Authors Note : I despise fight scenes, you want a good one, go to Delta Knight. So I tried something different in this chapter, less fighting, more realism. Hopefully it worked.
XXV : The Battle
Brian went down hard, blood spurting out of his chest. Natasha grabbed him, but hit the ground with him on her lap.
The group stared at Brian for just a second, as the information began to process. The grunt who fired began to hyperventilate.
Axle, still in Dragonite form, rushed him, and lifted him up by the neck. The grunt was crying.
"Please, please, don't kill me!!" Axle turned, and dangled the grunt over the railing, and above the water.
"Your in luck" Axle said, "The first rule is do not kill, and I doubt my dying friend" he gestured to Brian, "Would want me to kill you" The grunt gagged, vomit appearing in the corner of his mouth. Axle wrinkled his nose. "Instead, I'm going to give you the chance to prove your worth, where are the prison cells?"
"I won't tell you, you can't make me" Cameron walked over beside Axle, in Raichu form.
"Oh, don't worry" He said, sparks shooting from his cheeks, "If Axle can't make you, I know I can" The grunt squealed.
"The hall your looking at is the main hall. There are four others down it, two to the left, and two to the right. The second on the left is the prison hall" Axle moved the grunt back over the railing, "But, if your looking for your friends, they won't be there"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, if your friends with those three sliders, two of them are in deep freeze in the main lab, and ones about to go under"
"How do we get to the main lab?" The grunt struggled, and kicked at Axle's arm. Nothing. Axle closed his clawed hand tighter.
"Its down the main hall, straight down" The grunt wept. Axle smiled, his Dragonite face giving the illusion of happiness.
"Wasn't that easy?" The grunt nodded. Axle slammed his head on the rail, leaving him unconscious. They then returned to the group.
"Somebody has to stay with Brian" Axle said.
"I don't need any one!" Blood appeared in the corners of Brian's mouth, "I'm fine"
"I'll do it" Max said, "Its not like I can contribute anything to the battle"
"I'll stay to" Natasha said. This brought a wave of out cry.
"Natasha, we need you"
"Your one of our strongest people!"
"Natasha" Brian struggled, "I'm okay" She shook her head.
"I've made up my mind, go"
"No Natasha" Brian growled, "Go" Natasha bit her lip, and nodded.
The five waved good-bye to Brian and Max, knowing they might never see Brian alive again, before heading down the main hall.
"Man, something isn't right" Dimitrius said.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm sure this place is wired for security, yet there are no guards, no alarms, nothing! Its wrong"
"Maybe we got luck" Jonah said.
"Jonah, even you can't be that fucking stupid"
They came upon the end of the hall, and the entrance to the lab. It had a security console, and a pair of blast doors, but the doors were rolled back. The four entered, to find not a soul.
Well, not a LifeForce soul.
"Let me out you fuckers" a muffled voice screamed. The five turned, to see three glass tubes, two with Stephanie and Horatio suspended in them, and one with Rose, trying desperately to get out.
"Rose?" Axle asked. "Shit, I'll get her out, you guys get Steph and Horatio" Axle returned to Dragonite form, and marched over to Rose's cell. "Get back"
Rose pressed her self flat against the back of the tube, as Axle pulled his fist back. It began to glow, and he smashed it through the glass, before helping Rose out of the tube.
Julius and Grovyl watched all the events unfold, from a TV on Grovyl's desk. Rollan sat, twiddling his thumbs, looking bored.
"Are the troops ready?"
"Their waiting for the final go ahead" Julius smiled, only his top teeth showing.
"This will be their greatest test" He leaned back in his chair, and faced Rollan, who was sitting across from them. "If they take out all but the leader, imagine how much more we could sell the machine for! Of course, they can't take on that Axle, he's got to much experience. I thought I hired you to take care of him" Rollan shrugged.
"You canceled my contract"
"And when they suddenly appeared inside my base, I hired you again"
"I'll do it when I feel like it" Rollan propped his feet on Julius' desk. "Get me a beer"
"Get one your self" Julius said, standing up and heading to the door. Grovyl followed close behind. "I'm going to see my products in action. If your not out here in five minutes, your fired"
"No I'm not" Rollan called.
Stephanie and Horatio both threw up the gel, as the sat on the ground, trying to stay awake.
"This feels like some one ran a spike through my skull" Stephanie muttered.
"At least you still have a skull" Horatio shot back. "I haven't hurt this much since I was back with the Flying Garnosos" Cameron and Jonah helped them to their feet.
"What happened?" Stephanie stammered, "All I remember was being hit with a net"
"Me two"
"I think this is where we can come in" Rose said, moving away from Axle, and slowly moving to the swaying sliders. Before she could explain a thing, the sound of foot steps from the back hall filled the room. All the sliders turned to the entrance, although Stephanie and Horatio had trouble staying up. The entrance that the sliders came in was suddenly shut by a large pair of metal blast doors slamming closed. But they didn't have time to pay attention to that.
A unit of LifeForce soldiers, marching like nazi's, entered the room. Louise was in front, grinning smugly. The soldiers marched down the stairs, and stood in a straight line, across the room from the sliders. Julius and Grovyl appeared on top of the stairs.
"Greetings, assorted soldiers and sliders" Julius said. "My name is Julius, leader of the human army, commander of LifeForce"
Even though only Rose and Ninetails knew that Julius was running both the war and LifeForce, the news didn't shock any one.
"Uh, why aren't my soldiers shocked?" Julius asked Grovyl. The hybrid shrugged.
"I thought your idea of using me as your dupe could get my killed eventually, so I told them the truth"
"We know who you are Julius" Axle spat, "What do you want with us?" Julius laughed.
"Oh, where to begin? Well, I needed your friends so I could fix my machine" Julius gestured to the tube contraption, "And I didn't need your other two friends, but they ended up being great test subjects, tell them what you can do darlin" They all turned to Rose.
"He used us to test the fixed slider machine. He put me and Ninetails in"
"But" Ninetails said, switching over seamlessly, to the shock of all, "Things didn't work quit the way they wanted them to. We've got two minds in one body"
"Yes, yes, we're all aware of your problem, little bitch" Julius said, "But, that's irrelevant" He turned to his soldiers, eight of them. "This is your final test, the eight of you are to fight these freaks. If you lose, you die" Ninetails head snapped up when he said bitch. Something, familiar, but where?
"Yes sir" All eight of them said in unison.
"Well, what are you waiting for? GO!"
It was a strange sight, 16 people changing all at once. The sliders changed into their usual forms, while the soldiers down the row changed into a Metagross, a Victreebel, a Fearow, a Poliwrath, Louise, a Gardevoir, a Tyranitar, and a Luxray.
Louise had a large metal contraption attached to his head, with several metal wires attached to various parts of his jaw. He smiled, showing a mouth full of metal he couldn't part. When he changed, the metal thing stayed attached to his head.
"Louise is mine" Rose and Ninetails screamed in unison, "Take who you want, Louise is mine" Louise looked at her excitedly.
"Whg nght cajhg hjf fhsl" (We need to clear the room) Louise said, as electricity sparked up. He fired a thunder bolt at the slider machine. Ninetails, not to be out done by the Jolteon prick, used a flame-thrower on it, causing the machine to explode.
"MY MACHINE!" The tables went flying, eventually hitting the back wall, resulting in a bare room, perfect for fighting.
"GO" Julius screamed, "GO GO GO"
Jonah didn't have the advantage against any one, so when the Fearow rushed him, he took it on.
The Fearow was attempting to use drill peck, as it soared towards Jonah. Jonah, being much more experienced in flight, dipped lower, and the Fearow sailed over him, hitting the back wall.
The Fearow was far from done, whipping back, and going after Jonah with the same attack. This time, Jonah soared upward, but the drillpeck hit him in the chest.
Okay, now I'm pissed The Fearow attempted to follow Jonah, who suddenly began dodging back and forth, jumping around the top of the room with extreme speed, getting closer and closer. Suddenly, Jonah slashed, hitting the Fearow hard.
The Fearow almost hit the ground, but soared back up, as high as you could go in a room with 20 ft ceilings. The two eyed each other.
This guys a boob, I need to end this The Fearow rushed at Jonah, pecking rapidly. Jonah dodged, once again jumping around wildly, but not planning on using ariel ace.
"What are you doing you little fuck?" The Fearow cried, as Jonah jumped. Suddenly, Jonah appeared behind Fearow, his wings glowing. Jonah slammed his steel wing into the back of Fearow's head, causing it to fall and hit the ground.
"And that's how its done"
Rose/Ninetails and Louise circled each other slowly.
"Yfhlscj cvhgn lenhtv" (You can't beat me little girl). A jolt of electricity shot off of his back, met by a small stream of fire from Ninetails.
"I don't care what you said" Ninetails growled, "We're going to make sure you never hurt another person again" With that, Rose/Ninetails leapt straight up and fired a flame-thrower at Louise. Louise shot forward using quick attack, as the women hit the ground. They faced each other again.
"Yhcshs fhsnasdd" (I had to much hope, you're fucking pathetic) Sparks crackled from his spines, as Louise fired a thunder-wave right at the women. Had he not talked and just fired, he would have done in moments before they flashed white, and safeguard took affect.
The thunderwave hit head on, but did nothing. Before Louise could react, Rose/Ninetails charged, slamming head first into his skull, and flipping him on his back. They leapt up, and fired a fire blast right at him, but he rolled quickly to the left, barely avoiding getting hit.
Louise leapt up, to find several balls of black fire rush at him. He was unable to avoid them, and the resulting burn caused him to stumble. Rose/Ninetails locked eyes with him, using leer. Suddenly, his body siezed up. The women then sat down, and simply stared at the frozen man
"Wheh fnthn tjsnm?"
"You want to know why we did this?" Rose/Ninetails asked. "You want to know why we're not attacking? Because of the pain we went through, the pain you put us through, you hurt us, and then watched" They leaned in, "And now we're going to do the same.
"How much does that burn hurt Louise? Your in amazing pain. If you change back to human form, it would stop, and sense I've only paralyzed your pokemon form, that might be a good idea. Except, imagine what I could do to you as a human Louis. Well, what're you going to do?"
Louise felt tears run down his face. He couldn't take the pain, and decided to risk it. "Bad idea Louis"
Louise began to glow white, as his human form returned. The glowing faded, right as Ninetails launched a skull bash at his broken jaw. The pain was 1000 times more intense, and he passed out instantly. Rose/Ninetails looked over his unconscious body coldly.
"Your in luck" They muttered, "We can't drag it out. We don't have the heart to be you" With nothing more to say, they spit on him.
Stephanie eyed the Victreebel, wondering why anyone would choose such a stupid pokemon to merge with. Suddenly, the giant bulb slung razor leaves at Stephanie, but at such a slow rate she simply tapped them with her blade as they came near.
"Okay, that didn't work" Victreebel cried, "But this will" It spit a stream of black sludge out of its giant mouth, but the sludge was so weak Stephanie let it hit her.
"Um, what was that?"
"I don't get it" It cried angrily, "Sludge bomb is a poison type move"
"…So?"
"So, poison type moves are super effective against insect type!" Stephanie sighed, and shook her head. The stupidity of this person is astounding. Oh well, time to end it
Before Victreebel could move, Stephanie leapt up and came down with a quickly slash, using ariel ace. Victreebel gasped.
"But, I'm poison type?!"
"Your also part grass type"
"I am?" Stephanie groaned, and pushed the bulb over with her blade.
Dimitrius was paired off against Poliwrath, who instead of letting Dimitrius make a move, had jumped in with a barrage of punches and kicks. The two were about the same size, but Dimitrius was significantly faster, and he kept catching the punches before they hit. But he was getting tired, and needed to end it.
"Hey Natasha" He cried.
"Yeah?"
"What's good against" Suddenly, Poliwrath landed a weak punch on Dimitrius' muzzle. Dimitrius growled, and fired a hydro pump that sent the tad pole flying.
"What's strong against Poliwrath?"
"Uh, grass, flying, electric, and psychic" Poliwrath had leapt back up, and leapt at Dimitrius with a high jump kick.
"Natasha, would you mind"
"No problem" Poliwrath began to glow, as Natasha used a quick psychic, slamming it up against the ceiling, and down again, before it passed out.
"That's the best they've got?" Rollan crackled. He was sitting behind Grovyl's desk, laughing his ass off. He finally stopped, and turned off the video monitor, not wanting to see anymore.
"I want what they do, when we fight, to be a surprise" Rollan laughed. "Yeah, we're going to have a ball"
Horatio was fighting the Tyranitar, who was currently attempting to land a single blow, rotating between iron tail and brick break, Horatio narrowly dodging each one. But he knew it couldn't last long, because Tyranitar was faster then him, scary as that might seem.
Suddenly, the ground under Horatio began to shake, slamming him hard on his back. He couldn't move fast enough, and Tyranitar brought up its glowing tail, before bringing it down hard.
"What the fuck?!" Horatio had grabbed hold of the iron tail, and now used all of his strength to stop it, until the glow faded. In front of every one, Horatio pulled him self up, still holding Tyranitar by the tail, and then flung the giant rock pokemon straight up.
"How the fuck?!"
"I've had a lot of experience" Horatio leapt up, and slammed skull branch first into the blue rhombus on Tyranitar's chest, knocking the fucker out instantly.
Cameron got stuck fighting Luxray, though why was beyond him. Surely it would have been better for Horatio, who would have known ground type moves. Oh well, what was done was done, and now Cameron was avoiding thunder bolts as Luxray chased him, trying desperately to hit the little rodent.
"Hold still, and let me kill you" It snarled.
"Nuh-uh, don't thinks so" Luxray screamed, and shot off a shock wave. As the weak electricity was about to hit Cameron, he leapt over it, and onto Luxray's head, and since shockwave never misses, it hit the two of them head on.
Cameron was knocked off Luxray, who was able to keep its balance, and sent sprawling on the floor. Before he could get up, Luxray pounce, using thunderfang, and bit down hard on Cameron's head.
A curious thing happened. The electricity from Luxray was absorbed into Cameron, and Luxray was suddenly paralyzed.
"W-what happened?" Cameron laughed, as he pulled his head out of its mouth.
"Well, the Raichu I was merged with, Volt, he was trained to absorb extremely high amounts of electricity, a trait I've been able to carry on. As for your paralysis, that would be my special ability, static, at work"
"But, that's wouldn't work, I'm electric type!" Cameron gave it a confused stared.
"Static works if your electric type"
"It does?" Shaking his head, Cameron fired a thunderbolt into Luxray's underside, blasting it up and backwards.
"It does" Grovyl mocked. Julius was shaking his head, trying to figure out how this disaster started.
"I don't get it" Julius cried, "H-how are they not winning? They're bigger, the pokemon I selected are strong, Lord knows Tyranitar and Metagross should be just mowing them down"
"You can't be that stupid, can you?" Grovyl cried, exasperated. "They have no experience, they know, maybe, three attacks, and the pokemon they merged with were speed evolved. Your doomed"
"Really?"
"Yep"
"B-but how? I worked so hard, I spent a week thinking of just a good lineup to have"
"That's the scary part"
Natasha was fighting Gardevoir. A very pissed off Gardevoir. It wasn't attacking, rather, it was just staring at Natasha, seething with rage.
"Uh, excuse me"
"What?"
"Isn't their something we should be doing? Shouldn't you be, I dunno, attacking me?" Gardevoir locked eyes with Natasha.
"What gender would you say I am" Natasha shrugged.
"Female?" Gardevoir screamed.
"I'm a GUY!" Doubles of it spread out in a circle around Natasha. She quickly used protect, as they began to fire shinny leaves at her.
"How did it learn magic leaf? Never mind, just remember, never piss off gender-bender Gardevoir"
Protect ended, as Gardevoir fired off a shadow ball. Natasha teleported at the last moment, and re-appeared a few feet behind Gardevoir. He jumped around to face her, as her eyes glowed blue. He glowed blue for a moment, but nothing happened. That'll come in handy later
Gardevoir fired off a psybeam, which Natasha matched with one of her own. It only took a few seconds for it to become obvious, Natasha was stronger. Gardevoir laughed, and teleported.
Natasha jumped 180 degrees, but Gardevoir re-appeared beside her, and fired a shadow ball. She flipped twice, landing one her back. Gardevoir took a running jump, and landed on her stomach. He summoned another shadow ball.
"Now, I end you"
"Hey, remember that attack I did earlier, that seemed to do nothing?" Gardevoir was suddenly flung upward, into the ceiling, as psychic energy ripped through him. "Future sight takes time you know"
Axle and Metagross faced off against each other. Metagross was now panting, its steel skin badly tarnished. Axle barely looked fazed.
Suddenly, Metagross lunged at Axle, its front right leg up and its claw glowing. Axle caught the meteor mash before it could hit him, and stopped it cold, his claws digging into the steel.
"W-why do you fight us" Metagross choked, "Why do you fight a war you can't win?" Axle shrugged.
"Blessed are the peace keepers, for they shall be called sons of God" It laughed.
"Fascinating. Hey, were you expecting this?" Metagross opened its mouth, and fired a tremendous hyperbeam, hitting Axle at point blank range. When the dust cleared, Axle still held Metagross' claw, and seemed unaffected.
"Pathetic, were you expecting this?" Axle opened his mouth, and fired a flame-thrower. Metagross cried once, and collapsed. "You've gotta love TM's"
"Well, we finished that easily" Axle laughed, as Julius collapsed to his knees. Grovyl shook his head.
"With the performance of those eight, you wont be able to give that machine away" Julius screamed.
"Call every grunt, every grunt we have, and tell them" Suddenly, Grovyl's walky-talky crackled to life.
"This is Grovyl"
"Sir, this is LifeForce operative Simms. The entire force has been knocked out. Dear God sir, it came out of know where, and it looked so harmless"
SCREEE! Everyone turned to the blast doors, as slowly they were pulled open. Pink light filled the room.
"Alright everyone, get ready" Axle said, "Something's coming"
"Uh, guys" Cameron asked, "Does any one here singing?"
"Rain drops keep fallin' on my head, they keep fallin'" The voice from the hall sang "Because I'm free"
Nothing's worryin' me