To Robin everything seemed like a blur. A couple of minutes ago, a Pokémon highly regarded as myth, Darkrai; had appeared in front of her demanding her surrender for apparently trapping it in Remnant. Then after students from the four academies stepped in to protect her, Darkrai effortlessly trapped nearly all of them into an eternal nightmarish slumber. Now that same mythical Pokémon was charging straight at her aiming to take her life, her only defence riding in four simple souls.
Darkrai glided across the ground at blinding speed, faster than Robin could react, its aggression making it clear she was the prime target. It swiped it arm forward to strike her when two sharp streaks of metal parried the blow. Darkrai's eyes narrowed in opposition against Ruby and Weiss who reacted in time to block with their weapons.
"We're…not going to let you get away with this!" Weiss resisted as her and Ruby were just barely to hold the Pitch-Black Pokémon back.
Ruby tightened her grip on her weapon. "Blake! Yang! Go!"
The two named partners jumped over their two teammates with their weapons raised and ready. Yang swung her fist down hard to crush Darkrai into the ground when it vanished in place, leaving Yang to punch the earth underneath.
"Where'd it go?!" Yang cried out.
"Right behind you." Darkrai answered, reappearing behind Yang's back. "Feint Attack!"
Darkrai viciously struck Yang in her blind spot, knocking her tumbling back across the ground into the distance. A dark shadow cast itself over Darkrai's back, followed by Blake falling from above with her Gambol Shroud unsheathed, preparing to cut Darkrai with the blade and sheath's edges. Darkrai quickly turned around to face her with a dark aura surging from its open palm.
"Dark Pulse!" Darkrai stretched its arm out, unleashing the familiar dark type attack. The speed and power of the move completely overwhelming Blake and launching her helplessly into the air. "If your only hope to win is to sneak up on a Dark type Pokémon, then you should give up now and save yourselves from a painful death."
Blake twirled in mid-air, landing back on her feet. "If you want to kill us. Then we're not going to make it easy for you."
Further back, Yang got to her feet and rolled her head around her neck, making it crack. "Yeah. You're going to have to hit me harder than that if you want me to stay down."
Blake and Yang rushed Darkrai from two sides to pincer it. Darkrai formed two pitch black orbs of darkness in its hands and crossed them across its chest. "Dark Void!"
Flinging its arms outwards, the sleep-inducing move was thrown on two sides towards the huntresses in training. Their eyes widened, dodging immediately and rolling out of the way to avoid being put to sleep. Darkrai scowled at their evasiveness but quickly shifted its attention back at their main objective.
When it dashed back towards Robin, Ruby and Weiss briefly looked to each other before nodding in agreement. Ruby folded up her weapon into its Rifle Configuration and began firing round after round at Darkrai, forcing it to disappear and reappear intermittently to avoid her fire. Weiss spun the barrel on Myrtenaster until ice Dust was loaded. A white glyph appeared behind her in accordance with Weiss pulling her weapon back. She gently gestured her blade through the air, signalling the glyph behind her to fire an icicle at rapid speeds. The glyph disappeared only for another to take its place as Weiss repeated the cycle to fire more and more frigid attacks.
The two partners unleashed a barrage of ranged attacks that forced Darkrai to constantly reposition in order to dodge. Darkrai growled as dark aura began to surge from itself. "Dark Pulse!"
The wave of black aura spread forward, completely breaking through all of Ruby and Weiss' ranged attacks as it closed in. Thinking quickly Weiss spun her weapons' barrel again to hard light Dust and positioned herself in front of Ruby, holding her weapon in a defensive stance to form a translucent hard-light screen that took the brunt force of the attack. Despite the raised defences, the move's power was still so great that it shoved the two girls far back, leaving Robin unprotected.
"Finally!" Darkrai repositioned itself and boosted forward in a surge of acceleration, making up the ground between it and Robin in almost no time.
Rose petals blew past Darkrai's face, pre-emptively warning it to Ruby running straight at him with petals following her. Darkrai's thoughts went back to Ruby's pre-emptive attack against it, when Robin tried to surrender.
"It appears that speed before was no mere fluke…since when did humans obtain this power?"
Darkrai didn't have long to ponder the thought when Ruby came close enough to unfold her scythe and twirl her body around to cut off its head. Darkrai suddenly dropped to the ground, submerging his lower body into his shadow to duck under the attack. Ruby responded quickly and kept the momentum going by twisting her weapon and swinging low with its blunt end. Darkrai jumped out of its shadow to soar over the second swing and float in mid-air. Ruby quickly configured her weapon back into Rife Configuration while looking through the scope to get a clear shot when Darkrai vanished in place using Feint Attack. She repositioned herself repeatedly to find it, when Darkrai materialised directly in front of her. She could only gasp when Darkrai suddenly punched Ruby in the face to send her skidding onto her back.
"Or perhaps it was a fluke." Darkrai sighed. "I tire of this. I'll take what I came for and deal with you all then." Darkrai muttered to the scattered Huntresses before focusing its attention on the now defenceless Robin, charging straight at her.
While short, the time Robin had was just enough to press the button on the Pokéball's in her grasp. "Beedrill!"
The capsule opened, sending out the Poison Bee Pokémon with all three of its stingers poised and ready to fight. The sudden reveal of another Pokémon made Darkrai momentarily hesitate, letting Robin's eyes light up with an opening.
"Beedrill use Fell Stinger!" Robin ordered.
Beedrill's pointed its abdominal stinger forward, making it glow light purple before charging stinger first into Darkrai's chest. The Super-Effective hit made Darkrai's eyes widen and a wheeze escaped from its non-visible lips when its body was propelled off the stinger by the impact. Forcing Darkrai to make some distance between them and stand back up on its leg protrusions.
"See that? I can handle you just fine. I knew it would have been better if everyone just left me to fight you alone." Robin bragged, while she thought about her next move.
"Perhaps…or perhaps you are as weak as the other humans. The only difference being you have the Pokémon you captured serving as your personal shield!" Darkrai's words slowly chipped away at Robin's ego, making her leer. "After all I've seen your dreams. You think you can defeat me? You aren't even a match for the other trainer here, or your regions' highest-ranking champion…or him."
At the mention of her nightmare Robin's eyes widened and her teeth gritted. "That's enough! Beedrill! Pin Missile!"
Beedrill's three stingers glowed with insect energy, followed by wave after wave off missiles fired straight at Darkrai. Darkrai quickly sidestepped away in a blur, seconds before the ground under them exploded.
"Keep firing! Don't let it get away!"
More missiles flew after Darkrai in quick pursuit. Tucking in its leg appendages, Darkrai glided over the ground while weaving through explosions on all sides. Four final missiles fell from the sky, covering Darkrai from all four corners, preventing its escape. The four explosions engulfed Darkrai in light and smoke, obscuring it from view.
Beedrill's buzzing sounded like panting, while he lowered his stingers. "BzzZZzzZz? (Think we got them?)"
Robin stared at the results of her Pokémon's attack, her eyes looking on hopefully. The rising smoke suddenly expanded and blew away when, following Darkrai leaping high into the air, looming over Robin from a distance.
Robin looked up at Darkrai, clenching her fists. "It dodged it…it dodged them all!"
The image of Darkrai began to falter and change, becoming something much more…familiar. An older woman with short light brown hair adorned in a fairy-like white attire. Loyally standing in front of her was a feminine Pokémon with snow white skin that resembled a ball gown on her lower half, with green 'hair' and two red horns extending out of its chest that resembled a heart shape.
Robin's teeth and fists were clenched harder as she felt her frustrations rise. "It's so strong, and so fast. I'm going to lose again aren't I?"
Beedrill turned back to look at Robin, buzzing at her reaction. "Bzzzz…BzZzzzZz. (Robin…This isn't the champion.)
Robin heard Beedrill's buzzing and looked up to him, heading back into reality. "Huh? Beedrill?"
Darkrai suddenly behind Beedrill, with its arm outstretched.
"Beedrill! Behind-!"
But Robin's warning came too late. Darkrai swatted Beedrill away with the back of its hand, making dark shockwaves ripple from Feint Attack's impact. Beedrill crashed into the ground, his mind ringing like the inside of a fire station and leaving Darkrai and Robin alone with each other.
"Was it not bad enough, taking us from the wild. Now you transport us to this place. Put us in cages. And use us as tools of violence and hate." A Dark Void began to form in Darkrai's clawed hand. "Now fall already!"
A bullet shot past Darkrai's head, making Darkrai stop his attack and turn his head to see Ruby holding her weapon from a distance.
In similar shock and annoyance Robin looked over to see her as well. 'She missed?! It was a stationary target!'
"You really insist on getting in my way don't you girl? Even when you are capable of changing nothing! As little as his bullet could do, at least the general could aim!" Darkrai pointed out.
"You're wrong! As long as I get in your way, I can change something! Even if all I can do is buy a few seconds, as long as I keep trying and keep changing then there's no way I'll let you hurt others with your nightmares again!" Ruby argued back, with her weapon raised.
Darkrai growled under his breath at Ruby's constant interference when something clicked. "Buying a few seconds?"
A small white glint shot through the air, colliding with Darkrai's clawed hand holding Dark Void and locking it in place inside a small white glyph. Darkrai's eye widened while struggling to remove its hand, when a second glint attached itself to its second arm to trap it as well.
"What is this?!" Darkrai demanded to know.
Robin shared Darkrai's confusion and looked around until she witnessed Weiss focusing on Darkrai, keeping it restrained. "We did warn you not to underestimate us. This is on you."
Ruby smirked, at her partners action. "Now! Bumblebee!"
At the name of the technique called out, Beedrill looked up. "Bzz? (Huh?)"
Ruby stared off to see Blake and Yang running up to each other, with Blake configuring her weapon into its Sickle Configuration. "You ready?"
Yang smiled and winked at her partner. "You know it! Now come on let's bee-at this guy already."
Blake couldn't help but smirk at Yang's pun as she threw her sickle forward. Yang caught the weapon in time with Blake pulling back on its ribbon to tighten it. Yang kicked herself off the ground and fired a shot from her gauntlets to build up speed. From her end Blake pulled the ribbon around her in a circular motion to get build up momentum and get Yang in position.
Darkrai struggled and grunted in place to escape against the glyphs held its arms trapped in mid-air. Its gaze looked down at Ruby with a dark glare before tightening its grip using all its strength to attempt breaking free.
With enough speed and now flying towards Darkrai, Yang fired another shot from her gauntlet while letting go of the ribbon, slingshotting herself through the air. Robin and Ruby looked desperately at Yang soaring towards Darkrai while it slowly began stretching the glyphs.
Weiss narrowed her eyes. "I'm not sure how long it can hold…"
Darkrai gave a loud cry exerting all its physical strength, shattering the glyph restraints. Yang gasped as Darkrai rose higher into the air to avoid the team attack.
"Hmph…Too-"
The sound of snapping fingers was immediately followed by Darkrai lurching forwards, crying out in pain. Flying behind him was Beedrill, stabbing it in the back with another Fell Stinger. Darkrai felt the impact lower itself when it noticed the worst part of the attack. The stabbing motion had pushed right back into the flight path of Yang who pulled her arm back with a sly grin.
"Alright creepy! Now it's your turn to take a dirt nap!" Yang cried out as she threw all her force into a brutal punch that smashed Darkrai's jawline. The mythical Pokémon could hardly register the powerful blow when the barrels of Yang's gauntlets ignited in a fiery explosion at point blank range, sending Darkrai crashing into the ground with a sudden eruption of dirt on impact.
Yang landed on the ground on a knee with her fist pushing the earth. She quickly stood up straight to see Beedrill hover down to her level.
"Not bad." She applauded.
"BzzzZzz BzzzzZz (I'm not the one you should be praising.)" Beedrill jabbed his stinger toward Robin in the distance.
A second later Robin was visited by Ruby, who ran right up to her. "Phew. That was close, if you hadn't sent your bee to help out then-"
"Save it." Robin cut off. "The fact is like it or not, the only reason Beedrill landed that move was because you four divided its attention. If we keep co-ordinating our attacks then maybe we stand a chance at beating it."
"Sounds like a plan, temporary team member. Let's take this guy down Huntress style." Ruby positively agreed.
Robin disapprovingly shook her head in response. "Good grief…you're more of a clueless optimistic goof then Kai is."
The dust settled and Darkrai raised its head to glare at its opponents as Weiss and Blake re-convened with the others. The trees and grass in the plateaux rustled in response to Darkrai getting back up as he gave an angry low growl.
"…"
At the main campsite another trainer's mind was rushing when Kai ran from tent to tent trying to find someone, anyone.
"What's going on? Why isn't anyone here? Even when people were collecting items there was still always a handful of people sitting around." Kai thought out loud. "I was only asleep for twenty, maybe thirty minutes. When did this place become abandoned?"
Kai peeped through another tent, seeing it empty with people's bags and belongings littered inside. Taking his head out of the tent he looked around to see the four airships that transported them still in the same place as they had been for the other days. Using his Perception once again Kai could hear the sounds of conflict somewhere in the plateaux but couldn't pin point where, it didn't help that the number of people murmuring from that great a distance suddenly dropped drastically too.
"Well it doesn't look like people were preparing to leave for Beacon anytime soon. So why did they leave and where did they go? Come on Kai think! Think!" Kai furrowed his brow in thought, trying to use any logic or memory to figure out what was going on. "If Ruby or Jaune or the others went off somewhere they'd be sure to tell someone right? Or…or leave a message!"
Kai rummaged through his pocket, pulling out his scroll. Sure, enough he had a new message which he quickly opened.
"Students. I am sure that despite my efforts, I have done little to distil the anxiety and fear you must be feeling."
Ironwood's words came out of the message with Kai listening to every word, beginning to learn why everyone had left. When the message ended Kai's, scroll showcased a map of the plateaux with the area everyone headed to being marked.
Kai stared down at his scroll with a serious frown. "Damn it, I figured things out too late. The situations probably escalated too far already!"
Kai's Perception enhanced sense of smell caught a whiff of a sweet aroma, letting him look down to see Slurpuff approaching him.
"Kai Parfume. The parfume's of everyone here, they have wafted off together in the same direction." Slurpuff explained.
Kai nodded, putting his scroll away. "Yeah, I realised. Come on Slurpuff we have to hurry. We don't have time for Greninja and the others to get back here. We'll have to come back later, tight now we don't have a second to waste!"
Kai ran off with Slurpuff keeping up close behind him, his goal laser focused and his Perception keeping him aware. A brief image of the figure in his nightmare flashed in Kai's head making him take a long serious breath.
'As long as I can do something! I won't let anything like that happen again! Ruby…Robin…everyone…just hold on a bit longer…'
Kai stared at her trainer and sniffed. "Kai Parfume…I have not seen your parfume this distressed since…"
3 Years ago…
Kalos Route 7, otherwise known as 'Rivière Walk' was well known for being nothing but a single path from the beginning to the end of the route, in fact it is the longest single road in Kalos. Along its long road lay many exits: Camphrier Town, Route 6, The berry fields, even housing the Battle Chateaux for the most elite trainers. But at its exit was Connecting Cave.
To the south of the cave was a lowly patch of tall grass that housed the toxic Croagunk and Roselia. The curious Ducklett and Smeargle. The buggy Volbeat and Illumise. And in this case, the small, fluffy, and sugary cotton candy Pokémon named Swirlix.
In the gentle Winter winds, the Swirlix blew through the air, fluttering gently across the breeze like white puffy clouds of air. Of the heard of Swirlix there was one among the rest that seemed a bit…odd. She floated about with her nose raised, constantly sniffing and taking in the wide array of smells that the season brought about.
"Swirl. Swirlix Swirlix. Swirlix Swirlix. (Ah. What a pleasant parfume today has brought. So many new parfume's to be discovered.)"
Her nose twitched and she noticed a small hoard of Roselia all grouped around together, their rosy aroma attracting her like a freshly picked bouquet. Gently floating down to them she interrupted their grazing and began sniffing at their feet.
"Rose?! Roselia Rose?! (Huh?! What are you doing?!)" One Roselia cried out.
"Rose! Roselia?! Roselia! (Yeah! Are you sniffing us?! You creep!)" A second Roselia called out.
"Swirlix Swirlix. Swirl Swirlix Swilix Swirlix Swirl. (Good parfume to you all. Please pardon my parfume but I could not resist that delightful parfume you all were applying to this route)."
"Rose?! Rose?! Roselia?! (Parfume?! What's that?! Is that some kind of insult?!)"
"Roselia! Roselia! (You want to smell us! Then take a whiff of this!)"
The five Roselia didn't take too kindly to their interruption and glared at the Cotton Candy Pokémon with their twin coloured rosy hands pointed out. Swirlix failed to understand their intent and went in for a closer sniff when all five simultaneous shot a rain of poison barbs at her. Blasting her away in agony with painful poison.
"Roselia Rose! (And don't come back you weirdo!)"
The Roselia hoard walked off, leaving Swirlix to pick herself up and lick her sores. Swirlix whines in sadness at her rejection but picked herself up and sniffed the air again to pick up another parfume. This time coming from the sweet honey at the bottom of Combee. Then the pollen emitted from Flabébé flowers. Then the powerful perfume punch of Spritzee. All three ended the same, with pain and rejection as Swirlix was beaten and pushed around for only trying to stop and smell the roses. And sadly, this was a common occurrence for the Fairy type, perhaps it was rude of her to admire the unique smells of strangers, even from her own kind. But it was in her nature and her passion to embrace the joy these parfume's could provide her.
Picking herself up after another failure, she caught the whiff of a…strange parfume. One that she couldn't even describe. Popping out from the tall grass and heading towards the entrance of Connecting Cave she saw a strange trainer, accompanied by a thin blue frog with frubbles around its neck, an orange hot-headed bird and a floating one-eyed sword resting in its sheath.
"Fro. Froa aaaaaaaa dier! (Well. We're Waaaaaitiiing Kai!)" The blue frog like Pokémon called out.
"Honedge. Honedge. Honedge, Honedge. (Be patient Frogadier. It is not in our place to rush Sire. Only when the time is right, shall we follow him through new land.)" The sword Pokémon reasoned.
"Frogadier. Frogadier Froga. Dier Frogadier. (Listen I know you're still new here. But you don't need to kiss up to Kai all the time you know. It's okay to call him out when he's being dumb.)" Frogadier explained.
"Honedge Honedge! (You dare question our Sire's intelligence!)"
The bird Pokémon suddenly flew in-between the two. "Fletch, Fletchinder Fletch…Fletchinder Fletch. FLETCHINDER FLETCHINDER FLETCHINDER! FLETCHINDER FLETCHINDER! (Look, as much as it sickens me to say it…Frogadier does have a point. WE'VE BEEN SLEEPING OUTSIDE OF THIS STUPID HOLE IN THE EARTH FOR DAYS! I DIDN'T DECIDE TO FOLLOW THIS GUY ONLY TO SIT IN ONE PLACE!)"
While the three Pokémon bickered with each other, Swirlix waddles up to them taking a good sniff of their parfumes. Each of their odours was strong and vastly different than what she was used to, it was enough to tantalise her on their own but together they shared a common mysterious scent, one that seemed to attract her. Passing by them she ended up at the foot of their trainer who stared deep into the darkness of the cave, mesmerised by it, scared of it. She noticed the odd behaviour of the human in front of her and whined at his poor feelings. Deciding to cheer him up in her own way Swirlix sniffed the unique aroma coming of Kai and jumped up on a small gust of wind to meet him up at eye level nuzzling his cheek with her nose.
Kai was still stuck looking at the cave when a sweet smell suddenly flared his nostrils.
"Cotton…candy…?" He said weakly.
After the smell woke him up a little, he suddenly felt tickling sensation managed on his face that made him look to the side to see Slurpuff staring at him, wiggling her nose.
"Um…hello there…?" Kai nervously said to the wild Pokémon, sniffing the air again. "Wait? That smell, is you?"
Slurpuff saw a bit of light return to Kai's eyes, making her smile when suddenly she felt something quick and wet, slap back down to the ground. Swirlix groaned from the pain from all her injuries before weakly looking up to see Frogadier falling from the sky and glaring at her.
"Fro! Frogadier! (Hey! Keep your nosy nose to yourself!)" Frogadier croaked.
Swirlix went to whine as normal when she suddenly felt Fletchinder and Honedge appear behind her, giving her angered looks.
"Fletchinder! Fletchinder. Fletchin! FLETCHINDER! (You wanna get to him! You go through me first! Or more likely! I GO THROUGH YOU!)" Fletchinder shouted.
"Honedge Hone. Honedge Honedge! (I was a fool to let down my guard so easily around here. But believe me when I say you are the fool for attacking my Sire so carelessly!)" Honedge threatened.
Swirlix felt herself quivering from the presence of the three new parfumes she had just come to enjoy. Only these three were much stronger than any she had sniffed before and their inevitable rejection of her was about to be that much more painful.
"Guys wait a second!" Kai asked.
His three loyal Pokémon stopped what they were doing when Kai walked past them and kneeled down to speak to Slurpuff.
"I don't think you were trying to attack me were you. You easily could have done with how distracted I was, but you didn't. To be honest I'm sure you don't mean any harm do you." Kai smiled looking down at the Pokémon. "Honestly, I should really thank you, I was…stuck in my head a little too long there but your sweet smell cleared it all out. So, thanks for letting me admire your fragrance."
Swirlix was left shell shocked at Kai's response. Not one of violence, or annoyance but one of appreciation. For her own parfume no less! A scent that no one, not even herself had ever truly appreciated. All Swirlix could do was look up at Kai with sincere, watery eyes and take in his parfume once again.
…
A couple of days passed and Swirlix had become a common sight around Kai and his teams sleeping grounds. Even his three team members had gotten used to Swirlix's sniffing antics. However, one day when Swirlix happily floated on the breeze to see Kai again she witnessed an odd sight. Kai standing in front of the cave taking a few breaths.
"Well…can't put this off for much longer. I've got my Escape Ropes. I've fully charged my Holo Caster. Here we go. See you Route 7 it's been pleasant."
Kai took a couple of steps forward when all of a sudden, he heard a high pitch whining coming his way. He turned around and saw Swirlix making a beeline straight for him, smacking herself right into his face. Kai fell to the ground hard and grabbed Swirlix, holding her above his head. "Swirlix?! What was that for?! I know you like sniffing me but I have a rule about boundaries!"
Swirlix whined above Kai's head making tears begin to fall like streams from her eyes. Kai didn't understand what could have suddenly made the normally cheery Pokémon seem upset until he looked back at the cave entrance when it all clicked.
"I think I get it…you don't want me to go do you." Kai gently put Swirlix down and got on his knees. "You know its because of you I'm able to continue on my journey at all Swirlix. Your courage helped me realise something."
Swirlix shook away her tears and sniffed. "Swirl? (It did?)
Kai smiled. "Based on those scratches you had when I first saw you, I doubt I was the first person you tried smelling. It looks like you tried it before and got beaten pretty bad by it."
Swirlix sadly nodded, confirming Kai's suspicions.
"But you still kept trying. Even if it hurt you kept going, experiencing new smells and new things. And that's what you taught me. To let you in on a secret I…I don't like going in caves. They bring up some…painful feelings. Feelings that no matter how hard I try won't go away. But because of you snapping me out of my head, of coming up to me, I know if I don't go through there, I'll miss out on so many amazing experiences, like meeting you. Of course if I never had these traumatic reservations, I literally never would have met you but you see my point right?"
Kai got to his feet and waved Swirlix off. "Well Swirlix. Thanks for everything. Do me a favour and keep on smelling this world for the both of us alright."
Swirlix shuddered in place upon hearing Kai's words. The idea of her finding new parfumes to explore, just like Kai was experiencing new parfumes. Then suddenly Swirlix wagged her tail and widened her smile with a sudden conviction.
"Swirlix Swirl! (Wait for my parfume!)"
Swirlix leaped over Kai and whipped up pure, sparkling winds, letting them blow directly in front of Kai's path to keep him from leaving. Kai looked back around to see Swirlix roused and ready to brawl, bearing her fangs when Kai realised what was happening.
"You want to battle me? No…you want me to capture you?" Kai asked, seeing Swirlix nod in response. "If that's the case…then let's see what you've got! Let's go Frogadier!"
Kai threw Frogadier's Pokéball out to summon the Bubble Frog Pokémon. "Froga- Frogadier? (Yeah let's- Wait a minute, aren't you?)" Frogadier looked at his wild opponent and grinned. "Frogadier, Frogadier. Frogadier! Frogadier! (Oh, I see you wanna join our family huh. Well you're gonna have to earn it! Bring it on power puff!)"
"Swirlix Swirlix! Swirlix Swirlix! (My parfume will earn my place amongst yours! To explore all this world's parfumes!)"
"Frogadier! (I have no idea what that means!)"
The two Pokémon leaped into the air ready to combat, with Kai watching them both. The rest being history.
A single tear swept past Slurpuff in the present day as she continued following her trainer into unknown danger. "Kai parfume…when this is over…my parfume will make you smile again…as your parfume does for me…"
The sharp sound Crescent Rose cutting slicing through the air echoed through the battlefield. Ruby rapidly spun her weapons blade vertically in circular motions like a red buzz saw of death, cutting Darkrai's left and right escape options and forcing it to stay centrally aligned. Adjusting her position, Ruby swung horizontally to catch Darkrai's neck in the blade only for it to predict accordingly and lower its lower body into its shadow.
Darkrai slid forward, swiping at Ruby legs to trip her up before spinning in place to slam the back of its hand into Ruby's knees with enough force to flip her over. Before Darkrai could reposition Beedrill flew down from above with both his large stingers raised.
"Beedrill use Poison Jab!" Robin commanded.
The two white stingers were steeped in a venomous purple poison that quickly jabbed at furious speeds. Darkrai retreated fully into its shadow squirmed away to avoid the attack, continually repositioning across the ground until it suddenly jerked to a halt. Darkrai's blue eye opened up to see the wispy end of its shadowy form trapped in the centre of a black glyph that was slowly pulling it towards the centre.
Raising its head back into the world, Darkrai witnessed a row of white glyphs forming beside itself followed by Weiss skating on them as though it were a sheet of ice. Weiss thrust her rapier downwards to skewer Darkrai's head, forcing it jumping out of its shadow to dodge in time, pulling itself to the centre of the black glyph.
Weiss adjusted her stance and swung her sword to lacerate Darkrai multiple times with the tip. Pulling the base of the blade back to her shoulder, Weiss thrusted forward with all her might when Darkrai moved its palm first, firing Dark Pulse at near point-blank range. Weiss was blown onto her back, freeing Darkrai from her trap.
"Enough with these restraints!" Darkrai groaned.
Weiss regained her footing, placing her right hand on her hip. She panted as she tried to recover from the large blow that had just been dealt. "This thing…compared to Kai's Pokémon… it's so much more brutal…"
"Weiss! I need a boost!"
Weiss looked behind her to see Blake running towards her and jumping into the air. Understanding what to do, Weiss gave her a determined look. "You've got it!"
Weiss raised her right hand above her head to create a black glyph, serving as a platform for Blake to land on. Shifting her hand and the glyph to the front of her, Blake lunged off the glyph toward Darkrai with her sheathed weapon pointed straight.
Darkrai sidestepped to dodge Blake's soaring thrust, making Blake wedge her weapon into the ground. Darkrai loomed over Blake with its hand clawed back when Blake's eyes narrowed and her grip on her weapons handle tightened. She quickly unsheathed her weapon and twisted herself to cut Darkrai across the face. With Darkrai momentarily reeling, Blake seized the opportunity to pull her sheath out the earth, attempting to cleave Darkrai. The Pitch-Black Pokémon effortlessly avoided the sheath followed by it vanishing from view and letting it cut through the empty air. Blake looked around suspiciously keeping eye and ear out for when Darkrai might reappear, while preparing her counter.
Darkrai reappeared above Blake, clawing its hand down. "Feint Attack!"
Blake looked up in time to see Darkrai coming but was too late to avoid its attack hitting its mark against the top of her skull. Darkrai witnessed Blake's body falling forward from the impact onto her front when she began to darken and fade away. Darkrai's eyes widened in shock when it heard the sound of something dropping behind it.
Blake's sheath chopped down on Darkrai's back followed by her katana cutting down on Darkrai's shoulder, shoving it closer to the ground while Blake jumped off a shadow clone to keep up. Darkrai recovered in mid-air to stop itself from hitting the ground just as Blake followed her previous attack with a horizontal katana swing that Darkrai managed to dodge. Blake sharply swung her sheath and katana together to catch Darkrai in a flurry of strikes that mythical Pokémon weaved through. Darkrai thrusted its palm to strike Blake's face, a shadow copy took the hit, allowing the real Blake to backflip under the arm and jump off another copy to cleave through the mythical Pokémon. Only to miss Darkrai yet again.
Shifting her weapon into a sickle, Blake shot the weapon forward and tightly pulled on the ribbon, at the same time jumping in mid-air and twirling it around to eviscerate everything in its spinning range. Darkrai fearlessly stepped inside the weapons path, taking a hit to the shoulder but giving it an opportunity to tightly grab hold of the weapon and pull the ribbon along with Blake closer towards it. By the time Blake realised her mistake she had already been dragged to Darkrai who raked Blake with its claws to let go of her weapon and push her away, followed immediately by Darkrai using Feint Attack to vanish and reappear instantly, ramming head first into Blake's gut. She gagged from the impact that sent her body careening away while Darkrai looked at her weapon in its hand.
"I tire of these bizarre tools and abilities you possess. When will your use of them cease?" The mythical Pokémon groaned, tossing the variant ballistic chain scythe to the ground.
Darkrai was answered by a loud buzzing and stared off to see Beedrill threateningly coming at it from one side. A gunshot was heard, coming from Yang launching herself at it from the other. Yang's body slowly descended and she stamped her foot on the ground, pivoting of her heel to turn in place so her back was facing Darkrai. She fired from both gauntlets simultaneously, propelling herself back first towards Darkrai who easily saw her coming and leaped back to avoid.
Yang heard Darkrai move and grinned. "Just like last time."
When she was almost parallel to Darkrai, Yang pulled her right arm back and fired a concussive blast to the right making her body shoot off to the left. Before Darkrai could correct itself again, Yang caught up, sticking her left arm out to elbow Darkrai in the chest then spinning in place and firing another round in the same spot to knock it back.
Robin saw Darkrai opening itself up to recover and seized the moment. "Beedrill use Fell Stinger!"
Beedrill appeared over Darkrai with his rear stinger poised and glowing. Another gunshot signalled Yang charging in to deal another blow against the Pokémon, ready to pummel it from two sides. Staring at the two of them from both sides of its face, Darkrai saw them get within arm or stinger length away before vanishing. Yang and Beedrill saw each other while continuing to charge forward but were to late to react. Beedrill stabbed his stinger straight into Yang's midriff when she simultaneously hit him in the face with a fiery punch.
Darkrai reappeared beside the two while in the middle of their impact stretching its arm out and widening both its palm. Dark Pulse suddenly erupted outwards, consuming the Huntress and Bug/Poison type in darkness. Forced them through it like a raging current until it struck the ground in a massive explosion.
"Try as you might. All of your efforts will be in vain." Darkrai grunted.
The explosion cleared, showing Yang lying on her back and Beedrill next to her on his front twitching. Robin and Ruby looked down at their two yellow companions with horrified looks.
"I don't understand. We're giving it everything we've got but it doesn't look like any of our hits did anything." Ruby dismayed.
"That's because they didn't." Robin bitterly answered, digging her nails into her palms. "It doesn't matter if we land one-hundred attacks…in the end we're just too weak to do anything substantial."
Robin looked down as another image flashed back in her mind, this one of a tall masculine, raven haired silhouette grinning at her.
"If all you have are dreams and good intentions then no matter how hard you try, you'll never push through any obstacles the world puts in your path." The figure in her mind frowned at her. "Unless you have the power to break through that obstacle, you'll never get anywhere in life. If you truly want to do something, to leave this world better than you found it you need to be truly powerful not, just act like it. Otherwise you won't even make a single footprint in the dirt. Do you understand that Robin?"
Robin frowned looking up at Darkrai looming in the distance, watching her. "There has to be a way…a way to break through…a way to win…a way to get stronger…there has to be! So, think!"
Robin felt the pressure building inside her. Her desire to win. Her desire to be powerful. Her desire to prove herself. That weight she felt constantly bearing down on her was gradually affecting her. The stress, the pressure, the gravity of the situation…was starting to make her dark blue aura begin to glow.
Beedrill slowly moved his arms to push itself up using its large stingers, his red tinted vision looking towards Robin and what she was going through. "Bzzz…? (Robin…?)
Darkrai glared at the trainer and the weary Huntresses around itself with discontent. Putting its clawed hands together, Darkrai focused on creating a sphere of absolute darkness. "Why won't you all just lay down and die!" Darkrai vanished from view, reappearing high into the air with the massive status move in its grasp. "Dark Void!" Darkrai threw the weight of its arms down, sending the sleep-inducing spheres shooting down like black shooting stars.
From below Ruby quickly moved, dodging the voids landing left and right of her. "Whatever you do, don't get hit! If one of those hits you then-!"
Several white glyphs appeared in mid-air followed by the sharp white streak of Weiss, dashing through them. "We get put to sleep! We know!"
From below Blake kept her eyes open, using her shadow copies to avoid then all entrapping darkness. After jumping off one to another area Blake looked up to see one about to fall on her and her eyes widened. The sphere collided with her, entrapping her in a black dome when unexpectantly she zoomed out of it. The dome faded to reveal it had only hit her dissipating shadow.
"That was too close…" Blake panted.
On the ground, Yang got to the feet while putting one hand on her shoulder. Her aura helped her recover her stamina, but even she wasn't sure if she was fast enough to dodge this. Beside her Beedrill weekly flapped his wings to get himself off the ground when he saw the move being fired from above. He noticed in the distance Robin placing her hands over her head, the only defence an unprepared trainer had.
"BZZZ! (ROBIN!)" Beedrill angrily buzzed.
He went to fly after her when Yang suddenly grabbed his arm to pull him back. "Look out!"
Beedrill was jerked away, just in time to avoid a falling sphere that crashed where he was about to fly. Looking back, he stared at Yang and buzzed. "BzzZzzzZz-! (Let me go or I'll!)"
Beedrill suddenly noticed another orb coming for Yang and pulled back on his arm to drag her out of the way. Yang stumbled but managed to keep her balance when she looked around to see the orbs continuing to fall dangerously close.
"It's no good! There's too many!" Yang yelled, looking out at their teammates struggling to stay awake.
At a distance Robin continued keeping her head down as the thought of going through another, deeper nightmare only served to pile more pressure on her.
"I…I've got nothing! I'm drawing a blank!" Robin cried out in despair. "All I can do is…"
A dark void sphere quickly flew down, ready to land on her.
"…fall."
Robin felt herself trip up on her heels, falling backward. Time seemed slower when she felt her feet being picked up off the ground leaving nothing to support her as she fell. When against all odds her body moved on its own…her body glided backwards off the ground.
Robin felt her weight rush upwards along her body. Her hair and her tie blew not away from the direction she was moving but towards, as though they were being pulled by an invisible force. Robin looked around in confusion, managing to twist her body 180° so her front was hovering over the ground so she could see where she was going.
'What is this?! Why does it feel like I'm still falling?! And why-?!' Robin's thoughts were interrupted when she saw Dark Void's preparing to fall right in the direction she was going.
Subconsciously she managed to slow herself instantly and drop to the ground on her front. She looked up and noticed the last of the Dark Void's falling away from her, giving her the chance to look at her bandaged outstretched arms, her aura slowly dimming until it disappeared.
"Did I do that?" Robin asked herself.
Suddenly, Robin felt something tightly grip the back of her collar, pulling her up and partially choking her. She felt her body get turned around, ending up seeing Darkrai eye to eye.
"YOU!" Darkrai lifted itself and Robin into the air, letting her feet dangle. "I have always been wary of you humans! You trainers! But to have gone as far as you have! For that your fate has become more than deserving!" Darkrai prepared a final Dark Void, ready to deliver it at point blank range.
"No…" Robin struggled. "I've come too far…for you to just win…I'm taking you down!"
Robin's aura suddenly surged once again causing Darkrai's to suddenly get pulled down by Robin's weight, yet it managed to keep a tight grip on her.
"This weight?! Where did it come from!" Darkrai stopped using its move to tightly grab hold of Robin's collar with both hands. "I will not let you slip past me! Not after what you've done!"
"What are you even talking about?! I haven't done anything!" Robin argued back, continuing to struggle getting free.
"Do not lie. I know that the misery instilled here was caused by trainer's like you!" Darkrai accused. "I will not rest until you and the other who has joined you, are both put to rest and laid down to rot-!"
A sharp toxic stinger wedged itself in Darkrai's back with more force than before making it recoil. The image of her savoir reflected in Robin's blue eyes.
"Beedrill…?" She murmured.
Darkrai turned its head around to see the Poison Bee Pokémon buzzing down the back of its neck. In addition to his scratches and bruises he was also cloaked in an empowering light green aura that made his buzzing sound like a swarm of hornets ready to kill.
"BzzZzzz! BZZ! BZZ! BZZZZZ! (Get your filthy hands! OFF! MY! TRAINER!)" Beedrill cried out in rage.
Darkrai felt Beedrill's Poison Jab go deeper before its body was lurched. The colour in its face began to go purple and bubbles of poison trickled out of its mouth, reacting in pain.
It was enough to release its grip on Robin, letting her drop like a rock. Robin continued to accelerate down to the ground, losing concentration and feeling a strain in her muscles before her aura faded again, slowing herself down when air resistance took effect.
Beedrill saw Robin falling through the air and quickly flew away from Darkrai. His aura cloaking him like a light green comet that rushed over to Robin, carefully grabbing her and carrying back down to the ground, putting her on her feet.
Robin quickly adjusted to her feet being on the ground before looking back at Beedrill. "Don't worry about me! Focus on keeping your distance and only attack if you've got a clear shot! Just forget about me and win!" Darkrai raced down to snatch Robin again, making her push herself away from her Pokémon. "Didn't you hear me?! Beat them already!"
Beedrill buzzed in acknowledgement and flapped its insect wings even faster to pursuit Darkrai in mid-air. "BZZZZZZZZZZ! (I HOPE YOU'RE READY TO GET RIDDLED WITH HOLES!)"
Darkrai pulled its hand back preparing Dark Pulse. "Do not worry…I will free your from your servitude soon."
Beedrill raised his three stingers preparing Pin Missile, with his light green aura coating and empowering them. "BZZZZZZZZZ?! (WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP?!)"
The two attacks fired off simultaneously, reaching each other in the middle and cancelling them out within a massive explosion that made winds harshly blow the leaves on the surrounding trees. Robin placed her bandaged arm over her forehead to cover herself, as she saw Beedrill and Darkrai chasing each other around the sky in quick glimpses of green and black.
"Robin! Are you alright?!"
Robin heard her name and went to look around, only for Ruby to have already ran up to her side. "When that thing tried putting us to sleep I was so preoccupied with not getting hit that I completely forgot to check in on you, then when it stopped I saw that thing pick you up, then I saw it struggling to hold you, then your bee started glowing and flew after you, and then you fell and I-"
"Just be quiet." Robin cut off. "Did anyone else fall asleep?"
Her question as answered when Weiss, Blake and Yang came out of nowhere to join up with the girls.
"Man, I don't know what's happening with that bee of yours but now it's really fighting back!" Yang complimented.
"That aura. Is it like what happened with your Pokémon when you and Kai fought?" Blake inquired.
Robin turned around to focus more on the fight. "Essentially yeah. That's Beedrill's ability Swarm. It works identical to Chesnaught's Overgrow in that when they're both running low on health it boosts the strength of their moves that are the same as their primary type. The main difference is that for Chesnaught it's his Grass type moves whereas for Beedrill its Bug type."
"Do you think that will that be enough to overpower it?" Weiss concerningly asked.
Robin looked up in sky to witness Beedrill flying ahead of Darkrai as it unleashed another Dark Pulse. Beedrill saw it coming and ascended to avoid it, making Darkrai pull the wave of dark energy around to try and catch Beedrill off guard. Beedrill continued to outmanoeuvre the special move, causing it to miss and hit the tree line blow, causing branches and leaves to break and blow apart.
"Beedrill does have the type advantage, and he did just poison Darkrai which should wear it down overtime. But if Beedrill takes just one powerful hit…" Robin tightly clenched her fist, cradling it with her other hand. "He's too far away to give orders effectively. If he lets his temper take over-"
"Hey don't worry. Trust him, I'm sure Kai would." Ruby reassured.
At the mention of Kai and trust, Robin thought back to their conversation after their first battle. "Yeah…I suppose he would."
Ruby looked up at Darkrai and Beedrill's aerial combat looking around to see them briefly fight behind them, where Ruby saw the treeline and the rocky wall of the plateaux which Darkrai hid within. Upon looking at the distant wall Ruby's eyes widened and she gasped.
Weiss noticed her partners enlightened and looked at her. "Don't tell me. You've just come up with a crazy new idea to take it down haven't you."
"More like re-using an old one." Ruby looked at Robin, then at Yang. "Actually, if Robin helps out then maybe it could be even better than last time."
Robin looked quizzically at Ruby. "What could be better?"
Ruby smirked, beginning to put her plan of attack into motion. Up above their heads Beedrill lifted his two white stingers before firing off waves of Pin Missile in front of him. The light green needle-like projections fired off in arcs that homed in on the space Darkrai currently floated. Darkrai vanished from view, making the missiles strike the ground below in a chain of explosions. The Pitch-Black Pokémon reappeared close by, making Beedrill reposition and fire again only for it to disappear once again. It appeared again right in front of Beedrill then vanished before he could hope to strike back. Then appearing behind him. To his left. His right. Above him. Below him. Darkrai constantly appeared from all angles, making Beedrill constantly check his surroundings to no avail.
"BzzZzz-! Bzz-! BzzZZzzz! (There you-! I got-! Stand still already!)" Beedrill shook his head, bashing himself with the side of his singers. "Bzzz! BzzZzzzZZ…BzzZzz…Bzzz…BzzzzZzz~ (Focus! Remember Robin's training…Stay calm…Wait…Aaaaand~)"
Beedrill stayed still, focusing his energy into his right stinger, giving it a faint purple outline in conjunction with his Swarm aura.
Darkrai finally reappeared with dark type power in its right hand. "Feint Attack!"
Beedrill reacted instantly, drastically enlarging his stinger with purple and green insectoid energy. "BzzZzz! (Fell Stinger!)"
Stinger and claw clashed with each other, sending out dark and insect sparks of energy. Darkrai continued its move by vanishing and striking again only for Beedrill to respond in kind. Beedrill stretched out its limbs, empowering his other two stingers with Fell Stinger and went on the offensive. Rapidly jabbing the air to force Darkrai to parry or reposition. Darkrai slashed and charged savagely at Beedrill, parrying and clashing over and over. The two spun round each other trying to find any entrance they could until Darkrai thrust its open palms into Darkrai's pointed stingers to push back against one another with maximum force. Energy and aura began to pulse out from the two attackers giving it their all until the energy built up too much and force the two apart like equally polar magnets, neither landing a hit.
Darkrai groaned in discomfort as the poison leeched on his remaining health pool before glaring at Beedrill. "Why must you and I fight? Open your eyes to how your trainer is only using you. Do you not realise the pain she has put you and your kind through for personal pride?"
"Bzzzzz. BzzzZzzzz! BzzzzZzz! BZzzZzzzzZ! BzzzzZzz! BzzzzzZZZZzzzZZZ! (Let's make one thing clear here. My trainer is the best thing in my life! She showed me I wasn't just some weak little Weedle who could only fight weak prey! I'm able to keep up with you here and now because she helped me become powerful enough to! She puts her strength in us just like we put our strength in her! Which is why none of us are gonna forgive you for putting her through those doubt filling nightmares!)"
Beedrill pointed his rear stinger forward, enlarging it with Fell Stinger. Beedrill charged forward like a raging Tauros, forcing Darkrai to descend under the stab. By lowering itself Darkrai got a look at the field down below, his eyes widening at a strange sight.
Ruby was resting on top of Crescent Rose, pushed back against Blake's ribbon and held in place by a black glyph. "Are we ready?"
Weiss was standing next to her looking up at Darkrai with her weapon held in a pointed stance towards Darkrai. "Not yet. If we're going to hit it, we need it to stay in one place."
Darkrai looked at the sight with suspicion. "A combined attack?"
The sound of buzzing intensified alerting Darkrai to another attack from behind, giving it time to evade Fell Stinger. Beedrill rushed after Darkrai, allowing itself to be pushed back to get out of Ruby's projected path.
Robin held tightly onto one side of Blake's ribbon, noticing its change in battle tactics. "I think it's realised what our plan was!"
From the other side Blake looked at her leader. "Ruby? What should we do? Do we try setting this up again?"
Ruby shook her head. "That'll take too long. Our best chance is to wait until it gets back into range."
"What if it doesn't?!" Robin asked. "This is a huge gamble! If we miss-!"
"We won't miss!" Ruby interrupted. "I know we don't know each other well but please trust me! This will work!"
Robin was taken back slightly by Ruby's sudden authority, nodding her head. "You better be right about this."
In the sky, Beedrill thrust his stinger towards Darkrai who dodged it with ease while he began to breathe heavily, his stamina fading. In the bottom corner of his wide insect vision he saw a brief glimpse of Robin agreeing to Ruby's plan. Though the distance between them was large, Beedrill could tell that Robin was putting her faith in Ruby and to Beedrill that was enough for him to do the same.
Raising his two white stingers he coated them in poison and rapidly stabbed in front of himself "ZzZz! (Poison Jab!)"
Darkrai casually dodged the first jab, letting it go over its shoulder. Similarly, it dodged the second, the third and every consecutive jab after that by continuously dashing backwards through the air.
"Your strikes are getting weaker. You can't continue and yet your trainer makes you." Darkrai pointed out as it dodged another thrust.
"Bzzz! Bzzz…! BzzZz! (Yeah! Well…! Shut up!)"
Beedrill breathing became more laboured, and his attacks lost oomph until eventually Beedrill wasn't even able to extend its arms long enough to reach Darkrai's body. Darkrai seized the opportunity and appeared above Beedrill in a blue with a dark pulsating aura in its hand.
From below Robin looked up to see Beedrill flying in mid-air while Darkrai got the upper hand. "What's Beedrill doing! I know he should be able to keep fighting for longer than this!"
"All right team get ready!" Ruby called out.
Robin looked to Ruby to see that from her eyeline she has clear shot of Darkrai. "Wait…Don't tell me. Beedrill is using himself as bait to lure Darkrai to the right spot but-!" Robin looked down. "I told him to forget about me…"
Ruby quickly looked behind herself. "Yang!"
From a few feet away Yang cracked her knuckles, getting to a running start. "Looks like recklessness runs in the family." Yang cocked Ember Celica and shot herself forward, before landing on her feet and running, keeping the speed up with her own leg strength. "Hope you're ready sis because I'm giving you everything I've got!"
From above the dark aura had amassed and Darkrai fired Dark Pulse. "You fought valiantly. While this will hurt, take comfort in your upcoming liberation."
As darkness fell upon Beedrill he looked down at Robin the corner of his gaze, sighing. "BzzzZzz, bzzzZzzzzZzz. (When this is all over, she's definitely going to lecture me about this.)"
Dark Pulse made direct contact with Beedrill, engulfing him in a dark explosion. Seconds later, Beedrill's limp smoking body fell out of the air, landing on the ground with a smack. His buzzing a weak groan and swirls formed in his eyes to show he had fainted.
Robin looked on at her defeated Bug/Poison type and tightened her grip on Blake's ribbon. Her jaw clenched and her feet firmly planted. "When this is over, he's not going to hear the end of this."
From above Darkrai felt a quiet sense of regret, looking at Beedrill's unconscious condition. "I am sorry it ended up this way. Truly. But your trainer must pay for her transgressions. Now where is-?"
Darkrai looked down and flinched. He had failed to notice that Beedrill had lured it to the exact same spot as earlier, if anything a slightly better spot for Ruby. On the ground Weiss twirled her rapier, turning the glyph from black to red. Blake and Robin gave one last tug to secure the ribbon. Ruby cocked her weapon to make sure a shot was loaded. And Yang gave one final push as her eyes went red punching the back of Ruby's weapon with the full force of a gun blast. Weiss released the glyph and Ruby was sent free.
In less than half a second Ruby exploded upwards with enough force to make the ground crack and the air ripple outwards. Rose petals trailed off her body like the propulsion emissions of a rocket, giving Darkrai no time to react when she slammed her scythe's blade deep into its chest. But Ruby didn't stop. She began firing round after round from her weapon, keeping herself from slowing down and digging deeper and deeper into Darkrai with each and every shot. The two soared over treetops covering metres of land in seconds, getting closer and closer to the rocky wall at the plateaux's end. Darkrai was left helpless at the mercy of the teenage girl dragging him through the air before getting crushed against their final destination. Darkrai's body slammed against the rocky wall when Ruby and her scythe followed immediately, pinning Darkrai against the surface as the momentum and force ripped into Darkrai all at once. Its eyes going wide and it crying out in intense agony from a severe pain in its abdominal region. Then going deathly quiet.
Darkrai's head lay back and its body stood still between the scythe and the rock. The rest of Ruby's team looked on with caution and hope from a far, far distance, trying to get see the result. With Robin elsewhere in the field, kneeling down next to her Beedrill and returning him to his Pokéball. Not giving him any criticism for the effort and sacrifice he had put in to ensure victory.
Further back in the midst of a dozen trees Kai suddenly paused in place. The sound of rock cracking and metal scraping getting caught in his Perception enhanced hearing.
"That sound…what was that?" Kai nervously looked around. "Don't tell me it's over."
Slurpuff took a sniff of the air near Kai's feet wrinkling her nose. "Hmm I am not sure Kai parfume…but my parfume detects a new parfume wafting through the air."
High on the cliff face that towered above the treeline, Ruby nervously hung onto her weapon as the only thing that stopped her from falling. Her hood blew and repeatedly curled and unfurled in the high winds along with the remaining petals formed from her semblance scattering off.
Ruby stared at Darkrai with her silver eyes and felt not happiness or relief…but sadness. "I'm really sorry it had to be this way. I know you're not mindless like the Grimm but…you left us all no choice. We couldn't let you take Robin and Kai away. Whatever you thought about them you were wrong. They're good people. They're my friends. And if you were like their Pokémon…you could have been mine too."
No response came from Ruby's statement. The only answer came from the rustling and chattering of the trees down below. The sound of the rocks cracking and metal creaking suddenly entered Ruby's ears.
"…Your…blade…"
Ruby heard the raspy voice and curiously looked at Darkrai's head. The defeated and laid-back head suddenly rose up, staring at Ruby with a murderous intent. Ruby looked down at her scythe to see Darkrai's hand pushing back against her weapon. Before Ruby could fight back, Darkrai effortlessly shoved Crescent Rose away, tossing it to the ground. Ruby's grip released on her weapon and Darkrai viciously grabbed her by the throat to keep her airborne. Its grip was so tight that Ruby began to choke, leaving her unable to breathe or speak, as she remained helpless in Darkrai's literal grasp.
"Did not cut deep enough!" Darkrai squeezed Ruby's neck tighter, making her croak and convulse.
In the open field the remainder of Team WBY looked on in horror at their leader's final attack failing to defeat their opponent.
"RUBY!" Yang screamed in concern. She desperately looked over to Robin. "Can any of your Pokémon save her?!"
Robin regrettably shook her head. "Beedrill was my only Pokémon with any sort of flight or speed. None of my others can get there fast enough and your sister's too close to Darkrai to risk attacking from range."
"Then we need to get over there right now!" Blake shot her sickle into the trees, quickly pulling herself to the canopy to begin jumping from tree to tree.
Weiss followed her lead, jumping off a white glyph before spawning a series of scattered white glyphs in mid-air, using them as platforms to quickly go to Ruby's aid. Yang started running, her own too legs and the occasional propulsion from her gauntlets acting as the fastest way to travel Yang currently had. Robin stared at the three Huntresses going after their teammate and stretched her arm out, straining herself to try and tap into whatever power she had before. Realising it wasn't working Robin sighed.
"Forget it." Robin clicked her heels, to bring out her roller skates and skated off to try and save Ruby.
The girl in question continued to struggle, grabbing hold of Darkrai's hand and trying to pry herself loose to no avail. Darkrai looked at the young Huntress in training and groaned.
"Let me apologise for assuming that it would be easy to defeat you Huntsman. I commend you girl. That last attack has been the most any human has managed to harm me. And for all this talk about friendship that you spout…do not forget that you were the one who attacked me. You were the one who decided who was your friend and who was your enemy. And it is truly a pity that you put so much talk into your so-called friends…yet none of them are here to save you now." Darkrai's emitted a dark malefic aura from its body filling Ruby with a sense of dread. "Do not worry. The grave you visit shall not seem so lonely once you are buried by its side! Farewell young human!"
Ruby closed her eyes tight, bracing herself. Suddenly green light began to illuminate and cut through the darkness emanating from Darkrai. The light almost became blinding when Darkrai looked to its source, getting blasted by a piercing green laser. Darkrai released its grip on Ruby and was shot down to the ground, crashing in front of the cave which it once rested in. Ruby's body was immediately scooped up in mid-air, keeping her from falling, taking deep breaths and gently rubbing her sore throat.
"Do not worry Ruby! I apologise for not seeing as much of you as you wished!"
Ruby looked up to see her saviour, holding her in their arms bridal style. "Penny…?"
Looking down at Ruby in her arms, with her Floating Away keeping her flying behind her, Penny smiled at her in relief. She shifted her focus on the area of impact to witness Darkrai slowly get up. Its movements began to show wear and pain from the damage it had steadily accumulated. The Pitch-Black Pokémon placed its hand under its chest, which began to form a very deep bruise all the way along from Ruby's scythe. Darkrai cried out and lurched suddenly from poison damage, the bubbles gently coming out of its mouth the moment Penny descended and put Ruby on her feet.
"Ruby. For your safety please vacate the surrounding area. I will take over the situation from here." Penny advised rearranging her multitude of blades to prepare for combat.
"But Penny! That thing its super strong! Not even my team was able to-!"
"Do not worry Ruby." Penny interrupted, giving her friend a calm confident look before turning her attention to Darkrai angrily grunting at its new opponent. "This was what I was built for!"
Yep all of that was only phase one. And yes that was Robin's semblance, that will be explained in more detail at a later point don't worry.
I apologise for taking a while this chapter. After my last update I basically had to finish my education curse for this year, which given the current climate was very stressful and very exhausting. But now all that's finished so I may be able to update more regularly for the next few months. No promises though.
So until next time this is Kallerston, signing out!