A/N:
Whew. That wasn't so bad, I guess. The concert went over pretty well, so I got this finished up as soon as I could.
Nothing much else to say here. Hope you enjoy the chapter and all that, and keep an eye out for pop-culture references.
(Inside Out and Jurassic World are the best movies this year kthxbai)
Oh, and 1.5k views! Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!
Allons-y!
Phantom's Crown: Crusade
Chapter 6
Ambush
Ring-ring...Ring-ring...Ring-
"Hello? Who is this?"
"Intel. I have an update."
"Countersign?"
"Sandiego."
"Cleared. I assume this 'update' of yours has to do with the reconnaissance mission that will be occurring in the next few hours?"
"Indeed it is. The warrant for the supposed ambush has been received, and Fraternity will be going ahead with it. Have your men been warned?"
"Of course. Even without the altercation today, they are always on their guard."
"Good. However, tell them to also keep an eye out for the Right Hand of the Prince."
"The Right Hand? This...Lockwood fellow you mentioned a while ago, was it?"
"Yes. Blond hair, cloak, trains an unconventional Mawile. He's one of the strongest combatants I've seen so far, so do not take him lightly. Luckily, he will be overseeing the attack, meaning that Fraternity headquarters should remain relatively unguarded - I trust you've deployed the necessary person for the job?"
"Of course. She's a very talented infiltrator, and I have faith that she will return with the documents Phantom can take advantage of."
"Good. That is all, then."
"Duly noted. Thank you."
"No need to thank me."
Beep.
Yoki put down the phone. Everything is going to plan, he thought, before reaching for a few sheafs of paper and a pen.
Jotting down a memo each for Scott and Tia, he left the room quietly with the sheets in hand. Hopefully, they hadn't already flown off for-
"Aah! I'm not getting on! You can't make me get on!"
Well, now I know they definitely haven't, he smirked.
The National Park, like Ecruteak City, was one of the few places in Johto that had its name remain unchanged after the King's takeover. There wasn't much of need to, after all - 'National' was a very neutral term, and it did not impact the King's rule in any way.
None of that mattered to the redheaded fifteen-year old that one hand around her mouth, and the other around the waist of one Gilan Callaghan, both a hundred feet above the ground, descending towards said park.
In his words, "I'm the only person that can stand her in the air; she'll probably try to push anyone else off otherwise."
Grudgingly, she had to agree with that assessment. Didn't stop her from punching him in the shoulder about it.
As the pack of Staraptors landed, Mae alighted quickly, before running over to a bush. Whatever remained of the breakfast she had so heartily chowed down was returned to the land of the living.
"Jeez louise, Mae, does the air scare you that much?"
Wiping away any leftover chunks with a sleeve - Tia would probably chew her out over it later, but whatever - she looked up to see Grace on the back of her Fletchinder, Robin. She was wearing a maroon jacket over a long-sleeved shirt the colour of the sky, along with an orange scarf, and jeans that had probably seen better days.
With a somersault, both bird and trainer flipped through the air, before Grace landed nimbly on her wellington boots. Raising an arm for Robin to perch onto, she grinned. "It's exhilarating, you know? To feel the sensation of the wind and air whistling in your face-"
"And clearly," Mae interjected, annoyed, "As someone who has never taken to the air until just yesterday, excuse me for finding it hard to stomach."
"Then you gotta start learning someday soon."
She growled, and turned around to see Gilan's smug face. "You're now hopefully very well aware that our main form of transportation is through the air," he continued, "So unless you prefer strictly walking through enemy territory, I suggest you get over it."
Incensed, she did the logical thing, and blew a Razz Berry. "Thbbbbbbbt!"
...Because, that was clearly the logical and mature thing to do.
"Thbbbbbbb-!"
Which spoke volumes about Gilan, who returned the less-than-affectionate gesture from under his navy-blue cowl.
"-bbbbbbbbbbt- YEOWCH!"
And even more about Grace, who kicked his shin, causing him to bite down on his tongue. Hard.
"Shush," she harrumphed. "You're getting too noisy."
Ignoring the muffled cries of pain coming from the boy now lying on the ground, she turned to Mae. "Shall we get started on working out your training schedule?" she asked, pointing towards a tall, bearded man in a grey muscle shirt and dark green cargo pants with brown boots.
Scotty-something, she remembered. The Skybreaker. She began walking towards him, as Grace took the opportunity to tease Gilan some more.
"And as I was saying- Oh, hey there!"
He had been in the middle of a conversation with two girls, who Mae remembered were named Lavender and Red.
"Close." The one in the pink crop-top leaned forward and ruffled her hair, making Mae flinch slightly. "I'm Orchid, and she's Crimson. Not that hard to remember, yeah?"
"Well, then, what's my name?"
This gave the duo pause. Orchid turned to Crimson, who shrugged. "I think you're...May?"
Twitch. "That's Mae. With an 'e'."
"Hang on. They're pronounced differently?" Jirachi pondered, before snapping his fingers.
In the main hall, only a pair of students remained amongst the books; the rest of the Canalave Library's patrons had already departed into the evening light, and the librarian was in the back room. The male between the two stretched. It had been a particularly strenuous session of Dream Link Online, and he'd probably have to continue the rest of it at home instead of in-person with his bae.
Incidentally, he was about to lean over and give her a quick peck on the cheek, when suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, a rather thick genealogy book removed itself from a shelf, before it started to float away in the direction of the east wing.
He blinked. "Steph, is it me, or is that book flying through the air?" he gently prodded her shoulder, pointing with the other hand.
Her eyes flitted up for half a second, before returning to her laptop screen. "Forget it, Jake. It's Canalavetown."
"Don't you mean Canalave City?" he asked, confused.
She shrugged. "Semantics."
Flipping through the thick tome, Jirachi finally stopped on the relevant page. "Her name is pronounced 'Ma-eh', apparently, and not 'May'."
"Huh. The more you know, I guess." Azelf shook his head. "Anyways, let's finish up this chapter before we break for the night."
"Oh. Okay, well, Mae," Orchid gestured at her. "I assume you're here because you want to know what's on for you, so...How much weapon experience do you have?"
Her mind flashed back to a much younger time, when she still helped her mother out by cutting vegetables for dinner. "I'm an amateur," she admitted, "Only ever had to escape from people, not defend myself from them."
"That's okay." Scott nodded. "Being able to avoid conflict is also a necessary skill, one all Phantom members should learn to appreciate. After all, what good are we to the cause if we're locked up in jail, or worse, executed?"
A clink made Mae take note of the pair of metal batons attached to the belt by his hip, only for her to realize that those weren't just ordinary batons - they appeared to have two prongs on either side, making it look similar to the feet of that one frog Pokémon Mae had seen in a picturebook she had scavenged.
Greninja...was it?
Oblivious to the impromptu weapon inspection being performed, Scott had continued with a gentle smile. "But, in the interests of your own safety, I think it much better that we at least train you to defend yourself with a weapon."
Looking up, she commented impetuously, "I don't see why you think the Crown soldiers are so much of a threat. If they can't even catch me, what's so dangerous about them to you and your oversized forks?"
His fingers clasped around one of the aforementioned 'forks'. Unhooking it, he began twirling it around one hand, while asking, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're from Sprout Tower in Dusk City, right?"
Showoff, she muttered inwardly. "Yeah, why?"
"Did they use close range equipment like my sai or…?"
"Spears. Weren't good at using them though." She pursed her lips. "Where are you going with this?"
With his free hand, he picked up the other sai, before pointing both of them at Mae. "Now, let's say a Crown soldier is actually very skilled with their weapon, and they're standing in my position now, holding it close to you. What would you do?"
"Simple," she riffed confidently, "I'll just run-"
Snikt! "Run just where, exactly?"
The sudden interjection caused Mae to turn around. Right behind her was Crimson, only this time, there appeared to be something different about her. Perhaps it was the shades of red on her one-piece dress, though she hadn't changed since that morning. Perhaps it was the way she did her hair, though, again, it hadn't changed since that morning either.
Or perhaps it was what she had changed since that morning - the sudden emergence of three-bladed claw gauntlets on both of her wrists. Scratch that (literally), sharp, glinting three-bladed claw gauntlets on both of her wrists - pointed directly at Mae.
Eep.
She made to bolt to the left. "Well, not towards you, that's for sure-"
Crack! "Towards me, then?"
Orchid was standing there, holding something that resembled a whip. However, this whip was metallic, and looked to be divided into sections instead of being one continuous length of rope.
Releasing it to full length and causing the tip to smack against the ground with another loud crack, she rewound the chain around one hand. "I wouldn't mind."
"Nah, I'll just go right and-"
"That's not right either, you know."
To her immense frustration, she was surrounded. Tia had blocked off her last direction of escape; the black of her carbon-steel knife contrasted with the ever-so-spotless white of her shirt, and she had a knowing look on her face, as if she was daring her to try.
"Oh finally, a normal weapon." Mae commented, now very much unamused. Turning back to Scott, she crossed her arms defiantly. "Okay, you got me, I'm at your mercy. Now, what's up with the demonstration?"
He chuckled. "Stubborn one, aren't you?" Twirling both sai such that the tips were now facing inwards, he crossed his arms. "Now imagine you actually had a weapon you were able to use in this situation. Instead of being helpless like you are right now, you can actually fight back. A much better set of circumstances to be in, wouldn't you agree?"
…As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. She would much rather not be at the mercy of any Crown soldiers, ever, period.
"Alright, alright," she sighed and shrugged noncommittally. "What am I supposed to do now, then?"
Snikt!
From behind her, Crimson walked up, her scary blades thankfully retracted such that all she was wearing now was a pair of glorified metal gauntlets. Studying Mae up-close, she briefly glanced to Mae's right. "Considering you have had zero formal experience with any sort of training, we'll ignore the specialized weapons and start small. Tia, you teach her knife arts; if she can't handle that, we'll let Grace have a go at training her."
"Somebody call my name?"
Grace took this moment to pop into the conversation. She was holding a thankfully just-as-normal bow; Mae had seen the weapon in use before with the failed resistance group that operated close to her former home. Good for attacking from afar - not so good when the guards were slashing them to pieces with swords.
She flinched. Right, maybe the guards aren't exactly laughably harmless...
"-so you're gonna be training with Tia, is that alright?"
It took her a moment to realize that it was her cue to answer. "Yeah, sure!" she answered hurriedly.
"Good. Everyone else, usual stuff. Let's go train!" Scott announced.
Everyone pretty much split up after that. Ashley waved to Mae as she followed Grace, a similar bow in her hands, and a quiver full of arrows each.
At the end, she was left next to Tia, which was to be expected considering the conversation she had only mildly paid attention to - or at least, the end of it.
Speaking of Tia, the older girl handed her a knife that looked similar to the one she held in her master hand, only this one was about an inch shorter. "I should warn you before I start," she affirmed, "Just because I like you, kid, doesn't mean I'm not going to go strict on you during training. You are going to learn, and learn well, capiche?"
"You like me? That's a shocker."
A smirk. That was usually a sign of approval. "Not bad. We'll make a Phantom out of you yet. Now, let's try an overhead blow."
She weighed the knife in her hands. Not too heavy, not too light, though the handle could use a bit of powder or some other lubricant for an easier grip. Nevertheless, she steeled herself, before raising the knife over her head."Hy-"
"-ah!"
The blue-and-black jackal watched in satisfaction as the large crocodile in front of her fell back on his haunches. He raised a thumbs-up, flashing a toothy grin.
"Mighty fine showing there, Ria!" He praised. "I think ya got the hang of Brick Break - I sure felt the raw power coming off of that karate chop!"
Ria the Riolu beamed, her brown eyes lighting up in happiness. "Aw, thanks, uncle Jax!"
Jax the Feraligatr got up from the ground, before guffawing loudly. "Well, now that ya got the technique down, it's up to ya to gauge yer own power level! I'm sure ya don't need an old bag o' bones like me to be yer test subject, so, eh…" He looked around. "Why don'tcha get some tree branches or stones to smack? Just be careful not to break yer hand hitting them, ya hear?"
"Gotcha! I'll see you around then, uncle Jax!"
He watched as Ria left to gather stuff, before wiping away the sweat off his brow, slightly embarrassed. Sheesh, he thought, Not even twenty and I'm already a flipping uncle? Granted, we smaller crocs mature twice as fast, so I'm more like reaching forty, but still-
"Uncle Jax!" "Hey uncle Jax!"
...Nevermind. He turned around, and, as he had guessed from the voices, it was two of the other Pokémon who had dubbed him 'uncle', Screech the Pawniard and Robin the Fletchinder. Only this time, there was a third Pokémon with them - a new addition to their cabal, perhaps?
"We gotta introduce the new kid on the block." Screech said, pointing a claw almost lazily at her. "She's-"
Before he could finish, the fox bounded forward, shushing the boy with an orange paw. "I can introduce myself, thank you very much!" Clearing her throat, the Vulpix bowed slightly. "My name is Talis. I'm a Vulpix, and as you can plainly see, I've already gotten all six of my tails."
"Well, it's mighty fine to meet ya, lil' Talis." He flashed an award-winning grin and held out a clawed hand. "I'm Jax, but as ya can probably tell, they call me 'uncle' too. Dunno why, dinna care."
She took one step back in response. "Has anyone told you how creepy you look when you smile, mister Jax?"
"You'll get used to it." Robin chirped.
Guffawing loudly again, Jax wiped a tear from his eye. "In any case, it's good to have ya as part of the fam. How battle-ready are ya?"
To this, she visibly shook, and took another step back. "You're...not gonna attack me to find out, are you?"
"And why, pray tell, would he do that?"
Talis turned her head. A trio of newcomers walked into her line of sight, and neither looked all too friendly either. The speaker had been a graceful-looking Kirlia, who brushed away a few loose strands of hair as she approached the four. Flanking her were two dark Pokémon; one was dark-grey and hyena-like, and, if she remembered correctly from that one picturebook Mae had scavenged, they were a Poochyena. The other was very much unknown to Talis - they had red feathers surrounding a pale-grey body, with a yellow oval marking on their forehead, and sharp, metal claws like the knife Mae was currently training with.
Speaking of her trainer, Talis glanced over - in the time she had been released from her new confinements (she refused to dignify the ball as anything but a prison cell), Mae had progressed on to throwing the knife.
As evidenced by the completely intact log of wood propped up a few feet away, she should probably stick to keeping the knife in her hands, Talis concluded.
"Hey. New gal. Or guy, whatever."
She turned. It was the light grey-ish Pokémon from earlier. "It's rude to leave a question hanging," he (at least she thought it was a he) stated, running a claw through one of his ear feathers, "Unless you would like her to repeat it?"
"No, I got the question, Mr. Sunshine." Ignoring the icy glare directed her way, she raised her head defiantly. "Don't I have every reason to be afraid of someone four times as big as me, especially if I don't know whether to trust them or not?"
A moment of silence passed before the Poochyena puts together his paws, as if he were clapping, with the Kirlia following suit.
"Ooh, she's a feisty one! Now I know we'll have fun sparring it out!" He (she was sure this time it was a he) bounded forward, before raising a paw to shake. "Hi there! I'm Fang! These are some of my friends; Madame is the Kirlia-"
"Enchanté." Madame curtsied.
"While Mr. Grumpypants over here is Logan the Weavile!"
If Logan's glare could have gotten any icier, it just did. "Mr. Grumpypants?"
Well...I guess he's okay, Talis thought. Hesitantly, he reached out and took his paw-
Before he lightly whacked her over the head with it.
"Tag, you're it!" He barked, before running away with a howl of laughter.
Robin hopped forward, a wing up as if to say something, but Talis raised a paw in return. "Shh...I get it."
Moments later, a tremendous roar broke out from the little fox, who proceeded to zip after the wolfling with a look of apoplexy written all over her face. The other Phantom Pokémon stared as she screamed bloody murder, in hot pursuit of the soon-not-to-be most junior member of their group.
"Well, that saved us from having to explain the initiation." Screech laughed - which came out rather shrilly considering he was made out of nothing but metal. "Is Ria around? I think she'd be thrilled to see Fang get put in his place."
"Eh, she's around 'ere somewhere." Jax looked towards where she had went to practise, but only found a pile of cracked twigs. "Huh. Oh well."
Madame placed a comforting hand on his back. "There, there, I sense she's in the area. For now, let us enjoy the show, shall we?"
Begin the initiation test! Land a hit on your direct senior!
Hunter: Talis the Vulpix VS Target: Fang the Poochyena
CHASE: BEGI-
"GET OVER HERE!"
Fang turned, and nearly wet himself in sheer fright.
He thought the Vulpix (Talis, was it?) looked kinda cute at first glance. A bit shy and timid, and fun to tease - the perfect one to take him on for the initiation ceremony.
Certainly not the loud, ablaze, and almost certainly baying-for-his-blood (his!) Vulpix she was now channeling. Any more fiery, and he'd have to call her Mozilla.
Whatever that was.
Well, no time to waste. He couldn't afford to let her land a hit on him before he did, after all. He'd just have to-
"Ember!"
"Abort Plan A!" he yelped, turning back around and continuing to flee for his life, dodging the balls of fire as he did.
Plan A had been to get in close and strike her before she could retaliate, but he didn't want to get the fur off his back burned off for his trouble.
Necessitating Plan B: Get away from her until I can think up Plan C!
Dashing to the right, he weaved around the shooting range. A metaphorical lightbulb lit over his head, as Plan C popped into his mind. Grabbing an arrow with his teeth off the bullseye on one of the targets-
"Hey! That's my lucky arrow! Give it-"
He chomped down on it hard with the power of his Bite, shredding the wood shaft to pieces.
"Nooooooooo! Tia! Your stupid Poochyena destroyed my lucky arrow!"
"Um...doesn't that mean that the arrow wasn't really all that lucky, then, Grace?"
"Huh? Oh...Good point, Ash."
Spitting the splinters out, he gathered them in a pile, and began preparing for the arrival of his pursuer.
Sure enough, Talis closed the distance between them freakishly fast. "So help me, I will end you-"
"Sand Attack!" "Gah!"
With a powerful kick of his hind legs, he scored a direct hit on her eyes, sending the fox skidding to a halt, a few feet away.
"Damn you!" she spat out a few more fireballs, but to Fang's immense relief, all of them were totally off-target. "Fight me like a real man!"
"I'm a Poochyena." He taunted. "This is me fighting like a real hound!"
Talis growled. The nerve of some people!
Changing her stance, she bared her teeth in the general direction of Fang's blurry-black shape. Alright. Calm down. Think back to what that Arcanine grandpa did.
Elsewhere, back on the S.S. Chance, Pyro huffed a bit, before sneezing out a torrent of flame. Once he realized he had accidentally set one of the potted plants on fire, he quickly ran over to try and put it out.
Drawing from her internal reserves, Talis felt her mouth heat up to a good temperature. Now control the stream of flame, and let it go- BLARG!
Instead of an elegant cascade of fire, the ensuing flame came out in a very uneven jet. Not only that, she had placed too much 'oomph!' into her Fire Spin, causing her to be blown back and to the left.
"Gotch- Argh!"
Which, ironically enough, had been most favourable for her in this situation, as Fang, who had feinted left to dodge the supposedly-straightforward attack, ended up being scorched. The fire caused him to be blinded temporarily, but it was enough.
Closing her mouth to end the attack, she watched as he flailed around helplessly. Reinvigorated, Talis started running, and with a jump, she launched herself into the air, before grabbing her tails and holding them close to herself.
"Tail Whip!"
Releasing her six tails, Talis let them all smack the Poochyena upside the head.
"That's not a whip!" Fang cried as he fell over.
Dazed from the tumble, he shook his head and opened his eyes, only to stare into the Vulpix's fiery-auburn eyes.
"I. Win." she punctuated each word with a smack to his chest, "Chew. On. That."
They both stayed there in silence, looking at each other, before Fang sighed. "Con-freaking-gratulations."
"Wow. Way to put him in his place, new girl!"
Talis turned around. It was a Riolu, and behind her were the other Phantom Pokémon.
"That Fire Spin prediction was awesome!" Robin tweeted her approval. "Sure, it could be a little more graceful, but still, that was awesome!"
"Of course it was!" Talis proclaimed proudly. No need to tell them it had been an accident.
"I'm Ashley's partner, Ria, by the way, if you know who she is," she high-pawed Talis ("Nope!"), before turning to her direct junior.
"You got put in your plaaaa-ace!" Ria teased Fang, who howled in mock frustration. "Graaaagh!" he whined, before slumping down on the ground.
Still, he couldn't help but give props to the new gal. She certainly knew how to pack a punch.
Maybe she'd be as awesome as him one day!
Oh, he could hope, at least.
Mae tossed the knife in the air, before catching it with the other hand. Swinging it in an arc, she slammed it down on the log.
Removing the blade with a slight tug, she smirked at the sight of the created indent. Sure, it was shallow, but hey, it was a step in the right direction.
Tia peered over her shoulder, before clapping it. "Good," she said, "You're starting to get the hang of knife arts. We've been working pretty hard for some time now - let's take a break over there, shall we?"
Looking over, she pointed to where Mae saw a familiar sight for sore eyes. Talis was sitting down next to the Poochyena that Tia had named Fang, and the two appeared to be in conversation.
I'm actually kinda surprised you've managed to make friends already, she mused. "Sure, let's check on them."
Passing by Gilan, who was whacking away at a practice dummy with a pair of sticks, they crouched down by their respective Pokémon. Tia scratched behind Fang's ears, and Mae decided to do the same for Talis.
"Pooch!" "Vul!" Evidently, they enjoyed it pretty well.
"So what's going on between you two, huh?" Mae asked.
"Oh, you know, the usual. Me bossing Fang here around." Talis stated, a hint of smugness in her yips.
"Yeah, well, I'm just…" He pawed the ground. "Curious about one thing."
"What's that?" Talis asked, half-curious herself, as their owners looked at her, then him, expectantly.
He looked around apprehensively. "We're already halfway through this training montage, where the Houndoom is the ambush?"
As if on cue, a large tree fell onto the area, its bark coated in a frosty sheen of blue.
"Sorry, sorry! That was me." Jax guffawed, scratching his head. "Missed an Ice Punch."
"Where the actual hell were you even aiming for?" Logan snarked.
"Ya face, duh!"
Before the Weavile could retort, however-
WEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEE!
A loud ringing sound erupted throughout the entirety of the National Park.
"Everyone, scram!" Scott yelled over the din, before reaching into his pocket for the Pokéball containing the borrowed Staraptor.
Click! Click! Click!
What the- Scott cursed inwardly, before pulling the device to eye-level. Why won't they work?
As the sound cut off, Scott looked over to his comrades, who were all similarly dazed and confused.
And the five crown soldiers who happened to blend out of the surrounding forest behind them.
A man and his Chandelure jumped out of a tree, before making a beeline for Gilan and his Pawniard. Two people, dressed mostly in green, leaped towards Crimson and Orchid, their Gardevoir and Gallade right behind. A blonde-haired woman wielding - was that...an umbrella? - appeared next to Ashley and Grace, causing them to jump back.
And his opponent strode up to him, a sword in one hand. Her platinum-blonde hair swished behind her as she raised the other to head-level, a magnificently-crafted shield bearing the Crown's emblem on it.
Removing an earbud, she discarded it to the side, before getting into a battle-ready stance.
So this was the ambush, huh? he thought, checking around. True to form, Tia had disappeared. Good, now he had to provide the distraction.
"Everyone, run, now!" Scott yelled, still disoriented.
Taryn smiled, before charging forth. "Attack!"
A lone Xatu watched the scene unfold from a tree branch not far away from the clearing. Sentry watched as the Crown soldiers entered the scene, before tapping into the psychic link between her and her master to project what she saw into his head.
"I see our guests have arrived, right on time." Yoki's voice sounded into her head. "I didn't expect them to utilize an Electromagnetic Pulse, but everything else is going just as planned. Look out for Tia, and ensure that she gets to their headquarters safely. As for everyone else, intervene when necessary, but keep your presence to a minimum. And be careful - shadow back to the ship if you find yourself threatened in any way. Especially if you find yourself confronted by a blond male and his Mawile - do not engage them. Got it?"
"Understood," she nodded, breaking the connection with her master so as to not drain her pool of psychic energy, before turning to take to the skies. Her mission - to provide aerial support to her commander's men and women.
Unfortunately, her ascent was halted as soon as she saw the mass of shadowy tendrils just mere millimetres from her face.
"Surprise!" Lunete grinned, before launching the Shadow Ball. At point-blank range, she couldn't have missed, but the added bonus of the Scope Lens meant that the Xatu caught the projectile right between her eyes.
Back in the former Ecruteak City gym-turned-headquarters, he watched the Mystic Pokémon fall and disappear into the shadows of the trees. Tapping his headset, he communicated via the modified held item, "Lunete, keep an eye out from the skies. I'll need you to swoop in as fast as possible if either of us spot anything amiss."
Taking the up-and-down movement of his monitor display as a nod, he leaned forward to watch the screen, steepling his fingers. "Best of luck, everyone, not that you'll need it," Morgan murmured, as his Swoobat flew up. "Mission start."
Phantom
The Revolutionary: Yoki Kohzo and Sentry (Xatu) - Condor-K
The Skybreaker: Scott Bishop and Jax (Feraligatr) - RedArrowCrasher
?: Gilan Callaghan and Screech (Pawniard) - emosewa13
?: Tia Harmon and Fang (Poochyena) - We're All Okay
?: Ashley White and Ria (Riolu) - Isetba
?: Orchid Bloom and Madame (Kirlia) - LuvCherice
?: Crimson Kaia and Logan (Weavile) - PokéFreak45
?: Grace Elliot and Robin (Fletchinder) - PokeThatPokémon
?: Mae and Talis (Vulpix) - Skittlinq
Crown
The Astral Blade: Morgan Lockwood and Lunete (Swoobat) - SDproductions
The Iron Lady: Taryn Riordan and Aeon (Lairon) - Altomere
The Parasol of Pain: Cordelia Noble and Tabitha (Audino) - SDproductions
?: Glenn Callaghan and Wisp (Chandelure) - emosewa13
?: Lucas Valedin and Valdus (Gallade) - TreblePlayer67
?: Lynae Valedin and Valerie (Gardevoir) - TreblePlayer67
SD's Weapons Manual
Sai: Typically, they consist of a pointed, prong-shaped, metal baton, with two curved prongs (termed 'yoku') projecting from the handle (termed 'tsuka'). Scott's sais in particular are hybridized off Raphael's sais (TMNT), meaning that they do not have a blunt end, but instead a sharp one for piercing. Originating as a farming tool, these pseudo-knives can be used both for offense and defense - and they can be thrown too.
Tri-Bladed Gauntlets: Known better as the 'Cat Claw Gauntlets' or 'Wolverine's Blades', each gauntlet holds three retractable steel blades that can be popped up or stored at a moment's notice with the flick of a switch in the palm of its owner. The ones Crimson wear are based off Rio Kizaki's (Ratman) model - though special modifications taken from the Yautja (Predator) have been implemented. Highly offensive - not in that way.
Metal Chain: Also known as the chain whip or, more specifically, the nine-section whip, this ostensibly Chinese weapon is regarded as a 'soft' weapon, though it is certainly anything but. The amount of precision and dexterity required to wield such a formidable weapon certainly shows through its most well-known users - Shaolin monks. Does Orchid have what it takes? We shall see.
Knife: Up to ten inches long and crafted out of a carbon-steel alloy, the two knives Tia and Mae wield in this chapter are actually based off the ever-popular machete, scaled to size for easier control and to account for their physique. They're easy to learn, but hard to master, thus providing a most reasonable weapon for a complete and utter novice like Mae to learn. Throwing them is not exactly advised for beginners, however.
Bow & Arrows: Crafted out of wood that once had its home on a Torterra's back, the composite bows that Grace and Ashley use are strung with the same Torterra's sinew. Waste not, want not, and the two ranged weapons are proof of that. Half a metre-long each, they have an indeterminate range of at least fifty metres at full draw. Grace wields it with astounding accuracy, while Ashley is...getting there.
A/N:
Holy stunt doubles look at that cast ensemble. And that ain't even half of all the human OCs that were submitted - the less said about how many more Pokémon that makes it, the better. I should probably start drafting plans for the first few deaths...Nah, maybe later.
Anywho, that's another wrap on this chapter. A review would very certainly be appreciated - let me know what I can do better, or what you liked/hated. I'll keep in touch with you lovely people when I can, and keep on improving myself.
And taking a cue from a new favourite author, DJTiki (read his fiction, yo, we're both doing medieval stuff), let's try this.
QOTC: Who's your favourite member(s) of Phantom so far? Favourite member(s) of the Crown so far? Favourite Pokémon? (The response to this last one will be very interesting...maybe)
The big battle comes next...This might take a while, but hey, a while's all I got. Prepare yourself for one heck of a long weapon assessment/Pokémon review. Oh, and the chapter itself, but...I seem to do quite well for a stretch, and then at the end of a sentence, I say the wrong cranberry.
Don't mind me, I'm waxing lyrical.
That's all from me. Hope you continue to enjoy the Crusade. Cheers! (\(OwO)/)
Stay tuned to Chapter 7: Skirmish.