Chapter 14: Hellfire
The first thing Mare noticed as he stepped out into the somewhat light sky was that there were a few rocks in front of him, leading a tiny hill downwards to the rest of the beach. The rest of the way led back to where they had been ambushed. In front of him, he saw the Sandslash running off with the youngling. Just a few yards ahead of him was an extremely large amount of different species Pokémon.
This was startling; Mare could not help but stop. Even as Wendy began to pass him in order to catch up to the Sandslash, Mare did not move. He caught what they were getting ready to do; they were getting ready for battle. Why were they looking towards the mouth of the cave opening he had just gotten out of? His first bet was that they were going to attack them now.
But there was a sound that felt so daunting, it even made Mare ready to battle. He then realized that it was from behind him. Whatever was going to happen, it was going to happen because of what stood behind him.
He turned. It was very awkward to find up in the clouds, coming at high speeds, was a human aircraft. A Jet as they called them; and there was a missile ready to be fired, as well as a mounted gunner that was ready to shoot.
Quickly, Mare jumped from his position and off the small hill, and onto the sand. The sound of the aircraft was near; he quickly picked himself up and ran after Wendy. As he did, he told her to not look back and keep running. There was a sudden click from behind him and a whoosh as the missile passed overhead, aiming for the large mass. Mare let himself fall to the ground. Once Wendy saw it pass her, she stopped fully too. The Pokémon moved from where the missile was heading. Eventually, it hit the center of the large crowd as they still tried to disperse. There was a big bang as they all scrambled out of the way. Some tried to contain the explosion in psychic energies.
The sound was deafening; Mare couldn't get it out of his head after it was done. When he opened his eyes, bullets hit beside him and hurriedly rushed towards the large group, also missing Wendy.
Several jets flew overhead shooting rounds, passing all the Pokémon while shooting, then rising above into the air to get ready for a second attack. It was at this point that the Pokémon began their defense. The first line of this were the flying types that rushed up towards the fast flying jets to give them an off balance wind.
Mare barely stood when he saw a Pidgeot forcefully use the winds and push the jet downwards. All he had to do was look up to find the jet lose control and eventually land not even a football field away, and burn in an eruption of flames.
Now seemed like the time to run.
Mare ran forward just as the next array of jets returned, again shooting. He did not fall as the bullets made near misses, and as the jets continued to pass overhead. He just ran. When he reached Wendy, he helped her up while keeping his head low, then they both tried to hide from the flying bullets and jets.
And then came the array of attacks from the Pokémon. All types of attacks were given at once. There was too much chaos to keep any mind straight; all Mare and Wendy could think of was getting out of the heat, and that seemed near impossible considering there were many Pokémon and the beach stretch on forever until they reached the docks.
It was in the distance when Mare caught a glimpse of the Sandslash that had the youngling, and saw him running pass many other Pokémon. Those that were in the Sandslash's way, he'd push. Nothing was going to stop him from getting to whatever destination he was trying to reach.
And because of this, nothing was going to stop Mare from chasing him.
It was hard to try and hold each other up; the ground shook and flames erupted from nowhere. A jet even smashed into a group only feet away from them. It slide down until 4 psychic types stopped it, and with their mind, thrust it towards the oncoming jets, hitting two and bringing them down.
They were doing good in running; at least there was no Pokémon trying to stop them; they were too concerned with the human jets. It was all moving so smoothly; it was a surprise when a bomb went off so near Mare and Wendy that it forced them onto the sand.
Mare quickly turned over in order to see where it had come from. There was no way it had come from the sky. It was from the east side. The east side was only ocean. And off in the distance, he could see floating water tanks heading towards the beach. Their guns were already aimed, and bullets began to fly.
Bullets were now shooting from two directions. Mare quickly bolted on all fours as they began to hit in his direction. He hated doing this, but he had to; he pushed two Pokémon out of his way to survive. It was instinct. In front of him was Wendy, who was crawling towards an injured Golduck.
On purpose, Mare tripped himself in order to stop good. When he had, he reached for Wendy, pulling her back. It was good timing; a bomb hit right next to the Golduck, exploding.
They could both feel blood on them, but none looked to what happened to the Golduck. They pretty much pictured something gruesome. Mare could picture it by just looking at the amount that hit the back of his arm.
"Come on!" he shouted, pulling Wendy harshly. They again began to run through the battlefield. Mare kept his eyes open for the Sandslash. It was Wendy who spotted them, and pointed. But when she had pointed, a bullet flew by her, striking her shoulder and bringing her to the sand.
Quickly, Mare ducked and stood by her, trying his best to stay out of the flying bullets. He pulled at Wendy, hoping she would stand. But she would not, and the battle began to become even harsher as the explosion would not stop. There was a sudden sound right above him. When Mare had looked, he was given only a limited amount of time to fully lie himself on the ground. He fell right over Wendy, trying to press his entire body against her. A jet flew by extremely close overhead, scaring his back with the flames it emitted. And then it crashed when a Machoke jumped and smashed it to the ground. When it hit, a Typhlosion immediately lit it in flames. That mixed with the gas caused a major explosion. The fact that it had two missiles still hidden did not help.
This was enough to fully force Wendy to stand. Mare helped her walk, which furthermore slowed their speed. But they were not going to stop; they could still see the Sandslash running in the distance beyond the destroyed jet.
"How the heck doesn't he get hit?" wondered Wendy.
"He's determined; like us," Mare answered. He did not bother on going on about it, even though Wendy could sense that he actually meant like himself. She had been hurt far too many times, while Mare took in a lot more, yet still managed to be in better health than her.
Mare helped her onwards, but he was unsure how far they were going to make it. If the battle continued the way it was moving, they were eventually going to get hit harder. One of them, or both, was going to die.
Wendy put that at the back of her head as Mare continued his constant pull, and she continued her trudge. The skies darkened as the explosions were brought nearer to the sky. There were flying and dragon types in the air combating the jets with fires, winds, talons, and claws. It made strange lining across the sky that looked terrifying if viewed from afar.
They were thick in the middle of it.
Beyond, there finally came the dockings for the ships that used to travel there. And of course, there were still a large amount of Pokémon that were either running towards the bigger fight or taking flight. Some even jumped towards the water in order to take out the shooting floating tanks. In no order particular, many of those water tanks began to explode in flames, causing the water to rock and swish and sway in different directions.
When Wendy and Mare finally made it to the docks, they both went under the boards. Once there, Mare placed Wendy down against one of the poles. There was water where they stood, and it began to heat and sway violently the more they stayed there.
It was most likely the strangest question to ask at the moment, but Mare had to get it off of him. It had been on his mind and was washed away the minute they were attacked. But now that they were somewhat safe, he had to ask. He looked at Wendy, trying to read anything off of her before he asked. She looked like she had just been through hell.
"Wendy, I need you to listen to me and listen good," Mare began. There was an explosion overhead, causing him to lose balance for only a second, but he got back.
"Mare; the Sandslash is getting away!" Wendy shouted.
But Mare ignored her, and pretended that she had agreed with him. He then proceeded to asking the question. "What, if you knew anything, did you know about this? What signs showed that this was going to happen? What sign showed that…that other Pokémon normally found good to be bad?"
Wendy looked at him in disbelief. Her expression was that of being slapped. She did not understand the moment for a second, but when it fully registered, she felt that Mare did not believe her. Trust her.
"I don't know anything. One day I was with my trainer, the next…I was with you and the colony."
"What happened to your trainer?" It was a subject that Wendy did not want to go through. She felt a heat fuel within her, but she calmed herself. And the calmness brought instead of anger, tears. Mare easily found that he had hit a weak spot, but he still wanted to know. He wanted to know what had started this, and why he hadn't known about it. "Come on Wendy; you belonged to a trainer; surely you must have known something like this was going to happen; there had to be signs!"
"There were no signs—it just happened!"
"You belonged to a trainer."
"You belonged to a colony and watched trainers. Shouldn't you know something?"
This was going to go nowhere; the start of the conversation was a very bad one at a very bad location. The fight, Mare could tell had been brought closer to the docks. He closed his eyes, and sighed. "I will be back; you are injured. You can't go."
"No—wait!"
Mare did not let her finish. He ran off, towards the sandy area. Everything shook once he was out of the water from some type of explosion. Quickly, Mare climbed over to the top of the docks, and scanned the area. He did not see the Sandslash, but according to the direction it had been going, he decided to chase north.
It was no doubt that the fight had been brought to the docks; now there were many Pokémon filling the area just to get ready to battle the incoming jets, who still shot repeatedly in hopes of shooting something down. Mare ended up always having to duck, afraid that he would get hit. He ran as fast as he could over the docks, but the faster he did, the more explosions went off.
One of the docking boards behind him began to crumble apart as a water tank drove its way to land. Mare did not turn around; he kept running. Many of the water tanks made it to the land, and once there, began to shoot repeatedly at the Pokémon.
Just up ahead was what looked to be a fishing house. It stood on the boards, as if it were some sort of reception of the docks. Quickly, Mare made his way inside the broken glass door. It was inside where he found the Sandslash taking shelter. When he saw him, the Sandslash stood and ran out the other end. Quickly, Mare made a chase after him. but he did not even get past half the house when the entire roof came tumbling off. There was an explosion of fire overhead and a large amount of blowing winds. Mare fell to the floor, slowly making his way across. Once the winds calmed, he stood and began his run again. He could see the Sandslash in the distance, running towards a human settlement.
Mare had to stop to get a look at the settlement. He was surprised; it was covered with some type of purple force field through most of the corners of entrances. It was here where jets easily made their way towards the battlefield. He could not believe it.
Quickly, he gained his speed again and kept his eyes on the Sandslash. He ran towards the entrance, but did not enter the force field. He went around the side of what little walkway was left.
He was running for the Pokémon Tower. Mare did not have enough time to think of anything else; gunfire began again, and he was forced to run. Behind him, he could feel the forcefulness of the battle as it thickened even more. Mare worried for Wendy, and hoped that she was safe.
But on his mind currently, was the Sandslash. He made it to the tower, and after seeing the Sandslash enter, he followed afterwards.
Inside was what used to be the scent of humans. But the humans were long gone. Yes, Mare could feel where the humans used to walk around. But now was not the time to be feeling these things; he searched around to find the Sandslash hurriedly make his way up the stairs with the youngling at hand.
Where were the ghost-types? Supposedly they were to be flying all around the tower. Mare had yet again seen this marvel on the Tee Vee before. But right now, as he looked, he saw no ghosts. They were all gone, and appeared to be dead beyond of what their limits into death was.
Mare ran up the stairs. On the second floor, he looked around yet again. He found graves. They did not look like the human graves he had seen on Four Island; they appeared smaller. Only one look at one of them, and Mare could easily say that this was where they buried the dead Pokémon. He could not get his mind off of finding all those that were dying on the beach being placed there in the castle.
He continued onwards, always alerts. The fact that it was quiet seemed to be a disadvantage and an advantage. The disadvantage was the fact that he could not find the Sandslash, and he could easily hide. The advantage was that if the Sandslash was hiding, then it would soon be found with a single movement it made.
Eventually, Mare heard the footsteps above him. The Sandslash was definitely on the move, climbing higher and higher. Not wasting any time, Mare took the first flight of stairs up again to the third floor, and onwards to the forth and fifth. As he climbed, the place got even darker than the floor before it. There was a thick fog substance in the air too, which was becoming a problem.
For a split second, he lost the Sandslash. Then, he heard the noise of the youngling cry, and he immediately reacted. It appeared to be coming directly from the floor above. He found the stairs and rushed through it. This proved to be a horrible choice. At the top, when he entered the highest floor, the Sandslash used a crumbled tombstone to hit Mare over the head.
Mare was not given any chance to recollect himself; once on the ground, the Sandslash used what remained of the tombstone to hit him over and over. All Mare could do was brace himself for the pain that entered. One last hit was given until the tombstone completely broke apart. From there, the Sandslash picked Mare easily off the ground and slammed him to the wall. His claws were sharp and ready to pierce.
Quickly, in an instant as the Sandslash began to thrust his claw at him, Mare used his feet to hold the claw in place. But he was still being gripped at the neck by the other claw, and the Sandslash tightened that claw in order to force him to let go.
Mare choked, as he could not breathe in any air. The Sandslash hit repeatedly, this time with not much force of his strong claw hit. He was saving it; at the moment, he wanted Mare to feel pain. It was then that in the distance, Mare heard a cry. It came from the ceiling.
It was the youngling, and it held on upside down, watching what was going on. The young Sneasel was scared of everything that was going on. The sight of his own kind being beaten was even more frightening to him. The cry was enough to give Mare the extra boost he needed to fight back.
Using one of his free claws, Mare tried to concentrate. He tried to push the thought of being held against the wall away; he could not think of this. He had to think that he was instead getting ready for a battle. Once in this state, Mare punched with his claw, digging deep into the Sandslash's side.
It worked perfectly. The Sandslash backed away, holding the pain in its side. When it had moved, Mare was let to fall to the floor, coughing. They were both trying to stop the pain that had rushed through each of them. None were ready to fight. But in their minds, they knew that one of them had to be the first to regain composure to defeat the other.
Luckily, Mare was the first to do so. He was not ready to attack by the time the Sandslash readied its claw for an attack, but he shot an ice beam at it. The ice froze the claw, forcing the Sandslash back. It was stunned, looking at its new frozen claw. Mare knew what it felt; it felt the sheer coldness rush through its entire arm. It tried to break the ice by using its other claw to cut it off. Mare pushed forward and jumped on the Pokémon, bringing it down. Once on the floor, he began to slash repeatedly at it, as it had done to him. even after seeing the blood pool begin, Mare did not stop.
In a last resort, the Sandslash used its free claw to slam into the floor. It pulled parts of the floorboards up, revealing artificial dirt beneath. It hit Mare with the board, pushing him off. Once he was off, it easily dug underneath the soil.
Mare looked at the dirt, knowing that there were dead Pokémon underneath it somewhere. The Sandslash was now disturbing their rest. At the same time of thinking these thoughts, he readied himself in case the Sandslash decided to attack from the ground like all those others had.
He was lucky to prepare; it nabbed at his feet, trying to trip him. Mare aimed to the floor and again shot an ice beam at the claw that had not been frozen. Once frozen, he pulled the claw, and heavily brought the Pokémon to the surface. He held the Sandslash for two seconds. Then he forced his kneecap to hit the Pokémon's face.
It cried out, but Mare did not care. He heavily heaved the Sandslash to the side, and it rolled away, trying to break the ice filled claws. Mare jumped towards it, but it used its claws to better attack. The Sandslash punched Mare with its ice claws literally giving him an ice punch.
Mare moved back a bit, stunned. It then hit two more times. On the last time, its right claw burst from its frozen prison. It slammed the claw into Mare, and pushed him towards the window. They both hit it, and with the force, the glass shattered. They did not fall out, but in the short seconds that the Sandslash had, it forcefully gripped Mare, pushing him over the edge of the window until there was no ground below. Mare was struggling to free himself.
In defense, he kicked the Sandslash. It let go in pain, and Mare held onto the ledge before he could fully fall. He pushed himself to the side, and once there, climbed a bit, clawing himself to the top of the entire tower. The Sandslash tried to reach for him, but he was too quick. As Mare pulled himself to the tip top, the Sandslash pulled itself out of the window, and too began to climb using its claws to dig deep.
It clawed on Mare's ankle, forcing him to shout in pain. But Mare was not giving up; he kicked at its face. It only mildly helped by freeing him. he then began to continue his climb, until he reached the top. It was slanted upwards, so it was not the smoothest place to be.
The Sandslash pulled itself to where Mare was. Mare was ready to fight it, his claws fully active. The Sandslash too seemed ready to beat Mare to a pulp.
There was a tiny stare down from the two. They were waiting for each other to make a move. One wrong move could push them off of the tower and to their death at the bottom.
Not wanting to be that one that fell, Mare slid towards the Sandslash, ready to kick it. but it was ready. It grabbed at Mare's feet, and tossed him downwards. Mare almost lost himself, but held onto the window ledge he had gotten out of. From there, he pulled himself back up painfully. Slowly, he made his way back to the Sandslash. The Sandslash did not seem to have the most pleased face at the moment.
It turned directions, ready to pounce on Mare at any given second. But Mare yet again did the pouncing. It appeared as if he was going to slash the Sandslash. It moved out of the way. Its effort was useless; Mare was not even aiming towards the Sandslash, but to the location next to it. Once it had the general idea that Mare would be in the spot it moved from, it attacked. It hit nothing, and in the confusion, Mare kicked the Sandslash. It fell towards the ledge they had climbed out, and held on just like Mare had.
At a much faster rate, the Sandslash pulled itself back up. It looked up at Mare, as if ready to attack. It smiled, knowing that it could easily make a move that could harm Mare enough to throw him off the edge. But its thinking was not fast enough. In the middle of its thoughts, another force of claws pushed it out over the window, and in an instant, the Sandslash yelled for its life as it fell over the edge. It hit the ground with a thud that Mare could hear from his position on the top floor.
And slowly, the Pokémon that the pair of claws belonged to emerged from the window. It was Wendy, looking very bloodied after being through a mist of battle. Mare was shocked beyond reason, unable to answer how she had gotten there. He looked beyond where he stood, towards the beach. Off in the distance, he saw the fight continue. He also saw large amounts of red spots as flames erupted and bodies fell.
Mare turned away, unable to look again. He closed his eyes as he slowly made his progress back down, and into the window. Wendy helped him in, and placed him on the floor where he could rest. She could see that he was in pain.
"Mare, you need help," she said, trying to stay calm. The youngling stood right beside her, a worried look upon his face.
Mare was surprised but could not answer what had just happened. All he could do was look. Even though it had just happened seconds before, the memory of the battle seemed to slowly be wiped from his memory to submit darkness. But he was not ready to fall into unconsciousness yet again; he couldn't. They were in the middle of a battlefield.
Or were. At the moment, they were somewhat safe and needed to get out of there. The fires were heard outside, and the explosions overpowered them. Mare slowly stood and leaned on his good leg. His right leg seemed to have all of a sudden cramped up. He did not care; he let Wendy help him.
The youngling looked at Mare sympathetically, unable to do anything. It followed the two as they began to leave the room.
"It's okay Mare; you are going to be fine," Wendy kept saying. She said other words to that effect, but Mare slowly began to block them out. Even the bombs outside were blocked out.
He wondered if she remembered the question he had asked her before he got to the tower. Had she forgotten already, or was she just trying to not bring it up? It did not matter; at the moment, Mare had to submit to the fact that he was in pain. He let Wendy carry him slowly down the steps as his vision continued to blur.