Chapter Five: A stressful situation.
"Life is like a box of chocolate, son; you never know what you're gonna get."- Mamma Gump
A Pokémon Fan-Fiction
By Hoenn Master
A.N.
Okay, I want everyone to know, that I have assigned a theme for this chapter, though any good action theme does the trick.
Aqua/Magma Boss battle theme
"Ready yourself!" I bellowed; control slipping even further, and technique thrown to the winds. Closing in upon my quarry, I proceeded to hammer my blade down upon the woman's, using pure rage to achieve my dominance. Unfortunately, my foolhardy attack proved to cost me.
Slash… Dodge… Counter… Feint…Uppercut… Pain! Oh, the pain! How could she do that to me?
My comrades stood in shock, eyes wide and dumbfounded, at the mere idea that such an underhanded tactic could possibly be used against them.
The short-lived dance of our weapons ended. My blade collapsed to the floor, and I lost hold of my power. My Cobalt Aura flames died away, leaving a very depleted Knight in their wake.
"Is that all you can give me? I'm disappointed in you, Knight," that detestable woman taunted, lowering her still extended knee, and stood over me, kicking by sword out of my reach, and pointing her nicked and dented Broadsword at my throat. At this, the woman cackled madly at her own genius tactic of hitting me in the fork of the legs, while Ghetsis grumbled something to Duskull in the background: I didn't care, all I could properly focus on now, was the intolerable pain that had blossomed under my dented armor.
"How… Dare you fight so dishonorably!" I strained from the floor, bent double in an attempt to relieve the pain in my groin.
"Oh? I find nothing dishonorable in the practice of exploiting the weaknesses of my opponents, my dear Knight, so therefore, under the circumstances, my opinion seems to be the only one that has any merit at this stage," the woman crooned, running a sharp fingernail down my cheek, drawing a slight trickle of blood as I lay there, trying to overcome the blinding pain.
"John!" Combusken exclaimed from across the room, rushing to my aid, and ignoring Ghetsis's cry to stay put.
My comrades, though apparently enraged, could do nothing to assist me until such time that I had been disabled, as the code of conduct prevented the use of unfair means of fighting; including using numbers to overwhelm an opponent in a one-on-one fight; along with hitting men in the... Sensitive area.
"I am afraid I cannot allow you to do that, insolent bird," the woman said, standing up and turning around to face the new opponent, who was clearly displeased with the situation.
"Oh, is that so? Well, you shall have a very different battle with me, you foul witch!" Combusken hissed, pure rage and contempt in his voice, and air beginning to ripple with the heat coming off of his body that he could no longer subdue.
Then, without warning, the two clashed. Such a noise hadn't even heard when I began my ill-fated assault on the woman. While the two clashed, the haze around my vision cleared, and I felt the ache begin to dull slightly, permitting limited movement. Searching the vicinity, I spotted my sword, lying close to Sabrina's unconscious form, guarded by Lance. I crawled slowly to avoid detection by the distracted woman, who I observed to have a large burn upon her left arm. Combusken looked little better; he had a cut along his outer arm, and several of his feathers were askew.
"I hope you know what you're doing Combusken, because I really don't want to lose you." I told my partner while sheathing my Long-Sword, and resting Sabrina's body against mine.
"Understood, John; I hope this wench can stand up to my might, because I refuse to allow her to survive!" Combusken replied somewhat distractedly, as the woman had recovered from his latest attack, which had consisted of a blazing kick to the blade of the woman, which had snapped at the impact.
"Sabrina?" I question quietly, unwillingly turning my attention from the battle, and Combusken. Gripping the hilt of my sword for comfort, and shaking her slightly with Lance resting his head upon her shoulder, I prayed to God the she would recover.
"Please, awaken. I need to see your wounds." I moaned, hoping against hope that her wound was only a cut.
"Unnngh… Wha- what… happened to me, John?" Sabrina stammered, clenching my hand and blinking her half-lidded eyes, which were dilated far more than should be normal.
"No! Sabrina! We need to end this battle now!" I thought desperately, hushing Sabrina, and telling her to rest her eyes, but not to go to sleep, and instructing Lance to waken her every so often.
I saw Ghetsis standing next to the trap door, watching determinedly, and waiting for a chance to reenter the battle. Duskull seemed to share the sentiment, as he was bobbing up and down much faster than normal and gathering energy between his… Tenticles.
Returning my attention to the battle, I saw that Combusken clearly had the upper hand, having forced the woman to back up to the wall opposite the trap door, but both looking haggard and weary, and both sporting a large collection of cuts, bruises, and welts.
The woman seemed to get more enraged by every passing minute, and finally, seeming to have had enough, she blasted her Aura in a fantastic miasma of color and rage in every direction, blowing Combusken off his feet, and sending him crashing into Ghetsis. Duskull seemed to be the only one unaffected, as I had hefted Sabrina behind me just before the explosion, causing me to strain my still aching groin. Duskull quickly took the initiative, and fired a ball of shadow energy at the woman, and began darting to and from the shadow realm, from whence only ghosts can return alive… If ghosts are alive.
"You blasted ghost! Stay in the realm of the living, where I can send you to the netherworld PERMINATELY!" the woman shrieked, seemingly losing control over her power, as Aura flames appeared to dance over her body, and a red light began to shine from her eyes.
"Ghetsis! Help me overcome this mad woman!" I screamed, motioning for Ghetsis to draw his blade.
Fighting pain, I called out, "I have had quite enough of your insane ramblings, and I intend to end this RIGHT NOW!" tapping into the last of my reserve strength and forcing myself to focus, Ghetsis and I closed in on the woman, who was still raving like the lunatic she was.
Ghetsis and I stepped onto the battlefield, Duskull backing off, and Sabrina leaning upwards to watch my progress. Combusken, too, had seemingly recovered, and he was watching with utmost attention next to Sabrina, like a young boy seeing his first swordsman's exhibition.
"Excellent: I think I'll vent my frustrations on you," the woman sneered, Aura overflow empowering her voice, and sending it to manic levels of sound. Peering at us with those ever malevolent eyes of hers, now glowing bright red, it was only then, after so much toil, that her cowl slipped, presumably from the force of her dark red Aura forcing it up, and silver hairs fell into the woman's face, causing slight distraction by forcing the woman to shift ever so slightly to move them.
Seizing our opportunity, Ghetsis and I lunged at the woman, who barely dodged the attack, and fired a hasty Aura blast in retaliation. Ghetsis and I side-flipped simultaneously and I regretted my choice of movement immediately, the pain was still strong in my nether regions.
The woman, who seemed taken aback at our agility, smirked wickedly at my plight, and said, in a sickly sweet voice one wouldn't even use for a child, "Awww, is the little Knight uncomfortable?" with a fist fully covered in her Aura, she then charged me with a ferocity that matched even the most determined Aggron in killing intent.
"In truth, I am most deeply disturbed by your behavior, but I trust God will turn the momentum of the battle in our favor eventually," I replied, deftly dodging the deadly blow, and swiftly began to wind around the woman, using the agility that the Knights strive for to perfection.
Ghetsis, recovering from the sudden introduction of Aura to the fight, powered his brilliant Vermilion Aura, and fired at the back of the woman, who sensed the trick, and dodged.
This pattern continued for I could never tell how long: All I knew, was this Purgatory of a fight would eventually end with the death of one side of the members, and not before.
I double feinted, and the rapid departure from my usual fighting style caught the woman off guard, costing her enormously; the tendons in her sword arm were cut, and a blast of Ghetsis's Aura knocked the woman to the ground
"Argh! You… You maimed me! How dare you!" the woman shrieked in agony from the floor, cradling her useless appendage.
"It… Would appear… That we've bested you," I wheezed, blood dripping from my open mouth, onto the already blood slicked floor of this God-forsaken tower.
"… Perhaps, and... perhaps not," coughed the woman, curling into a ball, and flaring her Aura again.
I Guessed at what she was about to do, and I screamed desperately, "She is going to destroy the tower! ESCAPE!" pain forgotten, I picked up Sabrina, and I made a mad dash for the trap door: Lance landed on my shoulder, while Ghetsis and Duskull brought up the rear.
Down, down, down, we went, praying to God that we wouldn't slip on the stairs and kill ourselves. After a short time, the explosion overhead rocked the entire tower, causing debris to rain down upon our retreating bodies.
"That woman was insane! No one could survive an explosion like that"Ghetsis yelled over the noise of the collapsing tower through Aura.
"I am aware of that, my friend, but something tells me that we have not seen the last of that evil woman!" I called back, too tired to do anything other than heft Sabrina more snugly into my armored arms.
"John! Use my Aura to increase our speed! If we do that, maybe we will get out alive!" Lance suggested, hopping onto Sabrina's chest.
"Very well, Lance" I agree, tapping into the mostly unused power of the hawk.
Unfortunately, we were passing an archer slit at that time; I stepped wrong on the shaft of an arrow, and tumbled down several steps, and onto a landing.
"John! Sabrina!" Ghetsis yelled, leaping onto the landing, and assisting me in getting up.
The creaking and groaning of the tower was becoming more and more ominous the further down in the tower we descended. Suddenly, the uppermost part of the tower gave away to the forces of nature, and began to fall in upon itself, just as we made it to the door, and out, into the night, where the slaves were shrieking in fear and rage at the tower's collapse. The plume of smoke, was magnificent. Towering at a height I couldn't even guess at.
The slaves, however, did not look pleased to be free; in fact, they looked ready to fight us for destroying the tower!
"It would appear that this fight is not quite over, John," Lance commented, raising himself into the air, and preparing to do battle yet again that day.
"Blast... How many people are we going to have to kill?" I muttered to the unconscious Sabrina, while resting her upon the ground and readying myself for hopefully my final fight for a long time.
A.N.
Well, this is my longest chapter so far...
I really had a lot of fun writing this, and I do enjoy feedback, so, please click the review button; I don't need much, a simple, "Nice work," or "This sucks!" would be nice, because then I know I can change my formula a little to improve.
Signed: Hoenn Master, forever a patriot.