Hostile Territory au: In which a cult gets humiliated by a teenager, a federal agent, their former scientist, and a college girl.
Here's some more rambling about… this while I work on art (I promise I'll design Lyca soon… ish).
…Look I have so fucking many things to draw, and that's only for Leonzilla and Leonzeno (there's also a third thing that @drakeflight enabled knows about, but that's for a later date).
Also! Some of the Fakemon in this were made by my friend @okamishimada18 ! Go show them some love!
Picking up where we left off, because of Luis' Scientist Babbling™️, he kinda has to come clean about his involvement in… all of this way sooner.
…Yeah he might've blown his own cover out of sheer nerdiness over Lyca's Pokemon.
In his defense, I honestly would too tbh.
Leon's extremely pissed off like in canon, however Zepha grabs him with Psychic (getting an intrigued and excited sound out of Luis) before he can do anything stupid.
Lyca meanwhile raises his eyebrow.
"Well that explains your interest in my Pokemon," The teen unsubtly jabbed, making Luis sputter and try to defend himself.
Lyca shook his head, stopping him from speaking, "If you want to repent, then prove it. Don't just expect it to be handed out, especially not right now."
He's more willing to give the Spaniard the benefit of the doubt, obviously because he has no trauma connected to Umbrella, but also because he's seen evil team members genuinely repent for their actions.
Leon oh-so-helpfully fills him in on Umbrella's atrocities, before revealing that he was in Raccoon City during the T-Virus outbreak.
Luis visibly pales at this.
While Lyca's obviously horrified, he asks Luis if he was involved with any of the virus testing, which the man vehemently denies. He studied parasites, not infections.
Leon still doesn't trust him, but Lyca tells him they need every ounce of help they can get right now.
"Wait "we"? What do you mean "we"?"
The kid gave him a dry look, "Do I need to repeat myself? I'm here, I can fight, I'm helping."
"No you aren't!" He snapped in reply, horrified at the idea of (another) a kid right in the center of an outbreak.
Lyca snorted stubbornly, glaring at him defiantly, "I am. Dreizephyr is still out there keeping that girl safe, I'm not abandoning either of them!"
Leon froze, his thoughts screeching to a halt, "What girl…?"
It couldn't be, right?
The teen stopped his tyrate with a confused and slightly surprised noise, blinking before seemingly getting his thoughts back together, "Oh- I saw this girl getting carried by some… massive fucking guy. She was kicking and screaming the whole way; it uh… it didn't take much to guess she wasn't here willingly. So I asked Dreizephyr to-"
"What did she look like?" He was honestly both hopeful and dreading the answer, but he needed to know.
"I- Huh???"
"What. Did she. Look like?"
The kid looked completely baffled, but thankfully answered the question, "I dunno? Caucasian, short blond hair, wore clothes that stuck out like a sore thumb??"
Fuck. Even if that was vague, it matched Ashley Graham's description perfectly.
Leon begrudgingly has to let Lyca join, because otherwise he wasn't going to be able to find Ashley and her apparent guard dog.
Despite the agent's urgency, the Pokemon trainer was able to convince him to rest for at least a little bit, just so he wasn't completely spent by the time they did find Ashley.
He also lets Luis borrow his Pokedex as a sign of good faith, seeing as the scientist was so curious about Pokemon.
This unintentionally spirals into a discussion about technology, with Lyca being baffled by the… well, lack of what he's used to.
Checking in on our dynamic duo: Dreizephyr is doing her best to help Ashley feel better about… everything. Her two Dreepy Eins and Zwei are basically glued to the poor girl, wrapping themselves around her neck like scarves to comfort her.
Dreizephyr actually found a cool jacket (AKA Leon's) on one of the ganados, yoinked it, and actually managed to make Ashley laugh by wearing it.
You can not tell me that wouldn't look funny.
As for how Ashley feels about the whole thing… she was scared of the ghost/dragon type at first, which is partially why Dreizephyr has been trying to make her laugh.
She warms up to the Dragapult quickly, considering she's actively trying to keep her safe from the cultists. Plus once she actually looked at Dreizephyr… well she doesn't exactly look scary, not in comparison to the mutated cultists.
That doesn't mean Drei's a pushover, she's a pseudo-legendary after all, and a fast one at that.
Drei grows concerned when Ashley starts coughing up blood, recognizing the symptoms from some of the cultists.
She does try to find the Plaga by herself, but without a psychic type to guide her she's basically groping blindly.
She ends up sending Eins and Zwei to find Lyca, hiding herself and Ashley in a rundown house.
Speaking of, the trio are now on the move again! Aaaaand heading straight for Del Lago…
Why would they be there? Lyca mainly wanted to check the lake, just to be sure Drei and Ashley weren't there.
Del Lago tries to hunt them crocodile-style, but thankfully Leon and Lyca have really good reflexes.
"Wh- What in Ghiratina's name was that?!"
"Del Lago," Luis replied grimly with a wince, "joder, I would've thought it had died by now!"
Leon glared at the man, never taking his eyes off the mutated fish, "You know what this is?"
"S-Sí," The Spaniard replied, looking… ashamed of himself? "Los Illuminados wanted to study the effects Las Plagas had on aquatic life. I… it had already outgrown this lake before I escaped, so why is it still-?"
""Here"? "Alive"?" The agent snapped harshly, Luis hanging his head low.
Lyca cleared his throat, "I think it's obvious why it's here: it's a guard, and with nothing here that could actually sustain it? It's gotta be starving."
"Great," He rolled his eyes, throwing his hands up as the fish swam near the surface, "so what the hell are we supposed to do?"
"Well…" The kid glanced around with a shrug, "It's lame, but we could always just… leave. It can't get us, we can't fight it."
Luis' expression told Leon that wasn't an option, "Ah… While normally I'd agree with that, this lake empties out near the harbor. If Del Lago's freed from their control then-"
"-It'll head straight for the ocean." Lyca realized, hissing something under his breath, "Right, then plan C."
Him and Luis both looked confused, "Plan… C?"
"Oh don't worry about it," The teen smirked, pulling out another of those ball things, "just sit back and enjoy the show."
Lyca brings out Snapper the Torashark (Dragon/Water type) to even the odds and deal with Del Lago. The fish proceeds to get mollywopped.
Del Lago's definitely the toughest thing they've faced by this point, so the two men get to watch Lyca prove himself.
After making sushi out of it, the group proceeds on, fight more ganados, save the trapped wolf, and then get stuck with El Gigante.
"…Is this just a thing in your world?"
"I don't know-!"
Que a royal rumble where the dumb giant is brought low by a very eager Salazzle, and a very determined Leon.
It's about as bad as modern-day social media lmao, the proto-internet is flooded with "hear me out" threads on poor Leon. It doesn't help that he's a ray of sunshine despite what he's gone through, who wouldn't fall for that?
It's about as bad as modern-day social media lmao, the proto-internet is flooded with "hear me out" threads on poor Leon. It doesn't help that he's a ray of sunshine despite what he's gone through, who wouldn't fall for that?
It's about as bad as modern-day social media lmao, the proto-internet is flooded with "hear me out" threads on poor Leon. It doesn't help that he's a ray of sunshine despite what he's gone through, who wouldn't fall for that?
It's about as bad as modern-day social media lmao, the proto-internet is flooded with "hear me out" threads on poor Leon. It doesn't help that he's a ray of sunshine despite what he's gone through, who wouldn't fall for that?
It's about as bad as modern-day social media lmao, the proto-internet is flooded with "hear me out" threads on poor Leon. It doesn't help that he's a ray of sunshine despite what he's gone through, who wouldn't fall for that?
(Answer these at your own pace btw, no rush I just like yapping about dinosaurs 💀 @otaku-dragon-lover )
Awesome! Before I start rambling about animals though, I need to get some basic terminology out of the way to avoid confusion.
Also bit of a disclaimer: paleontology - the study of extinct organisms - is always in flux! By it's very nature we aren't working with the complete picture here, we're working with scraps of scraps. So things I say are bound to change as new discoveries are published!
So, the entire era the dinosaurs lived in was called the Mesozoic. This time period can be split into three distinct… I don't know what you'd call it actually, sections I guess? Anyway, these three sections are called - in order - the Triassic, Jurassic, and the Cretaceous. These can be further broken down, but if I tried to get into all of that we'd be here all day.
Oh by the way uh, remember how I said dinosaurs are all extinct? That only includes the non-avian ones, which means…
*Points at a nearby bird* That's a dinosaur.
"Right, okay. That makes sense," he nodded, "since you're only getting bits and pieces it must take a while to, to string it all together."
"Wait. What do you mean that's a dinosaur? Are, are they very, extremely distant relatives? Is that it?"
Nope! See, birds are dinosaurs. Specifically they evolved from dromaeosaurs!
See feathers as a whole didn't evolve for flight, they evolved to keep these guys warm. Because most dromaeosaurs (and quite a few basal theropods) were actually quite small!
Take this fella! Velociraptor are about chicken or turkey-sized, and as you can see, they have quite large feathers on their arms.
There's so much I could yap about when it comes to this dinosaur specifically, but I'll save that for their own thing.
The first "bird" (as far as we know) was a little dromaeosaur called Archaeopteryx (name meaning "Ancient Wing")
Veeery bird-like, wouldn't you say?
It was pure luck that feathers were also very aerodynamic, since again, they didn't evolve for flight! They just got repurposed into flight structures! Like how a bat's wing derives from its hand, same principle.
Consciousness came back to him slowly, a low groan escaping as his mind awoke.
What... What happened? He tried to remember, tried to piece together the events that led up to... well, this.
Concerningly, he was coming up blank.
Even more concerningly, he couldn't move his arms. The limbs felt like they were bent behind his back, something around his wrists stopping them from cooperating.
Well, that shouldn't be much of an issue. He just needed to-
Oh, hold on what the fuck-?
He... He couldn't break whatever was binding him. That... fuck it's been years since that was the case.
He curbed the cold dread beginning to claw at his bones, slipping into the training that'd been (literally, half the damn time) beaten into him.
So, these bastards had him. We'll see how long that lasts.
It smelled of stale, burnt metal. The heavy silence was so thick that even the soldiers held back from trading their usual ribald jokes. Chris kept a grim vigil over this fragile peace, his gaze shifting between the tightly coiled, leathery mass of the kaiju and the stretcher.The helicopter flew in like a bloated tin gull, shuddering as it hit air pockets; the weather was turning utterly miserable.
Chambers was already waiting for them at the landing pad. Rain drummed against the dusty metal, leaving streaks of grime in its wake. She had been warned hours ago that Goji might end up in her medical bay today.
Rebecca wouldn't be herself if she didn't try to save everyone—it didn't matter if it meant engineering a cure for a new strain or unraveling kaiju physiology. Standard medication was useless on Goji; his mutations and systemic shifts in blood biochemistry, physiology, and anatomy meant nothing worked the way it would for a human.
It wasn't exactly their first rodeo, but Rebecca had never seen Goji so deeply unfocused and shattered. Like a child, she led him away by the hand, while the other one was taken by the medical team.
He failed he failed he failed he failed he failed hefailed hefailed hefailed hefailed hefailed hefailed hefailed hefailed hefailed hefailed hefailed hefailed hefailed hefailed hefailed hefailed hefailed hefailed hefailed hefailed hefailed hefailed hefailed hefailed.
"Fucking useless," "not good for anything," "should've died in that damn city," "not human," "monster," "weapon," "thing," "punching bag," "won't fight back," "useless useless useless".
Over and over, running around in circles like a caffeinated roadrunner. Goji didn't even notice that Rebecca was there.
"Leon…?" She prodded gently, becoming unnerved when she didn't get a response from the usually talkative man.
She may not be a psychologist, but even she could tell the signs of a complete mental shutdown.
A ringing silence hung in the air, broken only by the restless glimmer of crystals on his frost-covered tail. Despite his imposing size, the kaiju had curled into a tight ball, his face hidden behind damp strands of hair that reeked of soot.
Rebecca recognized the signs, but not with Goji. She had never seen him in such a state. The medic dimmed the lights to a minimum to reduce the sensory overload. She rummaged through the cabinet for a blanket—not because he was cold, but rather to give him a sense of security. She needed to set up an IV despite his condition: just saline and Mothra’s serum.
"Leon, I'm here. I need to give you some medicine. Please, give me your hand."
She knew better than to do anything without warning; it could easily startle the exhausted, terrified man before her.
He only really registered the "Leon" and "hand" part of that, passing the scaled appendage over almost robotically.
Just go with it, if you fight you'll make it worse for yourself.
His instincts, born from countless abusive and downright traumatic experiences, told him. So… he did, complying completely and utterly. In this state, he'd probably agree to anything.
Leon’s blood is denser, heavier, as viscous as liquid metal. The IV pump can barely cope with the backpressure. It is an excruciatingly slow process, though the device has been set to the optimal rate—designed to be as painless as possible for a kaiju, while keeping the pump functioning.
She is right there, closely monitoring Leon’s condition. The serum is stable; what remains unclear is the type of drug he was injected with, and in what quantity. A kaiju’s physiology severely complicates the search for answers, given their incredibly high metabolic rate.
He sleeps fitfully, whimpering and rumbling softly, lying on the floor amidst blankets arranged like a crumpled mosaic. It is hard to find a blanket for a three-ton child. Rebecca lowers the infusion rate before stepping away for a moment to tell Chris what she has managed to figure out. She needs to do it before he barges in here himself and shatters the fragile peace.
****
Awakening with a muffled groan and a freezing burn in his arms, the redhead can barely open his eyes. His sockets feel packed with ash and soot, much like his lungs. Even on his teeth, he can taste that metallic, oxide bitterness and acrid sweetness. He cannot move so much as a pinky finger. It feels as if his arms aren't even there—nothing but liquid cold and bones made of ice.
Clumsily and abruptly, he twitches an arm, his aching chest brushing against a soft, rounded shape where his hand should have been. It felt like a stump wrapped in thick gauze. A cold dread settles in. Sobbing with fear, the man jerks his other arm, only to find the same sickening numbness.
The ginger can see nothing but a blur of shapes and an explosion of sparks against expanding black patches. His nose stings as he chokes back another futile sob, desperately, blindly clawing with his mind, trying to find hands that are no longer there.
Rebecca sighed as she watched Leon sleep, heart aching at having to knock the mutated man out. It wasn't much - just a special blend of sleeping medicine she'd cooked up for him a few years back, but she still hated that she had to do it at all.
Sighing, she left the man to sleep, intent on checking in on the red-headed man that had also been brought in.
What she didn't expect was to see him in the thrall of a panic attack.
"H-Hey!" She exclaimed, grabbing his bandaged arms gently but firmly. Her voice quieted, taking on a more soothing tone as she addressed him, "It's alright, you're safe now. You suffered some pretty bad burns, so please take it easy."
The stench of medical chemicals burns his nose no less than iodine and lime. It is cold, terribly cold; his teeth are chattering uncontrollably. The rustle of the gown on his shoulders doesn't register at first, muffled by the vacuum of white noise in his ears. The beeping quickens, like a sonar signaling his approach to reality.
Rebecca had vanished like a dream into the dim light of the ward, leaving only the lingering warmth of her hands gently pulsing against his inflamed skin. Whether she had actually been here or not, he didn't know—maybe it was just a drug-induced trip?
A stifled groan sinks into the cold blanket as he whimpers quietly, listening to his body. IV lines bite into his arm, lines he could easily rip out, but his hands are encased in a thick, heavy bandage, like a boxing glove made of gauze and layers of dressing.
Where is Goji?
He needs to get out of here. Who knows, maybe he only imagined Rebecca because of the meds, and this isn't a BSAA base at all, but… damn it, he wants to tear the IVs out. There are so many of them that if he jerks his arm, all those needles will shred his veins to pieces from the inside.
There are no signs that they wanted to restrain him, even though the pulse oximeter clip on his fifth toe feels strange. His knees pop heavily. His legs are leaden and weak. How on earth did Beatrix manage to stand up after a four-year coma?
How long has he been out here? Hours, days, or weeks? He has to hurry and find Goji; they might not have treated him as humanely as they did
Keeping his balance while dragging legs that are rapidly going numb and twisting with cramps is like trying to dance with a coat rack. In his case, it's an IV pole that he has to pin against his side with an elbow.
"Damn it."
He croaks, rubbing his face against his crooked arm, and immediately hisses like a drop of water on a hot skillet. His nose burns, a sharp ache tearing through it; there is a heavy dressing across the bridge of his nose where the frames of his glasses used to rest.
No doors, no signs, no people—everything is a blur, lost in a uniform white chaos of shapes. Somewhere deep in the facility, he thinks he hears a whimper. It is so familiar that it makes him press his leaden head against the IV pole. Is that Goji? Are they torturing him again?
Bare feet slap against the cold metal, tangling and tripping, but he stubbornly follows the whimpering. He seems to be on the right track; he has found a door with heavy, tall double wings, and he has to throw his entire weight against one of them just to burst through.
Goji?
A familiar neon shimmer of crystals and a massive green shape against the gray canvas of the floor. He is alive, and no one is trying to saw off his tail. The man fights not to collapse onto the floor as a wave of relief washes him onto a velvet shore.
His breathing is so quiet and steady, with only occasional flashes of light. The man tries to lower his head closer, since measuring the pulse with his fingers is out of the question. Is everything okay?
The kaiju gestalt's limbs twitched and spasmed as he slept, like a dog or cat in the depths of a pleasant dream. It would've been cute, if it weren't for the pained and terrified whimpers and whines he let out. The sounds were quiet, even his subconscious having learned not to bring attention to his suffering.
He was curled in on himself, dorsal plates sticking out at wide angles thanks to his arched back. He was dressed in a hospital gown like Leon, although this one was obviously modified.
He was having a nightmare, a chaotic broiling mesh of past and recent trauma. Old wounds ripped open and made fresh, all thanks to this recent encounter.
The light flickers anxiously in the gloom. His movements are perceptible; even the floor trembles slightly from the spasmodic twitches. It’s a familiar sight—Star often whimpers in her sleep, desperately running somewhere with all her might. You shouldn't wake them, especially not abruptly. Only slowly and with caution, so as not to scare them even more. Humans twitch in their sleep quite often too—some toss and turn, while others run, their feet kicking the mattress. There isn't much difference between humans and dogs.
"Goji?"
The ginger croaks quietly, listening for the slightest vibrations, wheezes, and whimpers. He takes a hesitant step forward, trying not to let the IV pole rattle too much.
"Goji?"
His voice is firmer despite the raw irritation in his throat. The other creature only sobs, like a child curled into a tight ball under a bed. The man groans, nearly toppling his steel ballast, and drops to his knees beside him in exhaustion.
Those stifled sobs, guttural and muffled, cut him to the quick. Crawling closer on his clumsy, angular legs, the redhead tries to gently drape his body over the creature's shoulder in a weightless embrace. Instinctively, he feels afraid; a icy wave ripples down his spine, anticipating pain and burning heat. Yet the creature is warm, slightly feverish, like a human with a severe cold. After walking on the freezing tile and dealing with those IVs, this warmth felt soothing.
"Goji."
It is dangerous; it might startle him. But leaving him at the mercy of his nightmares would be far worse.
The kaiju hybrid shuddered at the sudden touch, his nostrils flaring as they caught Leon's scent. As if unconsciously realizing this, his body relaxed and his tail snaked over to the red-head.
Even in his sleep, Goji was monumentally gentle. The prehensile appendage wrapped itself around Leon's wrist and arm, subconsciously seeking comfort, seeking reassurance that the man was safe and okay.
"…He cares a lot about you." A voice spoke up hesitantly, Rebecca standing in the doorway.
She quietly joined Leon, watching Goji with a fond concern, "After you were knocked out, he fought the recovery team. Chris was the only reason they all weren't killed."
She looked over at him, a sense of deja'vu overcoming her as she asked, "What's your name? Why were you there?"
Frowning, he tensed in anticipation of pain, but Goji was being incredibly careful. The hot tip of his tail settled onto the hand—ice-cold from the IV drips—with a touch so gentle, it felt almost weightless. Letting out a raspy exhale, the man felt an unbearable urge to sleep; Goji was like a little furnace, radiating warmth. Just for a moment, just for a few seconds—only to let his eyes rest—he rested his head against the shoulder. The shivering seemed to ease up a little, or perhaps it was just wishful thinking.
Startled, he nearly jumped out of his skin, spinning around toward Rebecca by sheer inertia, only to catch a blurry glimpse of white and chestnut. Lacking fingers, he rubbed his face against his shoulder to wipe away the milky haze of slumber.
"Leon... My name is Leon."
Distracted, he tried to answer more clearly across the seats, keeping his balance so as not to startle his dozing friend.Whose world were they in? Definitely not his. Back home, Rebecca knew nothing about Goji, and neither did Chris. Was this Goji’s world? Possibly, since Rebecca had found a way to calm Goji down. He could hear the low hum of the IV pump, straining as it fought against the unique physiology of the kaiju hybrid.
Why had their worlds collided?
Goji usually traveled between worlds, and maybe even timelines—who knew. But why had he himself been thrown into a different world? And so seamlessly, too, as if the worlds had merged into one once again. If so... where was Sherry? Star and Huey? Mom and Dad?
"I... I was on a mission to steal... their latest catch from the poachers."
How would things unfold back in his own world? Could he have died, and that was why he ended up here? No, that was foolish. But if not, how would his superiors ever find out about the failed mission? Or about his disappearance, if anyone even cared?
Rebecca looked surprised, a bit disbelieving at first. That was until she actually looked at the red-head, able to pick out the spots when him and Goji overlapped.
"…Huh, I guess I should've expected this happening." She muttered to herself, eyes narrowing, "Poachers? What the hell would poachers want with him?"
She didn't sound mad, more confused and worried by the whole thing.
here is your daily reminder to COMMENT ON THE AO3 FICS YOU READ! it goes such a long way, especially if it’s a multi-chapter work and you can only leave kudos once. ANYTHING is an acceptable comment—emojis, keyboard smash, screaming, in-depth analysis! i promise you, the writers want it ALL
Hostile Territory au: In which a cult gets humiliated by a teenager, a federal agent, their former scientist, and a college girl.
Here's some more rambling about… this while I work on art (I promise I'll design Lyca soon… ish).
…Look I have so fucking many things to draw, and that's only for Leonzilla and Leonzeno (there's also a third thing that @drakeflight enabled knows about, but that's for a later date).
Also! Some of the Fakemon in this were made by my friend @okamishimada18 ! Go show them some love!
Picking up where we left off, because of Luis' Scientist Babbling™️, he kinda has to come clean about his involvement in… all of this way sooner.
…Yeah he might've blown his own cover out of sheer nerdiness over Lyca's Pokemon.
In his defense, I honestly would too tbh.
Leon's extremely pissed off like in canon, however Zepha grabs him with Psychic (getting an intrigued and excited sound out of Luis) before he can do anything stupid.
Lyca meanwhile raises his eyebrow.
"Well that explains your interest in my Pokemon," The teen unsubtly jabbed, making Luis sputter and try to defend himself.
Lyca shook his head, stopping him from speaking, "If you want to repent, then prove it. Don't just expect it to be handed out, especially not right now."
He's more willing to give the Spaniard the benefit of the doubt, obviously because he has no trauma connected to Umbrella, but also because he's seen evil team members genuinely repent for their actions.
Leon oh-so-helpfully fills him in on Umbrella's atrocities, before revealing that he was in Raccoon City during the T-Virus outbreak.
Luis visibly pales at this.
While Lyca's obviously horrified, he asks Luis if he was involved with any of the virus testing, which the man vehemently denies. He studied parasites, not infections.
Leon still doesn't trust him, but Lyca tells him they need every ounce of help they can get right now.
"Wait "we"? What do you mean "we"?"
The kid gave him a dry look, "Do I need to repeat myself? I'm here, I can fight, I'm helping."
"No you aren't!" He snapped in reply, horrified at the idea of (another) a kid right in the center of an outbreak.
Lyca snorted stubbornly, glaring at him defiantly, "I am. Dreizephyr is still out there keeping that girl safe, I'm not abandoning either of them!"
Leon froze, his thoughts screeching to a halt, "What girl…?"
It couldn't be, right?
The teen stopped his tyrate with a confused and slightly surprised noise, blinking before seemingly getting his thoughts back together, "Oh- I saw this girl getting carried by some… massive fucking guy. She was kicking and screaming the whole way; it uh… it didn't take much to guess she wasn't here willingly. So I asked Dreizephyr to-"
"What did she look like?" He was honestly both hopeful and dreading the answer, but he needed to know.
"I- Huh???"
"What. Did she. Look like?"
The kid looked completely baffled, but thankfully answered the question, "I dunno? Caucasian, short blond hair, wore clothes that stuck out like a sore thumb??"
Fuck. Even if that was vague, it matched Ashley Graham's description perfectly.
Leon begrudgingly has to let Lyca join, because otherwise he wasn't going to be able to find Ashley and her apparent guard dog.
Despite the agent's urgency, the Pokemon trainer was able to convince him to rest for at least a little bit, just so he wasn't completely spent by the time they did find Ashley.
He also lets Luis borrow his Pokedex as a sign of good faith, seeing as the scientist was so curious about Pokemon.
This unintentionally spirals into a discussion about technology, with Lyca being baffled by the… well, lack of what he's used to.
Checking in on our dynamic duo: Dreizephyr is doing her best to help Ashley feel better about… everything. Her two Dreepy Eins and Zwei are basically glued to the poor girl, wrapping themselves around her neck like scarves to comfort her.
Dreizephyr actually found a cool jacket (AKA Leon's) on one of the ganados, yoinked it, and actually managed to make Ashley laugh by wearing it.
You can not tell me that wouldn't look funny.
As for how Ashley feels about the whole thing… she was scared of the ghost/dragon type at first, which is partially why Dreizephyr has been trying to make her laugh.
She warms up to the Dragapult quickly, considering she's actively trying to keep her safe from the cultists. Plus once she actually looked at Dreizephyr… well she doesn't exactly look scary, not in comparison to the mutated cultists.
That doesn't mean Drei's a pushover, she's a pseudo-legendary after all, and a fast one at that.
Drei grows concerned when Ashley starts coughing up blood, recognizing the symptoms from some of the cultists.
She does try to find the Plaga by herself, but without a psychic type to guide her she's basically groping blindly.
She ends up sending Eins and Zwei to find Lyca, hiding herself and Ashley in a rundown house.
Speaking of, the trio are now on the move again! Aaaaand heading straight for Del Lago…
Why would they be there? Lyca mainly wanted to check the lake, just to be sure Drei and Ashley weren't there.
Del Lago tries to hunt them crocodile-style, but thankfully Leon and Lyca have really good reflexes.
"Wh- What in Ghiratina's name was that?!"
"Del Lago," Luis replied grimly with a wince, "joder, I would've thought it had died by now!"
Leon glared at the man, never taking his eyes off the mutated fish, "You know what this is?"
"S-Sí," The Spaniard replied, looking… ashamed of himself? "Los Illuminados wanted to study the effects Las Plagas had on aquatic life. I… it had already outgrown this lake before I escaped, so why is it still-?"
""Here"? "Alive"?" The agent snapped harshly, Luis hanging his head low.
Lyca cleared his throat, "I think it's obvious why it's here: it's a guard, and with nothing here that could actually sustain it? It's gotta be starving."
"Great," He rolled his eyes, throwing his hands up as the fish swam near the surface, "so what the hell are we supposed to do?"
"Well…" The kid glanced around with a shrug, "It's lame, but we could always just… leave. It can't get us, we can't fight it."
Luis' expression told Leon that wasn't an option, "Ah… While normally I'd agree with that, this lake empties out near the harbor. If Del Lago's freed from their control then-"
"-It'll head straight for the ocean." Lyca realized, hissing something under his breath, "Right, then plan C."
Him and Luis both looked confused, "Plan… C?"
"Oh don't worry about it," The teen smirked, pulling out another of those ball things, "just sit back and enjoy the show."
Lyca brings out Snapper the Torashark (Dragon/Water type) to even the odds and deal with Del Lago. The fish proceeds to get mollywopped.
Del Lago's definitely the toughest thing they've faced by this point, so the two men get to watch Lyca prove himself.
After making sushi out of it, the group proceeds on, fight more ganados, save the trapped wolf, and then get stuck with El Gigante.
"…Is this just a thing in your world?"
"I don't know-!"
Que a royal rumble where the dumb giant is brought low by a very eager Salazzle, and a very determined Leon.
MASSIVE DISCLAIMER: I HAVE NEVER PLAYED RESIDENT EVIL, MY COMPUTER WOULD DIE IF I TRIED (also I don't do horror games)!!!! IF I FUCK SOMETHING UP, PLEASE TELL ME!!!!!
CONTENT WARNINGS FOR: CANON-TYPICAL GORE AND VIOLENCE, DESCRIPTIONS OF ZOMBIES, GIANT WORMS, THREATS OF MURDER, DEHUMANIZATION (briefly but still), AND MORE THAT I'M PROBABLY FORGETTING!!!!!!
Some rambly stuff: I didn't mention it before (like a dumbass), but Martin's wife and daughter are fine! They were out of town when the outbreak started, and the lieutenant managed to warn them to stay away before the city went dark. He contacts them once they escape, and they meet up at Annette's safe house.
And finally: thank you for reading.
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Of course something had to go wrong.
The front of the hospital was overrun with zombies, along with weird giant frog monsters. Claire didn't know how or why they were all there either, but it was annoying because it meant they had to find another way in.
Thankfully Lt. Branagh was here, because he suggested going through the park to reach the back entrance, which hopefully wouldn't be crawling with monsters.
"Hopefully" being the key word there.
The park looked like it'd been torn to shreds as they entered, and not just from what you'd expect. The earth and concrete were warped, bending up and down like ocean waves. It kind of reminded her of mole tunnels, except far larger than a mole had any right to be. Weirdly enough, the street lamps were still on, allowing them to see just fine.
Maybe they'd gotten a lucky break?
There was a cemetery on the far side of the park, a bit of an odd choice if you asked her, but that wasn't what grabbed her attention. The site had been desecrated; the ground warped like before, only now she could see massive holes ripping out from where graves had originally been. The ornate metal gate that served as the cemetery entrance was mangled, black colored steel twisting in random and chaotic ways.
"Jesus," Leon breathed, looking at the carnage in shock, "what happened here?"
Sherry shuddered in his arms, having not moved from there since they rescued her. The sad thing was, Claire didn't even blame her for it. She'd huddle up like that too, after any sense of safety was ripped away from her.
Robert eyed the scene wearily, Emma close by as he gripped his gun tighter, "I'd say it looks like an earthquake, but I don't think they can do this."
"That they don't," Ada commented; her posture was unusually tense, which meant even she didn't know what'd happened, "and whatever did this was big."
"That's not terrifying at all." Lt. Branagh muttered sarcastically,
"Let's just… get through here as fast as possible." She offered with a shudder, knowing from their expressions that they all agreed.
Claire took point this time, Leon falling into step behind her. While otherwise she would've let the mutated cop lead, neither of them wanted to risk Sherry after the incident with Irons.
Slowly the group traveled across the park, watching out for any unwanted attention and having to be careful of the uneven terrain.
It was… eerily quiet, all things considered. The lack of zombies - rather than being comforting - put all of them on edge. She could see a few severed limbs, torsos, and even heads scattered around - but no zombies.
She was about to voice her unease when Leon suddenly stopped in his tracks, ears twitching like a dog on high alert. They all froze, watching the bug-like man's eyes narrowed.
"There's someone here," He whispered, tail stiffening along with the rest of his body, "and they're armed."
"How can you tell?" Ada asked with a raised eyebrow, sounding genuinely curious.
He pointed at his ears, as he explained"I can hear a heartbeat, the infected don't have one."
"And them being armed?"
His tongue flicked out almost as if on queue, "I can smell gunpowder, and lots of it."
Claire and Ada shared a look, the two of them shockingly on the same page. If the mystery person was that well-armed, then it'd be a very bad idea for them to see Leon.
Unfortunately, the rookie cop seemed to pick up on what they were thinking, giving them a flat look as he said, "I'm not staying behind."
"Are you fucking-" Claire stared at him in disbelief; did he seriously not just hear himself?!
"Leon, that person is armed - and pretty damn heavily if what you said's right. Do you honestly think they wouldn't shoot you on fucking sight?!" She hissed at him, trying to get across how stupid and stubborn he was being.
He had the gall to stare at her like the answer was obvious (it was - and it obviously lead to his fucking death), "You guys can vouch for me, they can't just ignore this many people."
Claire could hear Ada's eye twitching, "Kennedy, your faith in people is admirable, but wholly misplaced in this case. You do realize that this situation is going to make people act irrationally, right? They aren't going to see reason; they're going to see a monster, shoot first, and ask questions never."
Sherry tightened her grip on Leon's shirt with a quiet gasp, looking at Ada in disbelief. Like it was impossible for anyone to see the mutated cop as a monster, even though both her and Claire had thought exactly that at first.
Leon let out a chittering hiss at being called a monster, tail thumping against the ground irritably, "I'm not letting you go out there alone."
His tone of voice made it clear he was done arguing; he was going with them, whether they wanted him to or not.
-------------------------
This plan was - Martin would like to point out - extremely bad. It could go wrong in more ways than he thought possible, and most importantly: it put Leon's life in danger.
The rookie was surrounded by them, Sherry still in his arms after refusing to be put down. He doubted this would work, the only way it would was if whoever this was, wasn't terrified out of their mind. And the chances of that were-
His thoughts screeched to a halt when he spotted the person, stopping dead in his tracks upon seeing someone familiar.
"Jill?!"
The STARS agent skidded to a stop, turning towards him with and staring incredulously, "Martin?! You're alive?!"
He chuckled as she jogged over, gun lowered but not holstered, "Just about, yeah."
He could feel the confused stares of (most of) the group behind him, Claire cautiously moving to join him.
"You know each other?" She asked curiously, although he could tell she was watching Jill like a hawk.
The older brunette absolutely noticed, but she didn't seem to realize why Claire was being so weary. She gave the younger Redfield a soft smile before saying, "Yeah, we do. I'm Jill Valentine, a STARS agent - or at least I was."
Martin winced at the bitterness in her tone, he hadn't been happy about how STARS was handled either. Unfortunately his words had meant nothing, not with Irons at the helm.
""Jill"…? Why does that sound-? Oh, right! Chris mentioned you!" The younger brunette snapped her fingers, earning a surprised stare from Jill.
"You know Chris…?"
Claire scoffed, putting her hands on her hips with an amused smirk, "I'd hope so, I'm his sister!"
The STARS agent's eyes widened, before a downright devious grin spread across her face.
Oh, oh no.
Suddenly he felt very bad for Chris, because if there was one thing STARS was known for at the precinct, it was their prank wars. Martin had lost count of how many times the other officers had gotten caught in the crossfire, only to feel petty and join the chaos.
There was one memorable time when the entire precinct had been covered in silly string, glitter, toilet paper, and a concerning amount of slime. It hadn't been until far past midnight that he'd gotten home, everyone involved having been forced to clean the mess up.
He regretted nothing.
Claire raised an eyebrow at her, before seemingly recognizing that look and asking dryly, "Chris pranked you before he left, didn't he?"
"More like before the Mansion Incident." Jill grimaced, "After that… I never had a chance to pay him back."
The younger Redfield winced, she'd found the incident reports on what'd happened. The full details were horrifying, and it suddenly made a lot of sense to Martin why Irons tried to keep a lid on the whole thing.
He glanced back at the rest of their group, eyes lingering on Leon. How on earth was he going to explain this? Much less stop Jill from opening fire on the rookie?
----------------------
Leon watched the whole interaction wearily, eyeing the guns Jill had picked up from… well god knows where.
She seemed… nice? It was hard to get a read on her, if he was being honest. Obviously the situation didn't help matters, plus he wasn't exactly talking to her himself.
Watching her and Claire though… frankly it sent a shiver down his spine. This Chris guy wasn't going to have a fun time, if they had any say in it.
He bit his lip as he tried to figure out what to do next, obviously he could bite the bullet and introduce himself. However, he didn't think he needed to explain why that was a bad idea. So how was he going to-?
He blinked as he suddenly felt something… vibrating? No, that was something shaking.
Sherry gasped and pressed herself against his chest harder, Robert and Ada stiffening before glancing around frantically.
"What the hell is-?!" The mystery woman was cut off as a particularly violent tremor nearly knocked her off her feet.
Leon wasn't having as much issue standing, his tail helping him balance even as the ground threw a hissy fit. His grip tightened around Sherry, glancing back at the trio only to spot Jill staring at him.
He gritted his teeth before mouthing to her, "Not now."
That only seemed to make her shock worse, but whatever was causing the ground to breakdance decided to make its dramatic entrance.
"It" being a worm bigger than a fucking train, with four clawed mandibles surrounding a gaping tooth-filled abyss of a mouth.
"You've gotta be kidding me-!" Leon yelped in disbelief as the creature screeched, it's monstrous head descending upon them with its massive maw wide open.
The group was forced to scatter as the monster slammed down, tremors shaking them to their cores as the worm burrowed.
"Wh-?! Is that a fucking worm?!" Claire yowled with wide eyes, horror loud and clear in her voice.
"It's not anymore!" Jill yelled with a grim tone, the ground cracking and rumbling as the creature came around for another pass.
Leon gritted his teeth, shifting Sherry onto his back as he shouted, "We're not gonna get anywhere with Tremors over here - let's put 'im six feet under!"
The groan from Claire could be easily heard, even over the roar of the giant invertebrate.
-----------------------
The one good thing about fighting a giant fuck-off worm, Jill mused, was that it had the same basic weaknesses as a normal one.
Oh don't get her wrong, the regeneration was borderline unfair, but it's skin was still paper thin. It dried out way too fast to actually do any meaningful harm, so really it was a question of what would last longer: the worm's healing, or their ammo supply.
Something was nagging at her though - okay it was way more than "something". That… bug thing that was with Martin acted uncannily human, so much so that it actually made her stare in shock for several seconds.
Because she'd become well-acquainted (unfortunately) with talking infected, and the only thing that monster could say was "STARS" - even then it drew the word out longer than it needed to. This one, standing several feet away with a tiny blond kid on its back, firing round after round into the worm? It was speaking with perfect fucking English.
She'd spotted the torn and ripped clothes clinging to its body, which implied that it had been human at one point. But none of the human infected she'd seen turned into giant bugs, so what gives?
Then again… Lickers could barely be counted as human at this point, so what did she know?
At some point they ended up back-to-back, the creature's tail half wrapped around her almost… protectively. They were close enough now that she could see the little girl shivering in fear; it broke her heart to see, the poor kid didn't deserve to be part of this.
At this distance, she could also see just what clothes he'd been wearing. To her shock, she recognized them instantly: a standard-issue RPD uniform.
"M-Mr. Leon…!" The girl whimpered against the creature's back, Jill barely hearing her over the chaos.
A crooning purr rumbled from it - a noise she didn't think any BOW could make, "I know, I know kiddo; just try and be brave for me, alright? I promise I won't let them hurt you."
"Leon"? Why did that sound-?
"WATCH OUT!" Martin's voice boomed loudly as the worm struck, the beast shrieking as Jill blasted it with her rocket launcher.
It'd been aiming right for them.
The cre - Leon - yelped as the explosions went off, hands flying to his ears as a string of hissed and chittered curses spilled out.
"You alright rookie?!" The lieutenant shouted, Jill freezing upon hearing that.
"Y-Yeah!" He shakily replied, wincing as he cradled one of his pointed ears, "I-I'll be fine!"
"Leon" "rookie" "RPD"…
"WELCOME LEON"
It… It couldn't be, right? There's no way! But… who else could it be?
The rookie - Leon - the kid everyone at the precinct (well, everyone who mattered) was buzzing about, had become a victim to the same damn thing that'd taken STARS. But somehow, by some lucky roll of the dice, he was still… there, still himself.
God, no wonder Martin looked so worried. Leon was supposed to be put under his command, after all. Now here he was; mutated and scared out of him mind, but still sane, still obviously wanting to help.
No wonder he passed with flying colors, he was a cop through-and-through.
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