PD: This is it! The final chapter and I bet you've all been waiting for this moment! Anyway, I'm giving you the biggest heads up ever for multiple things. First off, this chapter is the LONGEST one in the story, coming in at over 12k words, so make sure you're nice and cozy before you decide to tackle this monster. Second and last, there's MULTIPLE optional themes for this chapter, they're called:
"Dragon Ball Super - Vegeta Royal Blue theme epic rock cover"
"Dragon Ball Super - No more Epic Rock cover"
"Dragon Ball Z Orchestra - Burn Up! A close, intense super-fierce battle!"
"Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2 - Dialga's Fight to the finish remix"
When you see a "*" the first theme is played and when you see "**" it's stopped. When you see a "***" the second theme is played and when you see a "****" it's stopped. when you see a "*****" the third theme is played and when you see "******" it's stopped, and finally, when you see a "*******" the fourth and final theme is played and when you see "********" it's stopped. PHEW, that was a lot, now, I hope you enjoy the final chapter of the story!
Heart Set Ablaze, White-Hot Intense Battle! Save The Colony, Mint!
The pouring rain pelts the entirety of Pinwheel forest, completely drowning out any and all sounds that a normal person could possibly hear, but the rain hides a deadly secret and deep within the forest, the sounds of screaming, yelling, fighting, and pain are heard. Three extremely bright flashes of lightning are seen, thunder exploding to life all around mere seconds after, and the wind becomes violent and relentless once again, blowing loose leaves off the trees. They instantly fall to the ground without a chance to take flight thanks to being soaked with water. Loose grass also gets swept up in the wind, but like the leaves, they don't go too far. The rainfall is now hard enough that it's impossible for even Pokemon with good eyesight in the dark to see more than 40 feet in front of them. The endless darkness above, the pure, pitch black void that seems to have swallowed the world up blocks out any and all sunlight from reaching the surface.
Most Pokemon would fear a storm such as this one, and common sense would say to hunker down and hope nothing bad happens while they wait it out. However, Mint was never "most Pokemon" at any point in his life, and after encountering Rachel in such a beat up state that could be potentially near death, he can't allow anything to stop him from protecting the ones that he's grown up alongside. Like Fai had said, if it wasn't for them, he wouldn't be who he is right now nor would he have ended up where he ended up in the first place. That different perspective… it's what fuels his desires and those he once hated from the bottom of his heart are now the ones he wants to save, even if they don't deserve it.
As Mint runs down the path to the colony on all four of his paws, they wade deeply into the loose, but thickening mud, kicking it up onto his stomach and even parts of his body that aren't even facing the ground like his back. The mud simply slides off thanks to a combination of water and oil on his fur. His face holds an expression like never before, his eyes contain a spark that shows he means business, and with every muscle in his body tensed up, he's ready to kill if need be. His mind is completely empty save for the thought of protecting everyone. Outside thoughts instantly disappear in the ever growing blaze that's burning inside of him, turning into nothing but long lost distractions as they approach the heat, succumbing to it instantaneously. His entire body temperature for that matter is rising rapidly, and the fluffs of fur coming from his head, his scarf, and his tail begin to turn that familiar red color. This rapid rise in temperature begins to heat his wet fur up, making the water temp rise as well. With each step that slams into the mud ladden path, the water begins to transform into a very fine, faintly visible steam. Even though the heavy rain continues to barrage him with ice cold water, it does nothing to drop his temp and it simply begins to evaporate on contact with his fur.
The colony is now just up ahead, and through the heavy rain he can just barely make out where his den is. There's no point going in there, his parents are probably trying to help defend the colony with everyone else and he would be wasting his time if his own home was empty. He ignores it and speeds on past it, coming to the very entrance of the main colony only 20 seconds later. He stops and stands up on his feet, taking in the now crystal clear sounds that he was hearing before. The screams seem to have hushed down into mere whimpers of fear and pain, the yelling has calmed down and low, gruff voices with the intent to intimidate are heard in its place. Just ahead of him, he can see dark shapes moving around… he can't make them out but he knows they're there. He tries to listen in to what they're saying but because of the heavy rain, it's very difficult to understand so instead of just standing there and allowing them to continue doing as they please, Mint folds his ears over, takes a massive breath, and points his head up to the sky, releasing a "Hyper Voice" that has a much more prominent echo than ever before, similar to when he fought the Garbodor and Krokorok. Coincidentally, a flash of lightning lights the colony for a microsecond as he uses the attack and rolling thunder follows nearly a second later.
The sound of his Hyper Voice explodes over the rolling thunder that attempts to hide it and the whole colony goes dead silent. The unintelligible voices hush themselves and the little whimpers of pain stop at once. Mint brings his head back down and looks straight ahead. The black shapes that he saw moments before turn around to face the sound that he created. He can't be sure that they're looking at him, but the feeling that someone's staring directly at him is more than enough for him to say that he's being looked at. Now that he's got their attention, he begins to walk forwards towards them. Each step he takes makes mud and water splash up a little, along with making a splashing sound to accompany it. As he gets closer to these shapes, their identity slowly becomes known to him and when he stops, he comes face to face with a group of 40 canine like Pokemon with pitch black fur and what looks like a strange skull on their head. They are known as Houndour and now that he's made his presence known to them, half the group faces him, while the other half is occupied with what looks to be the entire colony. From within the group, Ross and Emilia look at each other. They recognize the tone of voice just from the scream alone and they both think to themselves. "Is that Mint?"
One of the Houndour takes a few steps forward, water dripping off his chin. He snickers and then speaks. He thinks his voice would surely strike fear into the heart of this unwelcome visitor. "Well well well… what do we have here?" he then snickers once again. "A Cinccino with mint-green fur… I don't suppose you made that horrible scream, you don't look like someone who would be capable of emitting such a sound." he then chuckles a couple of times before giving Mint a sharp look.
He's not intimidated one bit at all by this Houndour, not even the other 19 that are looking at him make him worry at all. Houndour and their evolution are known to eat Pokemon like Minccino and Cinccino, so in some ways, they're considered predator Pokemon to them. Seeing as how this Houndour doesn't seem to know what he's dealing with, Mint decides to give him a smart-ass comeback. His tone is equal in tone to the Houndour, just to show that he isn't scared. "Wanna bet? How about I do it again?"
The Houndour snickers and chuckles once more. "Why? Are you afraid you didn't get your message across?" he says.
"No… my message was well received by all of you, but it seems you're the only one who doesn't understand, so let me say it once more…" he then folds his ears in, takes a massive breath, and lets loose his "Hyper Voice" right in the face of this Houndour. He takes the attack but it's overwhelming for him, something he wasn't expecting, and instead of walking away unscathed, the massive sound wave sweeps him off his feet and sends him into the mud a few feet away from Mint. He stops the attack and the forest goes quiet once more. Another flash of lightning but the thunder takes a bit longer to be heard this time. Mint speaks to this Houndour again. "Did you understand that?"
The Houndour, now partially covered in mud, stands up and growls. He runs up to Mint and bares his teeth at him but keeps about 8 feet between him and his adversary. All the other Houndour who saw this also go on the alert. The Houndour stares at him for a few more seconds, but then thinks of something and pieces it together. "Oh… I get it… you're the elder of this worthless colony. It makes sense, a Cinccino running a colony of Minccino, the lesser evolution following the greater evolution."
Mint's mouth turns into a frowning one and he sighs. "No, I'm not the elder of this colony, it hasn't had one for almost 19 years. I'm simply a member of this colony who evolved against my own will and ran away to avoid what I thought would be endless torture and hatred. I've come back after realizing something but that's not any of your concern. I may not be the elder, nor will I ever see myself as anything like that, but I've finally come home with a new perspective on my life."
Whispers from the group of Minccino can be heard now, and although the rain makes it impossible to understand what anyone was saying, it's loud enough for this Houndour to hear and he turns his head over towards the group and yells at them. "SHUT THE FUCK UP! ALL OF YOU SHUT UP RIGHT NOW OR WE'LL KILL YOU RIGHT NOW!" The group falls silent and he turns back to Mint. He starts to growl lowly for a few seconds before speaking up again. "You… you're nothing but trouble…" he then turns his head to the right. "Boss! We got company!"
Another voice, super low and angry sounding, responds. "That better be a fucking joke… I heard everything that was said and you mean to tell me that you're unable to handle some stupid Cinccino?" he walks out of the darkness of a tree and reveals himself to be the evolution of Houndour, Houndoom. He has the same black fur as all the Houndour do but there's a few more differences. He has horns on his head and on his chest looks to be a skull. His back has little, rib like bones across his back and his tail is long and pointed at the end. He also has red eyes that seem to glow faintly in the darkness. He slowly walks through the group of Houndour and they move out of his way, letting him walk right up to Mint. He looks down at him and Mint looks up at him, there's a vast height difference between the two of them and if one didn't know, Houndoom seems like a giant compared to a Cinccino.
They both stare at each other for a very long time, a couple flashes of lightning and the sound of thunder rolling and booming across the forest set the stage for what's going to happen next. A powerful gust of wind kicks up and blows the rain hard, making it appear as if it was falling sideways. The wind also blows Mint's fur around. His fur fluffs, part of his scarf, and his tail are blown all the way to his right side. The only things on this Houndoom that's affected by the wind is his rather short fur, but it can barely be seen waving in the wind, and his tail, which is blown to the left. Both of these Pokemon are dripping wet, Mint less so thanks to his elevated body temperature slowly evaporating the water off his fur.
The Houndoom chuckles, then speaks. "Brave little rodent…" he starts to walk around Mint in a circle slowly, something that a predator does before they lunge for a killing blow on their prey. Mint eyes him down and keeps full eye contact as he does this. They keep talking. "If you say you're not the elder of this colony, then what exactly are you to these walking slabs of meat behind me?"
He responds with a monotonous voice. "Family."
This slightly surprises him. "Family? How so… you aren't a Minccino, and you have a completely different fur color that nobody has ever seen before. Are you a hybrid? Were you born because of a mistake in the genetics that make up what you were supposed to be? How can you call them family if you aren't even close to them at all?"
An insult, and quite a new one, but he's heard something like this before. It doesn't affect him and he simply answers with the knowledge he gained from Castelia city and a voice that's loud enough that'll allow everyone in the colony to hear him clearly. "I may be different, but I still had the same body features, fur length, and cry that each and every single one of them have. I might be vastly different compared to them now, but before all of this, I was just like them. We're all the same, each and every single one of us lives together here and we help and support each other to the best of our abilities." his voice slowly starts to merge with another voice, one that's vaguely familiar to everyone in the colony. "While some of us may live our lives by gathering, others live through hunting and fishing. Some trade, some stay at home, but the point is that no matter what, we're all in it together and if we were only helping ourselves, we'd have been dead a long time ago. We're all a family, and even if I have a different fur color or evolved into a completely different form, I'm still part of this family. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that you have to be understanding of everyone and everything, we all have different perspectives and they aren't always going to line up with each other."
Another flash of lightning, it lights up both Mint's face and the face of the Houndoom. In this split second, from the corner of his eye, Mint can see that nearly everyone in the colony is looking at him, all beat up, bloody, and terribly pained but quite interested in what he's saying. He doesn't focus on them, but this little glimpse of how bad everyone's been hurt only adds more fuel to the fire burning within him, and it causes the red areas of his body to glow faintly. The pendant around his neck is glowing brighter than it has in the past, emitting many streaks of light and throwing sparkles that seem to crackle and snap with an energy that's unlike anything it's ever released before.
He continues to speak. "The Minccino colony that stands before me contains my entire life. Everything I've gone through, it all goes back to them. They bullied me, hurt me, insulted me, made me feel left out, distanced themselves from me and ignored my presence, beat me up even… but at the end of the day, I would always stand right back up and keep going, except I'd be stronger each time. If it wasn't for what they did, I wouldn't have the same personality that I've grown to have. If I wasn't born into this colony with mint-green fur, I wouldn't be Mint the Cinccino, which is exactly what I am right here and now! I wouldn't be standing here if everything that's happened to me since day 1 of my entire life didn't happen, things would be different and this colony might not even exist as well. I might be someone else, I could be a human, or one of you, or something from a far off world that hasn't been discovered yet. So when I say I'm not the elder of this colony and that we're all a family, I mean it because we've been through it all and if we're going to keep living, we have to continue to stick together as one!"
The Houndoom stares at him for a few more seconds, taking in everything he said. Most of what was said is utter nonsense to him, he doesn't care about it, but there's one thing he takes away from it, and that's Mint's name. "So, they call you Mint. Such a stupid name, but it's quite fitting for such a pathetic creature, it's a constant reminder of just exactly what you are." he stops for a moment, standing behind him. Mint keeps eye contact with this monster despite the fact that he could be attacked by one of the Houndour at any moment since he can't see what they're doing, but his peripheral vision is helping him here.
The Houndoom starts to circle him again slowly and continues to speak. "However, everything you've told me is useless. Maybe you are part of this family but I don't care. Say that's hypocritical since I asked the question, but it was a rhetorical one and I didn't want an answer anyway. What does matter is what you ended up interrupting."
Mint smirks and replies sarcastically, his voice no longer merged with that other one. "Oh I'm sorry, did I really interrupt something so important to you? Surely I just ended up coming back home…" his voice changes rapidly to be quite infuriated. "At the wrong time! What did I interrupt, huh? Because I saw someone on the way here who was beaten up, bloody, and possibly about to die, so answer me that, Houndoom who has yet to tell me their name!"
They look at him, confused for a second but then realizes who he's talking about. "Oh, that female Minccino who managed to get away. So she lived after all… Whatever. You want to know my name? Fair enough." his eyes suddenly start to glow brighter. "Why don't you just call me "Death", okay Mint? After all, once we finish what we started, none of you are gonna be alive."
Mint smirks once again, finding this name quite ironic. He knows that's not the Houndoom's real name, but he'll play this game for the sake of what he wants to say. "Death… you know, that's quite funny. I came back expecting the Minccino here to try and kill me because since I'm a Cinccino, our elder tradition applies to me and I'd become the new elder and since they all supposedly hate me, they'd probably want me dead so I wouldn't be able to get back at them for all the horrible things they've done to me."
The Houndoom finds this interesting. "You thought they were gonna kill you because of what you've become? What makes you think they're not going to do that if you all somehow survive?"
Mint closes his eyes, grabs the pendent around his neck with his left paw, and smiles. "I don't."
This makes them laugh for a few seconds. "If you can't even be sure that they won't kill you, then why return at all!? That's gotta be the stupidest-" Mint cuts him off.
"But I'm not worried. Whatever life has in store for me if we manage to survive all of this, I told myself that I'd face it with pride, courage, and I'd take it on full force no matter what it is." he says, his voice full of confidence, pride, and power.
*The Houndoom is taken aback by this, he wasn't expecting such an answer. Mint opens his eyes and continues. "This is my home, the place I was born and raised in. I've gone through hell and back through all my 19 years of living in this world, and I'm not gonna let them go to waste. The Pokemon that I grew up with, my mother, father, bullies, enemies… I've got a lot of thanks to give to them. You already know why, but it's not enough. You predator Pokemon exist to eat, sleep, kill, reproduce, and then do it all again. Those who aren't strong enough to survive die off before they're given a chance to live their life thanks to Pokemon like you. I ran away from my home, tried to live a life I thought I never had but the truth was staring me in the face the entire time. My evolution scared me, but Castelia city enlightened me, and I realized I ran away from the life I had been wanting since day 1. I've come back to live that life to its fullest, I've come back to embrace what's rightfully mine and run with it, and most importantly, I've come back to face my fate and accept it with arms spread wide open!"
A second of silence and suddenly, screams of joy and happiness are heard coming from everyone. They all start calling out to him, praising him for what he said. They cheer for him, yell for him, and a shining star of hope is ignited within all the weak and bloody Minccino who thought their end was near. The Houndour and Houndoom all become confused by this, but this is only the beginning, because Mint isn't finished. "Now, everyone in this colony knows who I am, and I'm sure they all remember that out of all the traits that define me, there's one that sticks out like a sore thumb. One that they dare not attempt to play around with, because the unlucky fool who ends up doing that becomes the next thing helping the plants grow."
The Houndoom raises an eyebrow. "What are you rambling on about… Keep talking and I'll kill you where you stand!" he says as he ends up back in front of him.
Mint's prideful look doesn't let up. "That's fine with me. However, you should know what I'm talking about, because it'll probably help you sooner than you think. If there's one thing I despise the most, It's those who go after my friends, family, and enemies with the intent to insult, hurt, or kill them." his left paw tightens its grip on the pendant, completely covering it. Something interesting happens, and unlike last time when the white parts of his fur turned red, they only stayed red. This time, he begins to glow a faint, heavenly white color and the red fur fluffs, tail, and scarf begin to transform and turn into something even greater.
From within his body, the burning inferno is released and manifests itself into these areas of his body. His scarf becomes engulfed in red flames that instantly evaporate the rain falling around it. His fur fluffs and tail also become engulfed in red flames as well, becoming nothing but fire and burn brightly against the element known for dousing said flames. The water soaked fur of his instantly dries up and all the water evaporates, making a massive cloud of steam billow forth from him. Any and all drops of rain that land on him instantly evaporate on contact with a 'hissing' sound. The flames dance off his scarf, fur fluffs, and tail in a majestic fashion. He lets go of the pendant and it dangles around his neck, glowing at its maximum possible brightness, lighting up his entire face and stomach. The glow of the fires on his body lights up the surrounding area and reveals all of the Houndour and Houndoom. To complete the look, his heavenly faint glow is also accompanied by a sparkly aura emanating off his body similar to how elder Naomi had when he saw her back then.
The older, wiser Minccino in the group begin to whisper to each other upon seeing this transformation occur. They're a bit astonished at what they're seeing, but in their eyes, they see something very interesting that nobody else can see. Even though it's very hard to tell, they see that within Mint's soul, he's merged with Elder Naomi and she's given him her power to help him with what can only be assumed to be a long, bloody battle to save them all.
All the Houndour start to growl and bare their teeth at him, while the Houndoom becomes ever so slightly nervous. He clenches his teeth and then yells at him. "What the hell is this!? What kind of Cinccino are you!?"
Mint takes a few steps forward, a little water and mud splashing up with each step he takes, it instantly evaporating upon contact with his fur. The Houndoom and Houndour take a few steps back in response. Mint stops and looks at all of them, then answers the Houndoom's question. His voice now seems to have the same phenomenon it had when he fought the Garbodor and it echoes throughout the forest with that same white-hot force. "I'm not just any Cinccino... I'm Mint, a Cinccino who has a pure heart filled with love and kindness, and a spirit that burns with the power of our elder's soul! Prepare yourselves, because if you wanna feast on ANY of the Minccino in this colony tonight, You're going to have to kill me FIRST!"**
All the Houndour look at each other, a bit nervous but still ready to attack on command. The Houndoom growls loudly, then takes a few steps back behind his group of 40 Houndour, and then tells Mint something. "You must be really stupid… you're outnumbered 41 to 1, you have no chance even if you're using some weird soul power or whatever it is that you're using."
Mint's face becomes intense, before him stands exactly 40 Houndour. The Houndoom wasn't kidding around, but it doesn't matter, he knows he'll be putting them all into the ground at some point in the fight that's looming right in front of him. He swings his tail side to side and a nasty trail of flames follows its movement. He blinks a few times and twitches his ears quickly. He's ready for anything and the moment one of them moves will be the moment he whacks them in the face, and he's sure the rest will follow after him. All 40 Houndour stare at him simultaneously, growling and baring their teeth, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. The Houndoom goes back to the tree he was hiding under before he was called out. He takes a deep breath and then releases it as a long, loud howl, a battle cry in that sense. All the Houndour tense their bodies up and prepare themselves to fight. The moment the howl ends, one of them lunges at Mint from the left. He sees this and doesn't move until the very last possible moment, and with what appears to be an impossible feat, jumps, does a backflip, and using the move "Tail Slap", whacks this Houndour's chin with a nasty blow, causing him to be knocked up into the air. A nasty trail of flames follows and from where the impact sight is, a plume of fire comes out upon his tail making contact.
***All the other Houndour start barking and howling as the 1st member hits the ground and stands up, somehow burned from the attack and yelping from the damage it causes them. Mint lands on the ground and from behind, two more Houndour attempt to hit him, both using the move "Bite". The first Houndour also tries to pitch in and uses "Fire Fang". Mint hears the two behind him and quickly turns around to face them, putting his arms up to block this attack. Both Houndour bite his arms and latch onto him, but this proves to be a very bad thing because Mint uses their bodies and swings his arms around and manages to blast the first Houndour with his friends, making him fly back into the group, defeated.
The two Houndour that have a hold on Mint bite down on his arms even harder and the only thing that this does beside draw a bit of blood, is make him flinch slightly. In response, Mint puts both his arms out in front of him, folds his ears over, quickly inhales, and uses his "Hyper Voice". The massive sound wave at such a close range is detrimental to them and they immediately let go of him. Mint stops his attack early and uses the move "Rock Blast", pulling his fur fluffs forwards and throwing them at the two Houndour who are too dazed to react and do anything. The rock shaped fluffs covered in fire slam into them and instantly knock them out in one hit.
The other 37 Houndour now realize that Mint is much more capable than they thought, and half of them suddenly become nervous while the other half simply begins to bark and howl at him. With a break in their attacks, Mint decides to use "Focus Blast", putting his paws to his side and forming a blue sphere of energy in between them. He looks around quickly and waits for someone to attack. One of them attempts to come in from the air by jumping onto one of the dens and using that as a means of getting the advantage, but Mint's eyes snap right towards them and instead of successfully ambushing him, they're met with a nice Focus Blast thrown right at them with no chance to dodge it. It explodes on contact with them, making a big cloud of blue and black smoke and upon hitting the ground, they're also instantly knocked out.
All the Minccino in the colony start yelling and cheering him on, he's already defeated 4 of them and seemingly taken no damage in the process. Ironically, his bullies, the ones who he believed to hate him the most, yell above their fellow Minccino and what they say is something that Mint can completely understand.
"Kick these bastard's asses, Mint!"
"Beat them up! Show them what you're made of!"
"Make these fuckers pay for hurting us!"
"We believe in you Mint! Don't you lose to them!"
While it looks like he completely ignored what they've said, he hears them loud and clear. In his head, he's happy for the encouragement but he has to stay focused. Even with the power of Naomi beside him, he can still lose this battle. He scans the entire group of Houndour. Once again, they all stare, bark, and howl at him. They don't seem like they're eager to come at him so he decides to come to them. He runs at one of them, readying his flaming hot "Tail Slap" once again. This Houndour is a bit smarter though, and he attempts to use "Flamethrower" to stop him in his tracks. A massive gout of orangey-yellow flames comes from the Houndour's mouth and completely engulfs Mint, but it doesn't slow him down, in fact, he takes no damage from it and instead, breaks through the attack and with a nasty spin added to the attack, he slaps them across the face hard, another plume of flames coming from the impact. The attack isn't over, and as this Houndour recovers from the impact of the first hit, Mint slaps them again with his tail once more, sealing the knockout and defeating them without any problems. He stops his attack and now that he's in the group of Houndour, they think it's time to finally strike and beat him down. All at once, 9 Houndour come at him, using "Bite", "Fire Fang", "Flamethrower", and even "Crunch" but these all prove to be just as useless as all the other attacks launched at him earlier.
Mint dodges the two Houndour that use "Bite", causing them to miss and fall into the mud, he takes the flamethrower attack head on and grabs the Houndour using "Fire Fang" by his head with his right paw right before he manages to land his attack and simply throws him into the one that's using "Flamethrower", making their attack stop as he's interrupted by the body of his own ally crashing into him. He doesn't forget about the Houndour that's using "Crunch" and right before he manages to land his attack, Mint wraps his tail around the spot on his body that his foe was going to hit and instead of dealing damage upon biting down, the Houndour bites into the blazing flames and recoils back as it burns the inside of his mouth and damages him. This allows Mint to use "Hyper Voice" and at such a close range, it devastates them and makes them faint.
The 8 Houndour that didn't get knocked out come at him once again, but Mint turns around to face all of them and with a well timed "Iron Tail", he swings his flaming hot, Iron hard tail and hits them all, dealing great damage and knocking them back at once. All of them get burned by the intensely hot attack and run back into the group to recover in the rain, but sadly, because of how powerful the attack was, they end up fainting before having a chance to recover. Mint stands there, not a scratch on him minus the slightly bleeding bite marks on his arms. None of them have been able to do anything to him and as it currently stands, only 26 Houndour remain and he's still going strong.
The Houndoom watches all of this from the tree he's standing under and is starting to become worried. His pack should've won already but instead, they're getting beaten by some Cinccino who showed up to the scene unannounced. "How is this happening!? It's just one fucking Cinccino! It can't be that hard to beat him!" his mind screams as he's struck with awe at what he's witnessing with his own eyes.
Mint has the advantage, none of them can do anything to him and he knows it. The cheering and yelling from his friends, family, and bullies gets louder and louder with each Houndour he knocks out. The entire pack is now scared of Mint, if a group attack of 9 didn't work, they probably won't be able to do anything if they all attacked at once and they start to back away from him. The Houndoom sees this and barks angrily at them. "Don't just stand there! Our dinner is gonna be lost if we don't kill this fucker now! Gang up on him and don't give him the chance to fight back!"
They hear him but it doesn't put any of them at ease, and while hesitant, all 26 of them simultaneously decide to use their strongest attacks in an effort to end this. They all use the move "Inferno", making big red orbs of flames in their mouths, getting ready to launch the attack at Mint. When they're ready, they all launch the flaming orbs at the ground next to Mint's feet from all directions. The moment these orbs hit the ground, they explode into a massive column of flames that rotate around and engulf him, trapping him in the fiery vortex, at least, that's what it seems. The attack doesn't last long, but they don't know that Mint managed to jump real high into the air and avoid it at the last moment. He uses the move he made during the fight with the Garbodor, the "Flufferang", and pulls his fur fluffs forwards, creating two flaming boomerangs that he holds in both paws. While he's falling, he throws both of them at the same time and they fly towards the remaining Houndour in the pack.
Some of them try to avoid these flaming boomerangs, but the speed at which he threw them at is far too great for most of them to avoid, and as they leave flaming trails in their wake, they rip and tear through the pack, causing blood to fly as they enter their bodies on one side, and leave through the other. Some of them actually die in the process as these boomerangs pass through vital organs like the heart and lungs. Mint lands on the ground and catches the two flaming boomerangs upon landing, defeating and killing nearly the entire group, leaving only 5 Houndour left in the fight. They're heavily wounded and no longer a threat to him.
Mint turns around to face what's left of the pack and he gets into a ready pose with his boomerangs, awaiting one of them to attack but they all cower and start limping back from him. He smirks, he's got them on the ropes now and all he has to do is throw one of the boomerangs at them and the only one left will be the Houndoom. He takes a few steps forwards cautiously, making them limp back, fearful of what he'll do next. He takes this opportunity and throws the boomerang in his right paw at them. All 5 of these Houndour are in no shape to dodge this and the blindingly fast boomerang cuts through them a second time, killing them instantly, and putting an end to this pack of predators for good. However, Mint left himself wide open, and in the world of survival, the moment a Pokemon puts its guard down is the moment that they could be killed.****
The Houndoom runs from the shadows, using the move "Fire Fang" and unlike its lesser Houndour counterparts, it manages to bite down on Mint's right cheek and the hot fangs sink into his skin, wounding him. The sheer force and weight of the Houndoom makes him fall to the ground, where he starts bashing him with the other boomerang as hard as he can in an attempt to shake him off. This proves to be ineffective and the Houndoom is able to release his fangs and uses the move "Fire Blast" right in Mint's face.
He launches a small ember at him and jumps off before it makes contact. When it touches Mint's face, the ember explodes into a massive, star like pattern of flames that deal damage to him. It hurts quite a bit combined with the "Fire Fang" but it doesn't burn him luckily. Once the attack finishes, he stands up and wipes his right cheek with his right paw and sees the blood on it. Thanks to the heavy rain, it gets washed away quickly but it makes him quite angry. "Bastard got a cheap shot on me… so that's how we're gonna fight?" is what he thinks to himself as he drops the boomerang and bashes the ground a couple times with his tail. It kicks up some mud and water and he clenches his paws into fists.
The Houndoom chuckles, then speaks. "What's wrong? Never been in a battle for survival before? Any opportunity you have to weaken the opponent must be taken if you are to win.."
Mint speaks, his tone low and furious. "Figures you'd resort to something so dirty. Don't worry, I'm gonna make sure I pay you back with extra left over for you to play around with." In anger, he swings his tail back and forth constantly, leaving a trail of flames with each swing.
*****The two stare at each other, waiting for a move from either side. This staredown doesn't last long because Mint rushes for his opponent and they immediately rush for him as well. The Houndoom uses "Sucker Punch" as he approaches and readies a nasty punch shrouded in dark energy to get yet another free hit but because Mint expected him to do something like this, he uses his attack a bit earlier than intended and his flaming hot "Tail Slap" collides with the "Sucker Punch", making a plume of dirt and mud fly all over the place due to the transfer of energy between the two attacks. It doesn't end there, because they both follow their first attacks up with another. Mint quickly makes a blue sphere of energy in between his paws and launches his "Focus Blast" at his adversary. The Houndoom reacts with "Sludge Bomb" and fires a purple blast of sludge at the blue energy sphere from his mouth to counter it. The two attacks collide with each other, making a giant explosion of blue, black, and purple clouds. The resultant force pushes both of them away from each other and to opposite sides of the colony. It doesn't damage either of them and this is somewhat of a good thing for Mint but also bad at the same time.
He has no time to recover because the Houndoom comes at him using "Giga Impact" and with incredible speed, comes running at him while shrouded in a light purple light with yellow streaks coursing through his body. Without thinking and with a reaction speed much faster than even a Noctowl's eyes could follow, Mint retaliates and holds the attack at bay with "Iron Tail". The two attacks collide and like before, a massive plume of dirt and mud is launched all over due to the massive energy transfer between the attacks. Unlike last time however, The Houndoom attempts to overtake Mint's attack and tries to break through. Mint doesn't allow this and continues to hold him at bay with his tail. Sparks and flames fly as the two stay locked in this attack stalemate. With the Houndoom in such a close proximity, Mint is guaranteed to hit his "Focus Blast" so before they decide to retreat, Mint forms that blue sphere of energy in between his paws and quickly blasts it at the Houndoom's face, giving them no time to react.
The attack explodes in a cloud of blue and black, dealing extreme damage due to Houndoom being weak to it. He flies out of the cloud and hits the ground, sliding to a stop with a bit of scratches on his body. He growls and barks at Mint furiously, angry that he managed to stop his attack. He tries to use "Giga Impact" once again and this time, Mint sees it and decides to counter with his own "Giga Impact". The two Pokemon become shrouded in an invisible energy momentarily before a bright yellow flash appears in front of their faces for a split second. They then proceed to hurl themselves at each other and they become shrouded in an orb of light purple energy with a swirling streak of yellow light appearing around their bodies. The two fly at each other with such a great speed that it's nearly impossible to follow but they both make direct contact with each other, causing yet again, another explosion made of mud and dirt.
Unlike last time, this explosion is massive and makes it impossible for anyone to see what's going on. The Minccino group goes completely silent and the only sounds that are heard are the sounds of the heavy rain hitting the trees, the leaves, and the ground. A full minute goes by before the dust and dirt settles to reveal the two Pokemon have injured each other quite bad. They both took major damage from their attacks even though it was the same move. Mint stands up and his entire body except the parts that are on fire are now covered in scratches and a few lightly bleeding cuts. On his mouth is a small trail of blood leading to his chin and he pants a little while staring at his adversary. The Houndoom didn't fare any better when taking the attack head on either. He's got even more cuts and scratches now, and just like Mint, they're bleeding lightly. One of the horns on his head was partially broken in the process and blood is now coming from the area where the missing part of the horn would be, and just like Mint, he stands there staring at him, panting a little.
Because of the amount of energy required to use Giga Impact, the two Pokemon have to take a short while to rest and recover their energy. During this time, Mint's parents yell at him in the hopes that he'll hear him. "Mint! If that's really you, please be careful! The last thing we want is for you to die upon coming back home!" says Emilia. Ross, on the other hand, encourages him. "Keep it up, you're doing great! We all believe in you like the others said!" hearing them makes Mint turn his head towards them, and while he's a bit tired and damaged from the battle, he's nowhere near defeated yet.
This little distraction gives the Houndoom an opportunity to try and attack since he's able to move once again and he uses "Flame Charge", shrouding his entire body in a hot fire, and running at Mint with impressive speed. He turns his head to see this attack, but it's too late for him to react to it and the Houndoom smashes into him, sending him flying into the air where he flips over and manages to recover by landing on his feet. He slides to a stop, his right paw digging into the mud to help him stop and he looks up.
The Houndoom smirks and then uses "Faint Attack". He runs to Mint's right side and this makes him look in that direction. Suddenly, they disappear and this makes him become confused for a moment. He looks around for where they could've gone and suddenly, they reappear on his left side and with a punch, slugs him in his side and then hops away before Mint has a chance to react. The attack simply throws Mint off balance for a moment, otherwise it didn't do too much damage.
It wasn't the fault of his parents, he should've kept his eye on the opponent. He won't let this happen again since this attack has now made him feel a bit lightheaded. Should he take too many strong attacks from here on out, he'll definitely be defeated but if he's fast enough, he'll be able to defeat them first. The Houndoom can sense that Mint is starting to get weaker and he comments on it. "I can smell your blood and fatigue, little rodent… you can't keep this up forever."
Mint ignores him and prepares to go another round with him. This time, instead of simply allowing himself to be hit, he decides to use his high speed to his advantage. He uses the move "Double Team", gets on all four of his paws, and starts to run as fast as he can around the Houndoom. Eventually, he runs so fast that it looks like there's more than one of him running around at the same time, an illusion that he's created more copies of himself. With this illusion he can strike at any moment since the Houndoom has no idea where he'll be coming from.
The Houndoom looks back and forth at the illusory copies of Mint, not sure which of them is the real one. In response, he uses the move "Flamethrower" at one of the copies in the hopes that it would hit him, but the copy he attacked was an illusion and it disappears. The real Mint comes from behind, readying the move "Rock Blast". He pulls his fur fluffs forwards and they turn into hard stones, and with them in hand, he runs into the Houndoom's back with all his might. This knocks him off balance and onto the ground where Mint then throws the stones at him. A direct hit and it hits them in the face, but Rock Blast isn't over and Mint throws another set at him. The Houndoom recovers from the first set but at such a close range, it's impossible to avoid the attack and he takes another hit, this time square in his chest. In response, this causes him to cough up blood due to a couple broken ribs.
He falters back a few steps due to the impact and tries to counter using "Rock Smash" and as Mint launches a third set at him, he simply punches the rocks and they break apart instantly, avoiding all damage that would've been dealt, and thanks to "Flame Charge" granting a speed boost, he manages to close the distance between him and Mint in half a second. With all the power he has, he lands a very powerful punch directly at Mint's face before he can use his attack once more. The makes him stagger back and flinch. He walks a few steps back while grabbing his mouth with both paws. He removes them and spits something out of his mouth in response. On the mud is a dark red liquid that can only be blood. From the corners of his mouth, it seems that more blood is starting to trickle out, the "Rock Smash" attack made direct contact there and it might've wounded his gums or teeth.
This further angers Mint and he yells at the top of his lungs, his voice clearly exhibiting that strange double tone echo from earlier and with even higher speed than before, he gets right up in the Houndoom's face and with more power packed into it than earlier, he uses "Tail Slap". He jumps up at the Houndoom's face, a nasty gleam coming from his left eye in the process, and he swings his tail as fast and as hard as he can at them. He hits him square across the face but he's not close to being done. He continues to swing at him in all different directions, each hit making a plume of flames on contact, pushing this Houndoom back further and further. While he does this, he screams loudly and his voice echoes across the forest, being heard by all the Pokemon in the nearby colonies in the process. Mint hits the Houndoom 9 times before finishing up with his 10th hit that's significantly stronger than ever before. The force of the impact causes blood, spit, and water to fly, and sends the Houndoom straight into a nearby tree, making an indent when the actually hit it. Mint lands on the ground and waits for them to stand up.
The Houndoom pulls himself out from the tree, falls to the ground, and stands up, but not as fast as the last few times and struggles to get up in the process. He's starting to get weak as well and if Mint can land another attack like that, he'll have a chance to win. The Houndoom growls and then howls angrily. Their howl echoes through the forest just like Mint's voice did and when he stops howling, he sneakily uses the move "Foul Play", preparing to get hit by Mint's next attack so he can turn it against him and possibly turn the tables on the battle.
Mint doesn't know this and unknowingly runs up to them and right as they're about to grab them by their face and use "Wake-Up-Slap", The Houndoom jumps back and becomes shrouded in a purple and black aura before charging forwards and slamming into Mint. His own attack and strength are used and instead of being hit lightly, he's hit hard enough to the point that it causes him to be flipped over and he lands on the mud on his back. The Houndoom takes this new opportunity to use "Flare Blitz". He Howls and then shrouds himself in a fiery orange aura before taking off like a missile at Mint. He has no chance to react because as he gets up, he looks up to see the powerful attack coming right at him and there's nothing he can do about it.
******The attack connects and a massive explosion of flames, dirt, and mud is created, covering the entire area and making it impossible to see what happened. Once again, the whole colony goes silent as they wait for the cloud to settle and when it does, Mint lies on the ground covered in mud, and dirt. He's heavily wounded and has many cuts, scrapes, and a few bruises as well. Some of these cuts are now bleeding a bit and on his face where his mouth is, is a couple streams of blood coming from the corners and going down to his chin. He's not defeated just yet, but if he takes another attack like that, he'll be done for good. The Houndoom, while dealing a hefty amount of damage to him, also took a very large amount of recoil damage from the attack and isn't looking any better. He slowly circles Mint, waiting for him to get up.
He slowly stands up, but struggles to do so. His intense look is not as intense as before and everyone can tell that he's very weak now. He's come this far, and he can't lose now, so, despite being in a large amount of pain, he forces himself to stand up and he locks eyes with the foe for one last round. The two look at each other, eyes dreary and weak, bodies battle worn and fatigued, spirits still standing strong. These next few moments will determine the fate of Mint's life, and the lives of those in the colony, and with this knowledge, he takes a deep breath, his lungs aching in pain from the attacks he's taken, and then exhales and among the pouring rain, booming thunder, and massive flashes of lightning, prepares to face his fate with every last bit of energy he's got left.
*******The Houndoom decides to go for the first attack, and surprisingly it's not some cheap shot for once. Seeing that if he fails to take Mint down now, he'll lose, so he goes to use his strongest Fire type move, "Overheat", in an attempt to finish him off. They open their mouth and a very bright whitish-blue ball of fire begins to form as they release all the latent firepower they have left from within their body, causing them to glow bright red.
It occurs to Mint that they're about to use their most powerful attack and even though he might be able to avoid it, in his current state, he might not be fast enough to react to it, so while it could be a very bad thing for him if it fails to defeat them, he decides to use "Hyper Beam". He puts his paws out in front of him, then brings them to his left side and angles his body a bit to face ever-so-slightly away from his opponent, and begins to charge a vibrant mint-green ball of extremely powerful energy in between his paws.
The two attacks grow in power and energy with each passing second and everyone that's cheering and rooting for Mint screams and yells at the top of their lungs for him to just release his attack and be done with it. He doesn't want to do it quite yet because he wants to make sure as much power is put into it as he can possibly get. After a few more seconds, the Houndoom laughs and then expels his attack and a massive blueish-white swirling blast of fire charges at him. Mint watches as this attack barrels towards him, but right as it gets close, he sees a weak point in the attack and with his own attack at maximum power, he aims right for this spot. He throws his paws forwards, and the mint-green ball of energy explodes forth into a massive beam of mint-green energy that's enveloped by white energy. It zaps forth towards the blast of fire and the two attacks collide with each other, lighting up the entire area around them.
This energy clash lasts for only a few seconds, because with Mint seeing the weak point in the Overheat attack, his Hyper Beam is able to break through and in a matter of mere seconds, wipes the attack away and heads straight for the Houndoom. Because they had no backup plan in the event something like this were to happen, they have nothing to counter this beam with and without any other choice, they take the attack head-on. They become completely surrounded by the energy beam and their body almost seems to distort and dissolve among the power of the attack, but Mint decides to take it one step further. He jumps into his own energy beam and it launches him at the Houndoom with breathtaking speed. As he gets closer and closer, he prepares his final Tail Slap to finish this off and end this nightmare forever. With the remaining energy he has after using Hyper Beam, he pours it into his flaming tail and upon coming right up to this Houndoom's face, he looks them in the eye, gives them a smile, and then spins his entire body around in a circle and whales them in the face with his final Tail Slap. The force sends them up into the air and the beam blasts him into a tree all the way on the opposite end of the colony. The attack ends and the Houndoom's body falls to the floor, he was annihilated and utterly defeated, and his limp body barely clings to consciousness.********
Mint lands on the ground near them, out of breath but victorious. He slowly walks over to the Houndoom and now that they're no longer a threat to him or the rest of the colony, he grabs him by his throat using his right paw and lifts him up off the ground. They open their eyes a little and see that he's right up in their face. He speaks to them for the last time with a tone that's so low that the strange echoey lower tone that accompanies it makes him sound like a real monster. "Never come back again or else you will be the one to die." With the last bit of physical strength he has, he grunts and hurls them over his shoulder towards the path leading out of the colony. They fall on their face, but then manage to stand up and slowly make their way out of the colony, taking heed of what Mint said and with fear in their heart, limp their way down the path, hopefully back to where they came from.
Mint's flaming fur fluffs, scarf, and tail extinguish themselves and return to their normal white color as the pouring rain begins to slowly let up and the pitch black sky starts to slowly lighten up. The heavenly white glow and sparkly aura that surrounds him disappears and the extremely bright glow of his pendant dims down to a simple, yet warm glow while still radiating little sparkles. He takes very deep breaths as the pain and fatigue of this massive battle quickly overtakes him and settles in. He doesn't have any time to relax because almost immediately after this, a massive roar of joy, excitement, and happiness rises from everyone nearby and his parents come charging at him as if it was the first time they've seen him in months.
Emilia runs right up to him and tackles him into a hug, but he doesn't fall to the floor, luckily. She's in tears and her voice is all squeaky and difficult to understand. "Mint! Oh lord Arceus! Mint! My sweet, mint-green baby boy!" she can't keep going because the happiness and relief of her son finally coming back and saving them is too great and she whines and cries tears of joy.
Ross is also in tears but for a few different reasons. He runs up to him and also gets in on the hugging action. "My son! My handsome, kind, quiet, proud son…! I can't believe it! Not only are you home, but… but…" he also succumbs to the happiness and relief that he came back, but he's also so proud of him for what he's done, what he said, and what he's become. In his eyes, he looks and sounds like a completely different Pokemon and can only wonder just exactly what he went through to have a sudden change like that.
Mint embraces the tight hug his parents give him despite it hurting him a lot. A wide smile starts to etch itself on his face and he also starts to let tears fall from his eyes. He then notices the rest of the colony approaching. They all have smiles on their faces and without any words being exchanged between each other, He knows just how grateful they all are for what he's done. Through the crowd, his former bullies come through, including Rachel who ended up sneaking back into the colony when nobody was looking after Mint told her to go hide. They all come up to him and give him a rather guilty look except for Rachel.
Sean, Wesley, and Patricia all tell him the same thing. "Mint… we're sorry… we're so sorry for everything we've done to you… We… we missed you so much and thought you might never come back…"
This doesn't surprise him at all, and instead he shakes his head and chuckles while still smiling, then responds with a serene and happy tone. "No… I-I should be t-thanking you… I-If you guys never b-bullied me and d-did the things you did to m-me, I wouldn't be h-here right now. Y-you all helped shape me i-into who I am right now, a-and for that, I say t-thank you."
They all look at him with quite a bit of confusion, it doesn't make sense to them but Rachel steps in and explains it. "I get what he means… he's saying that if we didn't bully or hurt him, he wouldn't be Mint the Cinccino."
This makes them all suddenly understand it, but they don't quite see that they shouldn't apologize for it. "But we did so many terrible things to you! How can you be grateful for all the times we beat you up?" they ask.
He closes his eyes. "B-because I look at it in a different p-perspective now. I had everything I w-wanted, but not the versions of it t-that I thought I'd be able to get by l-leaving. Now, I have it all, I h-have everything I could ever want… I've come h-home and with it, I bring a new form of myself, one that's open to the whole r-rainbow of life."
They fall silent and smile in response. They barely understand it but just enough to know that he means something good and it's true. With the colony saved and everyone's lives protected, Mint's finally got what he's always wanted to have since the beginning: Appreciation, Love, and Acceptance. With everyone in high spirits and eternally grateful for what he did for them, it would seem that things could only go up from here on out. Mint had gone through it all, and even in his darkest hour, he still kept going despite the odds and missteps along the way. Leaving the forest, going to Castelia city, and meeting Fai made him doubt everything, and at the end of it all, he realized with a little help that he had ran away from the very thing he was searching for. Now back home, he can finally relax and have a long deserved rest.
The sky above clears away rapidly and as fast as the storm came is as fast as it leaves. The rain has stopped and above them now sits the crystal clear sky, painted a beautiful orange to signify that the sun is starting to set and the end of the day is drawing to a close. Reunited with his family and friends, Mint's journey is finally at it's end and with it comes an ending that he could never have foreseen the day he decided to run away from home. His parents stop hugging him and this allows him to look across the colony and everyone in it. He knows that even though he won't ever see himself as one, the next thing big thing to happen in his life would be the ceremony to celebrate the coming of the new colony elder. This is something he simply chuckles at, because at the end of the day, it's true. He's now the colony elder regardless of what he thinks and everyone's gonna be looking up to him for help and advice.
This thought makes him giggle a little and this makes his mother question him. "What's so funny, Mint?"
He looks at her with his slightly shimmering dark brown eyes. "It's nothing, I'm just thinking about what's going to happen once everyone fully recovers from the attack…"
She knows what he's talking about and she also laughs in response. Ross hears this and understands too. "Well, it's not like you have a choice, but I'd rather see my son lead us to glory rather than have nobody to lead us anywhere." he then pats Mint on the back a few times. "My son, the elder of our colony… I never thought I'd say that sentence in my life."
Through the crowd comes a familiar face, Brian. Unlike how he usually looks, when he looks at Mint, he gives him a smile and speaks up, his voice much softer than ever, making him sound weird and funny. "Well damn… if I knew a runt could get this far in life I would've taken back everything I've said about him…" he then bows for a second, then stands up straight. "Mint, I'm sorry I ever doubted your abilities and I'm also sorry for treating you like the shit out back for all these years… I hope there's no hard feelings."
He simply gives him a wide smile. "H-hey! Better a late apology then no apology!" he then turns to face the entire colony. "E-everyone, I know you p-probably don't think you deserve it, b-but I do… I forgive all of you for all the b-bad things that you've done to m-me in the past. Let tomorrow be a new b-beginning for all of us and hopefully w-we can all get along l-like elder Naomi always said we should focus on trying to d-do!" This causes everyone to cheer and scream in joy. They all seem to agree with what he said and while it's true that none of them deserve such forgiveness, being able to forgive is what makes one Pokemon different from the other, and if he's going to be the new elder, he has to be that way.
Mint smiles widely as the feeling of overwhelming happiness combines with the aching pains he feels throughout his body and as he holds paws with his parents, he hears a voice that's awfully familiar to him. "Well done Mint… well done… never forget what you learned, the journey always leaves you with something to learn and reflect on. May the future be bright and full of love and happiness as you lead the colony. Always remember what you've been taught, and lead with a pure heart." the voice echoes through the air, and although he doesn't respond to it, he knows that Elder Naomi is pleased with what he's learned and experienced.
The sound of his mother's voice calling him grabs his attention and he looks over at her. "Mint… you've had such a long day. Nobody knows where you were before all of this and after such a long battle, wouldn't you want to get some rest?"
He nods. "Y-yes… I'm in quite a lot of p-pain, and sleeping and relaxing sounds real n-nice…"
END
PD: That's the end of that! I had an absolutely AMAZING time writing this story and I want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING IT! Really, it means a lot to me and I know that my work isn't going to waste! I really hope you enjoyed the entire story, it was quite a fun ride to write it and while some of you might be upset that it's all over, there MAY or may not be a sequel of sorts in the works... I don't know but if you want to find out, check my profile bio for updates on what I plan to do. ANYWAY, once again, THANKS SOOO MUCH FOR READING MY STORY! Check my profile out for the other stories that I've written or in the process of writing and I'll Seeya in the next story!