Chapter 7 [Manyula: Spawn of Evil]

Chapter Seven: Midori/Gouka
Intellectual/Intuitive

Silently, a Leafeon emerged from behind a tree. Midori was her name. Intellectual and precise, she was the mastermind behind her squadron’s successes.

Her impeccable ability to strategize and predict exactly how the enemy would react in a situation was invaluable, and her knowledge of her environment had proved useful time and time again, leading the enemy into natural pitfalls and traps.

A Flareon smashed straight through a dense grove, incinerating his environment in a burst of flame. He was Gouka. The perfect partner for Midori, what she lacked was in him in great volumes.

He was a feral, intuitive partner, who relied on gut rather than wit. He fought first, and thought later. Always taking the initiative to make the first attack in a battle, his reckless charges were rarely strategic, and usually did more harm than good.

But that was where Midori came into the picture. Planning ahead, she conveyed her strategies and intentions to Gouka, refining his raw power into a far more dangerous thing. Together they had forged a powerful weapon, capable of taking down the strongest foes.

Midori carefully inspected the surroundings.

“Gouka, if you keep on burning everything you see, we might as well give up trying to trap the target, and instead simply charge ahead and get ourselves destroyed.”

“Why can’t we? I don’t see how much power you’d need to take down a Regirock. Slow, fat, it’d be done for before it knew what hit it.”

Midori smiled.

“But where would the fun be in that?”

“Oh, yes, of course. A painless death would be too good for it,” Gouka said, grinning sadistically.

“I thought we’d already agreed on humiliating Regirock.”

“Yes, yes, I forgot. My bad.”

He rather self-consciously stepped away from a large tree.

“Hang on. We’ve got new orders.”

Gouka grinned excitedly.

“Are they to burn everything in sight?”

“No,” said Midori coldly, glaring at Gouka, “In fact, this actually calls for less fun than before. We are to lead Regirock to this ancient relic. Apparently it holds another legendary, and it is the only way of opening the inner chamber.”

“Darn, can’t we kill it first then drag its damned carcass there?”

“You want to take the risk of the chamber not opening if Regirock is dead? Because if you do, I’m fine with that, just don’t come running to me if Lord Manyula’s all upset about not eliminating whatever legendary lurks within that chamber.”

“Ugh. Fine.”

Even Gouka knew better than to risk Manyula’s wrath.

Suddenly the earth began to tremble; Starly abandoned their roosts, fleeing the approach of the giant presence.

“Such lack of consideration. Rampaging through the forest like that,” Midori said with much distaste.

“On the bright side, at least it’s easy to know when it’s coming,” Gouka replied.

“I’d already set up trip lines all over the forest. I knew Regirock was approaching fifteen minutes ago…”

“Oh,” replied Gouka abashedly.

Regirock smashed a large redwood, stumbling clumsily into view. Its seven eyes focused on Gouka and Midori. Registering them as a threat, it launched a Rock Slide attack at the pair, however Regirock was not one known for speed, and they easily dodged the attack, streaking through the forest in a zigzag path. Far ahead enough to be out of range, but close enough to keep the brute following.

“Here’s another good part of this change of plan. It’s easy. That Regirock is absolutely brainless! It’s following without question!” panted Gouka.

The forest opened into a barren snow-covered expanse. Empty save for a lone chamber in the approximate center of the clearing.

Regirock attempted a Stone Edge attack, just barely missing the two, and devastating the area of impact.

A sudden wave of cool swept the area. Regice had arrived, launching an Icy Wind attack at Marina and Thor, their fellow EEVEE members, a Vaporeon and Jolteon.

A powerful Flash Cannon attack from Registeel illuminated the area, narrowly avoided by Voyante, an Espeon, and Eclipse, an Umbreon.

All this however, paled in comparison to the beauty and raw power of the Ice Beam which shot through the chaos, shaking the chamber.

Aurora, the Glaceon, General of EEVEE, had arrived.

Chapter 6 [Manyula: Spawn of Evil]

Chapter Six: Codename EEVEE
Secrets. While they may be hidden, no matter to how great an extent well one hides them, though one may try to deceive oneself into thinking otherwise,

they still exist.

Not more than several kilometres away from Manyula’s headquarters, it was surprisingly calm.

A solitary rock stood in the middle of a large field. It was as foggy as it had always been for years past, and would continue to be for many years to come.

It had been avoided for generations, for a legend warned that anyone who entered was cursed for life.

Clearly however, this view was not held by all. A Glacia emerged from a hole that had mysteriously appeared in the rock. Tossing her secondary ears gracefully, she scanned the area carefully.

Seeing no one, she made a signal, as a series of 6 other Eevee split evolutionary forms followed.

They were divided into three separate squadrons, firstly, an Espeon and Umbreon, next, a Jolteon and a Vaporeon, and lastly a Leafia and a Flareon.

The Glacia worked alone. Her name was Aurora, the leader of the EEVEE division, a group of seven Eevee evolutionary forms working secretly for Manyula undercover. Few within the Manyula Organization knew of their existence, much less anyone outside of it.

For those that knew, it was too late. EEVEE had enjoyed one hundred percent mission success for every assignment to date, and they intended to keep it that way.

Manyula himself had personally trained them since they were newborn Eevee, and they had learned everything there was to learn about stealth and battling. Their bond was a highly complex one. Guardian and ward, teacher and student, master and servant. However they had also learnt the most important thing Manyula had to teach. Emotional detachment. They would not weep if he departed, nor would he if they were killed on an assignment.

It was a simple yet effective philosophy that maximised efficiency and guaranteed success. Without emotional attachment, they could freely and relentlessly endeavour throughout their assignments, if a comrade fell, they would not pause, but simply charge with more determination than before.
However, even the most guarded of souls can sometimes give way to the insidious infiltration of emotions. Emotions were after all a natural part of all sentient beings, no matter how one tries to remove it, it once again would emerge anew, growing, penetrating one’s emotional guards. The denial of emotion is but temporary, one must be like a gardener of the soul, and must have the endurance to repeatedly uproot the weeds of emotion that ceaselessly sprout.

Fortunately for EEVEE, they were effective gardeners, and the weeds had not yet gotten in the way.

Such a lack of emotion was also especially essential for a secret organization whose existence is denied. Without the mental resilience they had gained through the muting of their feelings, their secretive existence and the lack of love from the outside world, an untempered soul would surely break in despair and pain.

But these were no ordinary beings.

They were the elite.

Hated and misunderstood perhaps.

But they were undeniably the best of the best, the most discrete and successful assassins in the entire known world.

They were the seven members of EEVEE.

Chapter 5 [Manyula: Spawn of Evil]

Part 2: Vanguard of the Darkness
Every team has a mascot.
An avatar.
A vanguard that clears the way.
We all have symbols.
Heroes.
Poster boys.

No one sees what happens backstage.

No one sees the pain…

4 years after the events of A Darkness in the light, 14 years after the Prologue, 16 years after the Spawning of Manyula…

Chapter Five: Pivotal Moments
When a foe is underestimated, pride will lead to a fall. A stronghold taken down. Captured by the enemy. An enemy getting ever stronger. The real war has begun.

The reconstruction of the world had begun.

A loud rushing of air filled the room. A strong psychic presence was clearly at work.

A Gardevoir strode in. But he wasn’t an ordinary Gardevoir.

He was the Gardevoir that represented an army. Manyula’s army.

Thunderbolting every individual within the room, Dean cleared the way for his troops. Porygon Z, Electivire, Scyther, Sneasel, and all sorts of Pokemon rushed into the room. Followed by a single Weavile. Lord Manyula.

“Lockdown the room, Dean.”

“Yes sir.”

Two thunderbolts and a press of a button later, the bodies of two Aipom security guards were strewn on the floor and security systems were shut down completely. Electivire were posted at the entrances, Giga Impacting any foolish enough to come close. Porygon Z, Porygon 2 and Porygon entered the main computer in an endless stream, busily hacking and transferring all the data.

At last, Manyula’s army had entered the first stronghold of the Legendaries.

“General Dean, General Slicer, follow me. General Hellfire, stay and keep everything under control.”

A shiny Blaziken nodded his head and began to shout out orders, while Manyula, Dean, and Slicer the Scizor entered an air vent.

“General Zeke. Feed the data directly to my handheld.”

“Yes sir,” answered a Porygon Z.

“We need the layout for the whole ventilation system ASAP.”

“Yes sir. It will be done quickly.”

Turning to Slicer and Dean, he said, “We’ll try and get as far as we can without help for the moment.”

It had been a long war. But they were now closer to their goal than ever before.

Latios was long dead. Latias was taken care of as well. So were Celebi, Manaphy, Mew, Jirachi, and Mesprit’s trio. The fools. They gave their life for an unworthy cause. Aruseus had to be eliminated, couldn’t they see that? Now for them to kill off the stubborn ones. The ones with too much pride to sacrifice.

The ones most like Aruseus.

“There’s an opening right ahead sir,” said Slicer.

“We’ll try to gain entry from there, then,” said Manyula.

The three removed the vent cover carefully. Then they leapt down with utmost quiet. First Slicer. Then Dean. Then Manyula.

Replacing the vent cover as he fell, Manyula then led the three down the corridor. One end was blocked by solid metal.

“Do we destroy the barrier,” asked Slicer.

“No.”

Manyula was sure of that. He wanted to deal with Mewtwo himself. His generals were enough. His army would simply eliminate the rest of the stronghold. Mewtwo was his kill.

“We’ll get to Mewtwo ourselves. Tell Zeke we no longer need his assistance, and to focus on the data regarding the other strongholds.”

“Very good sir.”

“Are you sure, sir,” asked Dean cynically.

“I have my own plans. My own reasons, Dean.”

Dean simply kept silent.

“Let’s move then.”

Two Magneton blocked the other way.

“Don’t they ever learn,” asked Manyula as he dispatched them both with a quick Night Slash, before Ice Punching them, freezing their bodies to the floor.

“Keep alert Generals.”

“Sir! A Furret!”

As Slicer said that the Furret immediately took off, clearly he was to check on the advancement of Manyula’s army. Manyula leapt towards him, Ice Punching his tail to the floor, freezing him, but not before he had raised the alert.

Back in the main control room, Zeke panicked. The alarms were blaring deafeningly. His transceiver activated, Lord Manyula’s voice being transmitted to him. He had orders to shut down the entire electrical system to quiet the alarms. But the lights! How were they to navigate without the lights?

“Never mind that Zeke. We’ll figure that out when we get to it. At most we’ll be fighting in the dark.”

And the lights went out. Immediately everything was quiet.

“Well done Zeke. Now make sure no one gets near the control room.”

Now what.

Manyula knew the enemy know had the advantage. They knew the general structure of the area while he did not. They had no choice but to fumble their way to Mewtwo.

Mewtwo sat. And stood. Then sat. And stood again. He paced around the room uneasily.

No one should have been able to penetrate the stronghold’s defences.

Clearly this Weavile had done the impossible. He had heard stories of course. Rumours that he had perfect stats.

Perfect and boosted twenty-five times.

At first he had not worried at all. In a war, the enemy would naturally try to project themselves larger than life.

But soon he learned of this Weavile’s deeds.

The legendaries he had slain.

Single-handedly.

And he worried.

It seemed impossible. But the evidence was right there. The legendaries were dead.

Footage showing the Weavile – now what was his name – Manyula. Killing the legends. Easily.

Now that very same Manyula had invaded his stronghold.

He had already sealed all the passages leading to the main chamber where he resided, but he still could not help but feel uneasy.

Suddenly the alarm sounded.

What?

Had he actually entered the inner-passages? But that was impossible!

However Mewtwo knew only too well Manyula had over and over again shattered his definitions of impossible.

He cringed.

A change of plan was required; clearly he had to face Manyula in battle. A battle to the death.

A battle that would be the pivotal victory for either side in this war.

Mewtwo gritted his teeth, he had time and time again proven himself to be among the strongest legendaries, clone or not.

And he would show the world his prowess again.

A loud explosion interrupted Mewtwo’s thoughts.

“Well, well. Mewtwo.”

“What?”

Mewtwo spun around.

“What in the name of Aruseus… How did you get here,” Mewtwo was shocked, “You should have been delayed by the blackout at least!”

Manyula smiled. Before launching a direct Night Slash at Mewtwo.

Mewtwo was ready, letting loose a Psychic attack at Manyula.

“What the…” Mewtwo uttered in amazement, his attack had absolutely no effect on Manyula, before coming to the realisation that psychic attacks had no effect on dark types.
Ducking at the last moment, Manyula’s Night Slash had barely missed him. His moment of overconfidence had cost him dearly.

Dean immediately seized the opportunity to blast Mewtwo as he ducked with a Thunderbolt. Even worse, as Mewtwo fell to the ground, Slicer and Manyula were powering up with Swords Dance.

Slicer used Agility, taking advantage of his speed boost to charge at Mewtwo with a X-Scissor attack, Mewtwo ducked again, but barely. Firing off a desperate Pulse Bomb at Manyula as he did so.

But he was already prepared, once again in a show of his uncanny dexterity he easily sidestepped the attack at the last moment, and using the explosion generated by the Pulse Bomb colliding with the wall behind him, leapt forward in synchronic harmony with the shockwaves in a graceful, speedy and lethal forward thrust.

“GG Mewtwo,” whispered Manyula.

A quick Night Slash, and Mewtwo had fallen.

Chapter 4 [Manyula: Spawn of Evil]

Chapter Four: The Council of Legends
The Council. Revisited again and again by seekers of truth. Respected. Revered. Unquestioned. But is that healthy? An imperfect authority in an imperfect world.

Left unchecked.

Aruseus entered the room. The legendaries, his bodyguards. His colleagues. His companions. Or were they? Did he really treat them as such? Had he really been tainted by evil as he had feared? Was everyone tainted?

They rose. All of them. Wait. One was missing.

“Where’s Latios?”

Latias and the other legends looked down sadly. What had happened?

“Latios. He – he sacrificed himself. To save Alto Mare.”

What?

In his shock, his mind replayed Latias’ words in his head over and over again.

“Latios. He – he sacrificed himself. To save Alto Mare.”

“He – he sacrificed himself. To save Alto Mare.”

“Sacrificed himself. To save Alto Mare.”

“To save Alto Mare.”

“Sacrificed himself.”

“Sacrifice.”

Sacrifice.

Was that the answer?

If Aruseus too, had sacrificed himself to the darkness. To evil. If he had made the sacrifice. Would the Apex region be saved? Would every Pokemon within it have been saved? He groaned.

But he was far too valuable. What would happen to order?

“He was too arrogant,” thought Manyula.

Pacing around he contemplated his plan. Aruseus. How could he? Him. Think that the Apex region. The whole of it. Was not worth his one, single pathetic life? He must die. Only then can the world be reordered. Aruseus. He must not live. Aruseus, the bane of the world.

Latios was a good Pokemon.

He was.

Manyula knew it.

Latios was one of the few legends that knew.

Sacrifice.

Latias knew too.

Celebi.

Manaphy.

Mew.

Jirachi.

Mespirit.

Uxie.

Azelf.

They knew.

But they believed in Aruseus.

Alas, their faith was placed on the wrong person.

Aruseus.

It was his entire fault.

He had no feud with the other legendaries. Of course, the others who did not know sacrifice, they were at greater fault than those who knew. But those who knew would go down to his army far more easily. Their sacrifice was noble.

But not enough.

He must remove as many of Aruseus’ guard as possible. As fast as possible. Only then could Aruseus be killed. As a sacrifice.

Aruseus had to die. And then, for the first time. Manyula wondered. Was even that sacrifice enough? Would that be enough to right the world? And then Manyula figured it out. Another sacrifice was needed. And he would sacrifice that. And even then, it was just to stall for time. Until the ultimate sacrifice could cleanse the world.

For the first time in a long time. Manyula smiled.

End Part One

Chapter 3 [Manyula: Spawn of Evil]

Chapter Three: Aruseus
The mightiest can make a mistake.
Such is the failure of a fallen world.
But when the mightiest makes a mistake,
The reverberations of it are far greater
Than a mistake made by one who is weak.
Especially when the mighty,
Do not recognise it as a mistake.
Then the weak will rise up.
And be strong.

Aruseus awoke. The nightmares were never ceasing. He could swear it was Darkrai who caused them. But he knew Darkrai was not powerful enough. But his memories could harm him when nothing else could. The irony.

Beaten.

Defeated.

Weakened.

Shattered.

By a mere memory.

But what could Aruseus do? He was the leader. He had the highest authority. He was the first Pokemon. He was the one who brought each one into existence.

He was authority.

He had no choice. He had to vaporise the Apex region. The whole continent. The largest region of them all. The region where it all began. He had no choice. The spawn plague was far too widespread. The Darkness. The Shadow. Pure Evil. The remnant. What Aruseus didn’t use to create Pokemon.

The nothingness. The nothingness was Evil. Evil with a capital E.

“And a capital V, I and L, as well,” thought Aruseus angrily.

He had left what was not purified to fend for itself. He had left it to grow. To learn to hate. And grow it did, placing its spawn in the Apex region.

True, not the whole of it. But Aruseus knew it would spread. It was justified! It was for the greater good! That was how Aruseus defended himself. From his own conscience.

But his conscience would always quietly whisper. Are you sure? How did you know it would spread? Were you completely sure it could not be stopped in a more humane way?

And Aruseus knew.

He had not in reality solved the problem.

He had not eliminated the Darkness. The Darkness was simply waiting for a time to strike. It was biding its time. It was waiting, Aruseus knew, for the time when Aruseus would no longer be able to hold it back.

The Darkness. It had no name. No form. It was nothing. Yet it was in everything. Everything that wasn’t, was the Darkness. Darkness outnumbered what was! For what is not, is infinite!

But Darkness. What was it? Something hidden away from the light. An enitity in space obscured by the lack of a revealing light.

But what was anything? A lack of nothing? Then what was nothing? A lack of something?

Aruseus sighed. He knew he would never know the answers.

He knew he must fight the evil when it came.

But that was all he knew.

He did not know if he was doing it in the right way. And if he did not do it in the right way, what differentiated him from the evil?

If only he knew what to do. Aruseus was not omnipotent.

He was not God.

He was just a Pokemon.

A powerful Pokemon.

But still a Pokemon.

A being with a soul.

A being that was fragile within.

A being that could be as easily claimed by the evil as anything else.

He just had to trust what he did was right. He had to ignore his conscience.

And hope.

That one day, all creation would be saved.

The world needs a God…

Chapter 2 [Manyula: Spawn of Evil]

Chapter Two: Slicer
Behind a steely, cold, icy exterior lays a frail and fragile soul. As weak and fearful as any other. The brave are merely good pretenders.

Even the bravest person will fall. Even the bravest person has doubts.

Even the bravest person, needs to feel loved.

Slicer fumed.

Competition.

He hated it. Unless he was the threat.

Never had he in all his years of working for Manyula, had Slicer ever been threatened. And now this puny Ralts made his appearance, and became a greater threat to him than even the most highly trained assassin.

That Ralts was weak.

And yet he could not even touch that Ralts.

For in Manyula, that Ralts was strong.

Manyula would never ever let him get close enough. He knew Slicer would take the opportunity. To kill.

Frustrated, he smashed his monitor screen with his invulnerable metallic claw.

Crud. He had to get a replacement again.

Meanwhile, Manyula had confirmed his beliefs. Having questioned the Ralts thoroughly, he was sure. That Ralts was a survivor. Now he just had to see how affected he was by the incident.

“Now. Dean. I’d like to… Take a blood sample.”

“Ah, okay, a… Wait. A WHAT?!”

“Calm down.”

“What’s the blood sample for?!”

“You need not know. Yet.”

Dean was silent.

“What a strange guy,” he thought.

“Okay… Just… Just. Be quick about it.”

Manyula laughed.

After taking the blood sample, Ralts was very, very woozy. Clearly his fear of needles was very overpowering.

Waiting for him to make his exit, Manyula than ran the DNA tests. The results shocked him.

“He received more exposure than I thought,” he mumbled.

Dean’s stats were not only perfect. They were beyond perfect. His stats were perfect and boosted five times over. Though nothing compared to Manyula’s own twenty-five times boosted perfect stats, he could see that Dean was no ordinary survivor. Manyula actually felt…

Unnerved.

Unnerved? No. He was never unnerved. But he could tell. If anyone ever defeated him, it would be Dean. But Dean was five times weaker. So the possibility… Just did not exist. But this reality… It made him think. The highest stat boost he had seen in an exposed one was three times. Dean’s perfect stats were boosted five times. Almost twice that of the previous one he had seen. And Dean. He was the only one who lived other than him. And all this made him think. How if there was yet another that lived? What if that one was equal to him? Or worse. Even more powerful. He shook the thought out of his head. Dean would be his second general. He would train him personally. He would be his pawn. A mere pawn to be sacrificed in a much, much, larger game.

Checkmate. You lose.

Aruseus…

Chapter 1 [Manyula: Spawn of Evil]

10 years later…

Chapter One: Dean
Assumptions. Reality. Can we trust our experiences? Or has even that too, been claimed by the slippery clutch of stereotypes?

“Lord Manyula.”

The same Sneasel, now a fully evolved Weavile, was looking across the exact same sea he had swum ten years ago. Looking at a rock, the very same one he had swum towards ten years ago. Standing, on a cliff. Just as he had done many, many, many, times ten years ago. Coming out of his reverie, clearly annoyed by this interruption, he averted his gaze, and spoke into his ear transceiver.

“Yes, General Slicer?”

“Latios is taken care of.”

“So. Latias… Isn’t?”

“I… We… Well. Actually. Um… Hmmmm.”

“Well?”

“Latias, well, yes, regrettably she has not been… Disposed of.”

“I see.”

General Slicer, a Scizor, pondered carefully. One wrong word and it could land him in very serious trouble indeed. “What Lord Manyula wants, he gets. Or else,” he thought.

“My troops are in position and ready…” he hesitated, “If you so wish… We could move in.”

Lord Manyula remained silent. He had wanted an underground job. Quick. Sneaky. Untraceable. Clearly it could not be done now.

“No.”

“I’m sorry, sir?”

“No. Recall your troops. Turn back to headquarters. Now.”

“Yes, sir.”

General Slicer cringed. Lord Manyula did not sound pleased at all.

Lord Manyula made his way back to his headquarters. There was much to be done. Entering his office, he sat down and closed his eyes. He decided that Plan B was to be carried out. He sighed and slouched back into his seat. They ought to be back soon.

Wait.

Immediately he was alert. An intruder. He detected the presence of an intruder. But this was no ordinary intruder. No. This intruder… It had a distinct aura.

The intruder was like him.

Slightly weaker, but yet…
He waited.

Before spinning around, claws pointed right at the heart of…

A Ralts.

Manyula was shocked. Had he been wrong? No… He could most definitely detect the aura around this Ralts. It was a survivor. But that was impossible! Or was it? No one else could have survived it! No one! At least, he thought so. But now, everything he believed was shaken. He wasn’t sure of anything now. As he pondered, the Ralts slowly turned his head back towards him.

“Boy did you scare me. For a moment, I thought you were going to kill me!”

“I was.”

The Ralts appeared uncomfortable. Manyula lowered his claw.

“Name.”

“I’m Dean! Glad to meet you!”

Manyula was taken aback by the Ralts openness.

“Lord Manyula!”

“For once! Could you not kneel?” snapped Manyula.

“Yes my lord,” said General Slicer, rising.

Then he saw Dean.

“You! That Ralts over there! Did I not tell you to fix that coffee maker in Room B-14?”

“Y-y-yes-s. Sir.”

“Well then get to it!”

“Yes! Um, Sir!”

Dean made himself scarce.

“Wait!”
It was Manyula.

Slicer looked up, confused.

“Dean, I want to have a word with you later. Forget the coffee maker. Wait outside while I converse with General Slicer.”

“Yes! … Sir!”

As he exited, Slicer asked Manyula, “Why?”

Lord Manyula looked at him, and said simply, “He’s a survivor. Like me.”

“What?”

Slicer was stunned.

“I never expected any others either. Slicer.”

Slicer appeared uneasy.

Manyula laughed, “But don’t worry Slicer. You’re still staying a General. Though you might soon have a partner…”

Slicer still seemed to be unconvinced.

“I can’t make you believe me Slicer. But I have supreme faith in you. And I hope you trust me as much. Now come. I have a new plan that we are to execute…

Chapter 0: Prologue [Manyula: Spawn of Evil]

Manyula: Spawn of Evil
Part 1: A Darkness in the Light.
Because everything is relative…

Prologue
Can we ever tell evil from good? And is what is good necessarily right? Or is evil necessarily wrong? If that is so, then must we open our minds before saying what is good and evil?

Or will we forever be stuck with the stereotypes. Will we mistake good for evil? Or vice versa?

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

It had begun to drizzle lightly, awaking a young Sneasel, who promptly groaned. He had overslept. Yet again.

Rousing himself, he exited his cave and leaped off a cliff, into the sea. Swimming frantically towards a rugged rock. A rock that was the last fading remainder of a once great continent…

End of Prologue