Chapter 20: Ashes, ashes we all fall down part 2
This chapter was hard to write… especially the end. I listened to Lorde's 'Glory and Gore' the whole time so that really helped me write this… you should listen to it while you read this, it really fits the mood in my opinion (especially at the end of the chapter.)
Hailey's POV
"Dragon pulse!"
"X-scissor!"
Blue grunted in effort as he sent the powerful attack towards the Crobat. It had felt like hours to Hailey since the battle started, when in reality, it'd only been fifteen minutes. Crobat sent a powerful wind in the shape of an X at the dragon pulse, slicing through it just like he'd done the first two times. Blue was tiring out.
Hailey looked at Kyurem as he desperately tried to break free of Reshiram. She still didn't know what Storm had thrown at the two that caused this. The brunet inched closer to the side of the basement where the two legendaries struggled, one desperately trying to get into something, and the other desperately trying to get out. But Storm wasn't stupid; he saw straight through her ploy.
"Don't even try, Hailey. Accept the fact that this is a lost cause for you. It's a waste of time. Reshiram is more powerful than Kyurem ever will be, the only reason they haven't fused together yet is because of your stubbornness! It's your will that's making him suffer!" Storm shouted.
"What are you doing to them?" Hailey asked.
"I'm winning, that's what I'm doing."
"What will the people of your city think? They're already terrified of you. In fact, most hate you. Be a fair ruler, stop forcing Unova into this monarchy and just rejoin the league system! Make them favor you!" Hailey insisted, trying to reason with him.
Storm gave a slight, sad smile. "It is better to be feared than loved."
"You're insane!" She yelled, her eyes ablaze and full of disbelief.
"I'm not insane, but rather ambitious." Storm said as though it was the obvious response before turning to Crobat. "Smoke screen."
"Cro!" Crobat leered, breathing black smoke from his mouth.
The smoke snaked around Blue, choking his lungs and clouding his vision.
"Blue! Twister, hurry!" Hailey coughed as the smoke reached her and Lilly.
Blue emitted a muffled cry and spun his tail around, a small tornado growing from the tip of his tail, blowing the smoke away and knocking Crobat back a little.
"You won't win if you can't inflict any damage, Storm. Stop goofing around." Hailey glared, getting ready to bark out another order.
"Confuse ray!"
"Blue dodge-" Hailey's command came too late.
Crobat was faster than she remembered. Storm smirked as his Crobat landed the attack. Blue started flying into the fragile walls, the small wings on his head trying to fly in different directions and his snake-like body tying itself in knots.
"Blue! Blue, listen to me!" Hailey pleaded as the dragon proceeded to injure himself.
"That's it, I'm not fooling with this." She muttered, returning the hopelessly confused Pokémon.
"Wing attack." Storm said.
Her eyes widened. "Storm, what are you-"
"Bat!" Crobat cried, flying at Hailey with a wing attack.
"Lilly, help!" Hailey shouted, her eyes wide with a sudden fear.
"Gla!" Lilly snarled, ice lacing her fangs as she leapt at Crobat.
The Glaceon sang her teeth into Crobat's wing, the energy of the wing attack simply bouncing Lilly off back at Hailey, but the bat Pokémon's attack had stopped.
"What the hell, Storm!?"
Storm smirked.
"You won't win if you can't inflict an damage, Hailey! Stop goofing around!" He said in a mocking tone.
"I don't understand you." Hailey whispered. "What happened to you?"
Storm glared at her. "Why no one can get it through their thick skulls that I. Have. Grown. Up." He glowered, emphasizing on the 'grown'.
Hailey acted as though he hadn't spoken.
"One moment you're trying to recapture me via manipulation, the next you're helping me escape execution, and now in the blink of an eye, you're trying to kill me. I don't understand. Do you want me alive or dead? Decide now." She choked, a tear running down her cheek.
"I've made that clear." Storm said quietly.
Everyone fell silent, the only sounds being of Reshiram and Kyurem fighting in the background.
"Alright then." Hailey murmured.
"I assume you wish the same for me?"
"No." She said truthfully, praying that her answer would give him a change of heart, which seemed to happen to him a lot.
"That just shows how weak you really are. I have no use for things like you."
Her heart sank. "So that means I can't exist?"
"You oppose me, of course not."
"And you oppose me. I don't necessarily want you dead. You just cannot be put in a position of power."
"You say these words like you're trying to sway me to believe what you want, when you're just proving my point for me." Storm said, obviously annoyed.
He turned to Crobat, who now flew a little lop-sided due to the partially successful ice fang. "Poison fang." He ordered, glancing at Hailey to see what she'd do.
"Prepare your iron tail."
"Not falling for that one again; Crobat, stop."
Lilly coated her tail in iron and watched as Crobat stopped, his venomous fangs still dripping with poison.
"Hold the iron tail and freeze the floor." Hailey directed.
"Ceon." Lilly nodded, breathing ice all over the floor.
The brunet watched as ice crept across the floor. As it got further from Lilly, the ice seemed to thin out. The ice didn't make it to Storm's feet. As soon as Lilly stopped using ice beam, the ice started to melt.
"Huh?"
Storm smirked. "You can thank Reshiram for that. Can't you feel the heat she's giving off?"
Hailey weakly nodded as water puddled around her feet. Lilly grumbled, clearly disturbed by Reshiram's power. She'd never liked the fire/dragon type in the first place.
"Let's try this then. Use quick attack, but keep the iron tail." She said.
Lilly ran at Crobat, propelling herself into the air with her hind legs. Before Crobat and Storm could react, Lilly slammed into Crobat like a rocket.
"Now hit him down with iron tail!" Hailey shouted.
Lilly nodded, swinging her tail around and hitting Crobat out of the sky. The bat Pokémon landed with a thud while Lilly landed with ease, barely making a sound as she landed.
"Excellent, now get close to him, hurry!"
The Glaceon ran at Crobat again, quickly gaining ground.
"Perfect! Use icy wind now before Crobat gets up!"
"Gla!" She cried, taking in a deep breath and exhaling rapidly, ice cold air shooting from her jaws.
Crobat skidded back a few feet before parts of his body became frozen for a moment until Reshiram's intense heat melted the ice. Hailey gritted her teeth.
Storm smirked. "Now, now Hailey, no ice down here."
"Fine then!" She spat, turning to Lilly.
Lilly looked at Hailey, seeming alarmed that none of her attacks had their usual long-lasting effects. She didn't know how to win a battle without freezing her opponents solid.
"It's fine; we'll just pretend you're an Eevee again, Lilly. It'll work out just fine." Hailey reassured the panicked ice type, who relaxed a little at her trainer's logic.
"Wing attack!" Storm commanded, watching with satisfaction as Crobat's wings gained energy, flying at the ice type.
"Knock it away with shadow ball!" Storm's eyes widened, his smug expression disappearing as the sinister looking orb slammed into Crobat's small body, knocking him at Storm's feet, defeated.
"Baaaat…." Crobat moaned, one of its wings twitching a little.
He stared at Crobat.
"You give up?" Hailey asked, her and Lilly both glowering at him.
He chuckled and held a small walkie-talkie-looking device.
"I need backup down here."
Her eyes widened, but she was curious to see what he would do next, so she stayed quiet.
"Fuck the castle, it's done for, now give me backup!" He shouted.
Another moment of silence.
Storm grinned, "good."
He put the device down. Hailey shook her head and stared at him in disbelief.
"This is supposed to be a battle between the two of us. I don't think I invited all of Team Plasma."
Storm just laughed. "I don't think I invited you either, but you're here anyway."
"This isn't a fair fight-" "I only have one other Pokémon to battle you with. I think this is plenty fair."
"What? No, you have two more, maybe even three if you worked things out with Entei." Hailey scoffed.
"Bah! Moku, my Zoroark ran away! The spineless, weak-"
"How can you say that? I remember when we were both kids even if I only saw you once with him, that you loved him so much and he loved you too." Hailey interrupted.
A short silence filled the air.
"Yes. I do know that there was a point in time where we were friends," he mused. "But friendships come and go. Ours faltered; fell out of balance by the time I had found you in Blackthorn."
"It's never too late, Storm. Go find him."
He laughed more. "Your attempts at making me leave this basement are pathetic."
The combination of Storm's laughter and Kyruem's screams of pain rattled her brain. She felt dizzy.
"Master Storm, we have arrived."
Those words made Hailey want to throw up.
XXX
Eric's POV
What Eric saw when he and Lara landed was just about the last thing he expected to see: the castle that housed his former oppressors nearly completely collapsed, the screams of his former neighbors, he expected none of it.
"Damn… what happened here?"
Lara shrugged, dismounting Dragonite.
"Lara, get back on. We have to fly to the castle still." Eric said.
Dragonite moaned, not wanting to fly any further. Eric forced himself to ignore him. Lara grumbled under her breath, remounting Dragonite.
"At least we know Hailey's here. I mean, who else would do this?" Lara said.
"Well Hailey seems to be more on the timid side so for all we know this might not be Hailey's work." Eric countered, Dragonite nodding in agreement.
Lara glared at him, "can we just go?"
"Well, now that I think about it, I'm thinking we should stay back for a little. The whole castle's about to go."
"Eric-" Eric shot her a glare, silencing Lara.
"Fine."
XXX
Clyde's POV
Clyde gritted his teeth, casting another glance at the castle.
"Damn it, Ebony… why the hell did you have to go in there?"
"Clyde, we've got them all into the forest like you said, what now?" Jacob asked, coming into his view with Crystal at his side.
"We have to go help out in the castle."
"Clyde that is about the dumbest thing ya've ever said in yer life. Going in there is suicide!" Crystal shouted from beside Jacob.
"Well we've done our jobs, and Ebony said if we aren't willing to risk our lives then we should just leave."
Jacob sighed, "got us there, Clyde."
"Why does Ebony always call the shots? We should make our own decisions every once 'n a while! I say it's a bad idea-"
Clyde didn't stick around to listen to her, releasing Pidgeot and flying towards the castle.
XXX
Ebony's POV
She had no idea how the castle was still standing or how there were still grunts inside. Ebony ran with only her shadow tailing her, not wanting to risk injuring any of her Pokémon; after all, her Pokémon could be the only ones who could save Unova.
She knew it sounded ridiculous. Hailey was the one who befriended the ice god, and what had she done? Ebony winced.
The only thing I've done is let my sister die. I'm no hero.
It was a hard reminder for her to cope with, but she wouldn't hide from it. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and focused on the task ahead: finding where Hailey and Storm's battle ground was. Her slate-gray eyes darted from side to side, trying to decide if she should find it herself or force a grunt. Normally she wouldn't hesitate to threaten a grunt, but under the roof of a crumbling structure it was risky to stop for even a second.
She gritted her teeth and decided that it was worth the risk, quickly setting her sights one grunt who was restacking bits of rubble in an attempt to create a secure base for the castle. She gave a devious smirk and slammed into him, knocking the small bit of rubble that he'd built and pinning the Plasma member against a wall.
"Where is Storm?" She glared.
His eyes widened in surprise. "U-um… Uh…"
"Answer me!" She shouted angrily, her glare intensifying.
The grunt pathetically swallowed before trying to answer again.
"He's…. b-basement!" He managed to say.
Ebony flashed him a wicked grin. "Now, where is this little basement of yours?"
"N-near the front… Kyurem… it made an entrance." He mumbled, his eyes wide and his body trembling a little.
Rolling her eyes, Ebony dropped him without another word and sprinted towards the front of the building.
He better pray that there is an entrance into the damn basement or I will find him.
XXX
Hailey's POV
She clenched her fists, gritting her teeth as she struggled to find a way to somehow get to Kyurem without Storm and his grunts stopping her. Hailey looked to Lilly, who was starting to show signs of fatigue. It confused Hailey; it usually took a few battles before the Glaceon would look that battered and… tired. It was Reshiram's fault. The heat was getting to her too fast, and Hailey couldn't put her in a poke ball.
"C'mon, Lilly… we can take them, right?" She asked, suddenly doubting their chances as about forty or so grunts poured in from the hole that Kyurem had made.
None of them looked too happy either. Lilly turned and gave her a weak smile, a small puddle of water forming around her paws.
"W-what? What's going on with you? You can't melt, right?" She asked, horrified at thought of her first Pokémon melting.
Hailey looked closer at her fur. It seemed… wet.
She sighed in relief, "right, you freeze your fur over."
Lilly nodded, shaking out her pelt to rid it of water.
"Hailey." Storm called her name.
Hailey's attention wavered from her ice type. She stared at him from across the basement, silently willing for him to continue. Her gesture surprised Storm a little, but he shook it off and spoke.
"Do you still want to go through with this? Your chances of winning have gone from about a ten percent change to nothing. You alone cannot do this."
Hailey gave a faint smile.
"As cheesy as it sounds, I'm not alone." She said, gesturing to Lilly.
Storm laughed at her, "that's cute, Hailey, really, but your Glaceon won't last much longer down here. First, she'll faint, then the heat will kill her. If you care-"
"A little bit of heat won't kill her. She's tougher than she looks, Storm I'll tell you that."
"It doesn't matter how tough the stupid thing is! It's still an ice type, and no ice type can take heat for too long." Storm said, smirking in Kyurem's direction.
More rumbling sounded from up above. A grunt looked anxiously at Storm. "Master Storm, are you sure you can't send ten of us back up or something? We need to help support the castle-"
Storm silenced the grunt with a death glare. Hailey stayed silent, Storm's words replaying in her head. Deep down, although she didn't want to accept it, she knew he was right. Lilly and Kyurem's time was limited.
"Now, Hailey, be a good girl and do as your told," Storm sneered. "Roll your pokeballs across to me and make Glaceon come to me, now."
Hailey forced a glare. "Why would I listen to you?"
"Because." He stated, taking a pace forward. "I'm the only one who can end Kyurem and Reshiram's suffering. Only I can separate the two."
"Don't you care about Reshiram? She's your father's Pokémon, what's going to happen when he discovers that you've hurt her?"
Storm laughed some more, "bah! Screw my father! The moron stayed in one of the upper floors, he's dead! I am no longer the Prince of Unova, but the King."
Hailey's eyes widened, stepping back. "How can you say that? Don't you care about anything anymore?"
"Of course I do, I care about power, Hailey. And I can't have my power if you're still here."
The supporting grunts looked at each other with looks of surprise. It was like they couldn't believe that Storm could turn his back on his father, their King, that quickly. However, no one made a move against the young ruler.
"Lilly, come back." Hailey suddenly commanded, surprising Storm.
"Save your grunts for after you lose." She smirked, drawing a poke ball from her waist.
Surprised, Storm drew his final Pokémon, Gyarados. Panting, Lilly nearly collapsed beside Hailey. Forcing herself to ignore Lilly's state for the time being, Hailey threw the poke ball.
"Blue, let's try this one again!"
"Gyarados, show no mercy!" Storm shouted, releasing the serpent.
Blue, now out of his daze, glared at the larger serpent.
"Dragon pulse!"
"Hyper beam!"
Blue quickly charged a purplish sphere at his horn, launching the attack at Gyarados. Gyarados was too slow at preparing the attack, the attack slamming into him. The water/flying type was pushed back a few feet, but looked more angry than hurt.
"Gyarados, twister!"
"You too, Blue!"
Both Pokémon spun their tails as quickly as they could, small tornadoes blowing from the tips of their tails. The twister attacks clashed, matching power.
"Push harder!" Hailey shouted.
Storm said nothing, knowing Gyarados would step up his game. The Pokémon didn't like losing. The two Pokémon increased their power, both pushing themselves as hard as they could.
"Come on!" Both trainers yelled, glaring at each other when they realized they'd said the command simultaneously.
Suddenly, Blue stopped his attack, swerving out of the way as he was cloaked in a bright light. The twister nearly hit Hailey and Lilly, but the two had jumped to the floor to avoid the lethal attack. By the time Hailey was able to look back at Blue, he didn't look anything like he did moments ago. Blue now stood on two legs and had two arms and wings, his once blue scales now a yellowish orange color.
"Blue? Is that you?" She asked.
Hailey felt a little dumb for being surprised after practically living in a dragon type gym for her teen years. She knew a Dragonite when she saw one. Blue gave her an arrogant smirk, flexing his new arms. Hailey sweat dropped.
"Okay, Blue, let's try thunder punch!"
Blue gave a roar and flew at a great speed, one fist crackling with electricity. Storm didn't command Gyarados, trusting the beast's ability. Gyarados didn't disappoint, blowing the newly evolved Dragonite back with twister.
"Dig you feet into the ground!" Hailey shouted, not wanting him to forget about his new limbs.
Blue grunted in response, barely recovering from the super effective attack as he stopped himself. He now wore a look of hatred for the serpent.
"Dragon!" He roared, flapping his wings and becoming air born for a few moments before the twister's damage brought him back down, wincing.
Storm grinned at the dragon type's predicament, turning towards Gyarados and snapping his fingers to attract its attention. Gyarados obeyed Storm's wishes, shooting him half a glance.
"Hyper beam."
Gyarados roared its approval, a blindingly bright light forming in its jaws.
"Blue, out of the way! Hurry!" Hailey cried, fumbling around in search of Blue's poke ball.
Blue gave her an apologetic glance before staring Gyarados down, waiting for the attack to come. Hailey's heart was racing. Three of her allies, her friends, were suffering. Kyurem was still fighting the machine and Reshiram in what looked like a losing battle, Lilly was practically melting without a poke ball to shield her from Reshiram's heat, and now Blue was too weak to dodge even with his new form. Tears were budding at her eyes, threatening to spill down her cheeks if she lost it. Her eyes clamped shut, unable to watch.
She heard the attack leave Gyarados' jaws.
"Dark pulse!"
Hailey's eyes snapped back to life, flickering to where the voice came from.
It was Ebony.
XXX
Storm's POV
Storm watched in slight shock as a Honchkrow fired a dark pulse, killing Gyarados' attack before it got more than a few feet from its jaws. He gritted his teeth and silently cursed the trainer of the Honchkrow, whirling towards the entrance that Hailey had made.
A girl that looked a little older than himself and Hailey with short, jagged black hair leapt into the room, her Honchkrow flying just ahead of her.
"Ebony!" He heard Hailey cry.
Somehow, it surprised Storm that Hailey knew the girl. Storm began shaking, seething with anger. He had her. All it would've taken to break Hailey was to kill her Dragonite, and the raven-haired girl wrecked it for him.
His fists clenched tight, nails drawing deep crescents into his palms. Before he could properly react, the girl that Hailey had referred to as 'Ebony' started barking out orders.
"Haze!"
Honchkrow screeched, its voice hidden away from Storm's ears as a cold, toxic-looking smog floated from its beak.
"Damn it." He muttered, seeing that the sudden cold had given Hailey's Glaceon strength.
Storm didn't want to know if it gave Kyreum an energy burst as well. Hailey started stuttering like the weak idiot she was, thanking Ebony profusely as she hugged the ice type. He rolled his eyes, turning to his grunts.
"Dispose of her."
All of them saluted, drawing their Pokémon from their belts and nearing Ebony. She and Hailey exchanged words, both pulling what looked to be all of their pokeballs from their waists.
XXX
Hailey's POV
Thank Arceus for Ebony. Hailey didn't know how she would ever repay her, saving Blue and giving Lilly (and probably Kyurem too) her energy back, and now she was helping her fight off a wave of plasma grunts. Hailey was willing to put the past behind her for a while. Both girls had released all of their Pokémon.
Ebony only had three that could fight after her battle with the King. Hailey however, had Esperanza, Goblet, Hart, and as soon as Hailey was able to heal Blue he would be able to fight. Lilly might be able to battle later, but Hailey wasn't sure. The three Pokémon stared at Hailey for directions, shooting nervous glances at the grunts as they too released their Pokémon.
Wiping sweat off her face, Hailey started ordering her Pokémon.
"Everyone try to battle without me, I'll try to micromanage you guys a little but I have to find a way to free Kyurem." She said, casting a glance at the two legendaries.
All but Lilly and Blue obeyed, running at the opposing side.
"Ebony, you have anything for these two?" She asked, having to shout a little so the raven-haired girl could hear her.
Ebony faced her for a brief moment, tossing Hailey a small bag.
"Here, I brought this along in case something like this happened."
Hailey gave her a grateful nod and rummaged through the medicines that she'd been given. She selected a hyper potion and kneeled down beside Blue, forcing herself to ignore his grunts of pain as the medicine was applied. After going through the whole bottle, Blue almost immidately got to his feet, giving an irate roar and flying towards a crowd of Liepard who were overpowering Goblet. A weak smile formed on her face as she turned to Lilly.
"Here, let's get you patched up and then the two of us can figure a way to somehow free Kyurem. Then we'll have the upper hand." Lilly nodded, allowing Hailey to spray her with a hyper potion.
Hailey slung the bag over her shoulder and started towards Kyurem and Reshiram.
"Tsk, tsk, Hailey."
She froze and turned around. There Storm stood, Gyarados coiled around him.
"I thought you knew better than to try to outsmart me."
Ignoring her pounding heart, she glared at Storm.
"Let them go, Storm. Nothing good will come of this; can you even imagine what hideous monster of a Pokémon could come as a result of fusing those two? What if they can't get free? Or what if this kills them?" She asked, her eyes blazing.
He just laughed at her. "Who cares? Let's just finish this battle, and after I win, I'll let Gyarados squeeze the life right out of you. Or of course, you can make this nice and easy and let me put a stop to your rampage."
Hailey wanted to again ask what happened to him, but she already knew what he would say. "Fine," she said, turning to Lilly. "We won very easily against you about a week ago, so it won't be any different now."
"You won," Storm admitted, his gaze hardening at the mention of the previous battle. "But you won with ice. Ice won't last long when we're so close to Reshiram."
"But I don't get it, why doesn't Kyurem's ice balance it out?"
"Reshiram is a more powerful and prominent god then Kyurem. Kyurem is merely the leftover mess from the splitting of Reshiram and Zekrom, making it more of the runt. The part no one wants."
Hailey rose an eyebrow, "implying?"
"You've chosen the wrong ally."
"Looks like I'll just have to prove you wrong."
"Quit stalling."
"Fine then, your move." She invited, refusing to agree that Kyurem was merely the shell of something that had once been great.
Storm shrugged, "alright, your funeral."
He snapped his fingers. Gyarados uncoiled, slithering closer to Hailey and Lilly. He cleared his throat as though preparing for a speech before announcing his command.
"Hydro pump."
Gyarados screamed in reply, spewing gallons of high pressured water from its jaws.
"Mirror coat."
The Glaceon didn't bother moving away from the attack, quickly coating herself in the pink veil; the hydro pump bounced back at the now surprised Gyarados, knocking it back a few feet.
"Hailey!" A voice shouted.
It tempted her to look, but her logic was in control now and she wanted to keep it that way. She ignored it.
"Hailey! It's Lara!"
Hailey gritted her teeth, convincing herself it was a trick. Although… it does sound like her… She shook her head, mentally chiding at herself.
"Lilly, go through all of your attacks, okay? I don't care if they're ice type attacks or not." Hailey commanded.
"Gla?" Lilly asked as she hesitantly ran through her attacks, giving annoyed and frustrated grunts when the frost would melt before hitting Gyarados.
Storm just sat there, bemused at his opponent. Gyarados did the same, shaking the Glaceon off when she would use bite or a physical attack. The other attacks would never make it far.
"What the hell are you doing?" Storm finally asked as Lilly launched an ice shard attack, which failed of course.
Hailey smiled at his confusion. "You'll see."
XXX
Lara's POV
"Stunky, poison gas!" Lara commanded before turning to where her Nidoqueen was battling. "Mega punch!"
She was finding it hard to control all of her Pokémon at once. Eric had finally caved and agreed to go into the castle just after the last of it collapsed. Lara wouldn't admit that she was afraid, but never seeing her friend again would be too much for her to bear. She scanned the room for her childhood friend every so often, but her Pokémon weren't skilled enough to battle without her command and with all of the grunts and enemy Pokémon hitting to kill she couldn't afford to look for Hailey for too long.
"Nido!"
Her head whipped to Nidoqueen's direction to see her collapse as a Liepard slashed at her with viciously sharp claws.
"Nidoqueen!" She shouted, quickly returning her before the dark type could do any further damage.
Now Lara only had Stunky and her Arbok, Hisser, to fight. She decided to keep Hisser kept safely in his poke ball and battle with Stunky until he faints. Lara felt slightly relieved at only having to command Stunky as she faced the opposing grunt and his Watchhog.
"Hey, kiddy, you really shouldn't bother the adults," he sneered, pointing at the skunk-like Pokémon. "Hypnosis."
"Um, uh close your eyes!" She stammered, looking away as well to make sure the attack didn't hit her.
Lara looked back and breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Stunky still conscious. Forming a determined fist, she gave another command.
"Acid spray then belch!"
"Stun!" Stunky cried, turning away from Watchhog and lifting his tail, a green gas flowing from its rear.
Watchhog's eyes watered, blinding the normal type.
"Watchhog, get over it and use hyper fang!"
"Waa!" Watchhog screeched, frantically pawing at its eyes while Stunky prepared his next attack.
Stunky's cheeks grotesquely swelled as he turned to face Watchhog once more. The poison/dark type leapt, his mouth still clamped shut until he was just in front of Watchhog's face. Lara looked away, plugging her nose as she braced for Stunky to release the odor. Stunky opened his jaws, giving a long and loud belch in the normal type's face, knocking it back. She looked at Watchhog, grinning when she saw it defeated.
"Great job, Stunky!" Lara praised, gesturing for the Pokémon to follow her.
The young girl turned around, expecting to see another opponent. It wasn't. Her heart started pounding at the sight of her alive and well. She had to get her attention. Lara cupped her hands around her mouth and started yelling.
XXX
Ebony's POV
She regretted giving her medicines to Hailey. She regretted battling the king. She regretted it all. Already Ebony was down to her last Pokémon, Rotom. Honchkrow was taken out of the action by a Watchog's hyper fang, Aggron had been defeated by a triad of Liepards, and right about now Rotom wasn't looking too hot. She gritted her teeth, irritated that five grunts had the nerve to gang up on her and her lone Rotom.
"Slash, Liepard!"
"Shock wave!" Ebony countered.
Rotom gave a pained screeching noise as it knocked the offending feline away with the relatively weak jolt.
"Finish it with hyper fang!" Another grunt called, directing a Watchog at the faltering Rotom.
"Knock it away with another shock wave." She commanded.
Rotom obeyed, purposely forcing the normal type into another neighboring Watchog, both toppling over.
"Nice." Ebony smirked, earning a proud shriek from Rotom.
Several grunts glared at the two. She rolled her eyes, deciding to quit playing defense and go all out offensive. It was her specialty.
"Electro ball on Liepard." She said, nodding at the Pokémon who'd just tried to slash Rotom.
Rotom replied by forming a sphere of electricity in between its appendages and launching it at Liepard, who narrowly dodged. Barely holding back a growl, Ebony yelled another order.
"Discharge!" She smirked, knowing the attack would hit all five grunts and their Pokémon.
Rotom cried out in effort, electrocuting all of its opponents. Three of the Pokémon dropped, spirals in their eyes. The grunts however, were out cold, unable to command their Pokémon.
"Nice job, Eb."
She jumped, suppressing a gasp as she turned around. A smirk replaced her surprised expression. "So you finally decided to join the party?"
Clyde grinned. "Thought I would torchic out? You said it yourself, if you aren't willing to die, then get out."
Ebony nodded, "good. Where are the others?"
"Well at first they weren't going to come, but then I left without them and they followed when they realized that I was serious."
She sighed in relief, "good, we'll need all the help we can get. Now enough chit-chat. We've got a battle to win."
XXX
Eric's POV
If he knew just how many grunts there would be in that battle, Eric would've dragged Claire along to help with the masses. Although the Plasma Grunts were pitifully weak, attacking and dodging their Pokémon took a lot out of Eric's.
"Dragonite, use dragon claw on Liepard then thunder punch that Watchog!" He commanded, looking around for his Umbreon and Typhlosion.
They weren't anywhere in his sight. Eric's heart started beating quickly, fear setting in.
"Umbreon! Typhlosion! Come here!"
A familiar roar filled his ears, followed by Typhlosion plowing through a layer of Plasma grunts and their Pokémon. He sighed in relief, patting the fire type's snout.
"Now where's Umbreon?"
"Phlo…" He rumbled, laying down to reveal his back to Eric.
"Umbreon…" Eric murmured, seeing that his shiny dark type had fainted and that Typhlosion had brought him back on his back.
Eric returned Umbreon and pulled a hyper potion from his bag, spraying Typhlosion's wounds.
"Thanks, buddy. Keep going."
Typhlosion nodded, spraying a few Pokémon with flame throwers before running back where he had brought Umbreon back from.
XXX
Hailey's POV
Lilly had run out of attacks, looking back at Hailey for further instruction, panting. Storm and Gyarados stared expectantly at Hailey. She felt pressured, knowing that this attack would have to be enough to either knock Gyarados out, or at least do a number on him.
"Last resort!" Hailey shouted, beads of sweat casually sliding down her face.
Lilly started running at Gyarados, her body faintly glowing. His eyes widened for just a second before he countered.
"Hydro pump. Don't stop until it drops."
"Ra!" Gyarados howled, blasting high pressured water at Lilly.
The Glaceon nimbly evaded each blast, only angering Gyarados further. The water/flying Pokémon gave an angry screech as it launched a series of blasts, each missing the ice type. Lilly dug her claws into the concrete and sprang onto Gyarados' tail. She unleashed the attack; a flurry of tiny stars erupting from Lilly's body. Gyarados quickly flung the ice type off before the attack could do too much damage. She fell to the ground, limp.
"Lilly!" Hailey cried, running towards the now unmoving Glaceon.
Storm's green eyes flashed. "Are you done?"
She stared meekly at the Unovian prince. "With this, yes."
He gave her a confused look. "Hm?"
She looked at Kyurem and Reshiram as they struggled, then at her allies, and back at Storm.
No one can hold up much longer. Time to make it stop. She decided, knowing what she had to do.
"Gla…" Lilly groaned, sliding out of her arms and getting to her paws.
She stared at her trainer as though she already knew what was about to happen. Hailey ran a clammy hand over Lilly's tiara and smiled. She stood and faced the fusing Pokémon. Lilly yowled as loud as she could for her teammates. Goblet came first, crimson staining his head fur; Hart came next, a portion of his mustache torn off; Blue came third, his head short one antenna; Esperanza came last, a collection of claw marks on her flank. All stared at Hailey with narrowed eyes.
"Don't do this, you're throwing everything away." She breathed, taking a step back. "I've got this."
Her five Pokémon joined at her sides, facing the fusing Pokémon. Hailey knew that she couldn't sway their decision as they couldn't sway her.
In near-perfect sync, they ran.
XXX
Ebony's POV
Rotom had fainted, she knew she had to find Hailey and see if she had a revive anywhere in that bag. Ebony ran through the chaos, yelling for the brunet. A blinding light caught her eye. She ran in that direction, shoving people out of her way while dodging attacks and the occasional falling chunk of concrete.
"Hailey!" She called.
A Gyarados came into view. The raven-haired girl knew she was in the right place. Her stomach churned.
She better not have lost to that jack ass. Ebony thought worriedly.
She had grown rather fond of Hailey and hoped that she wasn't hurt.
XXX
She got to the clearing. To her relief, Hailey and all of her Pokémon were with her, and none of the damage done to them looked irreversible.
Unlike Umbreon… he won't be able to move like he used to now… Ebony thought bitterly.
"Hailey!" Her voice was drowned out in the cries of battle.
She saw Hailey say something to her Pokémon; they lined up and faced the bright light. Ebony panicked, she didn't like the grim look on Hailey face. The girl sprinted towards Hailey, but it was too late; they had started running and had a head start. She couldn't catch them.
XXX
Hailey's POV
Hailey could feel her heart beat in her tongue as she ran. The conflicting temperatures clawed at her skin, freezing it over then burning it over and over again. Running into this brought Hailey a pain level that she didn't think was possible.
Any liquid that left her body- be it blood, tears, or sweat - would freeze solid, then evaporate as soon as it was shed from her body.
She could only imagine what her Pokémon were going through, especially Lilly. The light spread over Hailey and her Pokémon. She could only hope that this would work. Hailey would never know herself though. She and her Pokémon had just thrown their lives away, they all knew it.
Hailey knew she would never be a contest participant. Never leader of the Blackthorn gym. Never the aunt of Eric's future children. Never the mother of her own children. Never a wife. Perhaps she wouldn't even be remembered as a hero, but just a coward who faltered under the pressure and couldn't handle it.
It was excruciating, the feeling of her flesh melting off her bones; the feeling of her bones freezing over then melting once more. Hailey felt the selfish desire to fight; to survive. But she knew she couldn't. It was too late now.
Closing her eyes as the fizzling sound of the DNA splicer breaking filled her ears, she let the light take her.
And that's that. Sorry I felt like this chapter was pretty crappy quality wise at least. Maybe one day I'll rewrite this, or maybe not. (I'm pretty lazy…) Anyways, I've gotta write the epilogue then you guys can start asking me questions. ~Spottedeyes