Midnight Hound

Chapter 9: The Great Escape (As If It Wasn't Obvious)

Author's Note: Hello everyone, i'm surprised that you all managed to make it this far so I would like to welcome you to Chapter 9 of my story Midnight Hound. We've come a long way from a simple start but I am glad to still be writing this fanfic and hopefully I will keep doing so until the end. (Sorry for being inactive for this so long it's a lot to explain.) Without further ado let's get right to it. (Live the Write Life as always.)

Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to the dudes at Game Freak and I only own my characters. Hope you all will enjoy.

This is by far the longest chapter I have written for this story! (And I stress the emphasis on 'by far'.) I sure hope it was worth the wait everybody!

Early the Next Morning

Ray was running through the forest area of the edge pathway not far from where the group was nested, it was still early possibly around three or four in the morning. He sniffed around the ground before he started digging at it revealing a hole that has become quite the familiar sight for the little fellow.

He went his way inside, finding Luna the Poochyena and her family who appeared to be waiting anxiously. Luna yipped in happiness as she saw Ray and ran over to lick him on the cheek, making him blush a bit.

"So, do your friends know we're following them still?" Mother asked.

Ray shook his head in disagreement before speaking up. "We have a plan to get everyone out of here, but first you gotta tell everyone to get ready. Brawl said this was only a one time chance."

Everyone's ears perked up when they heard the name Brawl and they nodded in understanding knowing this was a serious situation. Everyone leaned in as the fox told all he knew about the plan…

Dusk sat silently within their hideout, reflecting on everything that has happened since their group came here. It's only been around two or three days yet so much has transpired. He thought about his new friend Brawl, his old pal Shadow, his little pal Ray, and his girlfriend, Silver. Dusk tried to keep his mind calm, now it wasn't the time to be worrying, he would need to have confidence in his friends if anyone hopes to get out of this place alive…

A Couple of Hours Ago…

"Alright, so this is how it's going down." Brawl spoke up, the entire group of canines listening in to see what he has to say.

"Ray. You'll be in charge of telling everyone of the good pokemon around here of the upcoming plan…"

Ray nodded. "Alright!"

"So I am sure you all have noticed the range of mountains around here, that whole area Ruth calls his den, and over there is a huge river flow. It doesn't lead directly to your destination but it is well enough a great way to get all of us and many more out of this place alive at once…"

Everyone nodded in understanding but Brawl was not finished yet.

"Meanwhile, Ruth will be holding a pack meeting around said area. I have decided to set up an ambush. So while we escape the powerful good pokemon will make sure several of the evil spirited pokemon, including Ruth, are taken down. But there will still be too many for us to fight off there so it's all we can do. As for Ruth, I am not sure about him for now. His armor is strong but we can try our best." Brawl concluded as he looked around to see if everyone else was aware of the plan finding faces of conferment among each of his friends.

Silver came into the cave quietly, her face was rather straight when she saw Dusk, who was now her mate. Dusk of course didn't take long to notice her presence. "So...you ready?" Dusk asked, trying to hide the concern in his voice but it seemed for some reason Silver read him like an open book. (Can all females do this?)

"Don't worry Dusk." Silver said in a comforting like way as she walked over to Dusk proceeding to lick his cheek. "I believe in us, especially you." She whispered, Dusk was kind of left with a blush spread across his face but he quickly snapped out of it and nodded to her words.

"Yeah, I know." He said with a smile before the shiny Vulpix named Ray came in looking as if he has completed a job well done.

"Everyone's informed now guys we're good to go!" He said with a cheery grin. Despite the challenge they were probably going to face, the pup had some amount of adrenaline building up in him. Silver and Dusk nodded then Shadow came inside. He sat down waiting.

"Everything's going to schedule, we should start making our way towards Ruth's place now. We'll have to move fast if we want to reach there by dawn. Good luck my friends. We'll make it...and then Dusk, we'll go to the Sandian Beaches...it will be worth it. I promise." He said simply before exited the cave.

"I've never doubted you." Dusk said to himself before standing up on his four paws. Claws scraping through the ground, freezing fumes blowing from his nostrils. "Let's do this you two, not just for us, but for everyone else who suffered living here."

Silver ad Ray roared up an agreement with him. "You know, I don't know why everyone was so scared of you back in the forest Dusk. You are way nicer than they are to you." Ray said with a gleeful grin, Silver nodded.

"Thanks little buddy. Stay safe you two, i'll see you there. As the plan goes Shadow and I will take care of anyone that'll get in the way. You two make sure everyone gets to their destination as planned." Dusk said to his faithful companions before he left the cave. With the plan setting slowly but surely, they only needed everything to work now, and maybe a little luck to go with it.

Brawl sat within his den with was somewhere within the mountains where Ruth claimed as his territory. The room was dark and he was sitting in a meditating position. There was also another sitting in that same position across from him. It was a well known Psychic type pokemon known as Alakazam. It was a female and she was concentrating deeply.

"You should not be so stressed Brawl. You must calm your mind of these tensions you have. Do you have no trust in your friends ability to triumph?" She spoke into Brawl's mind.

Brawl didn't move or say anything, at least not physically. "Yeah, Saffron. I just do not want any of them to be hurt because of my plan. I can't help but think what if-"

"You shouldn't be thinking of anything. You know this, if you believe you can succeed then you will. You must have faith in not only your friends and the people you're trying to save, but also yourself. I shall go to my position as you asked, but please remember this, or we shall all suffer a horrible fate. I'd hate to look into the future of this, but naturally...Your future is your own to pursue." The Alakazam gave a trustworthy smile before she stood on her two feet. "Good luck." She said before teleporting off to somewhere. Brawl was left in silence.

Not Long Later…

Everyone within Ruth's pack began to assemble, from all throughout the area of edge pathway. Large and small pokemon alike under the malicious Aggron's control were now huddled together. Brawl eyed them all over carefully. There were many of which who swore complete allegiance to their master and that were glad and blood thirsty enough to handle his dirty work for him. There were others however, only wanting the power to help the good pokemon that were stuck here just like him. Machoke eyed this one Floatzel he knew rather well who was sitting at the front, the male Floatzel gave him the same kind of stare and they both smiled at one another.

It wasn't long until the guest of honor appeared himself. With a malevolent smirk across his face. While this went on, a certain Mightyena snuck his way into the crowd surprisingly without anyone noticing.

Dusk was now finally making his way towards the mountains and with the quick speed he has it wasn't even a problem to do some searching around. There weren't actually any type of guards or anything for some reason, this kind of made Dusk wonder but for the moment he was fine with his luck and proceeded on his way. The area that Ruth called his territory proved to be much larger up close, mountains that stood around sixty feet high. At the entrance awaited one pokemon, a certain female Alakazam named Saffron. Since she has agreed to take watch of the area, it would be easy to infiltrate it especially since everyone else was at the meeting. Saffron obviously had a high role here, since Brawl told Dusk to expect her, he had no need of being cautious but something seemed odd about her.

Dusk walked up to her, the two of them stared intensely into each other's eyes. Apparently, Saffron was getting the same odd feeling from Dusk, it felt like she knew him from somewhere. But as there were more important things to take care of,that would have to be put on hold. "You must be Dusk. Please be still for a moment." She told him before transmitting some of her psychic energy into Dusk's mind. The hound blinked a few times wondering what she did to him.

"There. Now you will know who to attack and who to leave alone. I will do the rest with everyone else when they get here. Take the straight path from here, it will take you all the way to the room where the meeting is taking place. This must be done quickly." She told him, Dusk nodded and was quick to get on his way with a quick "Thanks." Saffron looked after Dusk went on his way and was soon rather shocked. "He has grown so powerful from since he was a pup...Amazing..."

Soon after Dusk appeared, Silver and Ray were eventually at the entrance of the mountains meeting up with Saffron. "You must be the Alakazam Brawl told us about." Silver said with confidence as Saffron confirmed it true. "Everyone is here, they're currently scaling the mountain as we speak." The wolf pokemon continued to say.

Dusk meanwhile was making his way up the large mountains, as Saffron stated the path was clearly laid out for him to get there. Though Saffron was given the duty of watch it would seem impossible that this whole area would have no security. Little did he know what a huge ego Ruth had, he probably would like all of those eyes being on him at once. Eventually Dusk would here a large roar of applause, happening to be when Ruth stomped his way into the main room. Dusk picked up his pace.

The crowd shushed to silence as quickly as they have cheered. Brawl looked at the whole crowd. "Is that..everyone…?" He thought to himself. The room itself was rather large being able to fit a few hundred pokemon inside, there were multiple entrances to this room and one exit, which happened to be behind Ruth, leading to the river that would aid their escape while taking out as many enemies as possible. (This makes it much less of a possibility they will be hunted so it is actually a necessity.) Ruth began to speak the moment that Dusk was nearly inside the room, of course he stopped within the middle corridor and concealed himself in the darkness, as he was basically public enemy number one around these parts. "Today, marks the day of our triumph. During the past few days we've have plenty of casualties thanks to a certain mutt and his other mongrel pals. It doesn't matter too much, the scum who fell the past few days were weak, not worthy to coexist with the strong. I already know for a fact today's the day we will take them out. As it turns out, a certain little birdie told me of this cute little plan to take us out." Brawl and Dusk widened their eyes. How was this possible!?

Saffron heard the entire conversation from where she stood, she knew everyone was in grave danger! How did she not foresee this!

"Come here my helpful comrade." The Aggron said before a quite proud looking Umbreon walked up to the front. Brawl growled within his mind, cursing himself for not seeing this coming. The moment the the dark cat, fox, whatever stood next to him Ruth claws struck down like lightning into the Umbreon's neck and the impact was no less than thunder. As his blood shed and squirted onto the ground he wondered why...he thought he did a good job until he heard his leader speak to him. "You know I don't like snitches." Ruth said coldly before his claws tore through the Umbreon's throat, once he withdrew, the dark type pokemon laid limp on the ground. Ruth proceeded to wipe his blood on his body, enjoying the pain and terror that Umbreon experienced before his death, it was sadly enjoyable to him. Of course, this only lasted for about a minute.

"Apparently, we have unwanted guests paying us a visit, and it appears they were only lead here by my one and only son." He continued, turning to glare at Brawl who growled and glared the same way back. "You are no father of mine you damn monster, we are nothing alike."

Meanwhile, hell was breaking loose on the mountain side. Pokemon started to attack our heroes from out of the blue it seemed. This was not going to plan. Silver, Ray, and the others had no use but to fight them off and hurry to meet up with the others before it was too late. Seeing there was no reason to act faithful toward Ruth any longer, Saffron also helped all she can with the fight.

Roughly a little more than half of the pokemon in the meeting room stood on their feet. Glaring, growling, hissing at Brawl their supposed leader to greatness. The other pokemon only stood to blend in, still waiting on Brawl to give some kind of signal. "I have taken care of you since you were young, you have no place to speak especially for this treason."

"I have never swore allegiance to you Ruth. You've killed my mother, you control others only so you can hurt others. You scar children and the weak. The only reason you've kept me alive because I am the strongest one among this pack, you think anyone who's strong is supposed to be like you. I use my strength in helping others, while you use yours to torture innocent lives and turn pokemon corrupt. Those actions should never be forgiven. You are nothing but a murderer." Brawl said clenching his fist, tearing up a little but he was quick to wipe his tears. "I promised everyone that I will get them away from here, and you're damn sure not going to stop me." Brawl said giving a mighty roar before the pokemon into the room went into sudden attack mode. Ruth looked toward the chaos in disbelief that there were so many spies right under his nose. He lost his temper and then proceeded to strike Brawl, at least until a pair a sturdy horns blocked his attack.

Outside a lot of killing was taking place. There were a lot of screams and yelps as blood went flying. Silver used the mountains to her advantage using her rock type abilities to raise the ground into multiple Stone Edge attacks that went stabbing through her enemies bodies. Ray using his enhanced Fire abilities thanks to some extra training from Dusk to scorch his foes skin off even though he was young, inexperienced, and not evolved. A few of the evil pokemon decided to ditch the fight and live to fight another day, not expecting their foes to be this strong.

It didn't mean the battle was won or that it would be easily won neither. A lot of pokemon in the good side were falling too but they were determined to make sure everyone would live to see life on the outside. There were a few psychic, fairy, and grass type healers on their side. Ruth's team only wanted brute force, of course this would eventually leave them exhausted but more were coming. Saffron being a skilled user of her psychic powers used her abilities to basically melt the minds of multiple enemies at a time which was a huge help even if it was a little disgusting to watch their heads bust with their bodily fluids afterward. One thing that was really concerning Silver was the fact that all of these children were here, having to watch all of this and possibly getting hurt too. Saffron noticed the thoughts that were plaguing her mind and was quick to come up with a suggestion.

"I can lead the children the long way around, it might be a bit dangerous for them to take the river anyway. If anyone comes to stand in my way, you've already seen that I can handle it. Our allies our outnumbered in there and they need as much support as possible. We should all meet at the plateau area, I will be waiting for you all there with the children. There is no reason to distrust me." Without a second thought all of the parents of the pack were quick to agree, trusting Saffron with the safety and health of their children. Ray was the only child not to move from his spot.

"Quickly Ray. We must get moving." Saffron told him, Luna looked worried from the group of children pokemon. "No, I want to fight. With Dusk, my sister, and everyone else! I want to be brave like all of them! Please let me fight! I can do this!" Ray pleaded. Silver looked at her brother, almost going into tears at how much he has grown up since she met him. She gave a confirming nod to Saffron. "I believe he's strong enough to fight with us. Go Saffron and make sure everyone's safe." Silver told her, Saffron nodded with a smile as well.

Just as they were going to part ways, Luna quickly ran over to Ray and gave him a hard kiss towards his muzzle before running back, leaving Ray with a strong blush. It didn't take long of course for more enemies to come out lashing at them like annoying flies. Saffron quickly gave the group a mental map of how to get to their destination. Two healers of Psychic and Fairy type followed after Saffron to take watch over the children as Silver, Ray, and the others prepared to fight them off.

Dusk's horns were able to stop Ruth's attack right in its tracks. (Rhyme.) The hellhound thrusted himself forward actually making the large metal dino stumble back. Ruth, however, only gave a snicker. "Nice of you to show your ugly muzzle mutt. Thanks to you my power over this pack is falling apart. I swear i'll enjoy tearing those horns off of your head very slowly after I pound you into oblivion." Brawl stepped forward next to Dusk, ready to fight by his side. "You've already forgotten you're dealing with me too, Ruth! I swear this will all end here and now even you kill us both I know we will succeed!" Both Brawl and Dusk got into their battle stances ready to do whatever it takes to take him out. Ruth, glared intensely at the two, killing them was going to be so glorious indeed. Of course there was the battle of many going on beside them.

As promised all of the Machoke's allies were powerful and were fairing off fairly well against their enemies. Even if Ruth had actually prepared and only left his strongest in the meeting room. It wasn't any different from the battle going on outside. Blood was laying to waste everywhere, but everyone refused to accept death as the heat and excitement of battle clouded their minds. But the only way everyone would win this is if the others actually get here, which would actually be quite a while. Shadow and the Floatzel from earlier were apparently doing the best of the fighting. The Floatzel was attacking as many enemies as possible using the streams that flowed around the den to amplify his water attacks and as for Shadow his Dark Type moves proved to very powerful doing so much as even paralyzing and other strange status effects which the other pokemon on their side took as an advantage and took them out quickly. Of course some of the enemies were better at dealing with this than others.

Brawl was the first to try and get a punch onto his father though it was easier said and done. Brawl was way faster but soon as the punch landed to Ruth's chest nothing seemed to happen. Brawl looked in disbelief before Ruth snatched up his arm and hurled him straight at Dusk who didn't see it coming and the both of them were sent flinging towards the wall as Ruth roared. The two of them growled before Dusk spoke to Brawl. "You have to focus Brawl. I know what rides on this but you're blinding yourself by being too serious." Dusk told him. "What do you mean? I hit him square on." Brawl replied before getting up on his own two feet. "You're only fighting the armor itself, you have the fight the one inside the armor. I had to learn to lesson the hard way, and Ruth is going to prove to be much more powerful than my opponent back then." Dusk said standing on his four paws, Brawl nodded, even though he was a Machoke. Brute strength attacking was kind of his nature. Dusk didn't take long to try and charge at the brutal dinosaur who couldn't believe his luck the mutt was being so stupid. Before he could snatch up Dusk in his claw however Dusk quickly and nimbly jumped above his arm and stabbed him in the eye with his blade like tail.

Ruth roared in agony as he personally ripped Dusk's tail out from his socket and held his claw over his left eye. Blood spilled onto the ground though he proceeded to attack Dusk with a powerful kick into the side. The canine kept his ground and backed away towards Brawl. "See what I mean? If you focus you can find more weak points than just exposed flesh. Maybe you can even punch through his armour if you use your mind with your power instead of just plain blindly." Dusk whispered. Brawl thought about it for a moment but it didn't take him long to nod, he couldn't believe how much he had learned from this Houndoom. He knew for a fact this plan would succeed with him here but the battle wasn't over yet.

"You...you mutt. I wasn't able to see that coming. Lucky you. I will enjoy scrapping your body after this, and I mean that literally." He said breathing a little hard. "Just shut up and fight if you're so intent on doing that then." Dusk taunted, making Ruth roar in vexation before rampaging their way. Sure making Ruth this angry would probably be suicidal but it wasn't hard to be able to find two of his weaknesses already. His ego and his pride. Brawl noticed this could be of useful a long time ago but he didn't think it would be here and now. With all of this help, but with also a lot of foes as well. Although he wasn't all sure if it was possible, there would actually be a way of taking him down quickly, he only needed the time to think.

Outside was still all out chaos but nonetheless thanks to the teamwork of everyone, it was not too complicated of a task to eradicate their enemies quickly. Everyone was tired now and needed time to recuperate which the healers made it extremely quick. There didn't seem to anymore bad guys to fend off and any remaining made a run for it knowing they wouldn't win. Ray was faring amazingly, especially being the youngest fighter here. Silver was of course quick to take notice of her little brothers skilled. Whatever Dusk did with him, it made him a much better battler overall. "Alright guys, it seems like we have this area secure! We need to head to the main den quickly. Since this plan was failed we'll go back through the main entrance, I have a plan, it's simplistic, but I'm sure it'll work. We must hurry." Silver called out to everyone, receiving a chorus of agreement.

Meanwhile, the battle raged on deep inside the mountains of the Edge Pathway. Using an amazing display teamwork, Dusk and Machoke certainly kept Ruth on his toes but his armor still proved to be the biggest challenge to overcome. Ruth's armor however was starting to get a little rusty and a couple of dents could been seen across his body. Things seemed to be working for their side finally. But as they continued to battle for a while, other pokemon began seeing their leader struggling and proceeded to escape the battle they were fighting like cowards and attack the freedom fighters completely out of the blue. The two tried to fend them off but it wasn't long until the metal dino gave the two a heavy iron slam right onto their backs. Brawl and Dusk yelled out in pain spitting up blood,their bones would've been crushed easily if they were not trained to handle that kind of weight. Ruth got up and spat on the ground before he growled deeply, his rage skyrocketing beyond comprehension. There is one thing he didn't like. One thing that he truly hated so much that his blood would boil so hot his metal armor would probably melt if it wasn't a metaphor. That's when people helped him with his own dirty work, it was like kicking dirt onto his pride and it was pretty obvious that he would proceed to murder his little helpers.

The two heroes breathed heavily for a moment but quickly their muzzles were grinning. "I knew they would eventually help if we made it look like he was the ropes...I have a way we can end him, Dusk….we just need-"

"THE CALVARY HAS ARRIVED!" Ray the Shiny Vulpix shouted to the top of his lungs as the pokemon started to flood in from all of the corridors. Much to the dismay of their enemies, who decided to just give up and run away. Ruth stopped his killing spree to see all of these pokemon raiding his den. Dusk and even Brawl was surprised. "Even...I didn't know there were this many pokemon that I helped…" He began to say before feeling Dusk pat him on the back with a paw. "You are a good person...Brawl." Dusk managed to say. Silver, Ray, Shadow, and the Floatzel were quick to run over to the two fighters. Silver helped Dusk up and gave him and nuzzled him affectionately. "Dusk, i'm so glad you all are alright. I'll get a healer over here quickly." Silver said quickly before going off. The Floatzel proceeded to help get Brawl up before kissing his cheek. "Brawl, that was one amazing battle you fought there. Are you okay?" He asked worriedly, Brawl only laughed it off. "Don't worry Brine i'm alright. I'm sure I have told you of these guys, they're the main ones who made all of this possible." Everyone gave a friendly hello to each other before Silver came back with a Gardevoir, who quickly restored their energy back to full. Everything was seemingly happy and fun before Ruth gave a mighty roar. "HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN WHOSE TERRITORY YOU'RE INVADING CRETINS!" He yelled before stomping towards all of the fighters.

Brawl quickly reacted and put his strength to the ultimate test as he put his force up against Ruth's. "EVERYBODY LEAVE NOW!" Just like that a vast majority of the pokemon left quickly through the main escape route, besides Dusk, Ray, Silver, Shadow, and Brine. "You guys leave too, i'll help Brawl out all I can. You need to make sure everyone's to safety." Everyone understood but were still worried. "Be safe, please." Silver said before taking Ray and going off. Shadow followed. "Dusk, please make sure Brawl is safe." Brine said before following the others. "I will…" Dusk said before making his way over to where Brawl and Ruth were fighting. Dusk rammed into Ruth hard enough to get him off of Brawl, earning cracks in horns and armor. Without any type of warning, Brawl snatched up Dusk and ran with him towards the exit. "What are you doing we need to finish him don't we!?"

"Trust me on this Dusk, please! I have it under control." Brawl shouted as they made way throughout a dark corridor which was the same exit everyone else used. It lead to an open room to where there was an opening, one jump of faith would lead straight for the river to where they were so intent on going to, to where everyone else already went. Brawl only stood there, still keeping Dusk gripped tight. "Brawl! What's the meaning of this!? Tell me now!" Dusk demanded, Brawl only replied with a grin. Large foot stomps could be heard coming their way. That's when the canine realized what he was up to. "No. I'm not letting you do that!" Dusk lashed out his strongest at Brawl but the pain meant nothing to him now. He knew exactly what he would have to do. "He can't swim, and blinded by his own rage he will storm at us without hesitation of the area around him. I couldn't have done this without your help, this would be for nothing if all of those pokemon were still here." Ruth rampaged in, destroying each wall his body ran into. "Thanks Dusk." He said before tossing Dusk off into the river and just then Ruth lunged his body at Brawl and kept him in a tight grip but this sent them flying over the edge and eventually straight into the river. If he was going down he would damn sure take Brawl with him.

"NOOOO!" Dusk yelled before falling into the river with a big splash, the current was strong now unlike its usual nature so even Dusk couldn't swim back and help Brawl, maybe it was just how life played everyone. "Brawl...damn it all Brawl why…?" Dusk said to himself as he drifted down the river. Although he could've swam the direction of the current to move much faster, he just didn't feel like it. The first time he remembered such a lost for a long time...he drifted longer and longer, it was nearly lasting an eternity at this pace. Half an hours has passed, it was certain that Brawl has drowned by now. "You were a noble and great pokemon Brawl. I wanted to fight you one day again. I can't imagine how I am going to tell everyone about this, and the fact I wasn't able to help…" Dusk said to the sky before starting to swim. That was at least until he heard something breach from underwater gasping for sweet air. Dusk turned around, and he couldn't even believe his eyes. "Brawl! How is that even possible!? Amazing escape!" Brawl still couldn't talk for at least three minutes however, but he eventually responded. "Like I said...he can't swim. Being a Rock and Steel type it would be highly unlikely that he would learn how to hold his breath for long. Being with Brine all of this time he eventually taught me how to hold the air into my body. I didn't get too much training but i'm alive right now surprisingly...I thought I would surely be a goner with his grip. You can learn a lot from that Floatzel...let's get to the others...before we get too exhausted and we both drown." Brawl laughed swimming ahead of him and Dusk followed suit. Thanks to the work of our heroes, peace and hope has come to hundreds of pokemon...and now, it was finally time to put the troubles of the past behind them. Brawl's mother would be looking down on him proudly…

Phew...hey everyone. That was one long ass chapter to write and I certainly hope that you enjoyed it! Thank you all for reading and review if ya can or want. It helps a lot. Anyway, stick around guys! The adventures aren't ending here!