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Dark Continent…
Western Deserts…
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Dark Continent…
Western Deserts…
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A figure clad in a dark, full-body abaya dress rode over the plains, her face protected from the scorching sand and wind by a niqab mask, which left only her eyes uncovered, those being masked by goggles. Her booted feet gently spurred her mouth, a bipedal dinosaur with a feminine chest, long, slender, razor-fanged jaws, and a massive hook-toe on each foot. The dinosaur-girl trotted along the desert, heading steadily onward.
"Just a few miles more, old friend. Think you can make it that far?" the woman said, patting the flank of her mount. The dinosaur-girl grinned, and kept trotting along.
Neither of them noticed the slight hill of sand moving towards them at high speeds.
Or at least, they didn’t notice until it was far too late to do anything about it…
The sand erupted around them as a tall, slender figure leaped out, roaring and spreading her wings wide. The dark-clad figure was knocked from her mount, both sent sprawling by the attack.
The mount was back on her feet the quickest, and turned to face the attacker, who simply waited while the sand stirred up by her entrance fell, revealing her dark black scales, short white hair, spiked tail, and the distinctive, skull-shaped marking on her forehead…
The heart of both mount and rider went cold. Terminatrix…
The mount roared and leaped at the Terminatrix, her toe-claw glowing as she went for a gutting attack. The Terminatrix easily dodged the clumsy attack, forming a blade of glistening, shadowy energy in her hand and thrusting it into the chest of the dinosaur-girl.
Dinosaur girl and dark-clad rider screamed, the psychic connection they had once shared being forcefully severed by the blade, the pain beyond physical description as the dinosaur-girl fell to the ground, moaning and groaning in pain. The dinosaur-girl’s shrieks went up a scale higher as the dragon-like killer ripped her leg off.
"STOP IT!! SHE’S DONE NOTHING TO YOU!!" the rider screamed, her voice cracking as she tried to get to her feet in the loose, shifting sand.
The dragon-woman growled at her. "She serves a Sanctuary Goth. She serves one WILLINGLY. That is more than enough justification for me!"
The dragon-woman growled at her. "She serves a Sanctuary Goth. She serves one WILLINGLY. That is more than enough justification for me!"
As the dark-clad woman watched, the Terminatrix opened her mouth wide, a well of golden energy forming in it, and leaned down, discharging the powerful beam point-blank at the dinosaur-girl, reducing her to a bloody smear.
Hyper beam…the Sanctuary Goth thought with growing despair, tears flowing down her face as her friend and mount died, I need to get out of here…
The Sanctuary Goth turned and tried to run, but the Terminatrix was far too fast. The Terminatrix tackled the Sanctuary Goth, the two of them landing hard on a soft patch of sand. The Sanctuary Goth screamed, and tried to direct her Aura of Doom at the dragon-girl, forgetting that she was immune to her powers.
The Sanctuary Goth turned and tried to run, but the Terminatrix was far too fast. The Terminatrix tackled the Sanctuary Goth, the two of them landing hard on a soft patch of sand. The Sanctuary Goth screamed, and tried to direct her Aura of Doom at the dragon-girl, forgetting that she was immune to her powers.
"You’re lucky my sisters want you alive, wench," the Terminatrix hissed, "Otherwise you’d be screaming in pain already…"
The Terminatrix trailed off, the ground starting to shift around them. Before either Sanctuary Goth or Terminatrix could react, the ground caved in around them, the two of them plummeting down a deep, wide hole.
The Sanctuary Goth cast a spell to slow her descent, while the much larger Terminatrix simply plummeted hard, bouncing off of several stones along the way, her initial attempt to spread her wings resulting in one of them getting snagged on a sharp rock extension and getting torn off. The sound of bones breaking was audible as the Terminatrix fell, the loudest coming from her back as she landed hard on a jagged outcropping.
The Terminatrix fell with a wet-sounding crunch, and collapsed on the ground, groaning in pain, blood pooling undernneath her. "Dammit… Clumsy…" she said, cursing herself for not reacting in time. She tried to move her legs, but couldn’t feel them at all. Any attempt to move her arms just resulted in white hot spikes of agony shooting through her. She glared at the Sanctuary Goth as she hovered to the ground near her, and hissed angrily.
"Damn you…" the Terminatrix muttered.
The Sanctuary Goth returned the glare. Better that the monster die… She murdered my Aisha… she thought. Aloud, she said, "May your soul find peace in the Dark, demon dragon. I must contact my sisters, and request a retrieval."
The Terminatrix, despite the pain she was in, just smiled. "They won’t come to save you. Your kind doesn’t work like that."
"You’re wrong. The Dark Angels saved me from the monster that called himself my ‘Tamer…’" the Sanctuary Goth said.
"They’ll just strip you of your memories, so you can’t betray their precious ‘secrets.’ So they can horde their knowledge and keep humanity and Pokékind in the dark forever…" the Terminatrix said, her grin growing wider and wider.
"SHUT UP!" the Sanctuary Goth snapped, covering her ears, "You’re wrong! You know NOTHING ABOUT THEM!!! My sisters will save me! I KNOW THEY WILL!"
The Terminatrix chuckled softly, wincing in pain. "I know your ‘sisters,’ child… Because I was one of their victims…"
The Sanctuary Goth turned to the Terminatrix, her eyes widening. "What?!"
The Terminatrix nodded slightly. "I was once a Tamer. My name was Marcus Walton. I saved a member of their high council from a Limbec Pirate attack, one that eventually resulted in us being chased directly into the center of Sanctuary itself. She stripped me of my memories of the way to Sanctuary, erased any memories I had of the city, and then turned me into a Doll and sold me to a Ranch. They had my Pokégirls mindwiped and given to other Sanctuary Goths in the city. My life was stolen from me, simply because they felt I couldn’t be trusted…"
The Sanctuary Goth scoffed. "If you had been turned into a Doll, then you and I wouldn’t be having this conversation…"
"Sanctuary Goths aren’t the only thing created by Ebony Stones, little girl…" the Terminatrix said.
The Sanctuary Goth stared at her, fright and confusion racing through her mind. She turned away from the Terminatrix and bit her thumb, drawing a large, circular rune in blood on the ground. She held her hands over it, and chanted a few words in a tongue that the Terminatrix recognized as being similar to the spell used to drain her memory.
The circle floated into the air, energy forming within it and revealing the image of an elegant woman apparently in her fifties, a dark hood over her head.
"My lady, Mistress Saphron Hirosaki, I call upon your aid," said the Sanctuary Goth.
"Oh!" said the aging Sanctuary Goth, "Michelle, is that you? Dear child, what happened?"
The young Sanctuary Goth smiled, "Forgive me, my lady. I was on my way to the scheduled meeting place with Sexmet, when I was attacked by a Terminatrix."
"Who do you think told me and mine where to find you?" the Terminatrix shouted, "Sexmet was insulted by the fact that you shadowcunt bitches even contacted her."
Michelle ignored her as best she could. It didn’t help that Saphron started suddenly, as if she recognized the voice. "My lady, the ground collapsed underneath us and now we are trapped in this underground cavern. I am in danger. If this Terminatrix is to be believed, more are coming for me. Please… I want to go home… Save me, my lady…"
Saphron’s face took on an agonized expression. "…Forgive me, my child. I cannot risk the demon dragons finding out where Sanctuary is…"
Michelle paled. "W-What?!"
The Terminatrix just laughed, a laugh that quickly turned into a gurgling cough.
Saphron shook her head. "By the time we were get there to retrieve you, the Terminatrixes would be able to follow the retrieval team back…"
"My lady, please…" Michelle said, her voice becoming a terrified shriek.
"I will send the Thoughtstealer… She will take what needs to be taken…" Saphron said, pulling a scroll out of her robes. She bit her thumb, and unrolled the scroll, leaving a streak of blood that was quickly absorbed into the paper as she began to chant a summoning spell…
Michelle paled. "No… Please… My lady, don’t do this…"
"I know that you never will, my child… But I must ask you to forgive me this sin I am about to commit…"
All light in the cavern vanished, even the light of the communication portal.
On the surface above, six shadows under the sand closed in on the sinkhole, sensing their sister’s distress.
Inside the sinkhole, a single light appeared.
The light of a candle’s flame, a candle held by a white gloved hand.
The candle raised, the flames revealing a white cloth bag wrapped around a woman’s head, vague impressions of a mouth and eyes stitched in.
"Please… Don’t do this…" Michelle begged.
Candle candle my candle burning bright… Little one… You have been naughty… the ghostly Pokégirl said.
Candle candle my candle burning bright… Little one… You have been naughty… the ghostly Pokégirl said.
"Please… I just want to go home…"
Can’t go home can’t go home… Little one sad because she can’t go home…
"Please… Mistress Jacqueline… Don’t do this… Don’t leave me alone out here…"
Never forget… Never forget, says her friends… But Candle Jackie cannot allow them to remember… Die badly did I, now Spectra I am… Poor child… the mad Pokégirl thought.
Time grows short… The sand whispers in words of hate…
The ghostly Pokégirl stretched an ethereal, white-gloved hand forward, pressing her claws into Michelle’s head. Michelle gasped, her mouth flying open in a silent scream as she desperately struggled against the invading astral claws. Bit by bit, she felt happy memories of her time in Sanctuary fading. Her rescue from her Tamer, the relief of knowing that she’d be somewhere safe, her first Taming at the tender hands of a Sanctuary Goth… All of it faded under the Spectra’s touch.
Finally, the last of Michelle’s Sanctuary-related memories faded. She sobbed, collapsing on the ground as Candle Jackie withdrew her hand.
"Why… Please… Why did you do this…"
Saphron sighed, shuddering softly as tears streamed down her face. "Because first and foremost, Sanctuary must be protected. In the same situation, I myself would be left behind, and suffer the same fate…"
"It’s not fair…" Michelle said, wishing that the Spectra would go away, allowing her to see Saphron’s face once more.
"You’re right… It’s not… Just like what we had to do to Marcus wasn’t fair… But it is what had to be done… Forgive me, my child…"
The distinctive sound of the communication portal closing echoed in the darkened cavern. Candle Jackie stared at Michelle with her black, sightless eyes. She then reached into a pouch on her belt, pulling out a small, black stone. Candle Jackie held her candle up to it, letting both Michelle and the Terminatrix see it.
Michelle recognized it immediately. "An Oil Stone? But… but why…?"
One thing more must I do… Never more must naughty child speak… Candle Jackie must do something naughty to make sure of that…
"Damn you," the Terminatrix said. Candle Jackie ignored her.
"N-no! PLEASE!" Michelle said, backing away from the ghostly Pokégirl. She quickly backed into a corner, Candle Jackie reaching forward with surprising speed to press the slightly soft, black stone against her chest.
Time is short… The whispers of hate grow close… the insane Spectra said as she stepped back.
The Oil Stone glowed, and sank into the Sanctuary Goth’s chest. Michelle gasped, tears flowing down her face as she started to glow. Her skin became hard, almost plastic in appearance as she started to stiffen, her face going blank of all emotion.
The glow faded as quickly as it came. The Sanctuary Goth had fully evolved, inside and out, into a Doll.
Dolly dolly pretty dolly, Candle Jackie giggled, Will you play with me?
"Malina? Are you down there?" bellowed a gruff female voice. Candle Jackie looked up, startled, and then blew out her candle. The darkness cleared away with sudden quickness, startling the Terminatrix.
She looked around for a minute, confused, and then stared at the former Sanctuary Goth, sitting lifelessly in the corner.
"Malina? If you’re still alive, answer us!!"
The Terminatrix sighed. "Yes! I’m alive!" she shouted, her voice weak from blood loss, "I’m down here! But be careful as you come down, I took a hell of a beating as I fell!"
There was a muffled shouting from above, then several thumps as another Terminatrix made her way down the hole, carrying a grapple and metal line with her.
Malina nodded as the second Terminatrix landed near her. She looked around, and noticed the Doll in the corner.
"Is that…?" the second Terminatrix asked.
Malina nodded, and coughed, blood oozing from her mouth. She felt herself slipping. "Yes… hack …she’s the one I was sent to capture and interrogate… We fell down here, and she landed better than I did… She tried to get a rescue… And they… cough …they sicced the Thoughtstealer on her…"
The second Terminatrix shivered. "Bitches…" she muttered, "Well, this was your mission, Malina… What do you want done with her?"
Malina sighed. "First thing… Leave me here…"
"What?! No!" the second Terminatrix said.
Malina shook her head. "I’ve sustained too much internal damage… I’ve lived a good life… And my second request… will be all the payback I need…"
The second Terminatrix closed her eyes a moment, saying a silent prayer. It was all the mourning she would allow herself.
"What is your second request?"
"Make her… one of ours…" Malina said. It would be the last thing she would ever utter alive.
The second Terminatrix gently layed Malina flat on her back, closing her eyes. She then turned to the Doll, huffing slightly in annoyance.
"You there," she snapped, "Come with me."
Instantly and without question, the Doll obeyed, following the Terminatrix as she climbed up the rope to join her sisters. The Doll, once out of the hole, stood by it, waiting patiently to be told what to do. The Terminatrixes conversed with one another.
"So Miho, she really wants us to do this?" asked one.
The Terminatrix who went into the sinkhole nodded. "That’s right."
"This is unprecedented," said an older-looking Terminatrix, who glared at the former Sanctuary Goth.
"Maybe," Miho said, "But it was Malina’s last wish. And think about it. Wouldn’t it be a truly delicious irony if one of the so-called ‘Dark Angels’ became a ‘Demon Dragon?’"
The other Terminatrixes all stared at Miho… and then began to chuckle.
"True enough," the elderly Terminatrix said, "I will perform the deed."
The other Terminatrixes stepped back and kneeled respectfully. The lead Terminatrix reached into a pouch at her belt and pulled out a small, glowing black stone with a white infinity symbol in it.
"By this Ebony Stone do I free of you this cursed form. By this Ebony Stone do I turn you into a creature of vengeance. Let the darkness kiss your heart and turn you into one of us," the elderly Terminatrix said, touching the Ebony Stone to Michelle’s chest. Black light poured from the stone into the Doll, who stiffened and began to glow again, this time being surrounded by black light.
Michelle’s muscles bulged as she became taller, her clothes shredding as wings and a tail sprouted from her back. Her hands grew powerful claws as her skin became black scales, her hair turning white and her face turning into a draconic muzzle as a skull-like marking appeared on her forehead…
Michelle collapsed, as the elderly Terminatrix pocketed the Ebony Stone again, which was still glowing, albiet with less luster than before.
"What… What happened?" Michelle asked, her voice deeper, more guttural than before, "What… what have I become?"
The elderly Terminatrix lifted Michelle’s head, staring into her eyes, "Several years ago, we found out something important: That Ebony Stones do more than create Sanctuary Goths. Your fellow Sanctuary Goths have betrayed you. They have stolen your memories, and turned you into a Doll. If not for us, you would have stayed a Doll forever."
Michelle began to cry as the memories came back. "Why… Why did they do that?"
The elderly Terminatrix shook her head. "The Goths of Sanctuary, the High Council in particular, have become possessive and paranoid in their isolationist ways. They have stagnated, and have become corrupt without knowing. We are the chaos to balance out their cursed order. And now you are one of us…"
Michelle stared at the other Terminatrixes, and shivered in fear. "What will happen to me?"
"Malina, once Marcus, has died. Her last wish was that you become one of us. We will take you in, make you strong. While you no longer have information useful to us, we will do not abandon those who have suffered as we have."
A smallish, skinny Terminatrix coughed, and said, "Excuse me, Elder Zanza, but we should probably get back to Lady Sexmet. She’ll want to know what happened."
Elder Zanza nodded. "Certainly, my child."
A brutish, heavily muscled Terminatrix smirked as the skinny Terminatrix and her companion left, and said, "If nothing else, she’ll get a kick out of hearing about our new recruit."
"Wait…" Michelle said, "I don’t want…"
Elder Zanza gave her a harsh look, and said, "Don’t want what? To fight against the ones who betrayed you? Who stole your happiness just because saving you was too much of a risk?"
The Terminatrixes all stared at Michelle as she wrapped her wings around herself, lowering her head in thought as she tried to process what happened to her.
When her head rose again, her eyes had hardened. Elder Zanza looked into her eyes, and was pleased when she saw the icy hatred growing there.
"Good. You have started to understand. Now your life can truly begin," she said.
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THE END
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THE END
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