with Dosha and grabbed her foot and gave a pull, boosting herself up a little.

Keel'alla crested the top of the rock wall and onto the soft surface of the upperworld. The Air up here was warmer than down below, but blew fresher. Keel'alla blew a flame onto a near by tree, setting it alight. The Dark Warrior had arrived!!!

Norra' Flecka let go of Dosha's foot seeing they were almost to the top and rested for a few seconds, then got up, gasping. What a weird place! There was some weird green stuff, and what was that thing Keel'alla set flame to?!?!?! It must be the source of the gigantic roots! Then Norra' Flecka looked up. "Wherra' issa' ceiling?!" she cried, looking up into the sky for the first time in her life. "So weird'a!"

Dosha pulled herself out soon after...out about the same time as Norra did. They came out pretty much even..and after all that! Dosha took a deep breath of air, and smiled...the air was so fresh here! And the ground was soft, covered in green...was it a thick moss? No, that wasn't it...she had heard of it somewhere before, but its name escaped her. She smiled as Keel'a set fire to...whatever it was...and waited patiently for the others to come up.

Soil-Bur grinned as he looked over his shoulder at the rapidly climbing Charizard. He wasn't going to pass Soil-Bur again! Sticking his digging claws into the rock, he pulled himself nimbly up and over, so he was to the side of Dosha and Norra'Fleck. Pulling himself up, he panted noticing he was tired from trying to not be last. He poked his head up and saw Keel'alla, Dosha and Norra'Fleck. The threw himself into the outside world. He wasn't last! He made it!

Keel'alla turned from the bonfire that stood where there was once a tree. Three of his warriors had made it to the top.... He slid his scythe from behind his cloak and waited to see who would be last. Behind the Marrowak , the flames began to lick at the nearby trees , wilting thier leaves to black little crips before leaping over to the next branch.

Soil-Bur panted heavily, but managed to stand up and look around. What an weird place he thought. He looked at the ignited tree, a grin of evil planted on his face as the fire reflected off his eyes. He sniffed, smelling trees and dirt. Looking up, he saw the endless sky lighted with small dots. It was endless, a little strange for his tastes. Leaning back, he looked around sighing. 'Soon this place would by Keel'alla, and be ruled the way the upland deserved. He chuckled silently and watched the hole he climbed out of, awaiting the what happens to the last one up.

Fallow stopped a moment to catch her breath, then nearly sprinted up the rock wall for the last part of it. She didn't know what place she was, and didn't care what place she was at the moment...all she cared about was making it to the top. She threw one of her paws over the top, and hoisted herself up. The warmer air made her gasp for a moment, and then she realized where she was...she had made it to the top. Three of the others were in plain sight....she wondered briefly where that charizard was, whether it was still down below or out of her line of sight...who cares? she thought, and pulled herself out completely. She looked around a moment, and took a deep breath. It had been a long while since she had last seen the upper world....and it didn't look that much different to her.

Chomp climbed out of the hole right behind the others. He smelt the fresh air mixed in with the smoke of the nearby burning tree. It had been a long time since he had been here. Luckily it was night time or his eyes would be stinging from the intense sun light, but not as bad as the pokemon that lived under ground.

Keel'alla was waiting for the last pokemon, his scythe ready. The moment the Charizard's head pop up over the ridge Keel'alla dealt him a wide slash across the face. "Worthless wretch! Fail me once more and I'll have your head!"

Dosha had to hold her breath to keep from laughing. Chimp should have learned by now not to be as ignorant...but, it did prove that the overworlders were weak.

Norra' Flecka took little or no heed to Keel'alla giving the weird Upper World pok�mon another slash, as she had an idea that it was going to die soon anyway, and besides, look! Where were the walls? The ceiling?

Keel'alla turned back to the others who had arrived earlier.
"Grab something that will carry flame ... like a branch... and follow me ... Set fire to what ever you can. We're going to let them know the Underground is strong and fearless!" Keel'alla headed north ... setting fire to anything in his path.

Dosha grinned, and picked up a branch that pretty much fit her size. She walked towards the fire, staying long enough for the flame to catch before trotting after Keel'a, setting fire to nearly everything in her path.

Norra stopped gawking at the huge sky and grabbed a burning branch and set as much as she could aflame. Being a ground type, the flames did not hurt her at all, as she had a strength against Fire. It was actually fun to do this!

Dosha winked in Norra's direction, smiling, and said in a low, but friendly voice,"Hey Norra, wanna see who can set more upperworld stuff on fire?" A bit of friendly competition couldn't hurt...especially since she was having a blast!

Soil-Bur nodded and looked around quickly. Choosing a longish branch that wasn't too heavy he stuck its end into the tree's fire and began to ignite all he could.

Chomp rubbed his face where he had received the slash. He was happy to be alive, but now he hated Keel'a more then before. He grabbed a pretty large tree branch and sat it on fire, he didn't really need it, but he needed to save his energy. He then followed Keel'a setting stuff on fire.

Soil-Bur grinned and glanced at Clomp at the corner of his eye. He didn't feel sorry for the Uplander. Snorting, he jogged up and walked beside Dosha and the cubone setting all his keen eyes could see on fire.

Keel'alla pressed further into the forest, looking for the place he had last seen a particular pair of pokemon. They had to be eliminated , or he would never be fully in control of his destiny. "Keep your eyes sharp for anything that might serve us well ... dinner, practice.. soldier, slave .. I don't care which." Keel'alla marched on, heading north-west.

Soil-Bur nodded. He didn't know who Keel'alla was looking for, but he looked for any pokemon. He held out his torche and ignited a bush, grinning as he did. Burning was so fun, so evil! Fire was such a dangerous weapon to woodlands.

Dosha smiled, and marched at a steady pace behind Keel'a. Now that they were in the above world, her pink coloring was all the more noticable. She was small compared to the others, including Soil-Bur. But she had proven herself, so that wouldn't really make a difference...right? She shook her head slightly. Keel'a was strict...but he was fair. If he hadn't judged her by sight in the underground, he wouldn't judge her by sight in the above world. But...just in case...she did her best to keep her eyes as sharp as possible. Nothing would get by her...no way!

Fallow, having nothing better to properly do, decided that she would keep a watch for any other creature about. It wasn't easy for her to do, as the smell of the smoke from the fire made her a bit excited. She didn't know why it did...it just did, even if the smoke did irritate her nose a bit. Her eyes blurred up a bit, and Fallow blinked in an attempt to clear them, not risking the chance of what rubbing them with her paw might be perceived as. Shaking her head once, Fallow then went back to looking.

Chomp heard coughing near by. He looked to the place it was coming from and spotted an Abra. He rushed up to it and caught it in a Bear hug . It was proabily to distracted by the smoke and fire to notice him until it was to late. "Master Keel'a I got an Abra! What do you want done with it?", Chomp asked.

Keel'alla looked back at the charizard and sniffed with distain, "kill it... I don't really care for weak psychic types." The warrior moved more to the west... heading towards a spot he had been once before.

Psystrike tensed. What a weird gathering! Most looked fairly close to one another, as if sharing similar properties, save the one holding him. It looked like it could fly, spit flames, and eat him in two bites. The dauntingly sharp claws were pressed uncomfortably against his flesh, and would quickly pierce him through if the grip tightened. He frowned, attempting a Disable attack on the beast, then quickly looked at the others. His gaze settled on the largest one, and he concentrated. A slight flush, a small shift, then nothing. He was too strong. Psy couldn't even hope to try and transform into him at that time. He looked at the others. The one with the bone and helmetlooked like it was related to the leader, and at least had a weapon. He shut his eyes and tried again, suddenly feeling something smooth and heavy materialize on his head, and a large bone appear in his grasp. Now just to figure out how to use them.

Chomp was about to kill it when it changed into a Cubone. It's shape suddenling changeing, about made him lose his grip, but he managed to gain his grip again. Chomp wasn't sure what to do now, if he should kill it are present it to Keel'a. He walked to Keel'a with the Cubone and said, "Sir, the Abra changed into a Cubone. I think it may be a Ditto, do you still want it killed?".

Soil-Bur squinted at the shape-shifting creature. Shaking his head, he spoke, which was rare for him, to Chomp "I don't think so, uplander. I've heard that Ditto's have to change back to a Ditto in order to transform into something else. This would have to be an actual Abra, they also have the power like Ditto." Soil-Bur's eyes leveled with Psystrike, he was ready to attack it if ordered.

Psystrike gave a throaty Growl, clenching his newfound weapon as his eyes began to glow a hot, dangerous red as he used Focus Energy. He'd figure out how to use the bone later, but right now, a little more power couldn't hurt, and just might help.

"I've meet a few Abra in my day and I've never known any Abras who are able to Transform. So that would either make this a unique Abra or a Ditto, who can transform from one form to the next without changing.", Chomp said to Soil-Bur. Chomp thightened his grip when he felt the Pokemon was trying to do something.

Dosha watched in curiousity. This was quite an interesting little fellow. She smiled, and looked to Keel'a,"Master Keel'alla, I don't want to seem out of place, but...I do believe that he could prove useful to us. If you think it would be too much trouble to yourself, or that he would be too weak at this point, I would be glad to watch over him so as he would be no trouble to yourself."

Norra' Flecka followed Keel'alla, setting a blaze to everything in her path. She ignored Chomp when he caught the Abra, but when it got a bone in it's hand and started to glow, she sweatdropped, but kept her mouth shut. Hopefully the Uppa' World pok�mon didn't know how to use the weapon that had appeared. "Lessa' see what thissa' pok�monna' stronga' 'gainst." she muttered to herself, and quietly snuck behind the Uppa' World pok�mon and pushed her flaming branch against it's back experimentally, then placing her bone in sort of a diagonal position in front of her to ward off an attack from it's bone while keeping the branch in place.

Keel'alla looked back at the charizard through the curtains of fire between them, "You try my patients, up-lander beast ... kill it, or don't cross my path again. The rest of you , follow me .. I have some unfinished buisness to attend. Spread the fire if you wish." , the marrowak marched on , eastward , leaving the fire to turn it's own course to the north and east through the woods.

He travelled back to a place he knew once before .... a peach tree. The dark one sniffed around... he could smell them ... the ootachi and the nidorina. He could smell thier young, and the passings of many pokemon in the area. He could smell humans.... like the ones who had foolishly dug into the underground so long ago. He caught the nidorina's scent moving north... followed by the ootachi's.

"Roll yourselves in the dirt here, " Keel'alla pointed to a spot where the nidorina and her kits had lay. " My prey is close.. we must mask our scent." The dark marrowak led by example, and rolled himself in the dirt, making sure to rub it harshly over any scent glands his body had. He stood up , and waited for the others to finish thier 'bath'.

Dosha had looked back a bit sadly to the Abra. There wasn't anything she could do for him. Shaking the thought out of her head, she rolled herself in the dirt as Keel'a had, following his example well.

Norra' Flecka dropped the branch, leaving it against Chomp's shoulder and followed Dosha and Keel'alla, covering herself in dirt. Not like there was much difference, as she was already brown.

Soil-Bur dropped his torch on a patch of dry grass and jogged up to Keel'alla. When he heard the Marrowak tell then to roll in dust, he flopped down and did so. When he was down, he shook himself and rubbed some sand from his eyes. He stood up and waited for Keel'all's next command.

Fallow walked over to the spot where the others already were, and grabbed a bit of dirt with her right paw. Sifting it through her claws a moment, she flung the remaining bit aside and dropped to the ground, commencing to roll and thus to cover herself with the dirt. She shook her head, to get off the excess dirt that was on her helmet, then picked up some dirt to cover a few spots she had missed.

Now that his warriors were fully masked in scent, Keel'alla felt secure in following the scent of the nidorina. "Let's move on" The dark marrowak's eyes burned brightly with the feeling another victory would soon be his. He followed the scent... north-east.

Soil-Bur nodded and followed Keel'alla. He smelt the scent of many pokemon, shaking it off he followed the Marrowak.

Dosha nodded. She was somewhat relieved that her pink coloring had been covered by brown dirt. She trotted along close behind Keel'alla. Still...she felt sorta guilty about the Abra. She kinda wished that she had been able to help it...but she hadn't. End of story. ....right?

Norra' Flecka got up and followed Keel'alla.

When Chomp was sure no one was looking. He took the Abra out of site from the others. "Listen closely run and don't come back. Warn the Lake that there is great danger. And if you dare come close to us again I will kill you.", he wispered in a harsh tone. He sat the Abra down he quickly caught a near by Rattatta. He ate it and made sure to leave blood stains around his mouth and claws.

Psystrike gave a short yelp of pain from the smouldering branch, surprised by the fact that it didn't hurt as much as it should have. He isntinctively wheeled around, thrusting his bone at the attacker. Gone. He growled at this lost chance, and glared at the Charizard.
"You're a fool to not kill me. Your master will destroy you when he finds out about your weakness." Psystrike scowled. That filthy reptile. IF he had obeyed, Psy could at least be happy right now. Peaceful oblivion. Pain was nothing, simply one last ordeal to face before finally getting to rest.

Ah well, what better way to get there than to call it's bluff? He smirked under the helmet, twirling the bone halffamiliarly. The body was comfortably similar in build to his own, save the extra helmet and bone weapon. The loss of his chest armor was rather annoying, but that hardly seemed to matter. He slowly trekked after the group, making sure to stay a distance away from them, stopping as they stopped. One way or another, he would be finished with this agonizing existence.

Chomp returned to where the others where rolling in dirt. He quickly followed suit and covered him self in dirt. It made sure to be gentle on his wings, but the spot where Keel'a had cut his wing still stung a great deal. For the places under his wings, he covered them in dirt with his hands. He then waited for the next command.
Chomp got down on all four so that his large size wouldn't give them away. He also made sure to stay in the back, while following Keel'a.

The dark warrior gave little notice to the charizard. The fire- creature had blood on it's lips ... but it wasn't proof enough the job was done. He hadn't been Lord of the Underground for nothing. Fortunately for the charizard, Keel'alla had greater things on his mind.... he had to destroy all ties to the world above the cubone had once had.... it was the only way he would quell the fight in his mind between the two spirits that occupied it.

Keel'alla paused at the edge of the woods. "Stay here... and watch for anything that comes this way. Kill anything that is not strong, capture anything that is. Do not move from here for any reason. Fail me, and you will curse your parents for brining you into this world!" Keel'alla left his warriors to stand at the edge of the woods , where they would be hidden from imeadiate view of anything he could flush down thier way.

Norra' Flecka could scent very slightly that the blood on the charizard didn't smell like the Abra, but ignored it thinking maybe that was something unique to that pok�mon so it's blood would smell different. She stayed in the wood obediently and silently. A Caterpie came up and started to crawl around innocently. Putting a paw against the Caterpie's.....mouth-like thingy so it wouldn't make any noise, Norra quickly killed it, and ate it as silently as she could. Better stay strong just in case.

Soil-Bur stood at the edge of the woods, his eyes scanning for any signs of movement. He noticed the Charizard returned, but he looked away again, squinting into the dark forests.
Soil-Bur sniffed the air. Other than the smoke and burning wood, he didn't smell anything else. Wait! He sniffed again...it was the smell that Abra was carring. The stupid upland creature had doubted him and didn't even kill the shape-shifting pokemon! The fool. Turning to the Charizard, he narrowed his eyes "Did you kill the creature, uplander?" He asked. A Rattata scurried infrount of him. 'What the heck' Soil-Bur thought, clutching the Rattata by the neck and sunk his claws into its neck, killing it. He grinned and dropped the body, kicking it away.

"Of cource I killed it!", Chomp said. Chomp smelt the air, but all he smelt was smoke, and the Rattatta that had just been killed.

Dosha smirked, and took her own whiff of the air. All she smelt was Rattata and smoke...of course, that was the problem. There was no other scent hanging on Chimpy. Still, she elected not to say anything. She instead quickly mauled an unlucky passing Caterpie, and kept her eyes sharp for anything else.

Soil-Bur sniffed again and shrugged "Maybe I'm wrong" He growled, glaring at the Charizard and snorted. Shaking his head, he grabbed a Weedle that was comming to investigate the warriors. Dropping the Weedle, he pressed his foot down on the part of its head with no stinger. Once the Weedle stopped wriggling, he tore off the head stinger then the back stinger and tossed them aside, gnawing on its body.

A large aracnid crept out from behind a rock , hoping for a nice meal. The dark Marrowak blew fire at it, sending the ariados fleeing into the edge of the woods in a trail of smoke.
Keel'alla laughed, then quieted as he saw someone he recognised. The ootachi! The marrowak rolled in the sweet grass to mask his dark scent further, and rooted around in the cubone's memories for words of familiarity.

The dark marrowak tried to make himself appear as harmless as possible, speaking in a borrowed voice, "Bigga poppa long'a furr hava' getta'-way fasta' quick! Burna' things comma dissa way!"