Authors Notes: Okay. so to make some things clear. This is not my fanfiction. I adopted it after getting permission two years back when I messaged back by the author, with him allowing me to take it. The second point to address, is that this is a continuation of the former authors story, meaning I will continue exactly where the story had left off at. So, I highly recommend checking out his story "PMD: Team Bang" before checking out this chapter here. It's in my favorites, so it should be an easy find. It will help, as the previous chapter does end pretty abruptly. If anyone also finds problems the previous chapters, let me know. I'll be happy to redo them. Last of all. This chapter was edited and supported by Samthefox. I thank him for his support, as this chapter would not be possible without him. With all that out of the way, enjoy :3.
Torrent had to hold back the urge to puke in disgust, having witnessed Razor's lower body bitten off. Torrents reaction, however, could never compare against the Sandshrew gang's feelings.
"MOM!" One of the Sandshrews screamed as his paw reached towards his dying mother, right before he ran towards her.
Getting a closer view of his mother, the little Sandshrew cried out again.
The Sandslash felt every ounce of the pain, yet she just lay there, speechless. She just lay on the ground, as blood leaked out of her gigantic wound.
Static tried looking for anything that could stop the bleeding, but doing so is in vain.
All they could do was cover up the wound with their bandanas. The problem, however, is that they were too small to cover up the full wound. There was no possible way for the group to rush Razor to a hospital either, they were too far into the desert. Even if they did teleport back, the hospital was too far from their home. All they could do was feed her berries in hopes of keeping her alive, if only slightly increasing her chances of survival.
After a coughing fit, Razor finally spoke, despite the pain that suffocated her.
"My little champions. You lot have to keep pressing on. Don't worry about me, my fate is here. Please, run, while you all got the chance, or we'll all share the same fate!"
The group, especially Blaze, denied the idea of fleeing cowardly back to the chameleon's, not with that Steelix out for blood.
"Look, I know you don't like the thought of letting this beast walking off scott free, but today is not the day for you all to face the Steelix." Razor whimpered, obviously becoming weaker within each passing second.
With Team Bang furious and the Sandshrews upset, they were more stuck on the thought of leaving behind a dangerous criminal out and the free, able to hurt even more Pokémon, but deep down inside, they know that charging at the Steelix would be a fatal move.
Blaze and Torrent, especially, absolutely hated the fact that they had suffered defeat.
However, Blaze wasn't going to give up that easy. He crossed his arms and said, "So, we all came all the way out to the desert, worked our tails off by defeating a bunch of Sandshrews and "The Razor", in the middle of the desert, only to back out when we about to face off with the Steelix?" Blaze questioned.
Razor grew more pale and tired, as blood spewed endlessly out of her lower half. The pain that she felt was unimaginable. Warm tears fell, as she felt a wave of nausea come rushing at her.
With only a small moment passing by, Razor closed her eyes and her breaths came to a complete halt as well. She was dead.
The little Sandshrews couldn't believe it. Their mother was gone, and there was nothing they could do to bring her back. In rage, half of the Sandshrews charged ahead, seeking revenge for their fallen mother.
Team Bang was in shock. Torrent tried to stop them by running in front of them to block them, only for two of the Sandshrews to violently slash him in the knee. Caught off guard, Torrent let out a yell, before falling on his back, holding his leg, which was now covered by cuts.
Static and Blaze came to his aid, along with the six remaining Sandshrews.
"Torrent!" Static screamed, as she rushed to check his cuts. His left leg was covered in scratches that leaked blood out of them.
"Torrent, are you okay?"
He let out another groan, as he held onto his leg.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just can't believe they would do that when I was only trying to help," Torrent said.
Static wrapped his wounded leg with a bandana, in order to stop the bleeding.
"Yeah, I know." Static acknowledge, in a depressed manner.
"Sometimes, Pokémon are just blinded by their own feelings, until it's too late." She continued tying together the bandana and tightened it, causing Torrent to let out a groan once again.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Torrent said, right before forcing himself up.
"So, are we gonna rescue those brats or what?" Blaze interrupted with his arms still crossed.
Torrent took a deep breath and thought about Blaze's question. Razor and Blaze were the only two that the team could really rely on, but now that Razor had passed away and half of the Sandshrews had become enraged, and decided to charge blindly at the Steelix, injuring Torrent in the process. Things were not looking good for the group but could they accept defeat and leave the Sandshrews to die?
"Yes, we're gonna rescue the Sandshrews," Torrent answered, feeling a sense of bravery rushing in.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Static said, concerned, questioning his order. "What if the Sandshrews have already been killed by the Steelix, or worse, what if we all share the same fate?"
"I-I know. It's just that leaving them behind feels so… wrong, and, if not us then who will stop the Steelix from committing more atrocities?" Torrent asked.
"Perhaps, we could teleport back to our house and maybe bring more equipment, and ask more people to help us?"
"NO!" Torrent shouted. "If we retreat back to our base, the Sandshrews will definitely be dead by the time we find them, not to mention, who will help us? If the Steelix is considered a legend, would anyone even believe us?"
Static sighed in defeat, cursing Torrent's sense of honor. Torrent was a guy that sometimes allowed his pride to get the best of him at times, but she never knew it could reach this high. And because of that, she was starting to lose trust in him.
"Alright, you win. Let's, just get these stupid kids out before something happens."
With that said, Team Bang and the remaining Sandshrews walked further in the cave and began searching far and wide for the Sandshrews.
As Team Bang traversed deeper in the cave, it grew more disturbing the further they went. Hundreds if not thousands of corpses lay in the cave, all rotting away with the putrid smell to accompany them.
Torrent and Static looked at the corpses in disgust.
"Man, I'm surprised that the Steelix has killed so many after the owner of the Dojo told us that this was just a passing rumor," Torrent said.
"Well, I guess not many have lived to tell the tale," Static said sadly.
Going through the den, the team realized that they had not encountered a single foe during their travel in the cave, making it all the more disturbing. After some time of walking endlessly through the dark cave, covered with corpses. Torrent stopped them.
"Wait, what's that?" He whispered, as he blocked them from stepping forth with his paw, and pointing at the mystified thing with his other paw.
As soon as the group saw what Torrent had pointed at. They, and especially the Sandshrews gasped in absolute fear. While Static gasped and Blaze just stood with a disgusted expression on his face, the Sandshrews were outright traumatized by what they witnessed.
Impaled on a stick, was one of the Sandshrew's that had ran off earlier.
The corpse was impaled on top of a stick with its arms dropped down. Its clouded emotionless eyes stared eternally at the ground, as blood leaked out of its exposed gut.
However, before the team could mourn over their fallen comrade, a massive boulder came flying directly at them. Torrent and Blaze dodged to the left, while Static and the Sandshrews dodged to the right.
The bolder passed by them, smashing the stick away, along with their dead ally. Seeing that everyone was okay, Torrent kept his eyes peeled towards where the boulder had launched from.
Everyone stayed quiet, anticipating what was to come. With their hearts thumping in constant fear, they almost could not bear to see the thing that had caused the boulder to be launched at them, but seeing that their paws and claws had been forced, they had no choice but to stare death in the eye.
As their eyes watched the pit of darkness, a large python-like tail began to bring itself into view. Torrent's eyes widened, as he immediately took action and yelled for everyone to duck into cover. Only in the slightest of time, Blaze, along with most of the Sandshrews managed to save themselves from being impaled at the last second.
One of the Sandshrews had been skewered and now hung struggling from the tail, another had been knocked into a rock and blood dropped down its head as it lay unmoving.
Torrent got back up, then dropped back down as the giant tail flew past him straight back into the darkness with the Sandshrew still stuck on it.
Torrent's heart pumped blood faster than it ever had. The amount of fear and anxiety that was coursing through the Wartortle's veins was unimaginable. Still, he didn't let his face show it. Even if it did cause him pain, holding back his deep breaths, he would never show fears in the face of his opponent.
But it seemed that he couldn't catch a break, as a loud, ear piercing roar blasted into the poor Wartortle's ears, and his teammates. Once the roar ended, Torrent uncovered his ears.
"Geez, whatever that was sure really needs to take a mint here and there. I could smell it's nasty breath from all the way over here for god's sake," Blaze joked, trying to ignore his anxiety.
Everyone else, however, just stood in their positions, not knowing how to react. For once since their early days of their rescue team, they genuinely felt scared.
It seems that whatever advantage they had in the past, had completely evaporated in front of their eyes. While Torrent and Blaze managed to keep themselves together, thanks to their prideful egos, the same could not be said about the rest of the group.
While Static and the Sandshrews hadn't broken down into tears, their trembling bodies clearly showed that they were more than troubled by the roar then their friends had been.
"T-Torrent!" Static yelled, as she looked to see if the tail was gone and then came close to Torrent.
Static grabbed the Wartortle by the shoulders.
"Torrent, the Sandshrews are dead. We need to get out of here now!" Static yelled, as a tear fell from her eye.
Even though the remaining survivors of the team haven't yet discovered the other Sandshrews bodies, Torrent doubted that the other Sandshrews would have any more luck than their fallen brothers.
But, it still didn't make it easy for Torrent to accept this terrible defeat, especially when he'd made it ten times worse.
He just wished he could go back in time and stop the Sandshrews from running out, that way, everyone will be safe, just as Razor wanted. But, this mission was a colossal failure once they had entered the den. Instead, he should've called it a day and left the Steelix alone, but no, he'd allowed everyone, including young and innocent Sandshrews to embark on not only a suicidal mission, but the most dangerous mission Team Bang had ever been on.
And because of his actions, Torrent didnt know if he'd be able to ever forgive himself for it. Torrent let out a deep sigh, giving in as he dropped his head down in shame.
"As much as I hate to admit, you're right Static. There is no chance of survival against the Steelix," Torrent stated, ashamed by his own actions.
"Hold on!" Blaze interrupted. "So, you're telling me that you're too scared to face this Steelix?"
Torrent lifted his head up and fought back against Blaze's argument.
"Blaze, look around you. 'The Razor' is dead, and more than half of the Sandshrews are either dead or missing. Not only that, but I can't use my water abilities against the Steelix, the Sandshrews are like ants to the it, and Static's electric abilities are ineffective against it. Do you really think that you alone can bring down Steelix?"
Blaze, huffed, crossing his arms as he looked away from the Wartortle, and yet deep down, the more he thought of having his limbs being brutally ripped apart by a gigantic snake monster, the more horrified he became. It didn't take long for the fear to show the signs on the Charmeleon's body.
"See, you're scared to face the Steelix too." Torrent yelled, as he pointed his finger at Blaze.
"Okay fine, you got me. I'm strong, but I'm not a mad man," Blaze said, trying to defend himself.
Torrent rolled his eyes and turned back to Static.
"So, are we getting out of here or what?"
"Yes, I'd rather be in an house full of Muks than staying here," Static said.
Torrent felt relieved that they'd all agreed to leave, just as he did.
"Alright, then it's settled. Static, tell Artie to get us out of here."
"Not so fast!"
Catching the fears of the group, a massive steel tail now without a skewered Sandshrew had emerged out of the darkness, and successfully wrapped around Static, along with the group of Sandshrews.
"Static!" Torrent and Blaze cried.
In a desperate attempt to release the Pikachu from the Steelix's grasp, Torrent lashed out and threw himself onto the tail.
While Torrent was battling to stay on the tail, Blaze shot a flamethrower at it, trying his hardest not to burn his own teammate alive in the process. But to no avail. Despite his best efforts, the Steelix easily shook off the Wartortle and he landed hard onto the ground.
Blaze caught up to the injured Wartortle and found him on his belly, his head lying face-down on the ground.
Blaze came to a complete halt and he kicked Torrent's shell. Torrent opened his eyes, and let out a groan as he placed one of his paws on his head.
"Torrent, get up. That snake just stole Static!"
Ignoring the pain and Blaze's rudeness, Torrent slowly got back onto his feet.
"Good, I thought you were gonna chicken out there," Blaze mocked.
Agitated even more, Torrent gritted his teeth as he had to hold back the urge to not strangle his friend. So, ignoring Blaze, Torrent walked towards the impending doom.
Blaze's eyes widened.
"Hey, wait for me!" Blaze yelled, as he sprinted in order to try to catch up to his teammate again.
It was dark. Torrent and Blaze were so deep in the cave, where all they were surrounded by now was darkness, Blaze's tail illuminating a small area with dim light.
If not for Blaze's light they both would have lost their small window of opportunity and hope of going against the Steelix.
But, was it enough?
Torrent and Blaze continued to sprint almost heroically through the dark, narrow passage, neither of the teens saying a word, especially when they were presumably only moments away from meeting the Steelix, face to face.
As they came around another corner, they finally caught a glimpse of the Steelix's face, causing both Torrent and Blaze to immediately duck for cover.
This was it. Once they got out their cover, the Steelix was bound to spot them, if it already hadn't.
"Okay Blaze, I have a plan. I'll meet the Steelix face to face, while you go the alternate path and take the high ground. That way, you can launch an ambush against the Steelix with your flamethrower."
Blaze was liking this plan. Getting the first strike, while he gets to see Torrent cowering in fear? What's not to love?
With a final thought of taking the Steelix's head, Blaze nodded his head in agreement.
"You can count on me Torrent," Blaze said almost enthusiastically.
For once, for the first time in forever, Torrent felt a sense of satisfaction, it'd been awhile since Blaze actually agreed with any of his plans, although Torrent could probably guess why.
"Alright then, it's settled. Be ready for the hardest fight of your life here Blaze,"
As much as Blaze wanted to gulp upon hearing the two words, 'hardest fight' he still kept his nervous system under control, put on a confident face, and waited for Torrent to go first.
The same could not be said for Torrent, however, as his fear showed throughout his entire body.
First with his heart beating faster than usual, then his ears twitching ever so slightly, and then a tear slipping out of his left eye, it was safe to say that Torrent was beyond scared.
Yet he wiped off a tear on his cheek, as he gave a deep breath, before walking directly into the Steelix's domain.
Torrent allowed Blaze to sneak into darkness, only for himself to walk onwards to the path that led to his new found hell.
It didn't take him too long to arrive there as well, for after a short walk up the rocky surface, he finally came face to face with the Steelix.
"So, you're the leader of this puny team?"
As frightened as Torrent was, he was too distracted by what was wrapped around the Steelix's tail, after looking closely, he gasped, knowing exactly what it was or rather who it was.
"Torrent, help. This Steelix, it's crushing me and the Sandshrews." Static cried weakly.
"And you seem to be the only one who has come to confront me, unlike your Charmeleon friend," The Steelix grinned with its wide metallic face.
Torrent gasped.
"Oh, come on, did you really think a Pokémon like me would fall for such stupid trap? In fact, I smell his presence now, lurking closer and closer, somewhere above," The Steelix grinned looking upwards momentarily.
And just then as Blaze appeared out of the alternate passage on Steelix's level, the Steelix smacked the tunnel with his tail, causing Blaze to fall into Steelix's den, and the falling boulders sealing the passage and pinned him.
"Blaze!"
Blaze was caught under the boulders, but obviously wasn't dead, he was visibly struggling to lift the boulders out of his path.
The Steelix grinned, at the sight of the Charmeleon struggling to join the fight.
"Ha, foolish Charmeleon, do you really think that you could take down a veteran like me?" He laughed, "I'm gonna make sure you and your friends suffer a long, and painful death," The Steelix grinned, as he followed up by blasting a hyper beam, in Torrent's direction.
Caught completely off guard, Torrent let out the loudest scream, as he was struck down onto the ground by the hyper beam.
Weak from the blow, Torrent could only gaze at the Steelix, right before being smashed with the Steelix's tail. Torrent's body collided against the cave's wall, knocking the wind out of him.
After two painful, and excruciating blows to the poor Wartortle, he was already giving into the pitfall of unconsciousness. Torrent tried his best to get up on his feet and launch himself into battle once again, but how could he possibly turn the tides against the Steelix now?
But, none of that mattered as Torrent froze and his eyes caught sight of Steelix's tail, high above him.
Torrent closed his eyes, sheltering himself with his arms.
Gahaha, the Steelix laughed. "Any last words hero?"
Gaining the last of his physical strength, Torrent's widened, as he got out of the shell, lifting himself up, making sure the Steelix could clearly hear his exact words.
"F-fuck you," Torrent said.
Steelix froze momentarily, completely baffled at the Wartortle's words and audacity. But the shock didn't last long, instead, it evolved into complete enragement.
Rather than smashing his tail to the ground, effectively crushing Torrent, and giving him a painful, but quick death, the Steelix dropped Static and the Sandshrews and wrapped his tail around Torrent's shell, hoisting him up in the air.
Torrent was lifted high into the air, now in the same eye level of the mighty Steelix himself.
"Would you be so kind as to repeat your words up here, so I can hear you nice and clearly?" Steelix said with a deadly calm.
And so, Torrent did. In fact, despite his massive anxiety of being ripped to shreds, he made sure to go out with a bang, and show his enemy no fear.
"Fuck. y-," Torrent choked, as the Steelix began tightening his grip around the Wartortle.
As Torrent was choking, he caught a glimpse of the Steelix's bloodshot eyes. It was at this moment, Torrent knew he just made a terrible decision that there is no turning back from. At first, the Steelix was mucking around with Team Bang, but now, he's pissed.
Once the Steelix was cursed again by the arrogant Wartortle, he tightened his grip against Torrent as much as he could before completely crushing him, as Torrent found it more and more difficult to try and squirm free or even breath.
As Torrent was about to lose all oxygen, a beam of flames shone bright into the Wartortles eyes, as Steelix cried out in pain. Shocked and completely caught off guard, the Steelix accidently released Torrent, causing another hard blow to Torrent. The Steelix turned to see who had just attacked him.
And to the Steelix's surprise, it was Blaze. And the Charmeleon wasn't happy.
"Gahaha, I thought I had you trapped, but I see that I was wrong. But, in the end, it doesn't matter. I will destroy you, whether nice and quick, or long and painful."
Blaze grinned.
"I wouldn't count on that you snake."
Blaze blasted another flamethrower, this time, he launched it directly at Steelix's face. The Steelix blocked the flamethrower with his tail, then followed up with a counter attack.
Steelix swung his gigantic tail at the Charmeleon. Blaze tried to dodge, but in the end, he was swatted like a fly, punishing Blaze with Blaze's head smashing hard against the rough surface of the cave wall.
Blaze shook his head, as he got back up. He wiped off the blood that had leaked out of his mouth, as let out a faint grunt.
Blaze charged up a metal claw attack, and made a dash towards the Steelix. The Steelix saw him coming from miles away and countered the Charmeleon with another hyper beam.
Once the hyper beam was shot, Blaze came to complete halt, as the hyper beam shined into his eyes. Blaze scream in pure fear, before being engulfed by the hyper beam. Blaze screamed in agony, as the hyper beam blasted through his scales. The hyper beam was so powerful, it was to the point where Blaze was thrown twenty feet into the air, thrusting him in the ceiling. Blaze immediately fell hard onto the ground.
Torrent and the Steelix could only see smoke and dust, from where the Charmeleon had been blasted.
Once the smoke had finally cleared enough to see, Steelix grinned evilly at the "beautiful" sight of a brutally injured Charmeleon, with blood dripping out of his mouth and off his snout, along with Blaze smelling like a barbeque.
However, as injured and beatdown as Blaze may have been, he slowly opened his eyes, and his voice had been replaced with nothing but groans.
Being brutally beaten, Blaze found great difficulty in getting back in the fight. It was as if he had been buried under cement.
Yet, his rage and adrenaline kept him from giving up. But even being the cocky, selfish Pokémon, he was, could that keep him from collapsing from the heat of battle?
With all his strength gathered up, he readied up a flamethrower, brighter and bigger than either of his previous ones. With his flamethrower all charged up, he let out the biggest blast of flames yet, landing it all over the Steelix's hard, steel body.
And while this did do damage, it wasn't enough. The Steelix grinned as he delivered Blaze the final blow with his tail, rendering the Charmeleon unconscious.
Torrent gasped in total shock. Blaze, the aggressive powerhouse, taken out in barely minutes.
Torrent gazed upward, his eyes meeting the Steelix's.
"Sorry Wartortle, but it seems your petty excuse of a friend has failed in saving the day." Steelix grinned. "I guess that doesn't matter now, not after I'm done squishing you to pieces."
Torrent grunted at this, only for his eyes to widen, once he saw the Steelix's tail quickly swinging towards him.
For once, Torrent could not find the strength within him to come face to face to the Steelix, as Torrent immediately closed his eyes and hid inside his shell. He hated to admit it, but he really just felt like crying into someone's lap.
But, out of seemingly nowhere came a massive beam of electricity, another attack that caught the Steelix by surprise despite it obviously doing little to no damage.
Quickly, Torrent tried to escape out of the Steelix's view, but when he got back up, the Steelix unceremoniously smacked him unconscious before dealing with his new enemy.
Steelix turned to where the electricity had been shot from, only to reveal a tiny, yellow mouse Pokémon. It was Static.
"Great, more rodents to squash," the Steelix spit. "Aww, well then, it's only another little rodent to exterminate now."
Static had no comment, as she instead charged full speed at the Steelix. The Steelix kept his eyes on the energetic Pikachu, she'd chosen carefully when to strike. Once the Pikachu was close, the Steelix launched a counter attack, by swinging his tail in her direction.
Static smirked, as she jumped high into the air and landed on the Steelix's tail, only to jump off and land onto the Steelix's head.
"Gah, off me you little mouse!" The Steelix yelled, as he attempted to shake off the Pikachu.
Static held onto the Steelix's head, as the giant monstrous beast tried to shake her off, but to no avail. So, the Steelix resorted to smashing his head against the cave's wall, in the hopes of crushing the Pikachu. But, unfortunately for the Steelix, just when he was about to smash Static to little bits, Static slid down his back, meaning that Steelix was only doing damage to himself.
When the Steelix's plan failed, the snake tried catching Static with his tail. Static saw this, and wasted no time avoiding any swings from the tail.
The Steelix swung and swung again at his own back, but he was unable to hit the Pikachu, and just ended up doing even more damage to himself.
Static jumped off and dashed in front of the Steelix. She panted, as sweet condensed on her light fur.
The Steelix wasn't panting, but he was still tired of the constant harassment from the Pikachu.
The Steelix was getting fed up with the Pikachu constantly on the defensive. If only she was a bigger target, he thought.
"Congratulations young Pikachu. I'm surprised you've managed to stay in the line of battle for this long. But, just how long can you keep this up," the Steelix grinned.
Static grunted, as she rudely broke the conversation, and dashed to the left, and iron tailed the Steelix's side.
Off guard, Steelix counter attacked, by swinging his tail right at the small rodent. Static was struck by its immense power and collided harshly with the floor.
Static landed hard, and she should've been hurt enough to give the Steelix the time to lay the final blow, but, the amount of determination and adrenaline coursing through her veins was gifting her strength to head into the field of battle once more. And lucky for her, she was not alone this time, as she barely spotted the remaining Sandshrews coming in to aid her.
The Sandshrews nodded over to her direction, as they all dug underground before the Steelix could even notice their intrusion.
Static gazed up at the Steelix, as she stood consumed by his lingering, daunting shadow.
The Steelix grinned, he was out for blood.
He raised his tail, high above the Pikachu, only for his attack to backfire, as the Sandshrews revealed themselves from underground. Each and every one of them let loose everything they had left against the Steelix.
From rock smash, to metal claw, and to dig again, they threw anything they possibly could against the unstoppable killing machine. Though, the rag-tag crew never thought they would have the chance to say it, but it seemed as though they were actually turning the tides against the Steelix. Could they possibly defeat the beast?
There was only one way to find out.
"Keep him there, boys," Static grinned, as she charged full-speed towards the Steelix once again. She built up all her energy constructing another iron tail. Leaping high into the air, she smacked the Steelix hard with her tail.
While its steel skin kept the Steelix strongly protected, the Iron tail, combined with the attacks from the Sandshrews was slowly becoming a bit more than just a nuisance for him.
The gigantic monster knew he had to take action fast, or he could end up humiliated by a few pathetic rodents. So, he performed a complete three-sixty with his snake like body, turning his tail again into a deadly weapon.
With the Steelix's tail swinging full-speed around the cave, the Sandshrews and Static had little time to react to the deadly steel coated tail, but Static and most of the Sandshrews were lucky enough to dodge the tail in quick succession.
Unfortunately, two unlucky Sandshrews weren't able to avoid the tail. The two who were hit, were smacked hard on their small armored bodies, causing them to fly into the opposite wall.
Static once again climbed onto the Steelix's back. She sprinted upwards, dashing left and right, avoiding attacks from the massive metal beast.
After a few swings, the Steelix froze in place suddenly, only to reveal a grin on his horrifying face. He raised his tail high up the ground, as he smashed his tail onto the ground, as hard as the huge Steelix could, creating a massive earthquake.
With the deadly move now in the action, Static held onto the Steelix, now she was only a few mistakes away from losing her precious life.
Desperately trying to keep her grasp on the Steelix, she wouldn't even dare gaze at what danger the Sandshrews' could possibly be in. She just hung onto anything she could grab in this extremely distressing moment.
After what felt like hours, the earthquake had finally stopped. Static had luckily managed to survive the earthquake, unharmed. But what about the Sandshrews'?
She looked down, and saw that Sandshrews' were okay after getting a hold of the Steelix too. Seeing that the Sandshrews' were in good shape, she used her small window of time to dash back up onto the Steelix's head, as she slashed the Steelix with yet another iron tail.
The Steelix groaned in pain, as Static's iron tails became more of a nuisance with each hit. Yet, it didn't matter. In the end, the hits were just a nuisance to the Steelix. A bit painful, but nothing deadly or even dangerous.
Even after a couple of flamethrowers, some iron tails and a beatdown from the Sandshrews', they'd barely scratched the surface of beating the beast into submission, all while, the nine survivors were struggling to even stay in the battle for mere minutes!
Steelix, seeing that he had tired out his remaining opponents, charged up yet another hyper beam, this time aiming his powerful weapon towards the opposing Sandshrews'.
None of the remaining Sandshrews' had taken notice, while they were strategizing for their upcoming attack. All of the Sandshrews', were punished for their shortsightedness by being struck down by a near fatal hyper beam.
As Static gave the Steelix all she had, she tried her absolute best to ignore the screams of agony from the Sandshrews' who had been inside the massive laser of destruction. But even with her pure rage against the Steelix, tears were beginning to fill her eye sockets. Not only were the screams from the Sandshrews' excruciatingly hard to listen to, but the thought of her meeting a similar fate, or even worse, was what truly troubled her.
Not only was the Steelix breaking Static down physically, but also mentally.
Once the hyper beam of energy had been used up from the Steelix, he successfully shook off the exhausted Pikachu, causing her to fall hard to the ground. On her back, Static rolled to the side trying desperately to get back onto her legs, but she was too late.
In a matter of seconds, after she'd avoided being crushed by the Steelix's tail, he came in for another attack, this time, wrapping the small mouse like Pokémon up inside his tail.
With the tail made out of steel, Static found no way to burst out, as the Steelix hoisted her up to his eye level.
The Steelix only grinned as he began tightening his grip against the poor Pikachu. Immediately, Static's eyes widened, as she felt her bones getting slowly crushed. Her heart pounded faster and faster, as she let out a loud scream.
Static's screams rang in Blaze's ears, his eyes bolted open. Despite his condition, he picked himself up from the ground, grunting the whole way. He gazed up at the towering beast, and spotted a little yellow rodent being held hoisted up by the Steelix.
"Static!" Blaze yelled.
Shocked by the familiar voice, the exhausted Pikachu gazed down to the ground, and spotted a flame of hope.
"...Blaze?" Static choked out.
Hearing Static's pain, Blaze part of the last of his reserves, as he blasted another flamethrower, directly towards the part of the Steelix's tail that was crushing the Pikachu.
Surprisingly despite Blaze's injuries, he had a perfect shot, successfully blasting Static free from the tail, without harming her. However, there was nothing Blaze could do as Static fell from high up towards the ground.
Static screamed again as she fell faster than lightning erupting from the clouds. Due to the height of the fall, she collided painfully with the rock ground so painfully that she could hear and most of all, feel her bones break.
Tears spewed out of her eyes, as the pain swept into every part of being. However, were she not to keep going, she would meet a brutal and undeserved fate. So, despite the amount of pain, she rose up from the cold stone floor, and wiped off the blood that was leaking out of her mouth.
Meanwhile, Blaze bought Static sometime, with blasting more flamethrowers at the Steelix.
Two had hit, but the rest were shielded by the Steelix's tail, which led to the tail smacking the Charmeleon back into the pit of unconsciousness.
Fortunately for Blaze though, he succeeded in his goal of buying Static time, but would it be enough?
Static, dashed through the cave, the state of her condition showing through, as she occasionally grunted and mistepped her footing as well.
And with the injuries plaguing Static's ability to fight on, the Steelix had the clear advantage.
As he launched his gigantic maw to bite the Pikachu in half, he underestimated Static's mobility. She dashed to the left, and countered with an iron tail.
The Steelix recoiled with his tail behind his steel body, as he drifted his attention appraisingly towards Static.
"Not bad, young Pikachu," the Steelix grinned. "Your bravery, endurance, and speed are quite admirable; yet, you cannot hide the fear that you're trying to suppress. I see it, trying to burst out, but your desperate will to show no fear is what is truly destroying the only thing that hasn't been lost yet. Your mental health. Tell me, young one. What brought you and your "friends" the strength to traverse down this dangerous den, curiosity? Glory? Greed? Which of these three was it young one?"
Static smiled, as she stood from down on all four, and onto her back legs, facing the Steelix, and looking him dead in the eye.
"None of those three that you mention there, big guy. It's quite a simple answer, I'm surprised you couldn't guess our reason for coming here, you must feel like such an idiot right now, eh, big guy?" Static smiled, putting her small arms onto her hips.
"Oh, then tell me young one, who are you and why have you come here. Fail to answer my question in the next five seconds, and I will rip you in half, meaning I'll have to get more blood all over my shiny, slender body. And I'm sure we both don't want that now do we?"
"Like to be neat and tidy you? Well then, tell me Mr neat and tidy. Why are we in this filthy den?" Static joked.
But it was no joke to the Steelix at all, as Static's words were the breaking point for the Steelix. Without any heed or warning, the Steelix lashed his tail at Static, almost wrapping the Pikachu into another death trap, making the Steelix's sudden snap obvious to Static.
Static was lucky enough to dodge the Steelix's tail, but the same unfortunately could not be said for the Steelix's teeth.
The Steelix counter attacked with his maw, and for once, the Steelix had finally managed to hit the quick Pikachu, with him just nicking her arm, almost ripping the entirety of her arm off in one deft motion.
Static let out a massive scream, as tears spewed out of her eye sockets, as stars clouded her vision.
She clenched what was left of her arm, as the pain was immeasurable. Static knew she needed a good counter attack, and not just to weaken the Steelix, but to eliminate him from the battle once and all if she had any hope of survival.
Just about when the Steelix was about to launch another bite, Static jumped on top of his head, desperate to find a weakness.
Static continued to climb up and down on the Steelix, before she saw the burn marks left by Blaze's flamethrower on the Steelix's temple from earlier on in the battle.
Knowing that this was her only chance to come out of the den with her life, along with her friends, she built up the strength to gather the energy for, yet, another iron tail. With everything hanging in the balance based on her landing the blow or not. She smashed her tail down as hard as she could.
The Steelix froze momentarily, before he then slowly collapsed to the floor, an earthquake erupting the entire time.
Fortunately for Team Bang though, the Steelix didn't land on anyone, not back on Static, or Torrent, or Blaze, nor any of the Sandshrews'.
Static grinned as she crawled awkwardly off of the Steelix on her two back legs, she winced and had to bite her tongue until it bled as she tried to stop her lifeblood from draining out of what was left of her arm. Static let out a sigh, at her success in giving her and her friends the victory.
Static looked around, and saw the damage that the Steelix had done to her teammates. On the left side of the cave, she saw Torrent lying down on his belly, his arms stretched outward, covered in bruises.
On her right, was Blaze on his back, blood still leaking out of his nostrils, running down past his eyelids. Bruises covered his body. Lying alongside Blaze were the remaining Sandshrews, also lying unconscious.
Luckily, they were all still alive. Unconscious, but alive. But they were in critical condition and with blood gushing out of the remains of her arm, she was in just as much danger as her teammates were, if not worse.
Static grew into a panic, as the excess adrenaline wore off and she tried to find anything that could stop the bleeding.
She grabbed her bag that was lying on the floor. She unzipped it, and she reached her intact arm inside the bag.
Feeling through all the objects inside the bag, she eventually came across something soft.
She pulled the soft object out of the bag, and found that it was a roll of bandages. Seeing her own blood loss, Static looked back at the bandages. As much as she didn't want to suffer through the pain of touching the wound, she wanted to die even less and grimacing, she began wrapping the remains of her bleeding arm with the roller bandage.
Static took a deep breath. She brought her only arm to wrap the bandage around the bloody stump. Once the bandage touched the wound, Static hissed and tears leaked from her eyes, as a sharp spike of pain struck her. She clenched her teeth together, as and cursed under her breath.
"Gah, it hurts," Static moaned to herself.
She clenched her teeth against her lip, making it bleed, until finally she was done wrapping with the bandage. Static gave a sigh of relief as she grabbed the communicator from her bag.
Surprisingly, the signal still worked, despite being so deep inside the cave.
Upon pressing a button, Artie's relieved face was revealed on the communicator.
"Stati- Oh by the Arceus where's your left arm!" Artie yelled in complete shock and terror.
"Artie, this isn't the time, Torrent, Blaze, the Sandshrews, and I all need medical assistance right away!"
Still shaken by the sight of his friend's lost arm, Artie didn't question her order.
But there was one question still on his mind. Why didn't she mention the Razor? Artie however, obviously knew that this wasn't the time to ask questions, so he left the question in his head until Team Bang was safe and sound.
"Alright Static, but do know that I cannot teleport everyone back to base, my teleportation skills are limited you know?"
Static sighed. She felt bad for leaving the Sandshrews to fend for themselves for now, but she has no other choice.
So, Static began trying to wake the Sandshrews'. Normally, this would usually be near impossible, but since the Sandshrews had taken less of the beating they woke up, tand relatively smooth, but not without emitting groans from the sudden pain.
"I'm very sorry to wake you, I know how exhausted you all must be, but the Steelix will wake up soon. There is no way Artie will be capable of teleporting everyone back to base. That unfortunately means we can only take half of you guys, and I'm sure you lot don't enjoy the idea of being separated. Are you guys capable of making it back to your homes yourselves?"
The Sandshrews were all shocked that the Steelix had fallen, even now only half a dozen feet away from them was his unconscious body.
Relieved, they all nodded faster than they ever have.
"Yes, brave Pikachu, we can escape here before the Steelix wakes up!" One of the Sandshrew's said, as all the Sandshrews had donned appreciative smiles on their faces.
The Steelix had been a demon throughout their entire lives, so they'd never thought that it was even remotely possible to see it fall with their own eyes. The Sandshrews all took one last look at their heroes, as they departed from the scene. They ran, not looking back. They had freedom to look forward to now.
Static sighed. At last, a long, painful mission could finally be out of her mind.
"Okay Artie, the Sandshrews are taken care of now. Take us home. My eyes have had more than enough of this blood ridden den."