The northernmost city in Aurorok (Which also happens to be its capitol), Djin-Fros, has a deep and colorful history that surpasses almost all tales in the region; a great deal of these colors, however, are somber hued and riddled with notes of crimson red. Centuries ago, before Djin-Fros become the Capitol but was still a very large port city (The town had spent nearly 50 years planting its roots in the harsh permafrost of the tundra), two great forces were fated to alter its future for all the times to come. The native Ice pokemon- great and prideful clans of Abomasnow, Avaluggs, and Mamoswine- were sent into a massive belligerence by some unknown force, and struck the port town with all their primal rage just when Aurorok's only enemy at the time- The Pirate Islands of Baelfjord- had launched their largest collective fleet to siege the southern bays. As the natives of Djin-Fros were assaulted by the fierce, icy wrath of the pokemon, the King of Aurorok was commanding all the southern regions to flee north, for the Baelfjordians were too strong and were known not to favor the chill of winter. In the span of a month, Aurorok's country shriveled up nearly 50%, its south lands completely taken under pirate's rule; all the while Djin-Fros and its feeble population perished at the claws and fangs of the north's fauna. When the King's court finally arrived safely to Djin-Fros, there were hardly any survivors; just a ragtag group of hypothermia-stricken peasants hiding in the slush-clogged pipes of the Fros sewers.
Within two months, both the pirates and ice pokemon were no longer problems; the former were shutout from the rest of Aurorok by the great Middle-pass walls, while the latter had strangely subdued their previous rage and gone back to living quite docilely and ignoring the Auroroks. However, the King's new task was to transform the grisly bloodbath and wreckage of Djin-Fros into a livable and thriving Capitol. With his well-known Iron grit and apathy for his subjects, he drove the masses of peasants traveling in his court to clean out the Fros sewers and carve them deeper into the underground, and taking all the dead (those that died in the pokemon onslaught as well as those that died of hypothermia, other assorted illnesses, and labor exhaustion) into the inky depths of this newly made frosty hell. That was the beginning of the Frostbitten Catacombs.
As time passed, Aurorok ebbed and flowed in terms of wealth and success, and whenever the country took a turn for war, poverty, or sickness- anything amassing up to death really- the Frostbitten Catacombs grew. Soon it grew accustomed to send all deceased loved ones in ponyta-drawn carriages to be given proper blessings in Djin-Fros. The rich would be secured the most lavish mausoleums and rememberalls near the 7 different entrance ways to the Catacombs, while most of the peasant corpses would usually find their bodies merely dumped into the well of the devil- a newer addition that went down so far nobody could even guess (but it did save the country time and money instead of giving all their poor proper burials; sadly, those recently mentioned peasants, with good intentions for their beloved deceased, never knew what they were really sending off the bodies to.).
Then, in the year 717, the event that would ensure the Frostbitten Catacomb's eternal recognition and title of being the country's most terrifying and haunted place; the disappearance of National Pokemon Tournament: Rebirth. In the four greatest nations (Aurorok, Cambridigin, Faux-Grigora, and Yuccai), Pokemon Champion Tournaments were quite popular (think olympics) and held in the capitols every 5 years. The last Tournament, with the theme "Peace", was set and Yuccai but sadly brought the opposite: the nations were split and sent into another terrible war. After some time had settled the blood and dust, they decided to "Rebirth" the tournament in Aurorok (The country on the winning side of the previous war). In a weird twist, the Tournament headmasters decided to hold the bulk of the matches and tournament in the Frostbitten Catacombs: apparently to signify the theme and revere the fallen. By this time in the world, the Catacombs had swelled up to practically twenty times the size of Djin-Fros itself, and the dead below the Metropolis outnumbered its living population 8 to 1 (approximate population of Djin-Fros in 717: 58 million). There was plenty of room, with there being many chambers that resembled arenas- fully empty bar the walls of bones and skulls. While people from all four nations opposed and boycotted this particular tournament, there were more instead fervently excited for this unique and dearly missed tournament. When all the preparations and decorations were complete, there were nearly two million participating or watching the heavily acclaimed National Pokemon Tournament: Rebirth. The Tournament went off with a huge bang, and reports declared this tournament to be the top grossing, most viewed tournament; many said it would go down in history (which they were correct about, but not for its success...).
When the Nation Pokemon Tournament: Rebirth got down to the top sixteen, the first domino out of a whole chain of fear and mystery knocked over; The most likely candidate for the Champion Title vanished. The day after the Sixteen were slated, the first 4 battles were to begin- but one trainer was missing. Due to his popularity and wealthy connections, there was outrage and discord. No battles finished, and in the midst of searching and chaos not only were the remaining Eight trainers not slated to battle disappeared as well. Panic set in as the electricity and heat were abruptly cut off; the crowds attempted to flee but to no avail, as the main passageways to the surface were alarmingly gone. Like a labyrinth that strangely came to life, the catacombs seemingly decided to cancel and end this Tournament once and for all, changing its bone-riddled halls and constructing no possible escape. People tried to teleport out, call loved ones, and flee, but too many people trapped in the cold, murky depths could only end in one way.
Exactly three weeks after the Sixteen finalists were announced, people from the surface finally were able to break through enough walls and find an opening into the Catacombs; to their shock, no trace of the Tournament was found. Pokeballs of all kinds littered the largest room of the catacombs, were the main Tourney was slated to take place, but when examined and observed, no pokemon were held- nor any remains that they had held pokemon. Rumors and fear tripled, and Aurorok lost many citizens and credit. Djin-Fros was all but abandoned, with no one wanting to live underneath millions of the dead and a devilish secret.
So, why then are you here? On a bitter winter night, you take out your map and level it against the cold iron of the 4th entrance to the Frostbitten Catacombs; The large Crimson statues of angels beckon you either in or away, their faces never revealing truly which one. You hold a hidden charm tightly in your right palm, shivering slightly as the warm breath escapes your lungs and visibly enters the frozen world around you. After a quick calculation and a brief skim of your chosen path, you bundle the map back up into your pack and navigate the uneven ground, careful not to slip on any of the large patches of ice or steel spires shooting up from the cement.
You enter the Frostbitten Catacombs. Without warning a cold, hard object hits your right temple, and you black out immediately, not even recognizing the pain or noticing your charm fall below into the foul slush of the Catacombs.
When your eyes rip open you gasp and jump in reaction to the previous attack, but you find yourself alone and drenched in sewer slush. Your second instinct is to curse and hold your body, as the chill sets in and you start to succumb to the Catacomb's renowned hypothermia. With a ragged breath and another string of curses you quickly get up and survey your surroundings. It is extremely dark, and the only sounds you can hear are the ominous drips of water tucked into unseen crevices. You stare nerovusly into one corner, hoping your eyes will adjust and something will reveal itself- but when a quick white figure slips through your peripheral vision and vanishes, you think to yourself that you don't really care if something doesn't reveal itself. You turn left and try to run, but after splashing through the slush and sewage water, a sudden yank sends you crashing into the murk and cold iron below. More water, more ice, more pain. You weakly cringe as you lift your right leg, revealing a thick iron cuff around your ankle. You can't see where the chain is tethered, but it doesn't matter because your heart races with fear and you just want to abandon your mission. Screw the charm, screw the Catacombs. screw G-
"Yeah, I tried that a few times too. Think my nose finally stopped bleeding though."
You know that voice. You hear his ragged breath and the curse he mutters under his breath. Before you can say a reply or even sigh in relief, light blinds you. Both you and your companion flinch and recoil, but the piercing light finally abates to reveal that it is, indeed,
Glacier.
"Fancy seeing you here. Thanks for trying to find me.." he smiles sheepishly, but sorrow and concern is prominent on his face. "I'm so sorry doll-face, but it was a trap. He got me."
Once again you're cut off before a reply by a flickering of the lights and a deep, whispering voice. You have to strain to hear every syllable, but the message runs a chill to your spine colder than the crippling sewage slush.
"In the depths, I have waaaaaaiiiited.... The cold and frost has stripped me of any tangible body I had previously possesssssssed, but I am with new puuuurrpose and prize.... The aaaaaancient souls fill my mind with their torment and anguish, fear and foolishness..... I had known you before this place ceeeeeeaased to exist..... Glaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacier. Your true name alludes me yet, but with your body, I am but one step behind where I seek to beeeeeee."
You shoot a scared glance across the pool of water, muck, and frost and meet the Explorer's eyes- you have never seen them filled with such fear and hopelessness.
"I stripped yoooooou of your loved ones and all you love many months ago, tooooorrrrturing you to no avail; in this i give you crediiiitttit, but I grow bored and anxious to begin my resurrection.... nooooooow that I have your love captured as well, perhaaaaaaps you shall let me enterrrrrr..."
Without warning, pain erupts from your cheek and you give a shriek as the skin slices open and hot blood reacts with the deadly cold catacomb air. Glacier screams your name and lashes out to grab you, but his own chain pulls back hard, sending him down into the sewage.
"Damn you! Damn you!" he cries, holding his arm out towards you own. It's no use- you two are easily twenty meters apart. You hold your breath as you feel the touch of something on your skin- invisible claws, icy numb and razor sharp. You blink back tears as the voice reenters your mind.
"Glaaaaaaaaaaaaacccier, make your choice... I can sennnnnssse her will is much easier to snaaaaap than yours... Shall i shrrrrreeeeed your dearly beloved into ribbons? Or will you conceeeeedde your body to -"
"LEAVE JULIA BE, PHYREXSIS" The explorer bellows with his heart in his throat, the pain reverberating through the chamber. You feel the claws disappear instantly, and you see an eerie trail of ice slowly forming across the watery floor; heading in a tangible line towards Glacier.
You shout and plead, but Glacier just gives you a look of iron. "I'm sorry Julia. I'm sorry for all of th-" he says with ragged breath, but then roars in pain. You fall to the floor, thighs numb to the frosted water as Glacier begins to lurch and spasm. His yells of pain grow stronger, as the lights blink in and out faster and as the only exit to your left slowly fills with a wall of rapidly growing ice. With a final, primal screech of pain, he falls, just as the lights go out for good.
You whimper and shakily call out for Glacier, though nothing can be heard. Even the dripping as ceased, and the only noise comes from your movements in the freezing water. You call a second time, a third time, a fourth- and then all at once, torches blare up into use all around the chamber. They blaze with a deep purple and blue hue, not like any normal fire you've seen, and they don't help with the chill problem in the slightest (In fact, you think they worsen the numbing pain). As your eyes adjust, you quickly glance across the room, to where Glacier was held captive; but the chains are broken, and he is nowhere to be seen.
"..............Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssss.....this will do for now....."
The voice makes you jump, because it whispers directly in your ear. You ump up and make your way to your side of the wall, clinging against to ice for protection against whatever is nearby. You gaze at the center of the chamber, and choke in fear as the ice and shadows seem to pool together into the middle, forming something lean and tall. Like an instance Ice Sculpture, you gasp again as the elements form a figure alarmingly like Glacier; it gives a sudden screech of pain and you jump, its voice garbled with the torment and whispers of lost souls. It starts to reform- more ice and shadow building upon the already standing Glacier-like body. It grows another four feet, and limbs become scarecrow thing with sharp, jagged spikes jutting out. Mist blue and Shadow black auras begin to swirl as the head erupts in a spasm of spikes, fangs protruding painfully from the mouth cavity. The being gurgles as thick seemingly black, liquid spills from the ruptured skin, and you cannot take the torture. You screech and beg for it to stop, but it seems to be done; Claws extend carefully and with purpose, the dreaded soul entering a new body for the first time in eons. Its eyes look up from admiring its form and peer right into your own, sending you into a paralysis of fear. It opens its mouth to speak, and the tears can't be held back when it sounds perfectly like Glacier's voice.
"My my, such a long time since I could speak with a true voice. Your beloved will do perfectly, kekekekeke. Now, for the name. Give it to me."
".....Oh? My dear, I have already been to hell kekekeke. I'VE SEEN EVERY INCH OF DESPAIR AND INSANITY THAT LIES BELOW IN THE MURKY DEPTHS."
"....A battle? And his name if I win? Surely it will not be hard at all to best a naive soul such as yours. kekeke, I HAVE TAKEN COUNTLESS LIVES AND SOULS. THIS ONE HAS NO HOPE, AND NEITHER DO YOU."
BATTLE IN THE FROSTBITTEN CATACOMBS
The Chamber of Phyrexsis is an octogon shaped room, about 65 feet from wall to opposite wall. All but one of the walls are a thick, unbreakable tempered steel, and most are coated with a thick layer of grim ice; the eighth wall is made of bones and skulls stacked thickly upon each other, cemented with the ice-sludge (Google catacombs in paris and youll see bone walls that are the basis of this). The ceiling raises up to about 40 feet above the floor and is also covered in ice that has formed into large stalactites, a few even reaching the ground, forming with ice stalagmites to create columns of ice (columns are roughly 2 feet thick and are around the edges of the arena, near the walls). The floor slants into the center, and the floor is covered in icy sludge and freezing water. The water at its deepest is two feet, and beneath it, the floor is slippery with ice stuck to the iron floors. At the bottom of the walls, where they connect to the floor, are 8 sewage pipe openings (They have grates over them, same thick, tempered steel.). The pipes connect the chamber to the rest of the Catacombs, and some are spitting out a slow but steady stream of cold water and sludge. Each Wall has a large torch attached to its center, and is blazing a bright purple/blue light, though no heat is being given off. The floor that is not underwater is littered with bones and skulls, and under the water if you kick around, you will feel ice and bones alike.
-No natural Grass or Rocks (Rock moves using external rock source will become ice or steel typed instead (RNG 50% ice and 50% steel for the typing))
-No Digging, Diving is okay.
-Using Fly or Bounce has a 10% chance to knock an ice stalctite to the ground, dealing 10 fixed damage to all pokemon on the ground, and a 10% for the bouncing/flying pokemon to hit a stalctite and take 10 fixed damage (RNG 1-10, 1 is 10 to ground on the gorund, 2 is flyer/bouncer)
-All non-ice pokemon and pokemon without thick fat get hypothermia after one round (or three actions) of being in/making contact with the freezing water/sludge. Hypothermia makes the pokemon lose 3EN per action. If a pokemon Chills and has hypothermia, they only regain 8EN. Pokemon with Hypothermia are more susceptible to ice and water moves (after calucating how much an ice or water move would deal to target pokemon, add an extra 2 damage to the final amount).
-Being hit with a water move that uses external water or any ice move counts as one action towards hypothermia
-Flying types or pokemon with levitate avoid the water, thus will only get actions towards hypothermia/get hypothermia if they are knocked into the water, trapped in the water, or are hit by external water moves/ice moves.
-Healing bell/Aromatherapy/moves that heal status moves heal hypothermia.
-if/when 2 torches are put out, all pokemon without a dark tpying, ghost typing, or keen eye get permanent -1 accuracy. when 4 torches are out, nondark/ghost/keen eye pokemon get permanent -2 accuracy. when all 8 torches are out, nondark/ghost/keen eye pokemon get permanent -4 accuracy.
-Nature Power becomes Shadow Ball/Secret Power gets a 30% chance to Freeze or Disable the damaged pokemon's last move used (when rolling for SP, roll 30% chance normally. Then if the secondary effect is rolled, roll 50% for freeze and then 50% for disable)
And so, it begins...
