If there was something I knew in this world, it was fire. And there was fire nearby.
I quickly pushed myself off the bed to see the embers near the bathroom of the cabin. I quickly shook James, who instantly woke up and noticed something was wrong. "...I should've seen this coming, I knew something felt wrong," He said. I took a deep breath as I started to wake up Julia too. "This isn't going to stop. This isn't a natural fire, that fire is made from a fire type," James said as he jumped off the bed.
"We need to-" The fire spread to the roof and part of it collapsed. The rest of the team woke up immediately, some jumping, and others letting out a small yelp. "What's going on!?" Venus yelled.
"Fire! Fire!" Drake shouted as he jumped down from his perched area. The fire was closest to him, causing him to cough. Foley was petrified, too afraid to move. He looked sick to his stomach. Buddy and Venus started coughing. The little eevee started to stand up, before he dropped back down onto his stomach, too dizzy from the smoke inhalation.
"James, you need to-" Julia started
"I'm on it," he cut her off. The meowstic picked up the eevee, and ran to the door. "Arceus, it's blocked!" His ears arose as his entire body was covered in a teal aura. Cracks were heard, and in an instant, the door was blown off its hinges, flying into a tree. Everything that was behind it was pushed away too, mostly boulders and tree trunks. James ran outside, and out of my vision.
A part of the cabin's roof fell through, a boulder falling through it. The moonlight could easily been seen from the burning house. It was almost poetic, seeing the shining moon and smoke surrounding it. I stood up and stepped in the center of the house. "This isn't right. Who is trying to kill us…"
"HEY! Some of us aren't fire types, and are actually-" Drake coughed before continuing, "Actually unable to stay in here for much longer. Not to mention we have a grass-type in here!"
"He's right. Ok, everyone, get-" Julia was interrupted by more crackling and a howl from outside. The door was being blocked by four pokemon. Two houndooms, a kabutops, and a golem. It's those houndooms from before, the ones who tried to eat Buddy! The way they were blocking the door, there was absolutely no way any pokemon, much less Drake carrying two pokemon, would be able to leave.
"You!? You did this?" I yelled.
"Remember me? Does the name Helen and Brim ring a bell?" Brim smirked. "You made us go hungry. This time, we're going to feast on all of you. And we're not losing this time, not again, not with us and our friends. You're going to be roasted here." The houndoom laughed.
"Drake, get the children out of here!" Julia yelled.
"But-"
"No! Go now! Go! We'll hold them off!" Julia ordered. Drake coughed and wiped his eyes, trying to keep them from burning. He nodded, and scooped up Venus, and a still-petrified Foley. Using his tail, he scooped up the backpack containing all our pokeballs. Helen tried to get in but I stepped in between them, stopping her in her tracks.
"I'll be back, I swear!" Drake assured as he jumped through the hole in the roof, taking off into the air. I watched him fly up and away from us, until I couldn't see him in the dark anymore.
"Now, I can crush your skulls without traumatizing my kids," I snarled. I immediately took a battle stance, and Julia got low, getting ready to pounce. The houndoom duo took a stance similar to Julia's, while the kabutops crossed it's blades. The golem just smirked.
Brim was the first to make the move. He went in for a bite on me, but I gave him a quick roundhouse to the ribs. The golem was quick to use rock throw on me, and I hadn't had enough time to properly guard against it. I raised my hands to soften the blow, but pain exploded in my arms. I skidded back a bit, and let out a pained exhale.
Julia jumped in next, going to attack the golem, but was stopped by the kabutops, who slashed at her. The Ninetails was barely able to dodge it, but managed to escape harm. She snarled, before going in for the kabutops. A stream of fire came out from Julia's mouth, hitting Helen, the kabutops, and the golem. The kabutops and houndoom seemed nearly unaffected. The golem had a small pained expression on his face, but shook it off quickly.
The pain subsided in my arms and I went in for another attack, this time on Helen. I went for an uppercut, but she was fast and dodged it. I quickly changed my attack, and went for a grab on her forelegs. I missed her right, but grabbed her left, quickly lifting her up in the air. I was about to throw her into the wall when a sharp pain entered my left hand, causing me to let go of her. The houndoom did hit the wall, but quickly recovered, not suffering the full extent of the attack. Brim went for a cut on my ribs, jumping back before I was able to counter-attack. I looked at my hand and ribs, seeing the blood running from them. It hurt like arceus' wrath, but I would have to tough through the pain. Julia wasn't seeming to do well either, getting pelted by boulders and rocks, and whenever she was close enough for an attack, the kabutops slashed her away. This is a losing battle, we need to play to our strengths right now… Seeing an opening, I jumped over brim, and went for a high jump kick on the golem. He never saw it coming, and my foot connected with his face. He fell backwards, having a dazed look in his eyes. He quickly snapped back to reality, and stared right at me. His eyes were full of anger, and he took a step forward. "Great, now I gotta break your foot," he growled, his voice low and gravely.
I took up a fighting stance as he threw another rock at me. I quickly blocked it, but was caught off guard by him running directly at me and picking me up. I was hoisted over his chest as he squeezed his arms together. My back felt pain I had never felt before, and I screamed. He held me as I went for a punch on his eyes. As I was pummeling his face, heat scorched my back. One of the houndooms was putting a steady stream of fire on my back. I may have been a fire type, but I could still feel the pain from it, even if it was dulled just a bit.
One of my punches connected with the side of his head and he loosened the bear hug, but didn't let me go completely. "Alright you bitch! You wanna play rough? Let's play rough!" He roared. In one complete motion, he lifted me over his head and threw me against the wall. I expected to hit it solidly, and bounce back, but to my surprise the wood gave way, and the air from the forest hit me. I landed on the ground, skidding to a stop and before I got a chance to recover, a boulder hit me, pushing me back farther outside.
I pushed the boulder off of me, and attempted to get up, but the pain ached in my back. I tried again, this time successfully getting up. My knees ached, my back ached, my arms ached, but I stood up. "This is gonna hurt in the morning…" I joked. I took a quick breath, letting the fresh air fill my lungs, happy I wasn't at least breathing in anymore smoke.
"Heads up!" Julia shouted as Brim flew out from the hole. Thinking quickly, I went in to catch him, and wrapped my arms around him. Using the momentum from him, I went for a quick spin before raising him over my head, and slamming him into the dirt.
"Nice one, Jule's!" I called back over. She jumped out of the burning cabin, which had all by collapsed by now, shooting a fireball back into the cabin. I gave a quick glance to our right to see that other pokemon were watching. Some of them behind tree's looking scared, others out in the open, enjoying the scene.
"Look out!" A voice from above me screeched, causing me to whip my head back to the action. Suddenly, a jet of water rushed out from the cabin. Julia jumped to the left and I followed suit. Damn, I forgot Kabutops is also part water type. Who was that who said to look out? I looked at the tree I was under, and couldn't see any discernible pokemon. Whoever it was wasn't showing themselves at the moment. Helen jumped out from the hole, immediately going for Julia.
"You bitch!" She bellowed as she tackled my friend. The rolled around, snapping and clawing at each other, attempted to get the other party to back down. I was about to make my way to her and help, but a boulder rolled right past me, nearly hitting me. Pokemon screamed as some backed away from the fight, afraid of getting hurt.
"This shit's getting old," I insulted the golem, "You need some new tricks." The golem quickly moved forward, and got into the range of my fire attacks. I went for a flamethrower attack, and just as I opened my mouth, the golem used a sand attack. Some of the sand was instantly gone, but the rest of it hit my eyes, causing me to stop attacking and attempt to cleanse the sand from my eyes.
"How's that?" the golem provoked. I growled just as I got the sand out, getting ready for a counter attack. Before I could get an attack in, I was forcibly pushed forward. I felt the fire inside of me dim, and pain engulf my body. I coughed, getting back up slowly.
"No you idiots! That's the wrong fire type! They're the one trying to help!" A voice yelled. Again, another 'mon is yelling at us. It's like he's spectating! I realized that what had hurt me was an attack from a water-type. I looked behind me to see a mudkip, marill, and a poliwhirl looking straight at us. They looked scared to see me staring at them. Realizing they were not worth my time at the moment, I faced against my attacker. Two boulders were flying at me, and I was quick enough to dodge the first one. The second one was too far for me, and quickly heading towards the water pokemon. I was unable to react in time to protect them, and cringed, looking away from the attack about to happen.
Nearly coming to a halt in midair, the boulder was surrounded by a blue aura as it did a 180, and flung back towards the golem. He caught it, but skidded back towards the house, which had finally crumbled to the ground. James appeared from my left, a sight I was very happy to see. "2 against 4 isn't very fair. Let's change that," He growled.
The ground shook as I tried to steady my ground. James visible held onto my left leg for support. The golem seemed to take the worst of the pain, as he began to shake physically, and part of the ground gave in, causing him to fall partly in. He let out a pained yell as the earthquake stopped as quickly as it started. The soft pitter patter of paws came to my right. I turned to see a Flygon who I immediately recognized. "I may drop our cub by accident, but I'm allowed to drop you," Drake sassed. He quickly flew into the air, and went straight to Julia, who was pinned by Brim. "Let's go for a ride!" Drake quipped as he picked up Brim and flew straight into the air. Sometimes… Sometimes that flygon scares me.
James went in for the kabutops as I went in to hit the golem once more, before he was able to completely exit his hole. "Listen, get that fire under control, go!" The voice yelled. Quickly, the water pokemon rushed past me and began to attempt to douse the flames with their water. I went in for an uppercut on the golem, who was visible angered by now. We exchanged blows, each of us getting more and more bloodied. I went for a punch, but he was quicker, and caught my hand. He pushed forward, bending my arm at an awkward angle as I yelped. Once more, he lifted me above his head, and threw me straight into the tree.
With a sickening crunch, the tree was bent at an angle. I managed to move before the entire tree came forward, hitting the ground with a thud. "Ok… Ok, I'm hurt," I managed as I struggled to stand back up. The golem slowly walked forward at me. For a moment, I thought this was it. This was how I was going to die. At least I'll see Lucas soon enough. He raised his fist, and punched my cheek, causing me to fall to the ground. Without a delay, I saw him raise his arms above his head, getting ready for a smash.
Instead, he screamed out in pain as he was covered with three jet streams of water. He turned around, furious. Suddenly, Brim fell to ground right next to me. "That's it, we're out! Let's go! Lets go!" He yelled as he hobbled off. The golem looked furious, but followed him, followed by Helen. The kabutops stayed around for another couple of seconds before he dove into the ground, disappearing into the earth after his friends.
"Everyone ok?" The voice asked. I wanted to say yes, but I let my head rest on the ground. "I'm going to find some berries to help ok!?"
I finally managed to speak up, "Oh my Arceus, this hurts… I could go for a nap right about now…" I said as I put my head down and closed my eyes. "I need to recover. Julia- you know what, don't care, I'm putting my head down," I whispered as I let my body go limp.