Chapter Eight: Bad things happen to good people
A Pokémon Fan-Fiction
By Hoenn Master
"When will mankind finally learn to live in peace? It seems that insatiable human greed will be our undoing, causing the lives of many to fall into the power of evil men, and paving the road to serfdom…"- Myself
The morning of our departure was a cold, dank, dark, and very nearly every other abysmal adjective to describe the dark fogbank that decided to overtake the cliffs that bordered Fortree province with that of Lilycove. The copious amounts of fog, coupled by the pre-dawn light, created an eerie sense of foreboding that even Duskull admitted was dreary, and if that wasn't enough reason to stop then, I would have loved to find better.
"This is insane; only fools venture out into this kind of weather, especially when it's over cliffs!" Combusken grumbled to himself as he hauled himself over a particularly large boulder, and hefted his heavy satchel making sure to stay as far as possible from the already narrowing cliff path, and using a fire ball to try and dissipate some of the fog ahead of him, with little success.
"It does no good to dream, Combusken. I already informed you, we would have been selected whether or not we were ready; clearly our superiors believe we are useless; therefore, we are best off used in the impossible missions that would otherwise be unsuitable," I retorted, satchel dangling over the edge of the cliff, despite my back being pressed firmly upon the sheer cliff face, and the many leather thongs I had used to bind it to my torso.
It had been decided the previous day that only light armor and heavy clothing would suffice, along with our best attire for when we met the King. Subsequently, our heavy doublets, thick capes, and heavy boots all slowed us down and also made mountain climbing a hot, sweaty, and arduous business that was better left to the native Pokémon. Nevertheless, we pressed on, climbing upwards and across, praying that we wouldn't fall into the ever churning sea below, and become the next meal of a hungry Gyarados or Sharpedo.
"I personally find this journey an exhilarating experience!" Lance trilled from the air, tacking along a wind current, and seeming to be quite satisfied with his position in life.
"Speak for yourself, Lance! I personally find this whole trip to nothing but a venture designed for torture; I'm not one to complain usually, but I just find the thought of being precariously perched on a ledge with extremely difficult terrain and over an ocean that is spraying me with water to be just a bit extreme!" Combusken barked; glaring at the flight endowed bird with apparent distaste, and a slight twinge of jealousy that did not go unnoticed by me. Where Combusken's hostility came from, I could not guess: Even though he was typically curt, he never lashed out like he was now, and that worried me…
"I guess then, that being forced to sleep out here is completely out of the question then, Combusken?" I probed, hoping that the answer was not what I anticipated, as my previous journey with my father and Gerik through these cliffs had taken well over two days, and I was not looking forward to an angry Combusken heating the rocks where I slept to an unbearable degree in his anger.
Combusken slowly turned his head in my direction, and eyed me for a seemingly endless minute, clearly weighing my question in his mind before stating in a deathly cold voice, "If I will be forced to sleep on this Godforsaken strip of rock, then I will be most… Displeased with you, John," and with that, Combusken continued on in silence, whilst Ghetsis and Duskull began to shake their heads in disgust behind my back; clearly not amused by Combusken's behavior. It was extremely rare for partners to be rude to one another; let alone fight; however, it seemed that the heights and dangers of these cliffs had been negatively affecting my best friend, and causing this behavior.
I simply stood in shock, as Combusken had never done anything like that before. As I was continuing on, it occurred to me that we were making far better progress than I had anticipated, as we were well beyond the halfway marker, and the sun overhead was still indicating that we had about five hours left until sundown, when the cliffs became truly dangerous.
After some two hours of scrambling around on the sheer cliff face, I managed to spot one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen in my life: The distinct line of evergreen trees on the far side of the path, not two hours march away from where we were then.
"Combusken! Look! Our journey is almost at its end!" I exclaimed excitedly to my partner; pointing at the barely visible line of trees, and waving the exhausted Pokémon over.
"Praise be to God for that, John: I was worried for a moment that I would be forced to sleep in this wet location," Combusken sighed, clutching to every handhold and foothold I had tested with my weight beforehand, and stopped when he caught up to me: Peering over my shoulder at the green expanse with glee.
Then, off in the distance, we heard the roar of some ferocious Pokémon; not from rage, but from agony. That was when I noticed that there were bright flashes occurring every few seconds in the trees, and that there was obviously a very violent battle taking place just outside of our visual range. Suddenly, both Combusken and I flinched; our Aura senses began to run wild at the vast evil power that assaulted us; hateful, and desperate.
"Wha-What on earth is happing, John?" Sabrina stammered from behind me, grabbing my right shoulder, and applying a surprising amount of pressure upon the joint. Apparently she too felt the black waves of despair and hatred emanating from the forest.
"John, we need to get over there: Now!" Ghetsis exclaimed out of nowhere, clambering over the rocks resting above Sabrina, long green hair flying about in the wind, and moving as fast as possible towards the battle; Duskull, as usual, trailing behind him.
"Ghetsis! Stop!" Sabrina and I bellowed as we followed the older man up and over the rock formation; all but begging for one of us to fall into the roiling seas below. Combusken, who clearly was not going to be left alone, hopped over our trail with apparent ease, still clinging overlong upon his handholds, however.
Suddenly, we were running not over stone, but over the soft grass of the forest, the ever familiar scent of life overwhelming me, and diluting the power of the evil Aura that had been driving us on. Still, the sprint to the end was something that I would never have attempted; even if the evil Aura was twice as powerful as it already , out of a number of trees, came a massive, iron grey, and exceedingly angry Aggron.
Clearly it had been in mortal combat with some other Pokemon, as deep gashes littered its body, while blood dripped from its gigantic tusks, and it breathed heavily. What little I knew of the iron creature, told me all I needed to know: It would pursue and kill all who dared to anger it; it ate copious amounts of iron ore; and it was far more physically powerful than five of even the best Aura Knights combined. The incensed Pokémon lowered its head, and charged at us, forcing Combusken and I onto the opposite side of Sabrina and Ghetsis. Combusken and I did the only thing we could think of in our battle-fogged minds; we attacked the hulking creature, surprising it in the process, and bringing it to a momentary standstill.
Now, only fools dare to run directly at an Aggron and expect to defeat it: However, in my many sparring matches against Joseph through the years, I had noticed that Larion had shied away from Combusken's fire, and had been heavily damaged by his kicks; leaving me to conclude that Aggron might just share the same flaws; permitting us to win in this contest of power and skill.
"John! What are you doing! Get back!" Sabrina shrieked, sidestepping a poorly aimed claw, and letting it land in the moist ground with an earthshaking thud.
I simply ignored the warning, and before I knew it, I had latched myself onto the upper two horns crowning the enraged Pokémon's head, while Combusken began to claw and kick at the distracted Aggron's flanks. Accessing my Aura strength, and increasing it to dangerous levels, I tried to hold on for as long as possible against Aggron's thrashing head, whilst Combusken sprayed fire all along the exhausted enemy.
By this time, Ghetsis and Duskull joined the fray, Duskull lobbing dark energy, while Ghetsis attempted to slash at Aggron's other flank, apparently wasting his time, as his sword simply lacked the certain curious quality of Combusken's kicks.
"I've had enough of this! I'm using Aura!" Ghetsis announced, before sending a Vermillion colored Aura blast toward the Aggron's right flank. The force of the blast knocked me off the enraged Pokémon's head, and blew Combusken off of his feet, abruptly ending the stream of fire Combusken had been spitting over Aggron.
"What are you doing, Ghetsis? Combusken had the case well in hand!" I groaned, jumping to my feet, and rushing to Ghetsis' aid, as he had attracted the full wrath of Aggron, and Duskull could do nothing to stop the beast. Sabrina, knowing full well that she could do little to assist, had backed off into the tree line, choosing now to announce her presence to the thrashing Pokémon.
"That's enough!" Sabrina yelled before firing a cacophony of Aura blasts, and peppering the Aggron's back with silver energy blasts.
The mighty beast slowly turned its head to meet the newcomer, eyes glowing golden with unsuppressed rage and agony. Then, a faint glow began to emanate from the back of Aggron's throat, continuing to get brighter by the second, until finally, a ball of intense power was sitting inside the Pokémon's mouth, getting bigger by the second, and growing in intensity at the same rate.
"Sabrina! MOVE!" I screamed, launching myself at the still shocked woman, and hoping to get to her before the beam was fired.
Unfortunately, for all of my speed, Aggron was faster. Time seemed to come to a stop, as Ghetsis and I watched the golden colored beam tear across the field, right towards Sabrina. Sabrina took one step forward, and crossed her arms before becoming fully enveloped in the beam, and lost from my sight.
A.N.
Sorry for the wait, guys. You can blame the makers of Medieval II: Total War for that. Also, I fancied a cliffie. Nuff said. At this point, I would love to thank Zangoose-Kira for all of her help in this, and I hope that anyone who reads this will go and check out her stories; I know I thoroughly enjoy reading them.
Signed: Hoenn Master, forever a patriot.
