Shedding Skins
Chapter Fifty Two
My Dragon Eats Bullets For Breakfast
Several things happened at once.
First of all, Pauli Grey made a dramatic entrance, riding on the back of his battle scarred Staraptor.
Secondly, a trainer released a Garchomp that destroyed a nearby floodlight with a dragonbreath attack.
Third, one of the government's private soldiers fired off a shot into the crowd that hit a young trainer.
Then, simply chaos.
The crowd started moving about me, and I felt Hazel being pulled away from me. As hard as I tried, I couldn't keep a hold of her hand.
"Hazel!" I screamed. I knew she couldn't hear me. Hell, I couldn't hear me over all the noise. I caught a glimpse of brown hair and knew immediately that it was her. I pushed through the crowd, throwing punches to get past when necessary, all the while keeping my eyes locked onto her.
I heard the muffled sound of my name coming from Hazel, who was only meters from me by now. I threw a right cross and knocked the trainer in front of me to the ground. I jumped over him and sprinted the short distance to Hazel, gripped her left hand in my right and started practically dragging her along with me.
"Run!" I screamed in her ear. Even then, I'm sure she barely heard me.
I heard gunshots and saw some people suddenly falling. At the same time, fire, water, rocks, acid, mud, ice and everything else I could think of started flying overhead. I didn't need to look to know that Pauli had released his whole team of veteran warriors.
Hazel and I - mostly myself, actually - were still battling our way through the crowd. Some people were releasing their Pokemon, but they became immediate targets. When there were guns on the scene, I would rather not have risked the safety of my team. I'm pretty sure even bullets couldn't stop Skyler, but better to be safe than sorry.
We suddenly burst from the crowd and finally had a few inches of space again. I dragged Hazel round a corner quickly to get her out of the way of the Pokemon attacks and the bullets.
"Fly us out of here," she pleaded, eyes wide and close to tears.
"Skyler would attract too much attention," I told her.
"How do we get out of here?" She asked, terrified. It was strange to see her so frantic.
"I get Ares to fly you to Cianwood," I told her.
"And leave you? Fuck that!" She exclaimed.
"He can't carry the two of us," I replied. I dropped Ares' pokeball and he burst out in a flash of light. "Cianwood," I instructed him, gesturing to Hazel.
"You can't just stay," She told me, stubbornly refusing to mount Ares.
"I'm going to anyway," I told her. "I have things to do."
"You can't!" She practically screamed.
"I am. Now he can't do that in one trip. He'll need to keep resting, but you'll be out of the danger in seconds probably," I replied.
"Don't die," she told me, seeming to sense that I was insistent on staying, then wrapped her arms around me. We stayed there for a few seconds before we broke apart and she jumped on Ares' back. Seconds later, I couldn't locate my giant dragonfly, or his passenger.
I leaned back against the wall, trying to formulate a plan. I could easily have got Cerletti to teleport me out, but I didn't. I wanted to stay and try to help. I knew I was a strong trainer and felt that it was my duty to help. The other towns and cities all had Gym Leaders to defend them, but Vernon wouldn't do anything. Pauli was an incredible trainer, but his team was old. They probably all had health issues, and were probably out of practice.
I released my team one by one, thinking about how I was going to play this.
"Naja, acid," I instructed the snake. "River, water," I ordered the fish-cat-dog hybrid. "Cel, fire," I commanded the flaming weasel. "You, do whatever you want," I said to Skyler, knowing full well that he could handle himself. I hadn't wanted to take the chance earlier, but I was ready for this now.
The two politicians were important, but the private soldiers were the real problem. My aim was to have my team take them all out while I targeted the politicians. I drew my knife and silently gave thanks to whoever passed the law allowing me to carry it legally.
Skyler, predictably, started the assault off. He stood tall and proud and unleashed a stream of blue-green fire that scorched several private soldiers and took them out for good. After that, the others started following suit. River sniped them from a distance, Cel scorched them in larger groups from closer up and Naja drenched them in acid from both near and far. Skyler wreaked general havoc with all of the weapons in his arsenal.
Most of the trainers were trying to escape. A few were also fighting back, with similar goals as me, but I was probably the strongest and most able of them - excluding Pauli, obviously. There were other trainers in the crowd that were stronger than me, but they were fleeing.
I spotted a face I recognized in the crowd. A tall, slim figure about my age. Close cropped black hair. I wanted to punch him in the face.
"Damian!" I shouted at the top of my voice. There wasn't as much noise now, since a lot of people had either died or escaped already. Thankfully, Damian heard me. He turned around and caught sight of me, then beckoned for me to go over to him. I started running towards him, but as I did so, I noticed him pull out a handgun. I was about to dive to the ground to avoid being shot when I realized that he was aiming just to my right. One of the private soldiers fell to the ground next to me with a bullet in his head.
"You got a plan?" He asked me, head darting from side to side, looking for targets he could shoot.
"Yeah, but it's vague," I replied, gripping my knife tight in my right hand, ready to stab at anyone who came close.
"Explain," he said.
"Pokemon take the soldiers, we take out Alexander and Harriet," I elaborated.
"Let's go," he smirked. I found myself grinning, despite the situation.
I barged through the rapidly thinning crowd, thin, lanky Damian following in my wake and shooting every so often. I knew he was a strong trainer, but I didn't know which of the Pokemon in the vicinity were his. Mine, on the other hand, I kept on the lookout for.
They were all doing well enough. Naja had lost the last foot or so of his tail, but I knew it would grow back. Cel was limping, but still setting anything and everything in range on fire. River was bleeding from a large gash on her back, but she was surviving. Skyler was bleeding from numerous cuts and was covered in bruises, but he was still fighting tooth and nail. He had also probably killed as many soldiers as the rest of them combined.
"Here," Damian shouted, ducking behind a large pile of steel. I ducked behind it as well and crouched next to him.
The pile of steel shifted, and I realized that it was actually a Steelix, though not a colossal one, not the kind capable of destroying cities. It was considerably bigger than Tyson's Onix, however. I surmised that it belonged to Damian.
"Is it injured?" I asked him, gesturing to his steel snake.
"Yeah, but that's from my battle with Vernon earlier," he explained. "As long as she keeps her eyes closed, bullets can't harm her," he went on.
"Guys!" I bellowed. A human wouldn't have heard me, but Cel and River easily heard with their acute hearing. Naja didn't hear me, but I had anticipated that anyway. Skyler couldn't hear me over the sounds of himself killing people. The other two, however, eventually arrived. "Take cover here," I instructed them. That would make them a whole lot safer.
"They're only being guarded by three soldiers," Damian informed me, peeking round the side of his Steelix. "I'm a good shot with this," he went on, holding up his handgun. "I can take out two before the third retaliates, but if you can get in close and kill the third, we're good," he finished.
"So, what, I sneak up, get close without them noticing, you shoot two, I stab one and then the politicians are defenseless?" I asked.
"Yeah," he confirmed.
I set off through the crowd, which was becoming ever more sparse. More people escaping or dying. I was lucky I hadn't been hit by a stray bullet already. Eventually, I got near to the politicians. I hid on the stairs leading up to the platform and signaled to Damian with a wave of my hand. He nodded, stood up and started firing.
They all turned to see Damian shooting. Their backs to me, I sprinted up behind them. Just as I started running, one soldier fell. I was getting closer to them. The two remaining soldiers had their guns at the ready. I got closer still. The soldier furthest from me fell, Damian managing to shoot first. The one closest to me fired just as I barged into him, making him misfire.
He turned around to face me, but I grabbed his collar with my left hand and started stabbing with my right. It wasn't an elegant attack. I jabbed at his stomach rapidly and aggressively while holding onto his collar with my other hand to prevent him from escaping. Knife fighting isn't really about saber grips or figure eight slashes, it's about fear and aggression and shock.
He fell away from me, half a dozen holes in his stomach. I can't say it bothered me all that much, I was still alive, as were all my team members. That was what really mattered to me.
I then turned my attention on Alexander and Harriet. The former was already running, but the latter seemed too shocked to move. I stepped towards her and attacked her in a similar fashion. I then noticed Alexander collapsing mid run. Damian was, predictably, aiming his gun at him and had just pulled the trigger.
Looking around me, I realized that the fight had basically died. Most of the soldiers were dead. The ones that weren't had dropped their guns and were raising their arms in surrender. Trainers were lying dead everywhere, some were still escaping and those who had chosen to stay were looking with disgust at the few remaining soldiers.
The soldiers didn't seem to realize that Pokemon didn't understand the concept of surrender, and were swiftly torn to pieces there and then.
Again, this didn't bother me.
I climbed off of the platform and wearily walked over Damian. Although I hadn't noticed at the time, I had sustained numerous injuries from fighting through the crowd, and I had been running a lot during the battle. I was worn out.
Naja had lost a few more inches of tail, and had also been shot twice. This didn't really bother me, I knew he would be fine. All of an Arbok's internal organs are stored inside the hood, so they were fine as long as that was undamaged. The rest of their body and tail can be injured to any degree and it will fully heal. In the case of it being severed, it grows back.
Cel's leg was twisted and bloody, clearly broken. While it was clearly painful, it wasn't exactly life threatening, and for that, I was thankful.
River's cut was still bleeding, and now that I paid more attention, looked deeper and more painful than what I had originally thought. The risk of infection coulb be a problem in the future, I realized.
Skyler was worse than any of them. He had been shot more than once and had sustained numerous other injuries as well, including an oddly bent and twisted tail that I assumed was broken. He was covered in blood, most of it not his own, but was still standing tall and proud, even though he must have been in an immense amount of pain
All of them would probably need at least mild medical attention when this was all over.
"You're insane," Damian told me as I reached him. I took this as a compliment. I tripped over a piece of wreckage as I reached him and fell. Out of exhaustion, I didn't even put my hands out to try and cushion my fall, but Damian managed to catch me before I smashed my face on the ground.
"Let's go," I said to him, regaining some strength. I trudged towards the Mahogany Gym, my new friend following behind me.
It was exactly the same as it had been when I was in here earlier. The monstrous half evolved Pokemon in the cages and tanks were screaming and shrieking, presumably at the commotion that had been going on outside.
"Linus," he greeted me with false welcome. "And Damian too," he added, surprised.
"Why weren't you out there fighting?" I asked, angry. Not even just angry, furious.
"Linus, I can understand why you would come in here and start mouthing off - you're reckless and a bit insane. But Damian, I thought you were smart," Vernon almost laughed.
"I'm smart enough to bring this," Damian growled, drawing his gun and aiming it at Vernon, who was already reaching for a pokeball. Damian, however, was far faster and had his gun pointed at Vernon's chest before his hand had even touched a pokeball.
"Well played," Vernon smirked, relaxing his hand and putting it in his pocket. He knew that if he tried anything, Damian could, and would, shoot him. "Why do you have that anyway?" He asked, nodding at the gun. "You know they're illegal to carry."
"Got a special license," Damian grinned.
"Where did you get it then? They're hard to obtain anyway, even if you have a license," Vernon spoke.
"Barry gave it to me, free of charge. Kevin probably supplied him with it," Damian explained. I didn't know who either of these people were.
"Well, anyway, you two should back off," Vernon warned us, but I was feeling cocky.
"Or what?" I goaded.
"Well, there's a wandering Gardevoir that you seem fond of. Then there's that little ginger kid that you briefly took under you wing," Vernon explained. "How would you feel if they stopped breathing?"
"You -" I started, but he cut me off.
"You've fucked with Hawkes and the government, but I'm on a different level. Forrest Wilbanks? I could get him as well. His little girlfriend? Her too. That promising new intern at the Elm Lab? Him as well," he threatened.
"Adam?" I asked, not sure if that's who he was referring to. Adam had got an internship? I couldn't help myself from feeling happy for him, despite the situation we were in.
"Yeah, now beat it," Vernon demanded.
"What's to stop me from shooting you right now?" Damian asked, seeming to genuinely wonder.
"Murder's illegal, for one. There are people who would want to slowly and painfully kill you for it, for another, and you know it" Vernon smirked cockily.
"I'm wanted already," Damian countered. "And I know I'm smart enough to avoid pursuers," he added.
"These guys are tough. I'm not sure if you could deal with them," Vernon opined.
"Barry and Kevin would help. You know that," Damian argued. Barry and Kevin again. Who were these people?
Vernon opened his mouth to reply, but Damian pulled the trigger before he had a chance to say anything. Vernon tried to jump out the way at the same time, but the bullet still caught him in the shoulder and sent him to the ground.
Yet more violence. I was far too tired for this, and wondered why I hadn't just left Vernon alone in the first place. I had to stop picking fights.
Damian would have fired again, but he had to reload. He did this with practiced speed and precision, not wasting a moment of time, but Vernon was already moving by then. He had got to his feet and drawn a gun of his own from inside his jacket.
I had been among flying bullets earlier, but this was so much worse. There were only three targets in the room, and I was the only one without a gun. It was terrifying. Firefights were not my thing.
I just sort of stood there, a spectator, as the two of them ran and fired shot after shot. Vernon was clearly at a disadvantage because of his injured shoulder, but he was a capable marksman nonetheless. Eventually, however, he ran out of bullets, not one having hit Damian - although a few had came close.
A cross between an Alakazam and a Kadabra - Alakadabra? - stuck its hand through the bars of one cage, and Vernon dived for it. Teleportation really was an amazing way to escape. He slid across the floor on his side, flying towards the psychic's hand, but Damian managed pull the trigger before he escaped. He fired off his last bullet and caught Vernon directly in the chest.
"We're done," Damian sighed wearily, turning away from the dead Gym Leader.
