Welcome back!
As I type this A/N, eating pizza, I would like to say that chapters are going to be longer after this. At the same time, I'm doubling the time I work on this, so chapters should come out around the same time they do now. This way, you guys get more content per update.
Anyways, see you at the bottom.
Chapter Nineteen: Spirit of The Wall
I could only grunt in surprise and fear as Tranchant slowly ambled his way toward me. He was limping, due to the kick Sarah had given him, but his pupiless eyes were focused intently on me and he seemed poised to strike.
"Bonjour… M-Marcus… Fuck that hurt…" He said in between heavy breaths. He stopped for a moment, readjusted himself, and spoke once more. "No matter, I still have plenty of energy to try to kill you! More or less anyway." He said. Sarah stepped in front of me, protectively.
"As if! You may have all of your fancy amplified powers, but Xerneas could still beat the shit out of you!" Sarah yelled. Tranchant snapped his fingers and let out a little chuckle.
"Aha, but there are two things you haven't thought about! One, Xerneas seems to be somewhere else at the moment. Now, you could make a commotion and attract her attention, but this leads to the second thing. I actually have no idea how well my powers work against her. I know they compensate more than enough for my weakness to normal Fairy types, but I don't know how well they work against Legendaries." Tranchant did a playful little wink at me. "So! How about we find out, eh Marcus?" He challenged.
Without waiting for so much as a response, he jumped toward me, intent on mangling my face. I quickly tried to move out of the way, but he grazed my arm with his claws. Leaving a large gash. Immediate pain shot through my body, and it took everything I had to keep from screaming. Tranchant chuckled as he landed behind me. I quickly turned around to find him preparing to lung again, but Grace blasted him with Psybeam. The attack didn't phase him. Damnit, Dark types are immune to psychic attacks!
"You think that'll cut it, Gardevoir? I have the type advantage!" He yelled. He spun a claw around quickly, forming a dark ball and launched it at Grace. It made a direct impact, and knocked Grace to the ground immediately, the sheer force of the attack being too much for her. Tranchant laughed and returned his attention to me. "Ok, that was mildly annoying, but I'm not here to mess with your Pokemon. I only need you." He said, twirling his claw again and conjuring an icy ball.
Reshiram and Zekrom attempted to attack Tranchant, but he quickly used Icicle Crash. The attack hit both of them directly, and Zekrom immediately collapsed, letting out a bellow. I cringed as I thought of the pain he must have experienced. I'd heard ice attacks were incredibly painful to Dragon Types. Reshiram was still relatively okay though, and she prepared Fusion Flare, but Tranchant used Icicle Crash once again. This time, it did her in, and she collapsed next to Zekrom.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Snek slithering behind Tranchant, preparing to take him by surprise. Fortunately for me, the dead Weavile didn't seem to notice, as he was too focused on me. Snek sprang up from the ground, sinking his teeth into Tranchant's neck. Tranchant let out a scream of pain and frantically shook his head, attempting to throw Snek off of him. Snek managed to cling on, and sink his teeth in harder, drawing blood. The Weavile screamed in rage and grabbed Snek, ripped him out, and tossed him aside. He looked at me, his grin now replaced by a furious grimace and his white eyes narrowed in hatred. He ran at me, yelling in pure, unbridled anger, claws ready and his hands glowing with ice, intended to freeze my heart. Instinctually, I put my hands in front of me in a puny attempt at self defense.
But all of a sudden, Sammy came out of nowhere and tackled Tranchant, an impressive feat considering an Oshawott's rather small size. Tranchant flailed and scrambled in blind fury as he tried to get Sammy off of him.
"What the hell are you doing, Oshawott!? Get off of me!" He yelled. Sammy did his best to keep Tranchant down.
"No! I won't let you hurt Marcus!" Sammy yelled. Tranchant flailed more frantically.
"Have you considered that it might actually be a good thing if I kill him!? It would save me and a lot of others some unnecessary suffering! What good has Arceus ever done us anyway?" Tranchant asked. He looked at me. "Did that little story I told you have any impact on your opinion of him whatsoever?" I didn't respond, too surprised to do anything. Tranchant growled. "Well!?" He yelled.
"I-I…" Was all I could sputter out. Tranchant grinned and let out a snicker.
"Sure, it must be easy for your kind to be ok with him. I belonged to a noble family in life, who devoutly worshipped Arceus, so it's not like I'm ignorant on the big guy. But my experiences in life and death have shown me that Arceus is just a piece of shit!" Tranchant slammed a fist on the ground. "What kind of god just shoves everyone who disagrees with him into a state of eternal suffering? Is that a just god, Marcus? Is that a just god!?" He said, his voice rising back to a yell.
I couldn't reply. The consolation Sarah gave me was doing little to help me now, and my thoughts returned to Arceus and this conflict with what everyone perceived him to be. Tranchant squirmed some more.
"I'm not too into whatever it is Giratina and the Alolan are trying to do, but they seem to have their hearts in the right place. Whatever their vision for the world is, it's gotta be better than that arrogant llama!" Tranchant said. Sammy grabbed his shell and slashed Tranchant's back with it, eliciting another scream of pain.
"I don't know much about Arceus, but you can't just hurt people!" Sammy yelled.
"Oh you're going to paint me as the bad guy, are you?" Tranchant snapped back.
"Yes! You're being mean to us just because we're on Arceus' side!" Sammy said.
"I'm doing it for my freedom! What do you have to gain from helping that divine piece of shit?" Tranchant replied. Sammy didn't have an answer… and I honestly didn't either. Tranchant took advantage of this and kicked Sammy off of him. He let out a short, high pitched whine as he flew several meters, and I could feel my fistss begin to clench in anger.
Rather than turning his attention back to me, Tranchant kept his focus on Sammy, who was now recovering from being kicked. Particles of ice were beginning to form around Tranchamt's claws. Another ice attack, this time directed at Sammy. Sammy noticed this as well, and drew his shell, ready to fight back.
Before I could intervene, the two jumped at each other. Sammy used Razor Shell and blocked Tranchant's claws. The two held that position for a few moments, before Tranchant jumped back and quickly maneuvered behind Sammy, striking him in the backside. Sammy stumbled a bit, but managed to recover, and shot out a burst of water at Tranchant, causing him to stumble as well. The Weavile fired back with a blast of dark energy coming from his claws. Sammy countered with another water blast. The two attacks collided and canceled each other out.
Tranchant growled and jumped at Sammy, who tried to counter with Razor Shell, but he was too slow and Tranchant tackled him to the ground. Sammy tried to flail to get the gnashing Weavile off of him, but to no avail. Tranchant began to scratch Sammy repeatedly, creating large gashes. He was screaming now, and I couldn't stand by anymore.
Without thinking, I ran as fast as I could and kicked Tranchant with all my might. Just as when Sarah did it, the kick sent him flying several meters. Tranchant landed with a small thud and didn't get up. Had I knocked him out? I decided to tend to Sammy first before making sure. Tranchant had done quite a number on him. Several gashes lined his body all of which were bleeding profusely. I tried not to panic. A simple potion would fix this.
I called for Sarah, who was tending to Snek, and asked her for a potion. She nodded and went to fetch one from a bag. I looked back at Sammy, who was breathing heavily.
"M...Marcus…" He sputtered out. I reassuringly patted his head.
"It's ok, Sammy. Sarah's getting you a potion right now. You'll be fixed up in no time." I said. Sammy nodded his head, barely looking at me. I was about to ask Sarah what was taking her so long with the potion, when a powerful force hit the side of my face, tackling me to the ground.
"Gotcha, Marcus!" The all too familiar voice of Tranchant gloated. Dammit! He caught me off guard while I was tending to Sammy. What was I going to do now? He pinned me to the ground, and held a claw to my throat. I could only let out a few frightened grunts.
"You really should pay more attention to your surroundings. Oh well, not that it matters now." He moved the claw slightly against my throat, drawing some blood. "Au revoir… Marcus." Tranchant said, giggling in excitement, as he prepared to slash his claw across my throat, killing me. I braced for the inevitable pain that was sure to come… But I was instead met with a cry from Tranchant as something was thrown at him, causing him to fall off of me. Quickly, I scrambled to stand up before Tranchant could recover and pin me again.
As I was getting up, I noticed the object that had been thrown at the Weavile. A shell, Sammy's shell. I looked to where I'd left Sammy to find him limping over to me. He was clutching his stomach, which had a large gash across it, and was breathing heavily. I quickly rushed over to help him.
"Sammy, are you okay?" I asked. I immediately chastised myself for asking that. Of course he wasn't. Sammy only coughed up some blood in response. I heard more coughing, but from another, more distant source. Turning my attention to this source, I found it to be Tranchant, who was staggering towards me, coughing.
"Oh… I think you knocked the wind outta me…" The Weavile said, punctuating this with a coughing fit. I tried to look around for some help, someone to cover for Sammy and I. Reshiram and Zekrom were still recovering from Tranchant's ice attacks, Grace and Snek were still unconscious, I left Frenc in my bag (not that he could do much anyway), Sarah was still inside fetching the potion, and I had no idea where Xerneas and Absalon were.
To my dismay, Sammy stood in front of me and weakly held up his arms in a vain attempt to shield me.
"S-Sammy, stop it! You're in no condition to fight!" I protested. Sammy shook his head. He looked at me, and his face had the most serious expression I'd ever seen him have. It hit me just how different Sammy was from his usual cheery self. He looked like he was fully committed to this battle.
"I don't wanna just sit by while he tries to hurt you again!" He replied. I was shocked that he was this determined to continue, even in this state. "When he attacked us last time, I couldn't do anything. I haven't done anything in any of our fights with TDA either! You chose me to help you fight TDA, but I haven't done a single thing!" He continued. I didn't respond. I didn't think I could respond. He turned back to Tranchant. "I want to show you that I can do something. I won't let him hurt you, Marcus!" Sammy yelled with determination.
At that moment, a bright glow began to envelop Sammy. My Oshawott took his attention off of Tranchant to marvel at the energy surrounding him. "M-Marcus, what's happening!?" Sammy said, slightly panicked. I didn't know… When have Pokemon just started glow-
Wait… It can't be…
But it was. Sammy was completely covered in the glow now, and I could no longer see him. His form began to change shape, becoming taller, skinnier. I couldn't believe it… I knew this day would come, but I didn't expect it to be this soon. And yet, just as soon as it had started, the glow faded, revealing Sammy's new Dewott form.
His injuries had healed, and he looked much more serious than he had before. From behind me I heard something approaching. I whipped my head around to find Sarah, with a shocked look on her face, holding the potion I had requested. She smirked and threw the potion aside.
"Well, I'll be. He evolved, didn't he? Guess you won't be needing that potion right now, huh?" She said. I shrugged and looked back toward Sammy and Tranchant. The two stared each other down, glaring daggers at one another. Eventually, Sammy charged, shell in hand, toward the dead Weavile. Tranchant let out a little cry and charged as well.
Tranchant might have stood a chance against Sammy, had he not already become tired from fighting. The restorative effects of evolving had given Sammy an edge, and he easily slashed Tranchant over and over again, screaming in rage the whole time. Tranchant tried to fight back, but Sammy was too much for him, so he instead ran away from Sammy, toward the unconscious body of Grace. He put a claw to her neck.
"Nobody move or the Gardevoir gets it!" He threatened. Yet immediately after he said this, a blast of pink energy hit him, sending him flying off of Grace. Looking to where the attack had come from, we found the assailant to be none other than Xerneas.
"What art thou doing here, spirit? Return to whence thy came!" Xerneas yelled. Tranchant shook his head.
"No! Fuck this! I'm outta here!" He began to run away. Xerneas fired another blast of Fairy energy, but Tranchant was too fast for it, and the blast dissipated before it reached him. And just like that, he had gotten away again, speeding off into the distance.
And with Tranchant's retreat, I was left with a million buzzing thoughts. What else is new? Sammy had just evolved, something that would no doubt affect his personality, as evolutions tended to do. In addition, Tranchant had managed to stir up my uneasy feelings on Arceus, something I'd wanted to put aside until after we had wrapped up things in Kalos. Yet, I couldn't get them off my mind now. I knew what I had to do. I looked toward Reshiram and Zekrom, who were just starting to recover from their injuries. That Icicle Crash must have been more potent than I thought. Without waiting, I approached her. Her blue eyes fixated on me.
"Marcus! I'm so glad you're safe! And Sammy evolved, that's wonderful! If we keep this up, perhaps Frenc can evolve t-" I stopped her. I needed to get everything off of my chest right now, or it would just continue to eat at me.
"Reshiram… We need to talk."
Well, it finally happened, Sammy's first evolution! What a milestone!
Anyways, thanks for reading! As always, leave a review if you disliked something, or even if you just want to say you like the story.
See you next time!
