Chapter 12

Three days passed since the strategy meeting and the preparations were complete for the New Age Alliance's attack on Mt. Chimney. Genma had been released in the vicinity of Mauville and had gone on to attack the city just as Light had predicted. Scarlett gave a crash course in tactics commonly used by the human army and worked the troops until they dropped. In Scarlett's words "They now have the jist of human military tactics."

While Scarlett trained the troops who had already joined the NAA, Nate, Grunt, Momo and Light all worked to recruit new members from a variety of available sources. Momo and her two top lieutenants were able to convince some of the resistance cells near Fallarbor Town to join the Alliance but many more refused to join. The leaders of these cells were too wary of Light's style of leadership, and especially his secret identity, to join the cell he held almost absolute authority over. Meanwhile Light interviewed the captives that the New Age Alliance had gathered during their taking of the city. Surprisingly, far more members joined from the captives than from other resistance cells. Those who fought against Light and had seen his power firsthand were curious how far this upstart could go when he was against the might of the full might of the two superpowers.

Currently, the NAA is observing the beginning of a battle between human forces from Mauville and the defending Pokemon.

"Everyone, I thank you for your hard work over the last few days to prepare for this battle." Light began. "But now is the moment of truth. Using the fruits of our labor we will either raise the New Age Alliance to even greater heights or watch as it is crushed in the cradle. Now assume your battle positions and await further instructions."

"You all heard Light." Momo pitched in. "Assume your positions but use extreme caution. Our plan depends on attacking after they have weakened themselves further. The enemy must not learn of our presence until it is too late."

With the encouraging word of their commanders still ringing in their ears, the New Age forces dispersed to prepare for the big ambush. Light, Nate, Grunt and Momo were operating as a squad for this battle and once in position, Nate asked.

"Light, I don't mean to bother you before such a big battle but is what you said true about the Alliance hanging in the balance of this battle?"

Almost immediately Light responded, "Yes."

"We still have an established base back in Fallarbor though dude." Grunt broke in. "If things start to look bad we still have the option of retreat."

"While it is true that the New Age Alliance does hold a base that was previously held by one of the two superpowers but if we fail in this battle: Who will there be to occupy said base?" Light asked. "After pulling a maneuver to try and play the superpowers against one another, even if we were to retreat with some of our troops, one if not both of the superpowers would chase after us until we either disbanded or were put ten feet under."

"Wow." Nate responded in disbelief.

"That is my sentiment exactly, which is why this battle must go exactly as planned."

Ten minutes passed in cold silence after that while all four of the NAA's top officers watched the battle between the humans and Pokemon unfold.

"I think they brought more troops then we anticipated." Momo said, finally breaking the awkward silence that had developed since the full weight of the battle was revealed.

"Quite. I think in about fifteen more minutes, the battle will be ripe for our taking." Light responded after analyzing the situation.

"I think you're going to have to adjust your estimate a bit." Nate stated. "I just received word that some of our troops were spotted by Pokemon forces."

No, darn it, it's too soon. If we go out now, we'll be taken out for sure! But I can't just leave those who were spotted out to dry. Light thought to himself. "Our hand has been forced. All forces ATTACK! I realize that this is earlier than planned but the enemy has seen our strategy and must now strike before we completely lose the element of surprise."

"Lay it on us straight boss, do we have a shot at this thing?" Grunt asked.

"Our odds of victory have just been greatly reduced by this blunder. If others were to place bets on the outcome of the battle, none would be in our favor right now." Light explained. "But slim as it may be, we have to cling to the hope that we can snatch victory from the jaws of adversity and prevail. Now I will go to the portion of the line that was spotted by the enemy. Can you three handle yourselves?"

"Don't worry about us Light." Momo responded. "Do whatever you need to do to help us win."

With those final words, the four of them went their separate ways. While flying to the point of first contact with the enemy Light began to make revisions to the original battle plan. How can we pull off this victory as we are now? Our troops have little to now experience dealing with half of the enemy forces and we're sorely outnumbered.

Before coming up with a suitable plan, Light reached his destination and was disheartened by what he found. The NAA forces that had been sent to lay in wait were nearly demolished and the few remaining troops weren't acting in anything close to a cohesive manner. While intercepting a Hyper Beam meant for another member of his faction, Light began to issue orders.

"Right flank tighten up! Forwards you're too far up, retreat so that we can cover your back. Don't try to overpower the enemy. It just won't work!"

Suddenly a Flygon rose to meet Light in the air and stated. "I think you've given out enough orders, sir."

"And who might you be?" Light asked.

"I am one of Commander Reuniclus' top lieutenants: Rommel. Once I take care of you, I can go back to wiping out this rag tag group of soldiers. Now Dragon Claw!"

Rommel came in surprising speed but Light was able to evade and began to launch a counterattack of his own.

"Dark Pulse!" Light yelled.

"Dragonbreath!" Rommel countered, the resulting explosion wiping out multiple allies on both sides of the ensuing battle.

As the smoke began to clear, both combatants launched into a flurry of melee attack, neither making any progress in defeating the other.

As both participants continued to pummel on another, Rommel raised a thought. "It feels like I should know you. Just who are you?"

Light blocked an incoming Shadow Claw with a Night Slash of his own then retreated to respond. "I'm surprised my exploits haven't reached you yet. I am the one responsible for the liberation of Fallarbor Town and the leader of this resistance group before you. I am Light."

"You're Light?! That Light!" Rommel said in disbelief. "HehHeh HaHa HAHAHA! This is just too perfect."

"What are you so happy about?"

"You think that only word of your victory at Fallarbor Town spread? We received a complete account of the battle from our survivors and the people you so generously sent back to us."

"That means…"

"Exactly Light. We now know your tactics and how you use the forbidden techniques of the Slash for your personal arsenal, many of which require a high affinity for Electric type moves." Rommel continued. "By facing me, a Ground type, one of your most powerful moves, Thunder, which was used to tip the tide in Fallarbor, can't be used against me! Now take this Hyper Beam!"

"Shadow Ball Shield!" Light yelled.

Empowered through the knowledge that he held a type advantage on Light, Rommel began to launch another barrage of physical attacks that Light was hard pressed to keep up with. Eventually one of these attacks broke through Light's guard and he was sent plummeting into the ground at high velocity.

Light recovered and tried to launch a counterattack against Rommel who was quickly closing in. "Shadow Ball"

Instead of decelerating and blocking the incoming attack, Rommel simply faced it head on with a Dragonbreath and continued to race toward the ground at an even faster pace. Instead of aiming for Light, the attacking Flygon adjusted his course away and proceeded to go underground with a Dig attack.

Great, let the mind games begin. If he can conceal his position, so can I. Light thought to himself. "Double Team"

A few seconds later, Rommel attacked from his point under the ground, with very little of his previous velocity lost. With one Double Team image gone, Rommel began another attack saying "It was stupid of you to stay on the ground. This is my domain. Earthquake!"

As the ground beneath his feet began to crumble, Light once again took to the air using the Magnet Rise technique only to be faced with yet another assault from Rommel.

"Yes, Yes, YES!" Rommel yelled, taking enjoyment in his opponent's suffering. "If I defeat the only person to have taken a city from one of the two superpowers, I'll be promoted for sure."

As Rommel began to lose himself in delusions of grandeur, Light was able to break free from the skirmish and went over what was needed to win the battle.

He has the height and weight advantage so my best bet would be to keep my distance and wear him down with special attacks. "Agility into Shadow Ball."

Light began to pick up speed and began to pepper Flygon with Shadow Balls from various angles, trying to catch him off balance. While a few did hit their target, the Shadow Balls only seemed to enrage Rommel rather than damage him.

"You think you can win using speed?" Rommel mused. "I have just the thing to slow you down, Sandstorm!"

With a few flaps of his wings, Rommel quickly created a sandstorm surrounded both of the combatants, turning Light's previous speed advantage into a detriment as moving too fast caused damage to those non-resistant to the desert environment.

"Urrh" Light grunted as the sandstorm began to tear into his sides.

Clearly having gained the advantage in the fight, Rommel began to slowly glide over to Light and said "You know after all the talk and rumors surrounding you, I thought you would have presented more of a challenge to defeat."

"The battle isn't over yet." Light shot back.

"Oh but it is. You see the sandstorm will slowly whittle away at your health until you've been reduced to a mere shell and don't even think about trying to take some of my troops with you. This sandstorm will protect all of them by interfering with your electricity."

"If that's the case I'll just have to take out the source! Night Slash!"

Once Light's Night Slash was activated, both of the adversaries began to launch another round of physical attacks at one another. Although Light seemed to have gained a second wind, Rommel was slowly gaining the advantage again as the Sandstorm sapped away his strength.

"Face it Light. You can't win." Rommel said blocking a Slash attack aimed at his head. "Give up now and I might make your defeat a little less painful.

"I could say the same thing to you."

"Heh. That is way too obvious of a bluff Light. You hold none of the cards right now."

He's right. Light thought. I need to do something to swing the momentum of this fight back in my direction. Maybe if I can get rid of this Sandstorm…

"You may hold all of the cards now but the tables will be turned once I break up this Sandstorm. Thunder!"

"You're that desperate that you're launching an electric type move at my Sandstorm. I already told you Light: That won't work."

"And I say you're wrong. Now full power!"

With those words the wave of electric power that had been slowly extending outward from Light's body shot out, destroying the Sandstorm.

"But how?" Rommel asked disheartened by the loss of his advantageous environment.

"Easy. You assumed that the laws of type advantage held true even to your moves." Light replied, charging in with a Fury Swipes attack. "That isn't the case when it comes to one's attacks. Think about it what is sand made of?"

As the conversation continued Rommel, still in disbelief, was unable to block many of Light's attacks.

"I don't know. Tiny particles of.." The realization finally hit him. "Metal."

"Correct!" Light answered as his Shadow Claw attack threw Rommel to the ground below. "While you can't be affected by electricity, the metal particles in your attack can. If you knew more about your attack, you wouldn't have lost today."

"What are you talking about? The battle isn't over yet."

"I'm sorry but it is. Dark PULSE!" Light yelled.

"Fine. I'll just counter with a Hyper Beam!"

The two attacks met midway between their two targets but the Dark Pulse soon began to push back the Hyper Beam.

"How? How is this happening?" Rommel pleaded, unable to draw anymore strength into his attack.

"It's because you like showing off." Light replied. "Throughout the battle you've shown display after display of high power moves from your skydive Dig attack to creating a Snadstorm. In lay mans terms: you're out of power."

"No, this can't be happening."

"I'm sorry but this is the end. Good bye."

The Dark Pulse then rapidly overtook Rommel's Hyper Beam and hit Flygon at full force. The attack landing created a large explosion taking out many of the nearby soldiers on both sides.

"Gah!" Light gagged as he collapsed onto the ground. "That battle took more of my strength than I would have liked." He then turned on his communicator and asked, "Momo, what's the situation like?"

"It's been a wash so far Light. We aren't winning the fight but we aren't exactly losing it either. Do you have a plan?"

"I'm working on it." Light responded. "What do I have to work with? The power for most of my moves is pretty low from fighting Rommel. The only thing I have a lot of energy for is my electrical moves."

Thinking back to Rommel Light said "That idiot, thinking he could interfere with my electricity… wait. Interference…Electricity…"

Light quickly turned his communicator back on and said to no one in particular. "I have a plan."

AN: Sorry for the delay, tests and Thanksgiving and such. What could Light's plan be? Find out next time as the Battle for Mt. Chimney concludes. Thanks for readin'

Two more things-

1- I'm still accepting OCs. If you haven't already seen, all the needed information is at the end of Chapter 10.

2- I've come to the realization that switching to 3rd person POV has improved the telling of the story immensely and was wondering if you guys would like for me to reboot chapters 2,3,4 in this style. Leave a comment one way or the other.