Chapter 86: Ghost Serpent’s Minor Evolution - Latias Arrives!

Chapter 86: Ghost Serpent’s Minor Evolution - Latias Arrives! The command came hissing out of Kai’s mouth. -Use Intangibility.- Just when Wailmer was about to hit her, Selene exploded into a swirling mass of silver mist. This was no mere mist that wind or water could affect. No. This was a phantasm that could pass through anything. Wailmer ran into the mist, and the mist entered it. With his second command, Kai finished playing with the childish game. -Use Soul Chill at 40% output.- Only Kai knew what Selene’s Soul Chill could do at its maximum potential. He had used it to freeze his own soul against Dementor’s soul-sucking ability. Selene couldn’t control this Ability before this thoroughly, but Kai making her use this Ability for the last seven days against his Glitch’s effects had benefited her too. A burst of chill spread outward from within Wailmer’s body. The Pokemon lost its momentum and fell into the canal, motionless. In just a moment, a thin layer of icy frost spread over its body, making the blue at its top look bluer. Ross gasped. "Wow!" he said. "It’s a Ghost, Ice, and Poison-type Pokemon! But... ice-type moves don’t work well against Wailmer." Following Ross’ comment, the Pokemon’s entire body thrummed. A silver mist escaped its body and materialized into Selene’s snaky figure. She was tired, Kai noticed. "Wail... MER!" the Pokemon cried, and the ice layer over it broke down into many shards. The water current carried those shards away, and seemingly all chances of Kai’s victory along with them. Or so Ross must have thought. For, in the next moment, the Pokemon shook its head as if it was drunk, drowsy, and under the effect of strong sedation. Its body looked stiff as if an ethereal layer of ice was still over it, freezing its metabolism with every passing second. This was the terror of Soul Chill. Its prey wasn’t the physical body, but the soul. That layer of icy frost over the physical body was just a consequence of the soul freezing within. "Wailmer!" Ross cried, seeing the oddness about the Pokemon. "Wailmer - come back!" But the Pokemon might as well have not heard it. It dolled like a lifeless object, its eyes going vacant like a candle flame about to go out. "Wailmer can’t fight anymore." Cersei stepped towards the canal and declared with a noble authority. Ross tried a few more times. But when he saw Selene still slithering around Wailmer, he finally shook his head and smiled. "Haha!" he laughed, approaching his gondola. "That was fun! Yes. We admit defeat." ... [ Congratulations Contestant Kai Stormborn... You have achieved a Milestone ... ] ... Kai grinned... ... and Selene shuddered. Ross climbed over his gondola and rushed for Wailmer as Kai approached the Ghost Serpent, slithering towards him. She was trembling, he could tell even from afar. Water was bubbling off her in a low, continuous rhythm. -Hurts,- she hissed, shaking her head. -Hurts... It hurts so much.- Kai had never felt such emotions from her. He frowned as he crouched to pick her up. Then dropped her back into the water right away. She was hot. Seeing her white dragonish scales thrumming like a beetle’s shell, no one could have told the temperature of those beautiful things. Kai looked at his palm and saw the burned marks in the shape of those scales. His frown deepened. -Hurts... Master,- she cried. I thought it would be like the Pokemon evolution, Kai wondered. What’s happening?! "Hey! Is everything alright?" Ross shouted a question, rowing the boat towards him. Kai bent down and picked her up again, but this time he didn’t drop her. He smiled at Ross and nodded. The plan would come first, pain later. Embracing Selene in his left hand, trying to hide her murderous hisses and trembles, Kai helped Ross’s gondola with his right hand. Behind the boat, Wailmer seemed to have come out of the effects of Soul Chill but still looked lethargic. The Pokemon kept bumping into the boat’s stern, pushing it over the canal. "It was such a good battle," Cersei said, smiling, stepping out from Kai’s shadow. "Let me help you." -Hurts.- -Shut up!- Kai snapped, his hiss burying into Selene’s mind. -Bear the pain.- -...- Selene didn’t hiss anymore, but her coils were becoming tighter around his arm, and the heat had truly become unbearable, almost burning Kai’s white full sleeve t-shirt. I must be quick about this, Kai thought, gritting his teeth and seeing the blood seeping out of Selene’s mouth. Ross, beaming because of the battle, reached out to shake Kai’s hands. The moment their palms touch each other, Kai snatched away that happiness. His eyes became dark, and when his mouth parted and sucked, a rattling noise reverberated. Ross’ knees buckled, and he fell with Kai still sucking out all happiness and hope that the Pokemon Trainer had ever known. The black hood of a tattered cloak covered his head as his feet levitated out of the water. Now he was the foul lord of despair, looming over Ross’ face, making him remember all that was wrong with him and this world. "Wailmerrr..." the Pokemon sensed Kai’s presence and roared, but he didn’t have any time to spare. -Ahhhh...- Selene hissed so loud that it made Dementor-Kai almost put his hands on his ears. Her grip had become tight enough to break bones. His gaze landed on her body, and only then did he realize what was happening. Her white body looked murky, the color of rotten milk. A distinctive layer of skin was peeling off her, starting from her mouth. She kept thrashing her head, here and there, her fangs reaching for anything to just bite, just rip something off. She was shedding. First their souls, Kai thought, ignoring the maddening hisses. He was just about to execute Dementor’s Kiss when the noise hit him. Bang! The water at the far end of the laneway exploded. Kai raised his head, and saw something rushing towards their position. Something powerful and fast. Incredibly fast. Like a jet. No! Kai trembled, realizing the incomer’s identity. Latias! It looked like an invisible jet plane was flying low, just over the canal. -Ma...- Selene buried a hiss and plunged her fangs into Kai’s shoulder. No venom came out, but they went deep, ripping his blood vessels and nerves. That would have been painful, but it broke the trance-like state Kai had slipped into. He looked at Selene and then at Ross and the Pokemon. Behind him, Cersei vanished. A furious rattling scream came out of his mouth and he threw away the Ross’ almost lifeless body. Run! The word echoed in his mind. He wasn’t prepared to face a legendary Pokemon. Not when two other young Eon Pokemon could have been with the older Latias. He wasn’t fast enough, either. But the abnormal condition of Ross and Wailmer would keep Latias busy, he knew. Still, he dashed off with all the speed he could muster. Gliding low over the water layer like a mass of the filthiest black mist, Kai took several turns in succession to throw Latias off if she was chasing him. When the pain from Selene’s bite became unbearable, despite the Pain Reduction, he stopped, canceling his transformation into a dark corner. He grabbed the back of the serpent’s mouth and pulled out her fangs, almost ripping out his muscles along with them. The boiling hot skin crackled under his grip, but Kai didn’t let go. Soul Points... Kai thought, his eyes bloodshot, remembering the massive Pokemon. My Soul Points! In his embrace, Selene wriggled like a twisted rope under tension. Now she was pulsating, now she was hissing, and now she was puffing. Her scales rattled like the buzz of a hundred insects. Then they broke off. Starting with her nose, her old skin came off, and Kai saw the sweetest and most beautiful thing under it. Such a white color even he had never seen before. Selene’s tail grabbed Kai’s forearm and she pushed herself more. The Skin gave away from her mouth, eyes, and then from the gash in between her blind eyes. Time after time she kept pushing, hissing low moans, and her forked tongue flicking out, kissing Kai’s burned arm. Like the peel of an orange, the skin left her almost effortlessly once the shedding started. One last push and she was out. Now almost 2 ft long, she hung around Kai like a scarf, panting for air. Kai couldn’t take his murderous eyes off her. His hand reached for the head, patting it softly. -Sleep,- he hissed, controlling the hunger in his chest. -Sleep and become stronger.- -Yessss...- Selene hissed back and then dozed off without even entering Kai in her mist form. Kai choked a moan as the wound on his back wriggled, healing by itself. The burns on his arms and his chest were so severe that the flesh had charred. But what pained Kai the most was the loss of Soul Points... and the food supply. ... [ Congratulations Contestant Kai Stormborn Your Magical Beast, Ghost Serpent, has undergone a Minor Evolution Rewards: +1 (All Attributes) ] ... Kai was about to check Selene’s Stats, when another notification followed the first. ... [ Party Member Morning Mist has shared her location with you She is requesting an audio call... Do you accept it? ] ... Kai stored Selene’s shedded skin in his MRB and stood up. With a hideous, raging scowl on his face, he brought out the Dementor within him. Let’s see how many Soul Points these puny things will give me, he thought, his breath rattling thunderously. Kai’s feet left the water, leaving behind a dark layer of ice, pulsing with foul, murderous emotions.