CHAPTER 8
The commissary buzzed with conversation as Alex loaded up a lunch tray and scanned the room for an empty spot to bolt down a quick meal before his next lab. He was reaching for an apple when the large television screens in the dining hall all flashed to an emergency broadcast signal. Someone lunged for the AV controls and turned up the volume. A female news anchor appeared on the screen, looking slightly panicked.
"Attention, citizens of Clarus City. By order of the CCPD, a lockdown is now in effect. Midtown Clarus City has been targeted in a terrorist attack by Marcus Braun and his associates. Citizens are advised to stay in a secure location. The police are mobilizing to deal with this threat, and more information will be forthcoming as soon as we have it." She touched her earpiece and nodded quickly. "I am being told that we have received an audio transmission from Jiro Sasaki now, who is working with the Clarus City Police. Uh, Jim, play it, okay?"
A file photo of Blaziken Man appeared on the screen and the recording began with a burst of static and a loud report of what could only be gunshots. "Citizens of Clarus City," Blaziken Man's voice said. "I implore you to remain, oh son of a, to remain calm! The CCPD is doing everything in their power to contain this. Volcarona Mask and I are already on the scene, and officers from precincts all over the city are reporting in.
"But the Commissioner Bright and I want every available resource at our disposal to deal with this threat. I'm not sure I have the authority to do this, but at this point—" His voice was cut off by a burst of static. "At this point, I don't see much of a choice. Heroes of Clarus City, I'm calling all of you in."
Alex's tray clattered to floor as he turned on his heel and sprinted for the nearest bathroom. He dug the Hawlucha Man costume from his backpack and hastily pulled it on, dragging the mask over his eyes and calling Hierro from his pokeball. "This is the big one, partner. We just got called in by Blaziken Manhimself."
Hierro straightened and puffed up his feathers, clearly ready to be off. They raced up the staircase of the student union building to the small utility closet that led to the roof access. "Hey!" a maintenance worker shouted as Alex and Hierro ran by. "You can't go in there!"
"Official city business!" Alex called as he pulled himself up the ladder to the roof. He didn't wait to hear the man's reply. He took off over the rooftop, his legs pumping as he ran for the edge. An instant later, he was soaring out over the quadrangle of the Avenbrooke Institute of Technology, angling to reach the lower roofs of the administrative buildings on the far side where he could climb to a better vantage point.
He and Hierro bounded from rooftop to rooftop, soon leaving the campus behind as they crossed over into residential Avenbrooke. Police sirens filled the air, and columns of smoke rose up over midtown Clarus City across the river. Alex put on a burst of speed, every fiber of his body straining to be closer to the action, to the fighting.
A squad car sped along the street parallel to him, its siren whooping. "Hawlucha Man!" Captain Anderson called from the loudspeaker. "Get down here! We're supposed to get you across the river!"
Alex angled his body and swooped down to street level, where Anderson's police cruiser stopped with a squeal of tires. Captain Anderson reached across the central console and popped the passenger side door open. "The whole city's gone to hell!" the captain snapped. "But if the commissioner says she wants all boots on the ground, then who am I to question her?" Alex slid into the passenger seat as Hierro crammed himself into the back with Oscar, Anderson's Houndoom. The police radio in the cruiser crackled constantly, and Anderson drove with one hand on the wheel and the other on the dial, constantly changing between frequencies. "Whole city's gone to hell," Anderson said again.
"What happened exactly?" Alex asked as they hurtled down the streets of Avenbrooke. "The emergency broadcast just said there was a terrorist attack and the Sins are responsible."
"Explosions," Anderson replied through clenched teeth. "All across the city, all at once. And if that wasn't bad enough, as soon as we move in to start damage control, every damn thug in Clarus City shows up and starts rioting. I have no clue what Sloth's game is here, but I can tell you one thing. Wrath must be as happy as a kid on Solstice."
They pulled into an open lot near the piers where four black police helicopters stood waiting. Anderson got out of the car and motioned for Alex to follow. "We're taking those?"
The captain nodded. "Pride has her goons blocking the bridge. We're trying to break through on the ground, but there's no time to waste." He swung up into the first chopper where Reyes, Matsuri and three other members of the Tenth Precinct's best and brightest were waiting. Anderson returned Oscar to his pokeball and grabbed one of the canvas straps hanging from the ceiling, motioning for Alex and Hierro to do the same. The rotors began to whir, and soon they were airborne. The small fleet of helicopters swung out over the river, keeping the Concord Bridge to the right. As they came in low, Alex spotted a solitary motorcycle hurtling towards the barricade of wrecked cars Pride's men had created.
The motorcycle weaved between the police cars the officers were using as cover in the shootout and poured on speed. The rider tossed something out in front of the bike, and a large blue mass appeared beside him, already charging forward even before the light from the pokeball cleared. The rider reached for the long parcel on his back, and when he held it alongside him, the afternoon light glinted off the blade of his broadsword. The Ronin and his Samurott didn't slow down as he raced towards the blockade, the water type knocking cars out of the way to clear a path for his trainer. The Ronin's blade flashed as he swung it around, decapitating one of the terrorists as he continued to speed on towards the city. The whole thing happened so fast that Pride's men hadn't had the chance to come to their senses and fire off even a single shot.
Alex glanced over at Anderson, but the captain just shrugged. "Good riddance."
The helicopters angled southward, passing over the fringe of the financial district. Alex saw smoldering craters dotted across the city, the source of the smoke pillars he had seen from Avenbrooke. "This is awful," he shouted over the helicopter blades. "They won't get away with this!"
Hierro tugged at his arm and pointed at the streets below. Alex squinted and saw a man in a black cloak whirling amidst a crowd of Wrath's anarchists and surrounded by a seething mass of ghost types. More reinforcements were arriving, and soon the man in black would be overwhelmed. Alex nodded and turned to Anderson. "We're going down there. He needs help."
"Don't be crazy!" Reyes shouted. "Backup is probably on the way!"
"We'll see you when this is over."
Alex and Hierro jumped from the helicopter, angling their bodies into streamlined arrows to cut down on wind resistance. The ground rushed up towards them, and Alex exhaled. He had never tested his wingsuit from this height before, and he had no way of knowing if this would work. He supposed he was about to find out.
Hierro caught his eye and nodded, and they spread their wings. Alex felt the material catch the wind and buoy him up, slowing his descent as he soared over the street. "Wa-hoooo!" he screamed as he shot between two buildings, Hierro just behind him. Gliding over the roofs of Avenbrooke was one thing, but this was truly flying! Alex adjusted his weight to drop to the ground and landed with a somersault to spare his knees the impact. His batons were already in his hands when he came up, and he clocked an anarchist across the face as Hierro dropped a second with a kick. Alex cried out when a Dusknoir appeared next to him, but the ghost type's fist shot out and took out a pouncing Darmanitan.
"What are you doing?" the Phantom snapped as he lashed out with his cane. "I have this area under control!"
"You were about to be overwhelmed!" Alex parried a Mienshao and sent it towards Hierro. The Hawlucha jumped backwards to kick off a Graveller and tackled the vulpine fighting type.
The Phantom scoffed as he twirled his cane around and clubbed the heavy weighted end across a rioter's temple. "Overwhelmed?" He snapped his gloved left hand, and the cloud of shrieking ghost types overhead descended on the mob, flitting between the combatants and wreaking havoc. "I can handle it myself! Just stay back!"
The Dusknoir appeared at the Phantom's side and threw a series of punches at an approaching Seviper and Toxicroak before vanishing again to reappear in the midst of a cluster of anarchists. Hierro took up position at Alex's back, his claws flexing as he surveyed their foes. Alex twirled his batons and shook his head. "Blaziken Man called us in. We ought to be working together!"
"I don't need help!" the Phantom growled. He snapped his fingers twice, and a massive Haunter descended from above to attack a group of anarchists. "Damn it, you're only getting in my way!"
Hierro whistled through his beak as he lunged at a Machoke's knees, knocking the hulking fighting type off-balance. Alex dropped to a crouch and kicked the Machoke off its feet, sending it toppling backwards on top of an Exeggutor. A pack of Mightyena loped towards them, and Alex and Hierro began to beat them back, away from the Phantom's specters. "This isn't the time to show off how tough you are!" Alex called to the other hero. "We need to protect the city, and we're stronger together!"
"I am trying to protect the city," The Phantom punched a thug and sent the man sprawling backwards, blood pouring from his nose. "By taking out the greatest threat to it. I need to lure Wrath out and take him down."
"You can't go up against Wrath on your own!"
"I did once before, and this time, I'm prepared."
Before Alex could reply, several clouds of thick white smoke appeared in the mob and rapidly spread out over the ground. He heard police sirens and saw their flashing blue and red lights through the haze. A large glowing shape passed by overhead, and he heard someone alight on the ground not far from him.
"Hit the showers, rookies! The pros will take it from here!"
A hot wind blew the smoke away, revealing Volcarona Mask and her partner, and a police perimeter surrounding the mob. Volcarona Mask winked at Alex. "Not bad, boys. But we've got to wrap this up quick, so I'll take this off your hands. Why don't you go find somewhere else to play?" She pirouetted in place and pointed at the crowd of anarchists. "Let's give 'em hell, Aethon!" Her Volcarona shook out its wings, shaking burning scales out into the mob. The men began to run as a hot wind blew from the fire type's beating wings, setting their clothing ablaze. They ran right into the police cordon, where the assembled officers and riot squads attempted to apprehend them.
The Phantom hissed a curse and seized Alex and Hierro's hands. Before Alex could protest, the Phantom's Dusknoir loomed up behind them and wrapped them in an embrace. Alex's vision went dark and he experienced an acute sense of vertigo even as he felt his body stretched out and narrowed, as though he was being drawn through a straw. He began to panic, but he felt the Phantom's hand tighten around his own, a hard pressure that was at once comforting and an admonishment. Then, as quickly as the bizarre sensation began, Alex was free of it.
He staggered forward and found himself on the gravel roof of a nearby skyscraper. Volcarona Mask and her police allies were still fighting down below. Hierro whirled on the Phantom and shrieked angrily, his feathers puffed up and his eyes flashing with rage and indignation. The Phantom raised a contemptuous eyebrow. "Hardly the thanks I expected."
Alex turned to him, his hands balled into fists. "What did you just do?"
The Phantom gestured to Alex's wingsuit. "Your gimmick is useless unless you have somewhere to fly from, right?" He nodded towards his Dusknoir. "Gregor can travel between shadows. I just let you two hitch a ride."
"I, well… thank you."
"Don't mention it."
"But why did we leave?"
"Volcarona Mask can take care of herself. Just like her to show up and ruin everything." The Phantom kicked at the gravel. "Anyway, with her there, Wrath was never going to show up. I'll have to start over again."
"We should stick together. We make a good team."
"I don't do teams." The Phantom flicked his cloak back as his Dusknoir put a hand on his shoulder. The ghost type seemed to narrow and slip into the nearest patch of shadow, vanishing in an instant.
Hierro glanced at Alex and shrugged. Alex huffed out a breath. "Well, he didn't have to be rude about it." He stepped back from the edge of the roof and looked up and down the street. This was one of the shorter buildings on an avenue lined with skyscrapers, but further towards the city center, Alex could see several older buildings with lower roofs, roofs he could jump from. He signaled to Hierro, and the two of them launched themselves into the air.
They flew down the steel and glass canyons of Clarus City, the bomb craters only growing worse the closer they got to midtown. They landed in rooftop gardens and on office patios, catching updrafts from subway vents and the sea wind where they could. The sounds of sirens, explosions and gunshots echoed between the buildings. As they alighted on another gravel rooftop, Alex saw movement on a nearby street. A girl with platinum blonde hair stood on a narrow stone platform supported by two baroque columns marking the entrance of the main branch of the First Clarus Bank. She was flanked by a Loudred and an Exploud, and her hair flew about her face as she snapped her head up and down, playing hard on a red electric guitar. A Noivern swooped and dove over her head, harrying another mob of the Sins' thugs below her.
Alex squinted and saw that something about her music was holding the men in place, as though they were fighting a strong wind. She reached down and flicked something on her matte black bodysuit, and her music amplified even louder, so Alex could finally pick out her words.
"…no retreat, no surrender, never compromise!
We're gonna burn you up, you're gonna feel the heat!"
She struck a pose with a flourish and shouted down a taunt that Alex didn't catch before going back to playing, her hair flying around her face like a halo.
"Tonight, all warriors scream!
Justice and metal! Justice and metal!
The crusade goes on and on!"
She threw her head back and took a deep breath, and Alex saw her Loudred and Exploud brace themselves. Her Noivern dropped out of the sky, the dragon's nostrils flaring. The guitarist struck another chord as she snapped her head forward and screamed in unison with her Noivern.
"JUSTICE AND METAAAAAL!"
The force of her shout and the sonic blast of her Noivern merged with the explosive power of her other pokemon's abilities, and the resulting sound wave struck the assembled mob with a physical force. Alex could have sworn he saw the pulse actually ripple through the air. The thugs closest to the guitarist were lifted off their feet and flung through the air, some of them tumbling almost half a block before they came to rest.
Alex turned to Hierro. "I think she's got that under control." Hierro nodded, and they took off again.
A few blocks later, they heard someone scream in terror. A group of Gluttony's men had herded a crowd of people into a plaza and were prowling around their perimeter. A Tyranitar, a Drapion and a pack of Pawniard and Bisharp circled the civilians as the leader of the thugs shouted at them. Alex didn't even stop to think, and an instant later he was soaring out over the plaza. "Listen up, assholes!" he shouted as he dropped out of the sky. He drove his fist into the leader's solar plexus and gritted his teeth. "I don't know what filthy sewer you crawled out of, but you're in for a world of hurt!"
One of the thugs rushed at him with a switchblade, and Alex disarmed him with his batons before smashing them across the man's face. The Tyranitar roared and lumbered towards him, but Hierro dropped out of the sky and pummeled the dark type, darting in circles around the larger pokemon. Alex and Hierro twirled and circled, beating back the gangsters and their pokemon and taking care not to let the Drapion sink its poisoned mandibles into them. "Go!" Alex called over his shoulder at the terrified civilians. "Run, get out of here!"
A few people raced off down the nearby streets, but most of them were too afraid to move. Alex kicked away a Pawniard and growled under his breath. He and Hierro were dramatically outnumbered, and they wouldn't be able to hold out for long. He had hoped that he could draw the attention of Gluttony's men for long enough to allow the civilians to escape, but if they weren't moving…
As Alex tried to formulate a plan, a large dark shape eclipsed the sunlight. There was a flash, and a beam of green and gold light shot across the ground, striking the Tyranitar. A pair of vines lifted a figure off the creature's back and carried her to the ground. Alex could only watch wide-eyed as a goddess descended before him. Her orange sari flared around her ankles as she twirled, casting a handful of pokeballs towards the thugs. Her golden bangles flashed as she raised her hands above her head and snapped her long, elegant fingers. "Isolate and contain!"
Her three pokeballs flashed, revealing two Torterra and a Venusaur. The behemoths lumbered towards the criminals who were now hastily calling out more pokemon. A flock of Golbat and Crobat took to the sky, only to be struck by a gale from the woman's Tropius. The first Torterra slammed into the Tyranitar while the second barreled towards the Pawniard harrying Alex and Hierro. The Venusaur roared as vines whipped from the flower on its back, snapping around the waists and arms of the men. Alex could only stand with his mouth agape. A pack of baying Mightyena raced towards the woman, but she seemed blithely unconcerned. "Rose legion! Iron legion! Let's go!"
Several dark shapes leapt from the roofs of nearby buildings, landing lightly on the street. A group of fifteen to twenty Scizor jumped back up into the air to beat the bat pokemon into submission while a similar number of Roserade set upon the Mightyena. A Raticate pounced at the woman in orange, only to be tackled to the ground by a Tsareena. A second hustled out of an alleyway and kicked the rodent back into the crowd of thugs before standing guard with its compatriot in front of her trainer.
When the Roserade had managed to subdue the Mightyena, the Dryad snapped her fingers again. "Rose legion, that's enough. We can handle things from here, get the civilians to safety." The Roserade raced forward and began to corral the civilians away from the plaza while guarding their retreat. While the Dryad's pokemon continued to drive back Gluttony's men and their pokemon, she turned to Alex and walked to his side, her Tsareena honor guard just a pace behind. "You did very well, jumping in when you did." She smiled, and Alex felt a warm glow spreading from his chest and through his limbs. Just feeling her eyes on him was like standing in a pool of sunlight.
Hierro's elbow jabbed him in the ribs. "Oh, uh, thank you."
She winked. "I almost felt bad stepping in. The way you fight, I'm sure you could have handled them on your own."
Alex was glad that his mask mostly covered his blush. "Well, I, uh, I appreciate the assist."
The Dryad nodded and looked over to where her Scizor and Torterra were subduing the few remaining thugs. "My pokemon and I can finish things up here. Once my Roserade get back, we'll move on too." She ran a hand through her thick dark hair. "Keeping this under control is a nightmare."
"No one said the hero thing was going to be easy."
The Dryad smiled again. "You're absolutely right. If we get through this, perhaps we'll have the chance to team up again someday, Hawlucha Man."
After Alex and Hierro had taken off again down the eerily empty streets of midtown, Alex turned to his partner. "She knows who I am! The Dryad knows who I am!" Hierro just rolled his eyes and scanned the buildings for a fire escape.
For all the Dryad's praise of Alex's prowess, he and Hierro were at their best when they could drop down on their quarry from above, taking them by surprise and ending a fight quickly. Trapped on the ground, Alex was little better than a street brawler in a fancy costume. In Avenbrooke, the proliferation of tenement buildings only a few stories high with convenient fire escapes made rooftop access easy, but here in the heart of midtown Clarus City, the buildings rose up in sheer cliffs that were thirty, forty, fifty stories tall, depriving Alex of his principal advantage. Even if he could just get to where the subway switched to an elevated train several blocks uptown, that would be something.
"Well, well, well. A hero." A man with a scarred face slunk out from the shadows of an office building atrium. A Weavile crouched at his heels, and a Druddigon lumbered out behind them. Alex turned to run, but a Muk oozed up from a sewer grate, spreading its arms and cutting off Alex's escape. The man drew a long, wickedly sharp knife from his boot and whistled. "I was about to take a break, but Pride did say she was paying good money for the head of every hero we brought back."
Alex drew his batons as Hierro slid into a fighting stance. One man wouldn't be hard to take out, and if Hierro could dispatch the Weavile, they could escape the dragon and the poison type. It was hardly a noble retreat, but Alex was starting to feel like he was in way over his head, and no one could blame him if he cut and run from one fight.
"I don't know this one," a new voice said from across the street. A heavily muscled man lurched out of the alley, a Krookodile sauntering after him. "You sure Pride will pay?"
"He's got a mask on, and he looks ready to fight," a third man scoffed, this one skinny as a broom. "He fits the profile. Pride may not pay top dollar for a pipsqueak like him, but I'll wager that she'll pay." His two Scyther leered at Hierro. Alex glanced around and saw more men and woman bleeding out of the shadows. He had somehow managed to wander into a nest of Pride's enforcers, and the lapse in judgment was undoubtedly going to get him killed.
He settled into a fighting crouch beside Hierro. "We may be going down, but we'll go down swinging." Hierro nodded and flexed his claws. The scarred man rushed in, and Alex swept low, taking out the man's knees. Hierro delivered a quick one-two punch to the leaping Weavile, stunning the ice type long enough for Alex and Hierro to dodge out of the way of the Muk and attack the Druddigon together. One of the thin man's Scyther rushed in, and Alex caught the bug type's blades on his batons. Hierro launched himself off of Alex's back and delivered a flying kick to the bug type's jaw, knocking it back into the atrium of the building the scarred man had emerged from.
While Alex turned to deal with an approaching Hitmonlee, Hierro finished off the Weavile, hurling it against the pillars of the First Clarus Post Office. Alex ducked out of the way of the Hitmonlee's first kick, but before he could counter, the fighting type was struck by a spray of incendiary seeds. The large man and his Krookodile charged in only to be hit by a similar barrage. Alex and Hierro shared a glance and decided in an instant not to question their mysterious benefactor, but before they could strike out again, someone up the street whooped, the sound echoing between the buildings.
"Yippie-ki-yay, bitches!"
Some kind of siren arced over Alex's head, emitting a bizarre, high-pitched whistle. Alex gritted his teeth and tried not to let the noise get to him, knowing that if he threw up his hands to cover his ears, Pride's men would seize the opening. "C'mon, partner, get outta there! I'm trying to give you an opening!" a man's voice shouted. A series of small explosions burst at the feet of Alex's foes, forcing them to retreat just long enough for Alex and Hierro to run towards the source of the voice. "The range is hot!" the man hollered, firing another barrage of his incendiary projectiles. A Darmanitan tried to grab Hierro as they ran by, but another blast of seeds sent the fire type back.
Alex's benefactor was a man in an anachronistic leather vest over an embroidered blue and white gingham shirt, a red bandana knotted around his neck. He had strapped a bandolier over his chest and carried a six-shot revolver in his right hand. He didn't look up as he chambered six bullets, but when he slid the cylinder home, he tapped two fingers on his left hand to the brim of his wide-brimmed hat. "Figured you could use a hand, partner," he drawled. The way he said it drew out the sounds of his words, so that Alex could hear every syllable of "parrdner". "Let me take a crack at 'em." He raised his gun and closed one eye. "Keep 'em pinned, Geronimo!"
The Gunslinger fired off five shots in rapid succession. Alex waited for explosions or a burst of noise, but nothing happened. "Wait for it," the Gunslinger muttered. A few of Pride's thugs, seeing that the Gunslinger's bullets had seemingly all missed, took a few hesitant steps forward. A burst of seeds shot out in front of them, clearly marking a line they were not to cross. A few more of the thugs moved in, scanning the buildings for the unseen assailant.
"First you line 'em up," the Gunslinger said. "Then you knock 'em down." He fired his sixth bullet into the ground at the thugs' feet, and Alex watched in a mix of awe and horror as their bodies contorted and fell to the ground. The Gunslinger smirked and doffed his hat. "Now that's how it's done, partner! Yeeee-haw!" He winked at Alex. "Galvantula thread. Conducts current like a dream, once you give it a little spark." He plucked another cluster of bullets from his bandolier and deftly chambered the rounds. "But the fun's not over yet. You ready to go another round?"
"What?"
"There's a fair few varmints left to round up and I'm fresh out of Galvantula bullets, so we gotta do this the hard way. But," the Gunslinger shrugged, "I'm not much for hand-to-hand combat. Why don't you and your bird take point? I'll get your flanks, and Geronimo will watch your back." He clicked back the hammer on his revolver. "You in, partner?"
Alex couldn't help but grin before nodding to Hierro. The two of them sprinted back down the street as the Gunslinger whooped behind them. Hierro bounded up and over an abandoned taxi and sprang into the air, spreading his wings and soaring towards the mob of thugs and enforcers. The Hawlucha crashed into an Electabuzz, and before the electric type could recover, Hierro had bounded backwards and tackled it into a charging Machoke. Alex slid under a Darmanitan's swinging fists and kicked up at the fire type's center of mass, knocking it off its feet. As Alex stood, he saw one of Pride's enforcers rushing at him with a switchblade. Before he could get his batons up, the woman crumpled in a heap, a strange dart sticking out of the side of her neck.
The Gunslinger fired off two more shots, and two more thugs went down. Alex could see that the men were still breathing, so he assumed the darts used some kind of fast acting sleeping agent, another one of the Gunslinger's trick bullets. As a Staraptor dove out of the sky at Hierro, it was knocked off-course by a green and brown shape that pummelled the bird to the ground. When the Staraptor fell unconscious, the Nuzleaf back-flipped off its prone form and snapped a quick salute to Alex before jumping back up into the air to spray the enemy combatants with another barrage of seeds.
As the Nuzleaf dropped, the Muk from before rose up from the street and snatched the grass type in its slime-covered hand. "Hey!" the Gunslinger roared. "Leave Geronimo alone, you rat bastard!" His gun discharged four shots, and patches of ice began to spread across the Muk's viscous form where the bullets hit. While the poison type thrashed and tried to break free of the spreading ice, Geronimo managed to wriggle out from the Muk's grasp and jump back into the fray. The Gunslinger fired off the two remaining frost bullets in his revolver at the ground near the thickest clusters of enforcers, trapping their legs in patches of thick, fast-forming ice.
Alex and Hierro fought back-to-back, covering each other's blind spots. Without the Gunslinger and Geronimo providing backup, they would have been quickly overwhelmed, and even with their help, it was a near thing. The Gunslinger's sleep bullets seemed far less effective on pokemon, with the larger specimens taking two or three shots to go down, and for every enforcer they dropped, their pokemon partners fought on even more fiercely. When the Gunslinger gave an exultant whoop, Alex wasn't sure what the man was celebrating. They were clearly no closer to victory.
"You hear that, you varmints?" the Gunslinger called. "The cavalry's coming! You better run if you know what's good for you!" Now that Alex was listening for it, he could dimly hear the clatter of hoof beats echoing between the buildings. The Gunslinger gestured with his left hand. "Clear out, partner! You don't want to get caught up in this!"
Hierro began beating a path clear of the crowd of enforcers, and Alex hurried to follow him. The sound of hooves was closer now, and an instant later, a Rapidash charged down the street. The figure sitting astride the fiery steed held a lance held in their right hand, and their full suit of plate armor gleamed in the afternoon sunlight. "VERMIN!" the armored knight bellowed, their voice seeming to come from every direction at once. "IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIVES, QUIT THIS PLACE AT ONCE!"
The enforcers turned their attention from Alex and Hierro to the new interloper. The Gunslinger shrugged. "Well, can't say we didn't warn you." He turned to the Cavalier. "About time you showed up."
Though the Cavalier's eyes were hidden by their visor, Alex was fairly sure that the armored figure was glaring at the Gunslinger. "ONLY BECAUSE YOU CAN'T FIGHT YOUR OWN BATTLES." They swept their lance down and raised their shield. "ON GUARD!" The Cavalier tapped their heels against the flanks of their Rapidash and the horse sprang forward, quickly breaking into a gallop. The Cavalier's lance was blunted, but Alex watched as a Pangoro leaped at the armored fighter and was lifted off its feet by the sheer force of the Cavalier's thrust. Geronimo and the Gunslinger laid down cover fire as the Cavalier swept through the crowd of thugs. Alex and Hierro climbed up onto the raised plinth of a statue portraying a long-deceased member of Clarus City's moneyed elite mostly to stay out of the newcomer's way.
"FACE ME, FACE DEATH!" the Cavalier boomed as their Rapidash darted in quick looping circles through the mob, fire trailing it in long, elegant arcs. Alex could vaguely make out a blue-gray blur whipping through the vortex of flames around the Cavalier, but it moved too quickly for his eyes to track. Wherever the blur passed, humans and pokemon fell back with shallow lacerations on their chest and limbs. The Cavalier's lance rose and fell, driving the enemy host back until a Jellicent braved the fires and wrapped its tentacles around the weapon and wrenched it from the Cavalier's grasp. The blur set upon it almost instantly, forcing the water type to retreat, but not before the knight's lance had fallen out of reach.
But the Cavalier did not appear to be daunted. They raised their right hand skyward, and Alex saw that they wore no armor from their bicep to their fingertips. The blur slowed before racing towards the Cavalier's outstretched hand. A blue tassel wrapped around the Cavalier's arm, and Alex watched as the knight swept down with their Honedge in hand. "TWO CHANCES I HAVE GIVEN YOU!" the Cavalier's voice boomed again. "I AM NO LONGER INCLINED TO BE GENEROUS!" They lashed out with the spectral blade, giving their foes no quarter. Many of Pride's enforcers cut their losses and ran, disappearing into the dark alleys lining the street. The Gunslinger picked off several of the runners with his sleeping bullets. The Cavalier's Rapidash dashed through a gap and cut off the escape of the stragglers while Geronimo kept them pinned on the flank. The Cavalier's Honedge flashed as they swung forward. "NONE SHALL FLEE FROM ME! I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU YET!" Their Rapidash reared up and struck out at the Krookodile with its hooves. The Cavalier battered the ground type's nose with their shield. "COME, GUNSLINGER! LET US CRUSH THEM!"
The Gunslinger sauntered forward and doffed his hat at Alex as he strolled past. "Why don't you go on ahead?" He fed six more bullets into his revolver and sighted down the barrel. "The Cavalier's going to suck all the fun out of this."
Alex jumped down from the pillar. "Thanks for the help."
"Anytime, partner." He pulled the trigger once, twice, three times. Three men dropped. He spun out the cylinder and slid in two more bullets. When he fired them, two piercing sirens split the air. "Yeeee-haw! Better leave some for me, Cavalier!"
Alex left the Ridgewood heroes to their fight and slipped into an alleyway between two skyscrapers. He and Hierro emerged in what had once been an elegant cobbled square with a fountain or small statue in the middle, but it had been reduced to a smoldering crater, pieces of wrought iron wreckage strewn about on the intersecting streets. A police helicopter roared by overhead, and after the sound of the rotors faded, Alex heard sirens and the cries of pokemon echoing through the city streets. Hierro tugged Alex towards the older quarter of the city, where the buildings were shorter and they could try to find a rooftop to climb.
As they trekked through the labyrinthine streets of the upper west side of Clarus City, they took care to avoid fighting. The police and the Sins' enforcers battled on the streets, with several brave civilians and their pokemon joining the fight to protect their neighborhoods. Alex and Hierro were heavy with fatigue, and there were several times they nearly leapt into the fray, only to see reinforcements arrive an instant later. Alex hated running from a fight, but he was near the end of his stamina. He had gotten in over his head again, and if he knew that if he and Hierro had gotten lucky when the Gunslinger had arrived to bail them out. Sooner or later, the odds weren't going to come up in their favor.
Eventually, they reached a quiet street near the industrial quarter. Old tenement houses from two centuries ago were slowly sliding into disrepair, and had been since the steel plants had closed down nearly seventy years ago. The street had been torn up in an earlier battle, the concrete pocked with old potholes and new craters. Alex scanned up and down the streets for a fire escape or ladder, and was about to duck into an alleyway when he heard a clanking behind him.
"Where do you think you're going, hero? Don't you know you're in my way?"