Chapter XXI: Square Root of Showdown II
The wind whistled eerily as two Pokémon, a Skarmory and a Machop were facing off against each other. The steel type looked slightly dented compared to the Machop who had recovered with an Oran berry earlier. But despite that fact, the Skarmory looked sturdier and stronger, sporting strong armour, wings, powerful talons and a high speed.
The grin on Torya's beak widened as she took one step towards Loopy. His back was facing the cliff and the small plateaus his friends were trapped on. But he still stood firmly even though the Skarmory had stepped forward. Clenching his fists, he stared right into her piercing yellow eyes, keeping himself alert of any sudden movements of his opponent.
The Skarmory quickly shot forward to bite at Loopy, but he quickly countered by punching her lower jaw, preventing her attack and her attempt to drive him closer to the cliff's ledge. Reeling, she stepped back a few steps away from Loopy, snarling. Torya suddenly leapt forward to kick at Loopy, but he caught her talons and pushed her away.
"She's trying to push him off the ledge… cheap," thought Flash as she watched the fight from her small plateau. She couldn't assist by firing off an Ember, since the Skarmory would knock her off if she did that. Same applied to Francis.
Loopy used the free time to run away from the ledge, and move onto safer grounds. Torya screeched gave pursuit, delivering a hard Peck attack in his back as she caught up with him. The stricken Machop fell down face first, but quickly scrambled to his feet, avoiding a talon that slammed to the ground where he was earlier.
"Birdie fight cheap!" he yelled, rushing forward to let loose of a Low Kick at the steel/flying type. Torya saw this and spread her wings to quickly fly off range from the attack, but Loopy jumped up and delivered a hard hook across her beak as she was retreating, sending her off balance in the air.
"Damn he's not as weak as I suspected him to be," thought Torya bitterly as she recovered from her temporary dizziness, flying higher up to get a safer distance between the two. She circled him from above, feeling a bit uneasy as he never let his gaze leave her. She flew over to Flash, hovering right in front of her, grinning.
Flash looked at her with dread filling her mind. "Wh-what?"
"Did I tell you to talk, girl?" the bird snapped, closing in to Flash. The Charmander clutched harder onto the small ground she was on, repressing the urge of looking down.
"Birdie leave Flash!" Loopy yelled from the other side. Torya turned her sharp head to cast a glance at him, and then sped towards him. She flew over him at a very low height, the short but strong gust knocking him down. She then snagged the Toolbox and flew to Diglett's plateau, settling down on it. Grinning, she opened it with her beak, peeking into the brown leather box curiously. She picked out an Oran berry and gulped it down along with an apple.
"There we go," she muttered happily. She flew over to Loopy again and landed on the ground behind him. Loopy turned and faced her, punching his fist into his palm.
Torya cackled and hopped towards him again to try knocking him towards the ledge so she could try pushing him to his doom, but he still managed to push her away.
"Birdie fight weak!" Loopy growled not taking his stare off her. Torya just growled back at the remark, flying away to allow Loopy to move further away from the dangerous ledge.
"Then fight me here then, you whiny kid," the Skarmory told him, landing on the ground, trying to hide an overly confident smirk. Loopy surged towards her, clenching his fists as he planned on releasing a hard Low Kick on her lower jaw. When he was in range, Torya grinned and used her Sand Attack, kicking some sand towards the Machop as he was approaching.
The sand struck both of Loopy's eyes, slowing his assault to a stop. He put his hands over his eyes in the pain the sand was causing. The sand was not only hurting his eyes, it was blinding him as well. As he rubbed his eyes to try getting the sand out, he felt a hard metal claw kick him and send him down to the ground.
"Loopy, no!" yelled Flash from her platform.
Francis sighed, remaining as still as ever on his plateau. "Such a reckless assault," he muttered, shaking his head.
Torya seized the opportunity and went for a Peck attack, delivering a hard peck on Loopy's chest. She then straightened her self up, standing tall before she stepped on his chest to pin him down. "Not so tough not, are you?" she teased, lowering her head again.
Loopy still rubbed his eyes. "Eye hurt…" he muttered, trying to punch her face, missing completely. He then tried to push the talon off him, but he was too much in a disadvantage.
Torya let out a screeching laugh as she shifted her weight onto her talon pinning Loopy. She quickly readjusted her grip so she had Loopy's arm trapped within her talons. "I win," she declared.
Both Flash and Francis shot glares at the triumphant Skarmory. There was nothing they could do to stop her, as an attempt to do so would cause her to knock them off their respective platforms. Diglett just shivered fearfully.
"I must say, little Machop, that you fought well," admitted Torya, lowering her head further. "But," she then said, leaving her beak slightly open, revealing her rows of sharp teeth, "this little battle made me quite famished." She licked her teeth with anticipation.
"What be famid?" Loopy asked, trying to break free from the talon's grip.
Flash however, jumped to her feet at Torya's words. "Loopy! Do something! She's going to eat you!" she yelled, having briefly forgotten the small plateau she was on. However, she soon realized that and looked down to see the seemingly infinite depths below her. She started to lose her balance due to the shock and tried to get down on all fours, but she fumbled and fell off the plateau. She managed to grab onto the ledge with one of her claws and held on for dear life, trying to grab onto the ledge with her other claw.
Loopy turned his head as much as he could to look at Flash, but could hardly do so. He looked back at Torya, gritting his teeth. "Skarom eat me no!" he snarled, trying to break free again to no avail. The Skarmory just cackled again.
"Francis, do somethiiihihiiing!" Flash wailed as she was panicking. She managed to grab onto the ledge with her other claw.
Francis just looked at her agitated. "Miss Flash, do I look like a psychic? There is nothing I can do! Try to stay calm!"
Flash whimpered as she slowly tried to climb up, struggling not to look down.
Torya, however, gave a wide smile as she watched Loopy try breaking free. "Oh please, can't you do better than that?" she mocked, twisting her talon slightly.
"M…me no… lose to… mean… birdie." He gritted his teeth, still having a hard time seeing with the sand in his eyes, "me focus!" he exclaimed, trying to focus his energy to become strong enough to break free.
Flash had slowly managed to climb up, her muscles tiring as she did so. As soon as she got up, she glued herself to the ground, refusing to move. "Come on, Loopy!" she yelled. She felt something cold and wet hit her back. Twitching at the sudden cold, she looked up. It was beginning to rain from the grey clouds above her.
"Don't think so," snapped the Skarmory as she pecked at Loopy's forehead, interrupting his concentration. The Peck had opened up a small wound on his forehead as it was beginning to bleed a little. She briefly looked up as she noticed it was beginning to rain. She scoffed; at least the rain wasn't any close to heavy. She looked down at the Machop, grinning.
Loopy used all of his strength to break free from the grip, but he couldn't. "Eye still hurt…" he whined as he was starting to cry. The crying did in fact help getting most of the sand out of his eyes, but as the pain still seared through his body, he tried harder to get off the grip. He tried to use Focus Energy once more, but was just attacked by another Peck from Skarmory. After that, he just stopped the struggle, relaxing every muscle in his body.
Torya's smile widened as she kept her grip as firm as ever. "Giving up, are you?" She lowered her head closer to Loopy's.
The Machop weakly nodded, still crying. "Y-yes… me no… strong…" he said as the raindrops hit the ground at a faster rate.
"Loopy!" cried Flash, shivering of the cold rain hitting her water sensitive scales, "don't give up! You can't let her do this!" She started to feel teary in her eyes as well, sensing the feeling of unfairness and despair. Francis said nothing, he just watched at Loopy helplessly.
"Now that's a good Machop," Torya commended, opening her mouth wide to give him a long lick over his saddened face. "You'll make a great dinner along with that stupid little Diglett once I've fixed you so to say." She licked her teeth, narrowing her eyes with pleasure before she looked over at Flash and Francis. "As for you two, you can enjoy your last seconds of life when this little pest is taken care of." She cackled again, looking at Loopy who had seemingly lost all hope of winning.
"No, NO! This can't be happening!" Flash thought in defiance, tears rolling down her cheeks as the raindrops were beginning to mercilessly hit her scales. She watched with horror as the Skarmory clamped her powerful jaw around Loopy's head, about to break his neck in one or two swift moves. She started to feel suicidal, and thought about jumping down the depths below.
"Not so fast, you!" someone snapped. Torya let go of Loopy's head as she turned to face the one who had spoken. She spotted a group of three Pokémon approaching her. The one that had spoken was the largest of the three, and was none other than Lucifer the Golduck of Team Cutthroat. "You let that Diglett go, Skarmory!" he demanded, pointing one of his webbed finger at her.
Torya's grip tightened as she saw the Golduck, Sneasel and Slakoth approach her. She looked back at Loopy, who wasn't trying to break free.
"Lucifer, this rain soaks my beautiful fur, can we please hurry this up?" complained Narcis while checking his claws. Lucifer sighed and bonked his head lightly. "How dare you!" he quipped, quickly fixing the fur on his head.
The Golduck ignored his conceited partner and sent a stern look towards the Skarmory. "I won't repeat myself," he just said, crossing his arms. He tilted a little to catch a glimpse on what he believed was Diglett, but it turned out it was Loopy. He raised an eyebrow as he recognized him, and briefly looked over towards the big plateau where he spotted Diglett. He sighed. "Not you again…"
Torya screeched as she rammed Loopy against the rocky ground once before releasing him, speeding towards Lucifer. She approached at an increasing speed as she was about to rake the water type with her talons. The Golduck still stood there, looking at her with his arms crossed. When she was in range, Lucifer quickly caught one of her talons with his hand and swiftly spun around once before slamming her into the rocky wall.
Loopy was slowly getting up, rubbing his eyes some more, having gotten out most of the sand by now. He also wiped off the saliva he had gotten form Torya off his face, grimacing slightly.
Torya screeched again at the Golduck, surging towards him at a raging speed. Lucifer just scoffed and put one of his claws near the red gem on his forehead and pointing at Torya with the other, eyes closed. At the very moment the Skarmory was within striking range, Lucifer opened his eyes, both of them glowing blue. Torya was enveloped by a pale blue light as her movement was completely halted. He moved his pointing claw in a circle pattern as the Skarmory forcefully followed the movement.
He then stopped, watching Torya spin around uncontrollably of the effect of the Confusion attack. He calmly crossed his arms as she was regaining control, looking severely dizzied. "Narcis, Fenton, manoeuvre 'X-Strike'!" he ordered his team mates calmly.
The Sneasel quickly looked over at the Slakoth, who stood there absentmindedly scratching his head. Fenton gave a nod as he raised his clawed paws while Narcis unsheathed his long claws. They both ran towards where Torya was and were enveloped in a blackish shadow, disappearing into it as they both jumped.
A split second later, they appeared at Torya's height as she was confused. Narcis flew across her, slashing her chest while Fenton slashed across her face diagonally. Both attacks left a faint black trail behind them, forming a brief X over her. Fenton and Narcis both landed gracefully on the ground, while Torya fell down right in front of Lucifer.
"Bravo," said the Sneasel, clapping his paws before he flicked his red ear.
"Whoa…" thought Flash in awe, "a double Faint Attack…"
Lucifer stepped forward, using his webbed foot to pin Torya's head to the ground. "Give up yet?" he calmly asked, putting his hands on his hips. The Skarmory weakly flapped with her metal wings as she tried to get up.
"Get your slimy foot off me," she growled.
Lucifer just looked at her, ignoring the remark. "I'm not repeating myself."
Torya stopped struggling, drawing a long sigh in defeat. "Fine," she slowly said, sounding much calmer than before as the effects of the Confusion attack was wearing off. The rain was also slowly stopping.
Lucifer lifted his foot from Torya's head, stepping back. He crossed his arms as he watched her slowly stand up. "We're here to get Diglett back from you, and seeing how the fight turned out it really isn't recommended for you to try and stop us. I highly recommend you to cooperate."
Torya grumbled something about rescue teams, casting a quick glance towards Flash and Francis. "Alright," she muttered reluctantly, flying over to the Diglett. She approached him and picked him up with her talons, carrying him back to the leader of Team Cutthroat. The ground type quickly burrowed into the hard ground before popping his head up again.
"Th-thanks, but what about the other t-two?" he said feebly. Lucifer looked at him for a while, and then looked at the Charmander and Rattata who were trapped on their respective plateaus.
"Fine," said Lucifer blankly rolling his eyes. "Skarmory, get those two as well, they don't seem very comfortable on those small platforms." Torya grumbled a bit before complying, flying over to Francis and picked him up. And after putting the Rattata on firm ground she flew over to Flash, doing the same with her.
When the members of Team Brawl were united and their Toolbox recovered, it had stopped raining. Torya had taken off to her territory and Loopy ran up to Flash to give her a hug. She wasn't in the mood and tried pushing him away. But he was too happy to care about that.
Francis, however, was glaring wildly at the Sneasel. He felt that his pride had been hurt, a lot.
"So the great Francis of Bluntentooth IV… junior couldn't deal with a mere Skarmory," taunted Narcis, smirking gleefully as he flicked his ear. Francis glared daggers at him.
"Can it, Narcis!" spat Lucifer, getting in between the two. The dark/ice type just sent a smug smirk to Francis. The Golduck turned to Flash who was being hugged by the fighting type. "Just what were you doing here?" he seriously questioned the fire type, crossing his arms.
Loopy let go of Flash so she could answer. "We were going to rescue Diglett," she simply replied, looking up at the much bigger water type.
Lucifer's eyes widened slightly and his left hand twitched slightly. "You… rescue Diglett? Say, you're not one of those who steal other teams' assignments, are you?" he questioned, sounding a little bit agitated.
Flash looked at the bigger Pokémon with anger in her eyes. "No!" she snapped, "Dugtrio asked us to!"
Lucifer narrowed his eyes as he studied her for a while, his beak slowly revealing a scornful look. "Well, since we did rescue him while you were defeated, we're going back to the cave entrance to speak with Dugtrio." He raised his clawed hand and pushed the button on his rescue team badge, disappearing in a yellow light along with his team mates and Diglett.
Flash snorted as she turned to look at Francis, who shook with anger. Loopy was just looking up at the sky. Figuring that an exchange of words with Francis wasn't quite possible at the moment, she approached Loopy. "Hey," she said to him.
Loopy looked at her. "Flash angry still?" he asked warily. "Me sorry no win. Skarom strong."
Flash patted him on his shoulder. "It's okay, Loopy. I thought we were going to die." She slowly embraced her arms around him, resting her head on his shoulder. When he was about to hug back she continued, "not a hard hug, Loopy, I'm kinda… you know, happy that we're still alive." Loopy carefully returned the hug.
"Pardon me for having to ruin the moment, Miss Flash," snarled an impatient and agitated Francis. "Are we supposed to be here all evening? Night is on its way!"
Flash let go of Loopy and sighed, fiddling with her rescue team badge. Pushing the button they were transported to their base in a yellow flash.
As soon as they had arrived, Francis was the first trot into the house. "A whole day of nothing but failure," he grumbled as he entered the house, fuming. Loopy just sighed, putting his hand over Flash's shoulder.
"I'm tired…" she muttered tiredly, lifting Loopy's hand off her as she began walking towards her shack of a house. Loopy followed her. When inside she tiredly walked to her bed made up of hay. Francis had already curled up and was sleeping in his corner, looking upset in his sleep. She dimmed down her tail flame as she curled up in her bed, closing her eyes to sleep. Loopy walked over to his bed, laying down on his back and pulled the blanket over and went to sleep last of the three.