AUTHOR'S NOTES: HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! (Yeah, I'm three days late, I know.)

Sorry for such a long delay between this chapter and my last. It's been a hectic couple months for me, so I didn't have the time to work on the chapter until recently. I've switched to a third person style of narration now, so I won't be juggling between characters in first person anymore. The third person will mostly focus on a particular character each chapter, but it will no longer be limited to just one individual at a time. Eh, you'll see how it works soon enough.

Now, to explain my new headings like the one in bold right below this note. I've borrowed Call of Duty 4's level headings and modified them to fit my story. The layout is like this:

"Chapter title"

Date-time

Character of emphasis, species

Location

Anyway, without further ado, here's the next chapter of Pokemon: Days of Ruin.


"Maxed Out"

7/5/42 – 17:14hrs

Cypher Redfeather, Swellow-hybrid

East Docks, Vineyard Island Ruins

Cypher ducked as a knife cut through the space that had been occupied by his navy and red-feathered face a split second earlier. Cypher counter struck with an uppercut to the side of Joe Johnson's jaw, sending him crashing to the ground in a tangled heap. Joe scampered to his feet just in time to receive a knee followed by a left-handed punch to the face from Cypher, knocking him back to the ground and sending the knife clattering out of his hand and under a burned out car.

Joe immediately scampered toward the car in hopes to retrieve his knife, but his bird-morph foe was faster and cut off his planned course. Or so Cypher thought. Instead of stopping in his tracks, the black haired, fair skinned human rushed straight at him and tackled the much smaller bird-morph to the pavement.

Although Joe was more on the scrawny side for a human, Cypher couldn't shake out from under him. The desperate Swellow-human mix tried to slash Joe with his knife, only for the said lackey to catch his arm and wrench the switchblade free.

"Damn Halfblood," Joe panted, as he began to punch the helpless hybrid beneath him repeatedly, "you're more trouble than your worth!"

Cypher managed to block the first few punches with his free right wing, but Joe quickly pinned that arm down with his left hand and continued the assault with his right.

"Not so tough without your powers, are you now?" Joe smirked, as the repeated punches began to draw blood. His hand was smarting from the repeated impacts with the smaller bird's face, but he didn't dare stop. He already knew that Cypher—although smaller than most humans—could give many people in the Ruins a run for their money in a fight.

Cypher continued to struggle beneath his weight as the assault continued, but Joe could already tell that the struggles were getting progressively weaker. He considered stopping to let his opponent go, but then memories of how the Pokemorphs-whom Cypher's appearance favored-had forced his parents to fight eachother to the death for entertainment sake on the Far Side came into his mind.

He ruthlessly continued the assault the bird, savoring every moment as his blows tore feathers and skin off the Swellow-hybrid's face, leaving streaks of blood in their place. He wound up for yet another blow, when suddenly one of his fellow lackeys came stumbling back into him, knocking him off the bird, who immediately capitalized on the opportunity for escape and rolled to his feet.

"Dammit, Kyle," Joe swore as he and his fellow lackey untangled themselves from eachother. "You were supposed to waste the girl, not the other way around!"

"It's not my fault! She's tough! And she had a weapon, whereas I don't!" the larger lackey countered.

"Quit bitchin'! She isn't tough. Your skills just suck," Joe grumbled, paying no mind to Cypher who had reclaimed his weapon as well as Joe's from under the car, and Megan, who had joined him.

"S-Suck?"

"Yes, s-u-c-k, SUCK!" Joe shouted, before promptly being punched in the face by Kyle.

"'Suck' on that, ya' bastard!" Kyle laughed, as Joe crashed stumbled down the street..

Joe swore violently, chasing after Kyle's retreating form back into the heart of the ruins and well away from the heart of the fight.

"Well that was anti-climatic," Cypher chirped, wiping the stream of blood off the corner of his beak.

"No kidding," Megan quipped, "leave it to Harley to recruit a bunch of brainless thugs..."

"Speaking of which," Cypher interrupted, suddenly worried, as he searched around for what had become of Jim and Harley.

His fears turned out to be well founded, as Harley had his friend pinned against the sidewalk a good distance away, arm high and ready to skewer Jim with... his own knife? Without so much a second though, Cypher dashed across the considerable length in a matter of seconds with Quick Attack.

"I shall enjoy watching you die." Harley cackled, immediately before Cypher smashed into him, throwing the great lump off of barely-conscious Jim and sending the pair tumbling in an angry mass of feathers and flesh.

"You've got a pair, Halfblood; daring to attack me to save your friend," Harley grunted, as he and Cypher staggered to their feet.

"Your lackeys all fled on you, Harley. Pity you can never seem to round up some reliable help around here."

"No matter," Harley shrugged, taking up a battle stance, "I'll just waste you and Matthews here and now. Then I'll just plunder your supplies and leave your corpse where it falls!"

"Lets not get ahead of ourselves now, Harley," the bird hybrid smirked. "You gotta kill me first."

Harley threw a powerful punch in the direction of Cypher, only for the much smaller and more agile bird to lean out of the way with ease. The navy and red bird skillfully dodged Harley's continued assault of a left, a right, and a left, as he began to get the slightest inkling of a plan.

There's no way I'm going to out muscle him,Cypher thought as he dodged another right hook, but maybe I can wear him out or taunt him into doing something stupid.

He leaned back out of the way as Harley swung Jim's knife at him, the blade coming within a hair of Cypher's throat and grazing his shoulder. Then he jumped clear over Harley as the fiend tried to sweep the morph-human mix's legs out. Without missing a beat, Cypher began his own attack on Harley as he turned to face him. Cypher struck out with a right handed punch, followed by a left and a pair of rights, sending the fiend staggering, but not to the ground.

As Harley struggled to regain his balance, the feathers on Cypher's wing-arms took on a metallic glean that rapidly spread all the way from his shoulder blades to the tips of his fingers, turning into a Steel Wing attack. Cypher lept several feet into the air, and readied to bring his steel plated arms crashing down on the thug. Harley tried to perry the blow with his—or rather Jim's—knife, but Cypher was prepared, knocking the weapon out of his hand with his left wing before striking Harley full in the chest with his right, the impact making a sickening crack as ribs met steel.

Harley crumpled to the ground immediately, whereas the force of the collision knocked Cypher onto his back, over his head and finally onto his stomach several feet from the point of impact.

Damn, that was like punching a freakin' wall! Cypher thought as he got himself organized and to his feet again, his right shoulder throbbing from the impact.

Harley took slightly longer, finally rising to a standing position clutching his side in pain. Just when it looked as if the brawl would go another round, Megan came to give Cypher backup having finished checking on her unconscious sixteen year-old brother.

"So you want to go another round, eh, Harley," Cypher grunted, resisting the overwhelming urge to clutch his aching shoulder.

Gah, I really messed up my shoulder this time, he thought. I'm going to feel that one tomorrow, if I make it that long.

"But can you take on two of us alone," Megan added to the end of Cypher's challenge.

Now Harley was never one to turn down a fight—especially if there was pride involved, but he knew that Cypher's hit, although a lucky one in his mind, had done some serious damage. And the blasted bird—by far the better fighter of the two—didn't even look any worse for wear from their spectacular collision, although in reality it was quite the opposite. As much as it killed him, Harley knew he didn't stand much chance.

"Gah, this time I'll let you go," he growled, clutching his wounded side, "but the next time we meet, you won't be so lucky!"

The victorious pair watched in silence as the fiend retreated into the heart of the Ruins, knowing full well that Harley would certainly try to get revenge eventually. They escaped with their lives this time, but would they the next? There wasn't any time to think about that now. Jim was knocked tipsy; and there was still the matter of the two girls they had rescued.

"Jim's pretty roughed up, but I think he'll be alright," Megan murmured, much to the hybrid's relief. "You go check on the girls we rescued and make sure they're okay."

"Alright," Cypher nodded, finally giving in to the urge to clutch his wounded shoulder. The left side of his face was beginning to swell from the beating it took, and his white down was now stained crimson.

Cypher glanced over to his fallen friend as he walked by en route toward the girls to see him manage to sit up with Megan's help. He had a steady stream of blood trickling out of his nose and mouth and his right eye was definitely blacked. Add to that the bruises that covered him from head to toe, and Jim didn't exactly look like the picture of health. Even for a living soul in the Ruins.

The battered bird-hybrid made his way to where the unconscious girl lay. She had amber brown hair, lightly tanned skin, and looked to be about twelve or thirteen years old. Her attire consisted of a dirty white shirt, with denim cutoffs and formerly white shoes.

He placed his fingers against her neck and was relieved to find she was still alive. Her breathing was faint, but she was definitely living. He quickly checked what he could see for any obvious injuries, she was bleeding from a bad gash across her forehead, the blood trickling down the side of her head and onto the ground; but thankfully it appeared that aside from the gash and being out cold, she was okay.

"Hey Meg!" Cypher called. "You got any bandages in your bag? She's got a nasty gash."

"Hold on, let me check," Megan responded, as she helped Jim to his feet and he propped himself up against a building. There appeared to be a brief verbal exchange between the two, before Megan left her brother and came trotting over with a cloth bandage in hand.

"Hey, I never said you had to do it," Cypher commented as Megan began cleaning the wound with what little supplies they had and began applying the bandage.

"'If you want something done right, do it yourself,' that's what I always say," Megan replied with a grin. "Not to say you couldn't do it, but since I'm over here, I may as well."

"I suppose then I'll go see about that other girl, then," the Swellow-hybrid said nonchalantly, as he turned toward the warehouse that the other girl was huddled up against, still clutching the bread.

"You alright?" Cypher asked as he approached the girl.

"Please don't hurt me," the girl responded as she sunk to the ground clutching the loaf, her voice almost a whisper.

The true effects of living in the Ruins, Cypher thought. You can't even be sure that the reason someone rescued you was so that they could loot you themselves. Oh, the state of the world...

"I'm not going to hurt you," the bird morph said, stopping a short distance from her. "I won't come any closer, if you don't want me to."

The chocolate brown haired girl narrowed her green eyes at the Swellow-hybrid, trying to decide if she should trust this person.

He doesn't seem bad, she thought, but he's a morph! They're the ones who are responsible for the current state of humanity! Can I really trust him?

She looked over to where her friend lay unconscious, one of the morph's friends was hunched over her, applying a bandage to her forehead.

Well, the girl seems to be a good person, and she trusts this morph... But can I? I doubt they would bother to give my friend help if they just intended to rob me, but what if this is all an elaborate ploy...

"Are you alright?" the humanoid bird asked, cautiously taking a step toward her. She scanned him over again, she knew he was carrying two knives, from what she saw of the fight; but he seemed sincere in his concern.

"Are you hurt? Do you need help?" Cypher asked again, taking another cautious step closer.

"N-no, I'm o-okay," the girl stammered, finally deciding that the approaching bird wasn't hostile. He offered his hand to help her to her feet, to which she gratefully accepted.

"I'm Cypher Redfeather," the navy and red bird said with a small grin as she got to her feet. "I'm a Swellow-hybrid."

"My name is Mary O'Neil," the girl replied, most of her suspicion gone. "Well actually my name's Mirian, but I prefer Mary."

"Nice to meet you," Cypher grinned, reaching out to shake her hand.

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM MY SISTER YOU MORPH BASTARD!" a boy shouted, rushing out of the shadows.

"Max, don't--" Mary exclaimed, as the enraged boy slammed the already battered hybrid into the ground.

"Don't worry, Mary! I'll protect you from this morph scumbag!" the boy cut her off, drawing a rusty longsword from the sheath on his belt as Cypher rolled back onto his feet.

The boy was about five-foot-five, had chocolate brown hair like Mary, sky blue eyes, and wore old blue jeans and a dingy shirt, as well as what appeared to be a soldier's dog tag around his neck.

"Protect her from what? I just helped save her hide!" Cypher countered, as Max charged toward him.

Max rapidly closed the distance and swung his sword at the hybrid with the intent of making him literally a head shorter. The hybrid of course ducked, but Max was ready, smashing his knee into the bird's beak. Max swung at Cypher again with his sword, this time aiming for the bird's now-undefended body.

The bird-hybrid of course made a move to avoid the blow, but Max's aim was true, cutting through the bird morph's hunting vest and through the underlying flesh along the morph's already injured shoulder. Cypher instinctively clutched the area as pain shot through his shoulder.

"Max! Stop!" Mary pleaded with the boy, as Megan and even wounded Jim raced to help.

However, the boy didn't hear her. He was lost in his rage; taking the anger he harbored against the morphs for the pain they caused him out on the Swellow-morph that wasn't even a morph!

Cypher staggered back several feet, his shoulder on fire from the blow. Now blood was beginning to show through his thick vest, and he could already feel his strength beginning to wane.

At first Max hadn't thought he hit the morph, but after seeing the bird's expression and the dark spot appearing on its vest, he knew otherwise. He came across again with his blade, this time aiming for the bird's legs, hoping to take out the rest of its mobility. However, to his surprise, the damned morph jumped over not only the blade, but over Max himself and clear to his other side. Max spun on his heels to face the bird again, only pausing to size up his opponent's physical state after his initial attack. For the first time, he realized, that the morph carried fresh injuries from what he could only deduce as another fight—a very recent fight.

So he was fighting with someone else? But whom? Mary didn't seem hurt, and we all know a beached Magikarp could outfight her... Max thought, doubt creeping into the back of his mind for the first time.

However, he quickly pushed these thought rushed at Cypher yet again, the hybrid backpedaling a good distance before loosing his footing and falling onto his back. The pain in Cypher's shoulder was almost unbearable upon the sudden impact of the unforgiving asphalt. He struggled to get up, but the effort was futile, as Max was now on top of him.

Max turned the sword over in his hand so he was carrying it in an ice-pick grip, the blade now pointing toward the ground instead of the sky. Max icily strode over to the morph and raised his sword to finish the fight once and for all, when he suddenly felt his weapon arm being restrained.

"Max, stop! He's one of the good guys! Don't kill him!" Mary pleaded, almost in tears, as she clung desperately to his arm.

Max opened his mouth and shut it again, eyes darting from his sister to the morph and back. "Marian," he protested, "He's a morph!"

"Max, he and his friends saved me and Sari from a gang of bandits! And there must be some good morphs out there, and the one you're attacking isn't even a morph anyway! He's a hybrid, and his name is Cypher!"

Max glared at his sister, then at the hybrid, who was being helped up by his two counterparts. The boy and morph locked eyes for a moment, both staring daggers at eachother. Then the bird's expression changed. The fiery rage in Cypher's eyes melted into a slightly saddened look of understanding. There was little Max had to explain that the bird had already pieced together.

Max had unknowingly left the girls behind as they trekked through the ruins to find a new home after a group had chased them out of theirs, and by the time he noticed they were gone and retraced his steps in search of them, the struggle between Jim's and Harley's groups had ended. Max had came through the alleyway just in time to see a morph reaching out toward a scratched up Mary, and assumed the worst. He reacted—no help from his dislike for morphs—before he had the chance to think things over. Now that he had the chance to think, he was beginning to regret it.

"Alright, if you say so, Marian," Max sighed, re-sheathing his weapon.

Everyone present let out an audible sigh of relief, but tension was still present.

"Sorry for attacking you... hybrid." Max said flatly, the thought of apologizing to someone who looked like a morph not really appealing to him.

"'Sorry' doesn't ease the pain any," Cypher grunted, some hostility in his voice as he clutched the area of the wound over Megan's protests to let her see it, "But it's better than being impaled by a longsword. 'Name's Cypher, pleasure getting my ass handed to me by you. Max, right?"

"...Yeah," Max responded, not really prepared for the response.

By now, the sun was beginning to sink under the horizon, the shadows of the buildings beginning to fade as night set in.

"Max, we've got to get going," Mary stated urgently, "We still have to find another place to stay, since those robbers chased us out; and Sari's knocked out, so it'll take awhile to go anywhere."

"I know," Max said, the situation suddenly seeming hopeless to him.

Jim's group exchanged glances amongst themselves upon hearing this. Jim looked to his friends, trying to read their expressions. He had no trouble deciphering what Megan's opinion was, however Cypher's was more difficult to read, and after what had just taken place, his was the one that really mattered.

"You think we should--" Jim asked, the other half of his question only audible to Cypher.

The bird looked thoughtful for a moment, looking over at Max and Mary, before looking back at Jim and giving a single nod.

"Hey, uh, Mary and Max, was it?" Jim asked, lifting his head to look at them.

"Yes?"

"Would you like to stay with us for the time being?"


DISCLAIMER:

--Max O'Neil belongs to Johto Gunner004.

AUTHOR'S NOTES:Well, I originally planned to continue further in my story this chapter, but this seems like a good place to leave off for now. Remember to leave a review, everyone.

Until next time,

~Sky