Emberwilde Comes: Mt Moon - Emberwilde Bites Back

When the webbing covered my chest, I began to panic. Maybe I hadn't quite thought this through. If the cocoon was strong enough that I couldn't set myself free, strong enough to withstand a ton of rocks crashing down on it, then would Emberwilde still have enough strength to set me free? Panicking, my eyes darted around wildly until they met Emberwilde's. Despite the obvious strain on his face, the determination in his eyes quelled my fears. He was a Lord and I was his vassal, he was duty-bound to protect me.

Once I felt the webbing on my neck, I said, "Give it a minute to harden before you move." Then I took a deep breath and my world plunged into further darkness. Isolated, I did the only thing I could - I counted.

A minute passed, then a minute and a half. The panic again began to rise in me multiplied by this new darkness and claustrophobia. Before I could really start to struggle, the ground shook and a great cacophony echoed as my world plunged into another, deeper layer of darkness. Then came an all too familiar roar, one that rose above even the avalanche of boulders finally falling to the ground. A roar that froze the battle between Emberwilde's underlings and the Rocket grunt, one that even quelled my fears as my cocoon was buried deeper under rocks and darkness.

In the darkness I felt the cocoon lift safely through the debris before being set down. Scrape, scrape, scrape a sound like a knife on a ceramic plate that made my ears feel like they were going to start bleeding. The noise stopped suddenly and I was left alone again in the void. A single claw cracked cracked through the cocoon, ending just inches from my face, then ripping down the rest of the cocoon.

Finally pulled from the safety of the cocoon into the dimly lit tunnels of Mt Moon, I quickly took in the situation around me. Next to me stood Emberwilde and Metapod, both exhausted - Emberwilde from the last several minutes of the Atlas feat of holding up a ton of rock, and Metapod being called to battle after just coming off a previously intense one. Ahead waited Spearow and Rattata having done their parts distracting the Rocket grunt. Finally, on a ledge above us a man dressed in all white except for a large red "R" on his shirt and a Graveler looking slightly beaten, several pieces noticeably missing from its rocky skin.

Though exhausted, a rage still consumed Emberwilde's face, smoke pouring from his nose and his tail fire burning large and bright. I lifted three pokeballs, returning the other three to protect them from what was about to come.

The man I assumed must be Patty the Rocket laughed. "Seriously kid. I don't care that you've got a fully-evolved Charizard. Scary tattoos aren't going to help it against my rock pokemon."

I simply turned to Emberwilde and nodded. The Charizard flapped its wings once, twice, then lifted itself off the ground and above his opponents in one more final flap.

Instead of ordering his Graveler to attack, Patty pulled a small chrome device from his pocket. "I guess you're not familiar with Team Rocket, kid. And this time, the boss gave orders not to steal your pokemon but to make sure you and it are never seen again."

Before he could press the button on the device, Emberwilde let loose a powerful gust with its wings. The ensuing sandstorm froze both the man and pokemon for a brief second, long enough for Emberwilde to make his move. He swooped down and landed hard directly in front of the Graveler, towering over it, his feet crushing into the rocky floor. The Rocket looked on with shock while Emberwilde took a deep breath and unleashed a torrent of fire on the rock pokemon. In just a couple seconds, the Charizard engulfed the other pokemon with its flames. In a minute, bits of molten rock began to melt off the Graveler onto the already vitrified cave floor. The heat, from where I stood, brought back memories of the Choosing Ceremony and the flames set upon my custom pokeball. Before the flames dissipated, Emberwilde delivered a kick that launched what was left of the still smouldering Graveler into the stone wall. Then he turned to the man.

Hand shaking, Patty raised the device. "I can still press the button and send another ton of rock crashing down on your trainer."

"I'm not his trainer," I replied, finally pulling myself up onto the ledge.

"How did you get here so quickly?" the Rocket stammered.

I simply shrugged my shoulders trying to hide my exhaustion. "Last one to the prey doesn't eat. That's just one of the rules in the Tartarus Isles."

"Tartarus Isles?" Patty repeated, eyes widening, "No, that's where -"

We didn't get the chance to hear the rest of his realization as Emberwilde chose that moment to bite down on the man's hand, jaws clamping down hard. I watched with dulled horror as the Charizard jerked his head left, the sound of tearing flesh and snapping bones almost as loud as Patty's screams. Then he swung his head right and rendered the man harmless by severing his arm just above the elbow. The Rocket grunt collapsed to his knees holding a bleeding stump of an arm while Emberwilde greedily gulped down his prize.

While the man was still in shock, I turned to the Charizard. "Lord Emberwilde, if you would be so merciful, a message can only be delivered to his boss if this man survives."

Emberwilde stared at me for an uncomfortable second as if contemplating taking a bite from me too. In the end, he simply grunted in acknowledgment and swung his tail around to cauterize the wound. Satisfied, he returned himself to his pokeball at my hip.

Pulling a flashlight from my bag, I looked Patty over, eyes wide and gripping his arm. "Surviving is a choice. If you do choose to live, let your boss know that what happened to his gym was for the insult dealt to my Lord. A champion should always be available to a challenger. Oh, and there are two more Tartarus Isle natives in the region at the moment, so he may want to reconsider attacking those 'trainers' as you call them, because they could be one of us."

Before I could turn to continue my trek through the caves of Mt Moon, the Rocket appeared to recover enough from his injury. "Four. Four of you. And the boss will be sending his own against you and your champions," he said before again falling unconscious.

I smiled what I hoped appeared wolfish. "Let them come."

 

For those of you with nothing better to do than follow this blog, I'm sure you're surprised to see another "Emberwilde Comes" story. Don't worry, I am too. If you're new here, run, everything here is horrible and a waste of your time. If for some reason you stuck around (you made it through three parts of this so you've no one to blame but yourself), "Emberwilde Comes" is my Pokemon fanfic about an island where Pokemon are the dominant predators and every year each clan sends a champion to traverse the Kanto region before returning to the island to challenge the other champions in battle. So, I finally got around to writing the next part after Emberwilde's battle with Brock in Pewter City. I can tell you that if you're hoping for more regular updates (to either this story or even this blog) I can tell you your hopes are sorely misplaced. This series would honestly be the easiest thing to research for (just look for a Red/Blue version playthough) and I still haven't done that yet. Just to show how little I've actually done, I still haven't even decided what Pokemon the Bearer has canonically caught yet. So far, we know about the Metapod (evolved from the Caterpie caught when Emberwilde burned down part of the Viridian forest), and the Ratata (because everyone has one) and a Spearow (because I always chose Spearow over Pidgey). I know there's several other pokemon we could've encountered since then, but I also still haven't figured out how the capture system should work (there's no Pokebox for the Tartarus Isle Bearers, after all). Anyways, I fell off last year after that big "Healer's Gambit" story (one that I'd actually been sitting on for years). Plus I got overly ambitious on some other projects that hopefully I'll get around to starting up again too. As always, it's my yearly resolution (yeah, I know it is already February) to bother you with at least one of these posts per week so let's see how this goes.

Emberwilde Comes: Mt Moon - The Vassal

 The smile evaporated from my face as I imagined being not only buried alive, but the first Bearer in history to keep the Clan's Champion from completing its quest. Careful not to shift too much out from under the safety of the Charizard's wings, I stretched my left arm to grab for Emberwilde's pokeball. Perhaps, like with other pokemon, if I could point it at him, I could force the Inferno Clan's champion into safety. Just inches from the ball, I froze as Emberwilde strained to lift a single clawed hand. While it hovered in the air, I heard the boulders balanced upon his back and wings begin to shift. Fear held me tight for a moment, enough time for Emberwilde to pin my left arm to the ground. "I don't understand why you won't save yourself? The clan champion can still complete the tasks without The Bearer's help," I said.

 A single claw slowly inched its way up my arm until it reached the top of my bandaged arm. In a single, smooth motion the claw cut away the bandage to reveal the charred flesh underneath. Perhaps seeing the anger starting to appear on my face, Emberwilde let out a warning growl of his own. A single snort of hot, arid desert wind kicked away enough dirt and gravel into my face that it took me a minute before I could see clearly again.

"What the fuck was that for?" I said, spitting dirt from my mouth. Once I could see again, I locked a glare with Emberwilde's own eyes, knowing that doing so could have fatal consequences. Then again, the only ways I saw out of our situation ended with my death.

Surprisingly, Emberwilde turned away first, his snout nudging my now bare arm. Realizing that I wasn't withdrawing from my challenge, the Charizard growled and gave my arm a nudge. More out of curiosity than anger, I turned my eyes from Emberwilde to my arm, now seeing my arm, really seeing my arm for the first time since plunging it into Emberwilde's flames at the Bearer Ceremony. 

Perhaps it just needed a little extra heat to clean off the burnt-on flakes of ash. Without the caked on layers of char I'd been unable, or perhaps merely unwilling, to clean from my arm, the remaining charred bits appeared smoother, more like ink as it wrapped a pattern around my arm, wrist, and ending on a couple of my fingers and palm. The rest of my arm now free of the crusted burnt flesh, now looked relatively unscathed, as if the incident might've never happened. 

It took me another minute of staring at the swirling markings before I figured it out. "You marked me," I said looking from the Charizard to the tattoo and then back again. "You've marked me as your vassal." That's why he couldn't abandon me as I asked, because if he was responsible for creating the situation we found ourselves, as a Lord he would bear responsibility for getting us out of the situation. Though this was also the first I'd heard of a Pokemon Lord taking on a human vassal, and what that would mean for my role. I nodded. "Okay, let's figure out a way out of this," I said, putting Emberwilde's pokeball back onto my belt. "But we're definitely going to need help."

"Char," Emberwilde agreed, nodding at my newfound courage and attempting to shift his body to get out from under the rubble.

In return, I shook my head. "It goes against the Inferno Clan's way, but we can't simply use our strength. We'll need a distraction. And speed," I said, reaching for a pokeball at my belt while Emberwilde growled his reluctance.

I released Spearow, its small body allowing it to slip and squeeze through the boulders pinning Emberwilde and I to the cave floor.

"Hahahaha, a tiny birdie," Patty laughed and snorted, "I guess you're even dumber than the boss thought, kid. First you burn down half his gym, then you send a flying Pokemon against me and my rock pokemon in a cave."

From under the pile of rocks, I shouted, "Spearow, use Sand Attack! Blind the entire cave!" Spearow answered with a caw! then the sound of its wings flapping as it kicked up a storm of sand and gravel and dirt. Some of it even slipped through the rocks and ended up in my own eyes and nose.

"Do you really think this is enough to stand against us?" coughed the Rocket grunt. "Graveler, use Rock Throw and knock that bird out of the sky."

"I guess the sand must really be in your eyes if you didn't notice my other pokemon," I said from the darkness with a wide smile, "Rattata, use Swift!" Unable to see through the mountain of boulders atop us, I turned my head to Emberwilde's face. Though typically a visual hunter after evolving wings, Charizards still hold onto the skills that made the fearsome predators on the ground. Ears that once tracked prey through tall grass now focused on our Rattata streaking under cover of sand, little feet scampering this way and that to throw off any echos that might give away its position. Though not necessarily one of Rattata's most powerful attacks, the thing that makes Swift really special is that it always connects with its target, even when the user can barely see itself. I could tell when Rattata struck by the fanged smile spreading on Emberwilde's face.

"Two against one! That's against the League rules," the man complained in-between coughs.

"Consider it 'pack tactics'. After all, you just attacked the champion of the Tartarus Isle's Inferno clan." Seeing the smile on Emberwilde's face I could imagine Rattata continuing its attack. Though it might not appear to be doing a lot of damage to the Rocket's rock-type pokemon, those small bits would eventually add up to a big chunk, especially if the Graveler couldn't strike back.

I grabbed another pokeball from my belt. "Okay, Metapod, I know you just battled, but we need your help now," I said, releasing Metapod under the cover of Emberwilde's outstretched wings. Seeing Metapod's eyes go from me to the rocks balanced on Emberwilde's wings and back threatening to crush us, I shook my head. "It's too heavy for even your String Shot to hold up. No, I need you to instead use your String Shot on me. Wrap me up in a cocoon so that I'm protected and Lord Emberwilde can escape and join the fight."

Knowing who was actually in charge, Metapod turned to the Charizard who simply nodded his head. Metapod turned back to me and, starting at my feet, began covering me in webbing. By the time Metapod got to my waist the webbing around my feet had already hardened to the point that I couldn't break it no matter how much I struggled. 

Emberwilde Comes: Mt Moon - Rocket Strike!

When we last left our heroes, they'd just defeated Brock for the Boulder Badge. Now they find themselves trekking through the tunnels of Mt. Moon on their way to Cerulean City.

Emberwilde and I walked through the caves of Mt. Moon guided by my flashlight and kept warm by his tail fire. The Charizard burst forth from his pokeball as I entered the tunnel through the mountain, refusing to return to it through our journey so far. Emberwilde was clearly unhappy walking through the seemingly endless maze, his hot breath huffing on the back of my neck and every step shaking loose gravel from the walls. Shadows darted from our path, disappearing into cracks and crevices in the stone walls, clearly more afraid of us than we were of them. Fearful to turn around, I nervously asked, "Lord Emberwilde, would you not be more comfortable in your pokeball while I traverse these tunnels for us both?"

Emberwilde simply growled. "Charizard," was all he said as he continued following close behind me. Protection, though from what he didn't elaborate.

"Lord, I am certain that I am faster than anything in these caves. And if I do find trouble, I could quickly call upon yourself or one of your vassals to attend to the situation," I replied hesitantly. Part of me appreciated Emberwilde accompanying me through the darkness, but part of me dreaded the attention the predator was giving me, as if perhaps I might not be leaving these caves.

The Charizard growled again and pushed ahead of me, his wing briefly pinning me to the tunnel wall. "Lord, I'm not sure that's a good idea. I can't get the light around you to illuminate the way," I said trying to shine the light around the clan champion's frame.

Emberwilde took a deep breath and let loose a jet of flame that brushed away the darkness in front of us for several feet, as well as fainting some Zubats and a couple Geodudes too slow to get out the the way. "Char," he harrumphed and continued ahead, letting loose flames whenever he felt necessary.

The steady trudge through the darkness and hypnotic sway of Lord Emberwilde's tail flame entranced me until the world became simply a haze of one step after the next. The cave-in jolted me out of it. One moment all was calm, then the ground, the walls, the ceiling, everything started shaking.

"Lord Emberwilde, it's a cave-in! Please return to your ball?" I pulled the pokeball from my belt in an attempt to save the regal Charizard. Instead of retreating back inside the ball, however, Emberwilde leapt back, landing aside me. Two massive wings raised, protecting me from the falling stones as I curled myself under them. Boulders and stalactites fell toward us and I watched the strain on Emberwilde's face grow as more and more weight piled upon him. After a few seconds, the rumbling stopped and the two of us were left in a void: the only sound, our breathing, and the only light coming from Emberwilde's tail.

"Lord, you need to retreat now. If you'd simply return to the safety within the pokeball, you can resume your mission once someone recovers my body from the rubble." Again, I extended the black-and-red pokeball out toward the Charizard.

Emberwilde growled in contempt and sent a puff of smoke into my eyes, hindering my efforts as I dropped the ball. Blinded, hacking and wheezing, I almost missed the voice puncturing the emptiness. I wiped the tears from my eyes and regained my breath. "Excuse me, is someone out there? There's been a cave-in and we're trapped. Can you help us?" I called out to whomever might be on the other side of the obstruction.

Silence. Then, the cough of a throat clearing. "Well that's a little disheartening, replied a voice low and unhurried, "I guess you didn't hear me earlier, though I'm not surprised as the entire world crashed around you. I'll do you the courtesy of repeating myself just this once."

Again, Emberwilde and I were thrust back into the empty void. Before I could say anything though, the voice returned - loud, booming, and theatrical. "Prepare for trouble. Watch your hopes crumble," he said, the whooshing of loose fabric moving rapidly and gravel shifting as if he were also moving to a choreographed routine. "To conquer all people within this region, -" The man stopped abruptly, letting out a huff. "You know, nevermind. It just isn't the same without an audience." I heard him whisper muffled words to another individual or perhaps his pokemon before continuing with us. "I'm just going to give it to you straight, kid. You and your partner there burned down part of the boss's gym. Sure we got the cash to fix it right up, but that's not the point. Boss said no one messes with Team Rocket like that."

A memory popped into my head, a story told by one of the returning Bearers about their travels through the Kanto region. "Team Rocket, you said? Don't you folks usually steal pokemon?" A slight smirk cracked on my face as I imagined Emberwilde tearing through hot-air balloons while goons in matching uniforms tried to tie him down.

The Rocket laughed. "Sorry kid, not this time. Boss said an example is to be made of you two, and when an example is to be made, Boss calls Patty to get the job done right." I heard an echo of something small and metallic being tapped. "I'm going to let you two stew for a bit, maybe until your oxygen gets low or the panic and despair sets in. Then I'm going to drop another ton of rock on you both, burying you under the mountain for good."

Print Stories I Want Adapted for the Screen

I'm pretty sure I grew up at the start of studios adapting popular print media (books, comic, etc) to the screen (mostly because I'm not going back to do research). One of the first instances I remember was Nickelodeon's attempt at Animorphs which, as bad as it was, I was super excited to see. Then came the start of the Harry Potter franchise which I was even more excited to see since I was already into book three at the time. Now though, I guess 20 years later, it seems like everything is getting its own screen adaptation, whether we asked for it or not, good or (more usually) bad. That said (and because I didn't have anything else written this week), I'd like to put in my own requests for print media that I think could do well if adapted to the live-action screen. Plus, it's an excuse to talk about books which I know everyone loves hearing about. That's a joke. I know no one reads my book reviews. And yes, I'm posting this at the same time Amazon released Reacher, its Jack Reacher book series adaptation, a book series I've thoroughly enjoyed so far (no spoilers on the show, I probably haven't watched it yet). *Note, I do have another story written, but finding the time to type is so hard, and it's boring.

I know it's already been turned into a movie, but I'm still holding out hope that someone will remake Wanted (comic book written by Mark Miller, illustrated by J.G Jones) closer to its original comic book source. Especially with the popularity of the two Deadpool movies, Logan, The Boys series, and Invincible, a studio could definitely remake this as an R-rated supervillain movie and still make money. (Spoilers) Instead of The Fraternity recruiting Wesley Gibson and secretly training him to kill his own father (you've seen the movie, right?), in the comic book The Fraternity recruits Gibson as part of his father's request after his death to teach his son to be a man and take control of his pathetic life. Oh, right, I said "supervillains." In the comic book, The Fraternity isn't just a group of assassins who merely curve bullets, but a legion of supervillains who secretly took over the world years ago after wiping out the superheroes. All of them. All. Of. Them. So, instead of a movie with a bunch of people who just curve bullets around corners, imagine one filled with an assortment of supervillains with unique superpowers. For example: The Doll-Master who controls a bunch of toy dolls to do his bidding. And Shithead, who is made up of the crap of 666 of the most evilest people to have ever lived. As Wesley describes his own superpower, "I just kill people," and that's what he does. No matter what he's armed with or the odds he faces, his opponents tend to die. The story follows Wesley's training and navigating the secret supervillain society until a coup emerges attempting to take The Fraternity out of the shadows. It's filled with a bunch of action, several twists, and the whole story fit into 6 comic issues meaning you could fit the whole thing into one movie as it's relatively short. See, doesn't all that already sound like a better movie?

 

After watching Netflix's live-action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop (yeah, I can't believe I'm using that show as a standard either) I think they'd do a decent job at turning Simon R. Greene's Nightside series into a show for a couple seasons. If you didn't read my review of the series last year, The Nightside series follows Private Eye John Taylor as he solves all manner of supernatural cases from retrieving the Unholy Grail, discovering the origins of The Nightside itself, and delivering Excalibur to its rightful owner. Visually, Cowboy Bebop was appealing in that it matched the aesthetics of the original anime, and one of the major aspects of The Nightside is the setting. It's a place where EVERYTHING exists: magic and advanced technology, time travel and other dimensions, Heaven and Hell and all manner of different gods, and literally everything inbetween. A place where everything is for sale "for the price of your soul, or at least someone else's" (or something like that). Settings ranging from the standard gritty, seedy city nightlife, to a glamorous club district, and even a desolate wasteland of a possible future. Even just the background characters from the normal humans bustling about, heads-down searching for the things they'd be too ashamed to look for in proper society; gangs of demons trying to avoid returning to Hell; the traffic that never stops filled with all sorts of vehicles, and some that aren't vehicles. These are the things that Netflix got right taking on a project as epic and beloved as Cowboy Bebop, and I think they could apply that skill to create a decent Nightside. As for the characters, there's so many introduced through the series that are only used for a book or two that I can't imagine anyone being so attached that they'd be angry if certain characters were written a different way. Of course, I'd like the biggest characters to remain unchanged but of course, there's so much that goes on in the series that I think (obviously if done properly) it could work if the changes are made to the source material.

Larry Correia's Monster Hunter series could be turned into a movie (or several). After Owen Pitt survives an attack by his boss-turned-werewolf, he's offered a job at Monster Hunter International, a company of professional monster hunters collecting bounties on dangerous monsters paid secretly by various government agencies across the globe. I'm only two books into the series but so far Pitt has already saved the world twice, facing down master vampires, zombies, and creatures from another dimension (no ghosts only because it's too hard to provide a corpse to collect a bounty on a spirit). The books already read as a man vs monster action film, and if they can make six Resident Evil movies, I don't see how they can't do the same with these. A likeable hero, a kick-ass heroine, guns (lots of guns), and evil monsters. Doesn't that sound like a decent action film?

 

 

Finally, in the category of "Only if it's done EXACTLY like the books is Brent Weeks' Night Angel Trilogy. And I mean EXACTLY as is: No character re-designs, no adding or erasing of plot points, fucking just don't do anything to it if it isn't in the books. I accepted reorganizing and adapting certain plot points and characters in The Magicians Syfy adaptation, and that worked out fairly well. But I also saw it done in Netflix's Cowboy Bebop and I was mortified. Ok, fine, some dialogue changes because you can't hear thoughts on the screen but that's it. All that said, the story follows Azoth, a street urchin as he is taken under the wing and trained by the kingdom's greatest wetboy, Durzo Blint. Over the course of the trilogy, Azoth puts his new skills to assassinating a tyrant, freeing a kingdom, and ultimately saving the world. In true swords-and-sorcery epic fashion, the setting stretches across multiple kingdoms and countries, spanning the course of several years. The cast of characters is huge (I can easily think of almost a dozen characters whose individual storylines run through all three books) and diverse: a nobleman's son growing into a leader, another urchin who takes over the criminal underworld, one devoted to peace but learns the importance of violence, a runaway prince looking to redeem his people, and more. The series is filled with action, adventure, magic, friendship, betrayal, romance and touches on the themes of coming-of-age, Right vs Wrong, and Good vs Evil. It's easily one of my favorite book series I've ever read. I wouldn't even know how to feel if whatever studio got the rights to it decided to change even a single aspect of the story. Just the thought of it....