The Greater Evil IV : World of Ruins
Part 5 : Ruin
Chapter 21
"We need to get out of here..." Todd was well-aware of the danger they were in, she could see it in his eyes.
"Get them!" Butch's order resounded through the room as a group of troopers raised their bows to shoot. There was no longer time to think. A beam of ice froze the one arrow that had been coming at Misty, but there was no telling how many more would have to be so repelled.
"What do we do now?" Jessie's eyes seemed to burn with an inner fire as she rushed at her nemesis, her Penumbra diving in close to attack.
"Is there any choice? We burn out the ice..." James reply felt as he knew it wouldn't be enough. Syldra let lose a stream of flame, but the ice seemed unaffected.
"It won't help. It's not normal ice." Todd pointed out, his Dragonite diving to evade another stream of arrow.
"Then we fight." With a fierce gleam in her eyes and a sudden fire burning inside her, Misty leapt off her pokemon, katana drawn again, rushing at the guards who had never expected it.
With a swift motion of her hand, she released her other pokemon again, hoping they would prove enough to turn the tide, even though they had not done so during the earlier skirmish.
"We need a way to take out that ice wall!" Todd's yell was nearly drowned out by the clash of metal as her sword met that of one of the attacking guard.
"Right, but how?" James' answer went almost unheard in the rush of feet as three more guards raced at her. They swung as once as she dropped the ground, driving her sword upward right between the legs of one of them, withdrawing the weapon immediately after, leaving the man screaming in pain.
From the corner of her eyes she caught a flash of blades as Jessie and Cassidy met, snarling at each other as they started fighting, using everything they had - not only swords but fists, knees, feet, teeth and nails in an utter display of savagery. She had no more time to pay attention to them however as a whistling noise made her hair stands out on end while two sword swung where she had been one moment before. She had rolled away just in time, jumping back on her feet just in time to see Lapras freeze one of her attacker in position.
"Can't anyone do something?" She asked again, parrying a strike from the remaining attackers, following the clash of weapons with a well-aimed kick, causing the man to fall down, his sword flying off. A slice of her blade later, he too was deal with - just in time for a rushing wave from Starmie to knock her down, out of the way of a wave of arrows.,
"Thanks guys!" She turned away from her pokemon to rush the archers, hoping they would not have the time to reload before she reached them. Fortunately, they did not, and dropped their bows to the ground to draw their sword as she rushed in. She had lost track of how the others were faring, keeping her mind only on her own survival as battle raged on.
One of the soldier managed to actually hit flesh, though only in the form of a minor wound on her belly. She breathed a sigh of relief, continuing her desperate attempt at survival, madly dodging and parrying, whirling out of the way, knowing her strength was slowly but steadily being drawn out of her, that she would not be able to keep fighting at her current rate for that much longer.
"There has to be a way out...a way to break that ice..." She did not say it out loud, simply whispered as her blade met steel again, the constant dance of death going on, still drawing her in the middle of it. She could not give up, let others finish the dance, not when the price of not being the last one on the dance floor was death.
A flash of white light filled the room as a straight arrow went upward toward the icy window. Dragonite was using his hyper beam once more, and the cracking sound as it struck was enough to indicate the sucess of the operation, soon the heavy chunks of unmelting ice fell down, and the window was free...
But before they could take advantage of it, another sheath of ice covered it, and Butch smirked as Misty felt irrepressible anger rising up.
"You won't escape that easily." The Rocket smiled faintly. "You've already humiliated us by breaking through all the security defenses we had in place, you won't humiliate us further. It's not like this city is free access for people like you..."
They were in charge of defending the city. The information registered on Misty's mind, though it took her a moment to understand the real meaning. Then it struck her. As long as they drew the duo's attention to them, May and her group would have a much easier time getting out
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The gates of the city were still far away, entirely too far away, when the green glow slowly vanished, indicating all too clearly that time would soon resume its normal course.
"We need to hurry up!" With a yell, May led the fleeing prisonners forward. They still had the blinking of an eye left, or what seemed like it...
With a dreadful wrench, time became itself once more, and the Avaraen on both sides of her small fleeing group slowly turned their head toward them.
"I don't like that." Elayne pointed out, drawing out one of her starspire tipped arrow. The feeling was one they all shared, at least one May did.
"How do we get out of here now?" Jeffrey asked slowly, readying his halberd for battle.
"We fight our way out." With her reply, May drew out her sword, slicing the shadowy arm of an attacking Avaraen to the cheers of the prisoners. The others in their group with appropriate weapons drew them and charged at the four avaraen. They had the advantage of number still, and they were not so far out as to make escape impossible.
"Keep moving!" With a yell, May motioned the escapees forward, toward the way out and freedom, racing as fast as she could. A whistling sound on both side of her head was followed by two Avaraen who were moving ahead to intercept dropping to the ground as the starspire arrows fired by both Elayane and Sarah killed them.
"Great shooting!" Jeffrey congratulated them as the gates came into view, sooner than any of them had expected. The guards manning them moved quickly, trying to close them down before they could be reached, but again, their two archers proved invaluable, whistling arrows knocking the four guards before they had the time to lock down the great oaken doors.
The Avaraens behind them gave up the chase, though May could not tell why. It was as if some power or another had recalled them inside the city, a power she hoped beyond hope had nothing to do with Misty and her companions. They continued as fast as they could for a while still, finally stopping as they reached the canyon which they had left at dawn.
"We did it!" Jeffrey screamed as they finally reached what amounted to the borders of the city as far as they were concerned. The prisoners, finally realizing after all the excitement and battling that they were free glanced at each others, their faces turning in stunned disbelief.
"Were to now May?" There was a newborn respect in the young man's voice as he turned toward her.
"What?" she asked in surprise, not at all having expected him to recognize her as his leader.
"What do we do now? You're the only one that can hold everyone here together." He admitted. A feeling of confusion seeping through her entire self, she watched his smile incredulously. Wasn't he the one who hated her? "I've decided to put the past behind, and do what I think is best for the future - let you lead. I'll follow you wherever you lead."
"So will I." Sarah added, holding her bow firmly.
"And me too." Elayne stood by her daughter, her eyes burning with a quiet but deadly flame.
"If Jeffrey's in, so am I." Naia looked at her defiantly, a look May felt compelled to return.
"I wasn't planning to get involved in the fighting, but heck...count me in too." The voice of the hooded young man made them turn toward the rocky outcrop were Kyle Stery had remained hidden until now, waiting for them or so it seemed. More voices rose...
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The battle went on reltentlessly, the merciless assault of the guards threatening each time to drown them in utter darkness. Their blades clashed, steel meeting in showers of sparks as they fought on, steadily pushed back in a semi circle around a wall, with their pokemon isolated out of the way, for those not killed yet. Flames had burned away Victreebell, and Misty's Rapidash had been in turn wounded, falling to the ground. Seadra she had recalled just in time, before the little pokemon could die from a pair of sword striking out at it, and starmie owed only to its extraordinary ability to recover to be still alive.
Only one pokemon had not done much since the start of the second part of the fight, she realized with a start, and, knowing the pokemon involved, she could hardly believe such a passive stance from it...it was not like Raiken at all to fight so little.
Dodging another attack, striking back viciously, she let her eyes wander across the room, looking for the little pokemon, panicking even if only a little as she failed to find him...no, there he was, standing off to the side, as if in deep prayer. She had no time to wonder at the strange behavior as another wave of attack came toward her, only to be repelled, thanks partly to her pokemon, partly to her blade and agility, partly to Todd's rapid intervention, his blade burried deep in the throat of another attacker.
"I guess I owe you one." She quickly turned aside to take on another attacker, fighting back with all the strength she could still manage to muster...whatever Raiken had in mind, it would have to end the fight in their favor, and end it quickly.
Jessie's blade sank in a man who had been about to strike Misty from behind, something that would not have happened at the start of the fight - was it only fifteen minutes ago or so, or the eons it seemed? - but that now happened with alarming frequency, enemies slipping in for a back attack only to be struck by her friends...she knew that if the fight went on much longer, one of them would slip behind her friends, too, and that then there would be no one to save her...
"Pi." The syllable was simple, short, one she knew well. Turning again toward Raiken, she saw his eyes open again, blazing with pure energy. He had something planned, she only wished she could tell what it was.
"Recall your pokemon, and get ready to fly out!" She suddenly ordered, watching as their flying pokemon gathered closer, Rafleen still standing high out of range with Todd's sister held in his claws.
"KA!" the room seemed to drown in darkness, and she could only begin to guess at the violence of the attack she felt would soon come. Her hair seemed to be standing on end as powers beyond anything she had ever felt called upon by a pokemon filled the room.
"Dragonite, hyper beam!" Todd had felt the imminent attack too, and as his pokemon gathered the light to shatter the wall of ice again, a single bright point in the suddenly dark room, they all braced themselves, Misty clinging to Syldra's neck, hoping her flying pokemon would be able to take her to safety.
"CHUUUUUUUUUUUU!" With a final yell, the electric rodent unleashed the power, a column of light piercing through the roof of the room and striking him where he stood, an orb of pure white light filling the room as the powerful beam of Todd's Dragonite's attack pierced the wall of ice.
They barely escaped the orb themselves, flying above it just as Butch and Cassidy dove outside, too busy with surviving to notice they were making their escape.
Turning back down, Misty fumbled for an empty pokeball, hoping to recall Raiken, but Todd stopped her.
"It's too late. With the amount of energy he used..." He shook his head.
Nodding numbly, feeling tears filling her eyes, Misty watched down below, trying hard to ignore the lump growing in her throat. Glancing at Todd, she could not help but wonder if the price of saving him had been too high...he was a friend, but Raiken, Ash's pikachu, had been even more of a friend...had been...to think of him that way was more painful than about anything she could have imagined short of Ash's death - and unlike any of the things she could have imagined, this one had happened.
She was not the only one affected; both Jessie and James were looking down in utter disbelief, tears painfully visible in their eyes, and Todd was shaking his head sadly, guilt plainly written on his face. She was not the only one, apparently, wondering if the young man's life had been worth saving. Or perhaps she was, he seemed to have already found his answer - a negative one.
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The thundering madness had died down, and the little pokemon could feel his life flowing out of his body, too much energy expanded on the attack that had saved his friends. He had done it, had succeeded in what he had set out to do...there were no regret, only hope that he had done enough.
The two rockets stepped back in the room, guards following them, watching in distaste the butchered troopers lying everywhere on the floor.
"Send someone out to catch them!" Cassidy's order resounded through the room. "We had three of the nine here, and we let them out..." He muttered. "If that little rat wasn't dying, I'd teach him what it means to oppose the dark nine..."
"No, even then you wouldn't." The new voice resounded through the room. "I'm afraid that when you prepared to deal with the kind of trouble Jessie and James had in mind for you, you forgot to make it triple." The voice growled lowly as a great pokemon entered the room, red-brown in colors and much like a persian in shape, though larger, except for the great white angel-like wings sprouting from its back. "And I'm afraid you won't be sending out people to catch them." With an evil grin, the strange new pokemon glared at the two rockets, who glared right back. His force leaving him, Raiken struggled to watch, to keep the strength to live on long enough to see the confrontation to the end. The two dark nine drew their sword to attack, only to be met by soaring flames seemingly coming out of the pokemon's wings.
"Tell me, what feeds eternally but always hunger, desire always more, and can never in the end be denied?" the pokemon asked, a deceptive smile on his feline lips as pain seared the dying rodent's body.
"No time for that." Butch and Cassidy roared, their swords drawn as they charged.
"You lose. It's death. And I believe it's hungering for you two, now."
As the first two words crossed the pokemon's lips, streams of flame fell from the sky toward them, forcing them to withdraw without taking the time to look again. Wearily, the pokemon turned toward Raiken, his eyes filled with a strange sadness.
"Too bad, rat. I wish I could have been here in time to save you." The cryptic words were left out as the last of Raiken's life flow ebbed out of him. Death came slowly, like a restful sleep after a full day, and as he closed his eyes one last time he reached out to the only one close enough he could trust with the gift he could still leave behind.
Dead, he did not notice the strange feline picking him up gently and carrying him away, out of the palace.
Chapter 22
It had taken Lily a long time to effectively complete her work on the strange device before her with the limited resources she had available now, but in the end, she had somehow managed to do it, and her creation stood waiting for her. She hesitated one last time, knowing once she started it, there would be no stopping it. The strange contraption was designed to trap with minimal dexterity required both of her hands so that she could not withdraw them as the blade fell, activated by her feet, and only to release her once the blade had touched the ground and she was fingerless.
Reluctantly, eyeing the blade with distaste she let arms rest in the strange wooden half-cuff, closing her eyes as she tried again to find a way out, some other way of keeping her city safe that would not involve the sacrifice she was about to make.
She slowly, she removed her left foot from the small wooden piece on which it had rested. With a loud clang, the upper part of the wooden device fell, trapping her hands in such a way that the only way for her to get out was to release the heavy blade that would cut off all of her fingers. Upon finishing its task, it would land down and trigger the spring that would snap open the wooden cuff holding her. With a disgusted, anguished face, she slowly forced herself to remove her foot...
She couldn't do it, even if it was her only way out, she would rather try to find a weakness in the device and free herself rather than release the blade...
Summoning all traces of courage she could still find, she removed her foot, letting the blade fall with a whistling noise that seemed to pierce her hearth - then suddenly she no longer cared about the emotional anguish as the heavy piece of metal of the guillotine-like device reached her fingers and as searing pain flashed through her entire self. It was like nothing she had ever known, and her cries of pain probably woke up the entire town. No coherent thoughts came for a long time as she writhed in agony - until horror replaced the agony.
There was no blood seeping out of her wounds, none of the rich red liquid that would normally seep out of the wounds she had just inflicted herself. As she brought the remnants of her arms to where she could see them, the stump of her fingers an hideous sight, she could see only utter darkness seeping from them. She had seen Avaraen before, and that...
It was no Avaraen, it was something even darker, more sinister, more...powerful. Perhaps the very power behind the Avaraen, at their core, their soul. It frightened, disgusted her, but it was too late to do anything...with her fingers off, she could do very little about the seeping darkness...
There was only one thing she could realize as she watched in stricken horror. She had opened a gate to sheer destruction, one that would keep her alive forever as she was the gate...and with her fingers gone, could not close it. She would stay alive forever, trapped within her own darkness that would swallow, destroy the world...
Shrieks from the street reached her as she sank on the ground, trying to closer her eyes, to bring her shattered hands to a place from which they could somehow block off sounds from reaching her hears. She did not want to listen, did not want to know how they suffered because of her naiveté.
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The sharp pang of pain subsided slowly in Misty's mind as she slowly felt the power seeping in her. She had half-expected it, hoped it would happen, and now as the memories slowly meshed with her own, she could only feel grateful it had, in fact happened...Raiken would live on, in a way...
"I still can't believe the rat's really gone..." Jessie shook her head again. Neither her nor James seemed ready to believe it, even though they had both seen it.
"I know." Todd sighed, then pointed out at darkness rising from the city, dark shapes somehow draconic, flying avaraen reaching to attack them.
"We're not out yet."
"I know." Misty's voice was tightly controled...her friend was gone, but his spirit lived on as long as she did - and she would see to it that she - that both of them - would be reunited with Ash, one way or another.
The blaze of darkness coming out of the creatures were totally unexpected, it was the first time to her knowledge Avaraen attacked from a distance instead of fighting up close.
The first blaze, unluckily, struck out where no one had wanted him to hit, badly wounding the wing of Todd's dragonite. The second was as well aimed, forcing Rafleen to land in turn. There was no choice but to all follow, to stand and live or die together, more than likely the second.
"This time it's over folks..." Jessie's voice was controlled, though barely.
"Yeah, guess so..." Her mind running through all possibilities she could see, Misty had to admit they were running out of options - seriously so.
The avaraen advanced slowly, in tightly packed ranks, shadows attacking them.
"I think they don't like us." With a wry grin, Todd pointed at the rushing creatures. Above, blaze of darkness still fell as the flying creatures went on with their assault.
"Inside the houses, quick!" Motioning with her hand, James pulled them all inside. "At least in here they can't get to us from above."
"Yeah, but we can't get out..." Misty countered warily. The door, made only of wood, was already showing signs of weakening.
"It's pointless. I'd rather die in the open, fighting them." Todd steeled himself, ready to rush out to attack. Misty hesitated...deep inside, something told her she should be trying to survive, not to take as many of the enemies down with them, but there was no way she could find of not dying.
Slowly, she drew her Katana, tapping in her newfound powers to ready herself to attack...they might, somehow, be able to breach out of the encirclement, make their way out of the city, but...she was not even fooling herself. They would attack, would try their best to break free - and would die fighting.
But at least they would have tried, would have given their best in the attack. As the door cracked open, all four of them threw themselves at the creatures, though they seemed only interested in killing Todd so far...
And were forced to watch in puzzlement as the beings went straight past their charge, ignoring them totally even as they hacked and slashed, heading straight for todd's sister. Calling out a pokemon, Misty could only he would be able to save the young woman as she finally realized they all still wore standard uniforms of the enemy army, thus protecting them from the Avaraen.
Golduck was able to lift the young woman to safely in time as they tried as best as they could to hit the remaining Avaraen from behind, but soon they were being pushed back in an alleyway, beaten by sheer numbers as well as exhaustion.
"And we didn't even give the rat a decent place to rest...I mean, that throne room..." James complained pointlessly. It was death coming from them, perhaps, that make them notice worthless details of their lives, things they now thought they should have done and had not, or things they would do differently if given the chance again.
"Agreed. Good thing I was there to take care of that." The new voice spoke as a sudden rain of exploding fireballs fell down upon the attacking Avaraen. Turning, Misty watched in stupor as a great flying feline approached them, fire falling from his wings as he carried to them the limp form of a dead pikachu.
As the Avaraen withdrew from the withering assault that devastated their rank, the creature landed between the dark minions and the besieged group, shielding them, casting forth light and fire in the enemy ranks. There migth still be a chance...maybe, with some luck, there still was a chance.
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Tanya could only watch in frozen horror as tendrils of shadows seized a woman in the middle of the street in mid-step, a strange fog swallowing her in the middle of the street, leaving of her no traces as the tendrils vanished as well, leaving only blank, empty space. Void. Nether. Carefully, she stepped outside, watching for any signs of it.
There were none coming her way. The tendrils that had swallowed the woman had gone, and no other of the strange banks of fog remained to strike. It seemed like a tide that could not be stopped, but could only be in so many places at once, limited in what it could do.
There had to be a way to stop the darkness, she could realize that much, but what could it be? No idea came as she raced through the city looking for a way to save herself, and as many citizens as she could find. No way to halt the advancing oblivion, to keep it from slaughtering the citizens, even the kids as the tendrils reached out from what seemed to be their point of origin and swallowed them, seemingly absorbing their energy and leaving no traces of it.
"Any idea what's happening?" She stopped a running young woman.
"I don't know! It's coming from the old gym! Let me go..." She eyed around warily, fearfully. It was too late, though, even as Tanya released her, a tendril of darkness wrapped itself around her, and Tanya could watch its effect from up close.
The woman seemed to sag for a moment, then to act like an skin emptied of all flesh, as if everything inside her had been drained out and fed in the now-vanished hunters. She vanished between an heartbeat and the next, becoming...nothing. She just wasn't there anymore, all the matter that had made her up swallowed, gone, undone.
Her footsteps silently carried her on as she narrowly dodged more than once the silent streams of shadow, going toward the place from which an oppressive feeling now radiated...a bleak point she could feel through her mind, a strange darkness, not an avaraen, bleaker, darker...
Screams continued to echo through the city as the darkness grew inside her mind, now formed in a strange dome of shadow above the gym...what had been the gym, and was now a broken piece of metal. Yet the dome did not reach down to the ground, not yet, leaving an opening, perhaps for the serpent like creatures to go and feed more energy in it.
"I can't do this alone..." She breathed slowly, watching the expanding darkness. From where she was, the threads of shadow could be seen, endlessly leaving to snake their way through the city and swallow the very being of others.
She reached out with her mind, beyond the bleakness, trying desperately to find help, someone who could give her an hand...but she felt no one, not a single one of her friend available. Suddenly, a bright beacon lit the darkness as she fell a powerful presence, and strange barriers crumbling all around the world as her power reached further than ever...and as she reached past the mental defenses of dark types, feeling them as she would feel any others, knowing she could use her tricks on them as easily as on anyone else.
Reaching toward the brightly lit beacon, she brought it toward her, hoping the friends she was bringing, all those she could find around it, would be enough to find a way to do something, hoping they would be able to turn the tide.
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"I won't be able to hold them on for long." The strange pokemon warned as he sent fiery light in the advancing army. Misty felt a dawning suspicion as she watched it again, realizing the feline, despite its numerous changes, had to be the same one that had for so long accompanied Jessie and James on their missions.
"We have to get out of here..." The truth had dawned on them a while before, but as they tried to consider a way to do it, they could come up with nothing.
All of a sudden, the pokemon raised his head, as if hearing a call from long ago, and his eyes shone a bright red in what seemed to be an answer.
"Brace yourself, and hold tight to everything you have." His warning came not one second too early as suddenly, something, some strange power seemed to reach past her mental defense, deep into her brain, and to draw her...
The wall of advancing Avaraen slowly vanished, replaced by pure, white light in which she could barely perceive the form of her friends...
Then, the white light vanished in turn, to be replaced by what was, to all extent, another vision of nightmare. Cerulean, her hometown, being slowly conquered, destroyed, devastated by some unknown, gruesome darkness.
Screams erupted all around them as they turned to face an obviously relieved Tanya.
Chapter 23
"What's happening here?" Looking around frantically, Misty tried to understand the darkness, the shouts rising all around her.
"I don't know!" Tanya answered quickly. "That darkness thing appeared above us a few hours ago, I'm glad I could get you to come here and help!"
"Right." With a sharp nod, James drew his sword. Jessie followed suit, soon imitated by Todd.
"Asandar." The voice of the strange sphinx-like pokemon that had saved them came suddenly. "The utter darkness."
"What? What the heck are you talking about?"
"It's an old curse. Whoever's caught with it find himself as a power source for the nether, the ultimate darkness of the universe. Or more accurately, a power source for a gateway letting the nether in our universe." The explanation made little sense to Misty, other than the fact the darkness in question had to be stopped.
"How do we end that?" Todd's eyes gleamed with cold fury.
"You go in and kill whoever's stuck with the curse." The pokemon's rapid reply chilled her.
"Let's do it then." Jessie resolutely strode forward under the mantle of shadow covering the city. Tendrils of darkness still trailed around, drawing in the life energy of thousands of others, but they seemed to be in luck, none of them coming at them.
The streets were the all too familiar streets where she had grown up, played tag with friends as a kid, where she has walked from home to school. Only, now they were deserted, covered by a shadow deeper than that of the darkest night that had ever covered Cerulean. Her friends, those very friends she remembered from her earliest days, they probably already had been taken in by the shadow, turned in energy to allow the cover to fall further. She wanted to weep in disgust, to cry, at the destruction of her beloved hometown, but there was nothing she could do. Todd's sister, finally awakened from her fainting spell, watched in disbelief and horror, having escaped one darkness to be thrown in the teeth of another.
Cerulean was lost, and Misty knew it...just knew. Even if they defeated the source of the curse, the mantle of darkness would remain., Cerulean would stay under the black cloak forever. Her hometown was dead...would never rise from the breaking.
"Why are we even wasting our time here?" She sighed.
"To keep it from spreading more." Todd held his sword gripped in both hands, ready to strike, though they all doubted there would be something serious to strike at.
Nearing the center of the city was hard, as the ruined buildings became more and more familiar. There, the pokemon center, it's doors shattered and torn apart. Over there, the old hotel, and, standing magnificent - or it once had, at least - the gym, from where her sisters had been in charge of the city. Her sisters...they had taken a long time to stop fighting, to stop disliking each others, but now, the idea of them being killed by that...thing...was horrible beyond belief. She just could not, would not think about it...it was too dark, too...displeasing.
"We have to find whoever has the curse..." The strange pokemon's eyes remained locked on the rest of the city, eyeing warily all that was happening.
"Agreed, but where should we look?" Jessie glanced around warily.
"The middle of this place." Burning flames seemed to be inside those eyes, flames that would not be quenched.
They made their way further in the city, advancing slowly toward what seemed to be the middle of the darkened orb. There were no traces of life this far gone under the bleak shield, except for one shadow creeping ahead of them by sixty feet or so, which they only located once they were nearly in the middle.
"Wait! What are you doing!" Misty called out, hoping that it would not lure the attention of the black tendrils.
"Misty? Is that you?" The voice of one of her sister came back in way of greeting. Judging from what she could see...
"Daisy?"
"Great to see you, little sister. I was going to check what's happening here. You and your friends are welcome to come along. I seem to remember a few of them." She smiled.
"You probably do, at that." With a smile, Misty led her friends toward the central point of the darkness - and gaped in dismay as she finally saw who had been cursed - Lily.
"We have to stop her!" She yelled at Daisy over the screeches of their wounded sister.
"Yeah! Let's go!" Rushing forward on one side, Misty on the other, they both tried to catch their sister and stop her. Tendrils of darkness flew out at both.
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The ruins of Viridian were an heart-warming sight after the debacle in his throne room, Ethan Starkhad decided. Oh, he would much rather have had them taken intact, but if the city could not be his, at least no one would have it.
"What are your orders now, your highness?" The blond man stood besides him, black-cloaked, wearing the mark of the Stormbringer, the dark opposite of the Thunderer.
"Ready the troops. We'll march through the Celadon Passes and attack the enemy on the other side as soon as can be done. I have ordered General Stryke and General Murton to bring in the rest of the human troops here already."
"Good. We'll be able to move on against their forces in the vicinity of the Celadonian sea soon." The tall man reported.
They watched the troops gathering for a while more.
"Perhaps we should deal with Pewter and Pallet first however?" The suggestion was interesting, but it wouldn't eliminate his current major problem.
"No General. We need to take care of the main enemy trouble source, and that's Saffron. That's where they plan all their moves against us." He knew it to be true, of course. After all, he had been given the same gift as May Oak, psychic powers tremendous, but unlike her, he had actually known how to use them to survive. Oh, well. May was dead, and that was for the better, most definitely. Had she not died in that battle, she would have been murdered. All in all, it might have been better had she survived to be shamed and rejected for her cowardly defeat before dying, instead of gaining an honorable death on the last battlefield of the war.
"Very well." A sharp nod, and the man turned away.
"You still are betraying your master, you know?" The voice was smooth, cultured. "Our master. Our aim." Jared Kiljaeden stepped into view. "The world is not to be conquered, it is to be destroyed." The old lines made Starkhad laugh.
"I'd rather have a living world than die. If our Master is unhappy with that, his trouble, he did pick me for his dark nine." A coarse sound out of his mouth as he laughed again.
"Perhaps you'll soon learn you'd better change your mind." The man - madman as far as Starkhad was concerned - was gone again as he said that, vanishing slowly. He hated having to deal with their "dark seeker" and his strange ideas, but as it was, there was no other choice. Still, he would have to get the man murdered.
A cold breeze blew out of nowhere, picking leaves, making them swirl on strange patterns, patterns he had never heard of, never seen before. With a sharp stab of psychic powers, he brought them back down. They had no right to disturb him, to draw his attention like that.
Why couldn't he, or at the very least Syraelle, be in charge of those dark nine, instead of that stupid Kilajeden, with his stupid ideas that humanity deserved to have the world yanked out from under it. It was a tiresome situation, one the would correct if he ever was given half a chance to do so. Oh yes, he would, and correct it seriously at that.
Pushing that out of his mind, he made his way toward the tent where he knew General Surge would be waiting. HE was one of those dark nine who had sided with him and Syraelle against Kiljaeden's lot and their obsession with destroying the world. So far, only the water and the dark members of their club had sided with Kiljaeden.
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The tendrils of darkness wrapped themselves around Daisy. Her scream echoed through the air, drowning even that of Lily, a scream of pure horror Misty was persuaded she would remember forever as she slowly watched her sister being absorbed in the darkness, as if she was eaten by some strange force. No matter how she'd try, she would never be able to forget the scene, the utter horror of it, the helplessness that filled her every bone as she watched her sibling dissolving into energy.
"DAISY! NO!" Her scream came too late for her sister to hear, only when her mouth worked again. The others screamed too, though her name was as common as that of her sister. Reflexively, she ducked, knowing it was too late, that the tendrils would swallow her too, would kill her, just like they had killed her sister, sending her essence up there...
Darkness wrapped itself around her, felt her, despite her dark type, perhaps her defenses were too weak to counter the power of the invading shadow...
The darkness wrapped itself around her, felt her, and somehow, against all that she had expected, didn't destroy her. Instead it seemed to...welcome her. Accept her as part of itself, as if her mind held a tiny part of the essence of that thing above, as if they would not kill her - would not kill an ally.
With a flash of insight, she remembered the battle in Silver Caves, when another avaraen had overridden her mental defenses, nearly taking away her soul...some traces had remained, somehow, just like traces of an Avaraen possession had remained in the woman who had trained Elayne in archery, keeping her alive for uncounted centuries.
"Don't try to just hold her! You have to kill her!" The chilling order reached her as she watched Lily in dismay. Her sister, eyes torn from pain, lips locked in an endless scream of agony, fingers gone, leaving their place to the wounds from which the tendrils came...
"Do something Misty!" Tanya yelled. Black tendrils began to form again, to strike at her friends she suspected. Slowly, she reached for her sword, watching again the pained eyes...despite the curse, she was still her sister, to take arms against her would seems...against all that she believed.
"Please...whoever's in charge, give her the strenght..." Todd seemed to be praying, clutching his sword tightly. Slowly, she withdrew the blade from the scabbard.
"C'mon Twerp! Before that things get us!" Jessie was right, even though Misty didn't want to admit it, couldn't admit it. Again, the sword slowly rose, metal looking almost black as no light filtered under the cover of darkness.
She had to, she knew she had to, her friend reminded her constantly of it...but she just couldn't. Her sword seemed to weigh a ton in her hand as she tried to lift it to strike. Tears stung her eyes. She was the only one who could do it, who could end the madness...and she didn't have the courage to do it. Too weak to face what she had to do...
"DO IT!" The pokemon yelled, eyes blazing. "We won't survive long now that it knows we're around!" The words seemed to burn inside her mind, urging her forward, but her body simply could not, would not do it. She drew upon whatever she could find, tried to hold at bay those feelings that stung her eyes with tears...Lily looked at her, gratitude painted in her face. She wanted to die, as much as Misty wanted her to survive.
Taking a deep breath, closing her eyes, she brought down the sword. The tendrils of darkness suddenly jerked before consuming her sister as she watched in horror again. Then, where Lily had been , only a single orb of pure shadow remained. She reached out to touch it...
"Don't! That's the spirit of the curse. If anyone touches that, they'll do the same thing that your sister did!" The protests of the pokemon filled the air. With a slow nod, Misty drew away, her eyes still locked on the place where her sister had vanished.
"We should get out of here now." Tanya pointed out. Where do you want me to take you?" She smiled.
"I think Pewter would be nice. That's where we told some friends to wait for us if we took too much time."
"All right." She nodded slowly. "Pewter it is then." A glow of blue light surrounded her, then vanished.
"Sorry. I can't do it right now. I guess it expanded all I had to get at you and bring you all here." She apologized softly.
It didn't really matter, anyway. They would simply walk, perhaps time would wash over the horrors they had witnessed, would let them be free of the darkness by the time they reached Pewter. Perhaps, if they were lucky.
Chapter 24
She stood there, staring wide-eyed at the city in the valley below. It had changed, much, much more than anyone of them would have ever believed possible. But then again, the people of Pewter had always been stoneworkers, to find that they had been able to turn this ability to the effect they had was not so much of a surprise.
Stark walls of stone rose from the ground, well-squared. Towers and ramparts, protecting the city from any who would try to attack it, save those who would strike above. On the walls, archers and pikemen , well-armed and seemingly ready to fight, pokemon at their sides. Some of these she had never seen before, entirely new, a stunning sight, perhaps mostly due to the fact that she could see them at all in the distance - and see them as large as they appeared.
Yes, the town had changed, though she had to admit few towns had escaped the breaking unscathed. Still this one had not changed only in destruction, but by creation too, great towers and walls shaping a new Pewter, something that had not been done in the cities of Johto and Kanto that she had seen.
Letting her footsteps carry her down with her companions, she watched as the pokemon she had first spotted became larger in front of her, monstrosities seemingly born of steel and flame to fight. On top of them, soldiers too, armed with bows and crossbows, just as soldiers on top of the wall seemed to man powerful ballistas, catapults, other weapons of war that would rain death and destruction on an attacking army. Wide wake of destruction in the forest that pinched at her hearth seemed to prove how devastating the siege engines could get.
"Whoa." Todd commented as they approached. "Great job defending that town. I'm not sure I could have handled that fight." Steel and pain met in his eyes as he spoke, determination and guilt.
"Yeah, I didn't think the older twerp would pull that one off. It was quite the surprise him managing that." Jessie admitted. "Or that he would turn enough of his new pokemon out that soon."
"The boss did help." James pointed out, his eyes wary as he scanned their surrounding, suspecting possible danger even within sight of a friendly city.
"Stop there!" A yelled order from a man further down the road, followed by a score or so soldiers looking entirely too ready to fight. The man, the leader, there was something familiar about him. Something extremely familiar even, though at the distance she could not yet recognize him...
"Isn't that Jeffrey?" Tanya asked, the blue blaze flashing out of her eyes as she probed the mind of the approaching soldiers, searching for their intent. With a smile, Misty nodded in agreement, she recognized him now.
"Yeah, that looks like him." A smile crossed her lips. If Jeffrey was there, May probably would be just as well, and she certainly would like to see her again after what had happened in Cerulean. The others she traveled with where her friends, but never as close friends as May had become during their long trek through Johto, over the course of the last three years. "Great to see you Jeffrey!" She yelled from afar as soon as she could be sure of who he was.
"Great to see you too Misty!" He answered, picking up the step. "May'll be glad to see the lot of you." He added, before noticing Tanya, Todd and Jana, Todd's sister. A curious raised eyebrow was soon aimed at the last two.
"My friend Todd." Misty explained. "And his sister. We rescued them under way. I'm sure you'll remember Tanya." A brief smile crossed her lips as she rapidly presented the group, keeping silent the story of how they had rescued Todd - or from what. She would tell May, of course, but not Jeffrey, not just yet, not until she and May had agreed on how it would be best to approach the problem.
"All right. I'll take you to May, Giovanni and Brock, they are in charge here so..."
"May's in charge here?" Surprised, Misty turned her questioning eyes toward her friend.
"Yeah, she sort of...took charge, I guess...after we arrived here. She already had managed to convince most of the prisoners we freed to fight - with her as leader - and more people kept joining in, so Brock and Giovanni let her help with commanding as soon as she arrived.
"And you let her get an army without saying anything?" Surprise, again. Where had the Jeffrey who hated May, would not trust her even to cook a meal, gone?
"I was the first to offer to follow her after we left that Arvalon place." Widely open eyes met the statement. Things had certainly changed, for him not only to let May take command of her own fighting force without protest, but to be one of the first to offer to join such a force.
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Fires rose from Viridian Pass in the distance as the allied outposts there slowly burned, tendrils of smoke climbing in the morning hair, visible from as far away as the summit of the Saffranian plateau. Despite the vast extent of the Celadon Sea between the two places, the tiny tendrils could still be seen.
"They are moving against the western end of the pass." Erica's bleak voice reported as she watched. "They'll be on our side of things soon." No emotion, no smile. Only empty eyes as she seemed to weight in the price of stopping their advance.
"We can't let that happen." Lance shook his head slowly, wondering once more what had happened to Lorelei. She had, it appeared, left Cerulean before the disaster that had befallen the city, but no words of her whereabouts since then had reached him. He forced his mind back to the matter at hand, the coming invasion. "What can we muster to oppose that?"
"Most of our troops were already moving to Viridian pass. We can have pretty much all the troops of eastern Kanto there in time to fight, if we work hard on it." Erica, again.
"Cerulean don't have much to spare now...The city's in ruin, and most citizens are dead." Violet shook her head sadly. The scar that ran down one of her cheek gave her a strange, untrustworthy look, but to those who knew how she had obtained it - from her heroic stand at the battle of Cerulean then the further tortures at the hand of the Crimson Lotus - it was more a badge of honor than anything.
"We know." Bruno's voice was pained, something strange for one who had for so long been the solid rock pillar behind the Elite Four, the true strength of it, both mentally and physically. Nothing had prepared any of them for the tragedy, nothing ever could have.
"I wasn't counting them Violet." Erica's sympathetic voice added.
"I know, it's just..." There still was stunned disbelief in the young woman's eyes, a feeling they all could understand, a feeling of abject terror, horror that had stricken them all when the wall of darkness had closed in over the city.
"We need to plan our battle." Lance hated himself for having to draw them away from their feelings, but if they did not stop Starkhad...He knew, he just did, that if Starkhad was allowed to have free rein still, the results would be disastrous - for them all.
"What do we want to accomplish, though?" Erica asked, looking at the map, pondering. "Do we want to destroy his entire army, just retake Viridian and some space around that area, or simply keep him from crossing the mountains?"
"I'd rather we do the first, but I can settle with the last one." Bruno's reply was laconic.
"Depending on what we actually set our aim toward, we'll have to use completely different plans."
"True." Lance slowly nodded. "Well, outline different plans and how successful you think they'd be, then." He slowly ordered the young woman. She bent to peer closer at the map outlining the pass. Sometime she'd rise to ask questions of Bruno regarding the exact layout of the ground in the area as she planned things out, but for the most part she was silent.
"I can't bring down his army." She stated finally, shaking her head. "Even with the terrain advantage we're likely to have fighting at the eastern end of the pass, he has us outnumbered too much to risk it." Slow sights left their lips. They would all have wished for a plan to final victory instead of explanations of why it couldn't happen, but...Well, there was no use weeping over what just couldn't happen. They would not slaughter Starkhad's army, and that was that.
"Retaking Viridian then?" Bruno asked hopefully, slowly. Again Erica peered down at the map, her eyes intent. Lance slowly joined her, peering at the mountains and rivers, looking for any advantage his untrained eye might perceive. He found none, second later his wishes that Erica would have more success were not answered.
"Even that...we can push them out of the pass. Anything more would be risking too much to gain too little. As long as we are in the pass our flanks are more or less protected, but if we go outside it...we'll leave ourselves open to attack, and then..."
"Very well. How do you propose to hold the pass then?" Violet asked slowly, her voice tight, as if she was holding back some surge of emotions.
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"Starkhad's making his move." May observed slowly, still a bit unsure about the whole notion of using pokemon to scout out the movements of their enemies. She had learned, of course, witnessed too, just how much of a lie the claims of the Lotus about the strange creature were. She had, yet a strange suspicions arisen from the break in her family remained deep inside.
As long as she would not understand why both her brother and grandfather had become so engrossed in pokemon, she could not in any way bring herself to trust them. The wings of the great beat under her tore at the sky in a long flight, as they had done more than once before, too high for Starkhad's lookout to pay more than passing attention to them, but...
"Yes. Viridian pass." Misty, born to pokemon training, had no such difficulties with the idea of trusting pokemon, of course. Somehow, May envied her, but the jealousy vanished rapidly in front of the tight bounds of friendship established during their long trek.
"The League - if we can still call it that - isn't standing idle." She pointed at the lines of men moving in from the east as well as the west. They were thinner, fewer in numbers, but fighting on the defensive, on a terrain well built for it, they could easily hold back Starkhad's army - be a steadfast anvil that nothing would pierce.
All they needed was an hammer to bring defeat to Starkhad's forces.
"I think we'll want to bring down our forces there." She stated slowly, already drawing in her mind plans on how best to move her forces to support the defensive tactics of the league.
"True." Misty nodded slowly, peering closer. "There are a few good places were we could hide some forces for ambush down the pass, but the best we have I'd say is just to ram them from behind once they are in the pass."
"That's the plan I was considering already." A wry grin crossed her lips. She had taught Misty much, but knew more yet that remained unmentioned.
"I should have known." A smile, sheepish. "I guess we need to get back to Pewter to warn Giovanni and Brock of those development now?" A raised eyebrow accompanied the comment.
"Yes." Nodding quickly, she slowly guided her beast in a delicate half-turn, flying slowly north. Misty followed suit with ease.
The flight back home was uneventful, the troops waiting for them on the walls of Pewter rather glad to see them back. Some scouts had not returned, and there had been worried over May going on her own, especially amongst those who had sworn to follow her.
The main meeting room of the castle sported no gaudy decorations, no ostensible signs of power. Chairs, simple, wooden. A table, much the same though larger and taller. Resting on it, maps. All that was needed for military planning, and nothing to distract from it. It was how her command room aboard the Bloodsword had been at the time of Cerulean, and it was as far as she was concerned the best way to ensure all concerned would focus on what they had to. It was not empty as they entered. His dark hair in spikes as always, Brock focused on the plans. Near him, his equally dark hair slowly turning to gray, Giovanni pointed out various things he considered of interest for the conduct of fighting. Danea, also present, was silent, lost in thought.
"Starkhad is moving." She quickly informed them, reporting what she and Misty had found out only a few hours before over Viridian. "Attacking the eastern area, through Viridian pass. The league is getting ready to fight him there. I say we move now."
"What kind of attack would you have us do?" Giovanni inquired slowly as she ran her plan one last time through her mind.
"We know we are not fighting alone. The Silver Lotus oppose Starkhad as much as us, they will certainly be there." She opened slowly. "I would expect them to use hit and fade tactic on the southern flank of the enemy army, but mostly to block their supplies line and position troop around those cliffs to ambush attackers as they come."
"And what part would you have us play?" Brock this time was the one asking.
"We move in and position our troops in Viridian forest. Once the enemy is caught in the pass, we move in to seal it off and drive them from behind to break on the defensive position s of the league.
"If they hold." Danea objected somberly. She had been in a dark mood ever since Tanya and Misty had brought news of the events in Cerulean, the horrors there. They all had been affected, but Danea took it to extremes.
"They will." Misty reported confidently. "It's the best of the league. They'll fight hard to hold back Starkhad."
"Then I guess it's the best we have to do." Giovanni finally concluded after some more discussion.
Chapter 25
From the west, Starkhad's great army was slowly inching its way into the pass. None of his Avaraen were there, and no matter where her scouts had searched - or where - they had found nothing the least bit like traces of the creatures. It was as if he had decided to give the whole victory to his human forces, something not so impossible, knowing the idiot. Had he been half as intelligent as he was selfish, the Lotus would not have suffered from the humiliating utter disaster of the battle - was it even worth being called a battle, seeing as they had not fought? - of Cinnabar.
"Giovanni?" She asked slowly, turning toward the older man as his eyes wandered north toward a soft waterfall.
"The Raptor's Talons are ready to strike, from one of the smaller valley that break into the pass about a third of the way through." This was as they had planned. The attack by his strike force trained for stealth and viciousness would throw the attackers in disarray, and hopefully take down a few of their good leaders. "They are only waiting for your signal." He completed. Slowly, she nodded, absently looking at one of the few others with her on the hillside. He had once been a member of the Pewter orchestra, now with his great horn he would sound the charge for the army.
A simple, but rather effective way to do things, and one that had been used for centuries.
"Brock?" The young man was sitting at the edge of the cliff, looking far below.
"The Avalanche guard is ready to move in the second you sound the attack. They'll blockade the western end of the pass, and keep Starkhad's troops pinned down for the slaughter." It was, they had decided, the best task for the Pewter men, heavily trained in defensive warfare and holding a line against impossible odds. Popular lore had their name coming from the fact - rumored fact - that any of them would step alone and empty-handed in the path of an avalanche - and expect to stop it.
"Jeffrey? Misty?" The last two members of their little group were both watching down from the edge, hands on weapon, and apparently very eager to fight.
"Everything's ready." Jeffrey's voice was distant, as if some inner turmoil was striking him. There was an haunted look in his eyes, as if he was facing something familiar, something he didn't want to face. "My group's ready to give them a nice black sky whenever you feel like it."
"And mine's ready to deal the killing blow." Misty nodded rapidly. Once Jeffrey's group had softened the enemy with their rain of arrow, Misty's powerful close combat force would rush in to finish the job. They would have enough firepower to do so, most definitely, with Starkhad's minion trapped between the Avalanche guard and the League forces, and with the Raptor's Talons disorganizing their forces with a series of small-scale hit and fade strikes.
"Very well. Let's wait now." She watched intently down below as the forces slowly engaged, the spearhead of Starkhad's army running straight into the defenses put together by the League armies. The battle had begun.
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Here they were. The Imperial warriors came charging out the west, screaming. For a brief moment, a flash of surprise ran through Otoshi, surprise almost frightening. It disappeared as soon as it had come, though. It was not fear of death, simply the small shiver, shudder at something unexpected, or still shocking despite it.
Slowly, he reached for the comforting steel of his trusted sword. He had long practiced with the wooden bokken, learning the art of dueling, now he gripped firmly in his hand a single-edged katana that could cut through mostly everything short of a thick layer of steel.
"Afraid?" His companion, a young woman by the name of Janet, asked, drawing her bow slowly, waiting for them to be ready.
"No, you?" He replied, drawing his sword, ready to kill anyone who would come too close to her. That was the standard battle deployment of their forces, with each of the archer in the first few row being assigned a bodyguard, then paired with another such group and so on to form larger units. Next to them, Joe, who had fought alongside Otoshi in quite a few battles already, was drawing his own bow while his own guard, Damien, stood ready with a long sword in hand.
The enemy lines came closer, as each passing second seemed to wax in eternity, a raging tide about to crash down on them...
"Now." Janet whispered softly, releasing her arrow in a blur of movement, the deadly black shaft driven deep in an enemy - at least as far as he could see, as the warrior slowly toppled backward. Others jumped over his body - one of them, only to be hit by Joe's arrow - and came closer. More arrows rose from the ranks of their army, arching down to fall among the attackers...
And then it was no longer time to think of that as the first of the enemies reached their line. His Katana whistled, striking out without thought at the first man he met, viciously cutting deep in the flesh as it struck past the defense. Janet and Joe dropped their bow, raising rapidly the spears they carried for their own defense in melee fighting, clumsily swinging at the attackers. Some of them fell back, but more came for Otoshi and Damien to take down.
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Battle raged not only in the narrow Viridian pass, but far away, beyond the gates of the dead. Heaven, or at least the outskirts of it, were now a battlefield were Avaraen and the souls of a million dead struggled in a bitter conflict. Oblivion awaited those who would not survive, destroyed not only in bodies, but in soul as well.
Avaraen struck down on the ground and up in the sky, though at least over the last terrain they still did not held the advantage, a fact owed in great part to the three glittering figures that roamed the sky, raining flames, ice and thunder down on the attackers.
Yet, even to Zapdos the battle was growing tiring. Always two of them would remain up while the other rested, a rest made useless by the drowning cries of battle and the feel of being needed elsewhere. He tried to see what could be done more, but there was nothing. Suicune had remained down in the living world, Jormungand was left weak still from wounds years old and unable to fight, Hou-oh, the phoenix, was oathbound to keep the gate of life, Lugia had refused to return to the outer world, and Mew could only help ever so much by fighting down on the ground.
"We have to strike deeper, at their heart" The voice was Articuno's, as she returned to assist them once more, casting beams of ice among the attackers.
"True." Moltres nodded slowly. "Take them out quickly."
"Yes." Zapdos mused slowly. "We will do it." He finally decided. They had done too much beating back assaults, and even more withdrawing - it was time to take the war to the enemies
The skies were clear as they flew through the timeless realm, past darkened battlefields were the shadow had been victorious, areas devoid of light and life now.
It was a frightening prospect, the idea that this...corruption, darkness would spread to the entirety of heaven if they did not defeat the invader - an invader with seemingly endless resources, one that would simply make new soldiers for each one that fell.
The heart of darkness, the pit that had appeared where Enaira had fallen, seemed to come closer quickly, and yet there was no opposition. It made no sense, even this far from the pit they should have encountered some Avaraen in the air, some beast waiting to defend the hearth of their offensive...
Unless...
There was no way they could have seen it earlier, not while flying over lands where enemy air presence was weak, if it even existed. Yet, now that he could perceive the truth, it was too late to do anything about it. The smoldering touch of darkness extended out of nowhere at blinding speed, seizing each of them in turn.
There was nothing left to do for them but to try to save some of their power in the waking world so that they could one day awaken again. Through the searing pain, the great thunder bird found the one he was bound too, to whom he had given the gift of resilience only a few years before...
With a final shriek, he died as the power vanished out of his body. Around him, caught in dreadful webs of darkness, his companions fell as well, their power streaking out of them toward the one they had once guarded in a desperate gamble to survive.
They had failed, and now the sky would belong to their enemies.
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Lance peered closely at the map as Erica paced up and down in front of it, adjusting their strategy as the enemy came in, further waves crashing down in the defenders.
"Bruno?" She asked, her voice snapping.
"We are still holding out to the north. Violet and her troops are fighting extremely well, though they takes lots of risk."
"They fight like people with nothing to lose. I can understand that." Slowly, Lance shook his head. "I still wonder what happened there - and what I could have done to stop it."
"No point in worrying about that." Bruno's voice rang. "We need to beat them back out of the pass."
"We might want to keep them from doing that to us first and foremost." Lance again.
"Lance?" Erica went on, not that interested in the quick discussion between the two.
"We're holding our own to the south, at least for now."
"Good." She went back to pacing up and down, awaiting further reports of the situation. As long as the enemy charge continued, there was only one efficient thing to do, and that was trying to break it up while holding what ground they had.
"I just hope Violet can control their suicidal instincts..." A brief whisper from Lance. "We can't lose them."
"Afraid that's out of her power." Bruno muttered. "And that's a risky situation. If they move forward and get separated from our main line, that will leave an hole for them to break through."
"Exactly." She wasn't too interested in hearing them repeat over and over again thing she knew all too well, especially those about the most important risks of the situation.
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The swirling dance of blade continued on the front lines, unabated, a deadly dance that separated those good enough, and those lucky enough, from those who had failed - a separation no one could ever cross. Blood trickled down Otoshi's left arm, the result of an arrow that had came entirely too close to him for his own good. His right arm seemed made of molten metal, burning pain and impossible weight. He struck again with it, attacking the shadowy form to his right - there was no longer even clear sight of who was enemy and who was ally. All there was around him was shadowy forms, and he just struck out at those that attacked him.
If he ever got out of the fighting alive, he would spend a long time in bed, just sleeping. Sleep sounded like a good idea right now, in fact, but he just couldn't afford to take it. Liquid splashed on his right arm, but he could not for the life of his - what was left of it, the unlife of one whose fight for freedom had suddenly become a fight for survival - figure if it was rain, blood, or something else. Either way it didn't matter, there was only the fighting around, one thing to do.
His sword fell on a shadow again, and through tired ears he seemed to hear a scream of pain. He had apparently struck. The shadow crumpled to the ground, wounded or dead. Why should he care? As long as it didn't threaten him, he didn't care in the smallest what happened to the man.
He had no idea what had happened to the others, Janet, Joe, Damien. The onrushing tides of enemies had split them apart long ago. For all he knew maybe in the rushing fight he had accidentally struck or killed one or more of them. There was no time to see if they were friends or foes - anyone that came too close had to be taken out, or he'd die.
A flash of pain in his shoulder, warm liquid flowing there again, he had been wounded. Perhaps a blade, perhaps an arrow though few archers still dared to fire in the fierce melee, aware that whether they would hit enemy or ally was up to luck.
An opening in the shadows, there, a place where the fighting seemed to have died, a place where he could rest and clear his head of the buzzing noise of fighting. He rushed there, pushing away with his blade all that stood in his way, having no idea where he was anymore - no more than a general idea -, only hoping to get out.
As he reached the clear area, rocky cliffs rising out on both sides, or at least seeming too, he dropped to the ground. Another shadow came, slowly, carefully. He reached for his sword, knowing there was no point to it.
"Has Starkhad found us yet?" a voice from far off that barely seemed to reach him. It was worried, definitely. And, if they opposed Starkhad...then it had to be friends. Yes, friends.
"Not so. He's with the League, General Nelson." That was the shadow near him. A human in red and silver, he thought as his vision slowly cleared of the rush of battle. He closed his eyes slowly, wanting only to sleep.
___________________________
There was a strange whistling noise in the air, out of nowhere that they could see. Lance whirled, wondering where it came from, but yet more, the sound became louder.
"What's that?" Bruno asked uneasily, shifting around. "I don't like it."
"It's coming from above..." he realized slowly, looking up.
"I don't like it..."
There was no time to scream, out of nowhere the reflex came and Lance threw himself to the ground, rolling away from the center of the tent. So did Bruno, and Erica started to do the same.
As she did, the source of the whistling came in sight, crashing through the top of the tent, a large boulder crashing in. Bruno, on his side, was safe, definitely. So was Lance as he watched it falling, crashing to the ground...
Erica never had a single chance, crushed within moments.
"Sir, our lines are on the verge of breaking!" An haggard-looking soldier came, blood trickling down his cheek. "They brought in catapults and..." He stopped, realizing the group was already well aware of that development. "Oh god..."
"Damn!" Bruno swore. There was no time to react to a friend's death, only time to try to salvage what could be salvaged of their fighting force...
"Pull back to the exit of the pass! We'll make a stand there!" Lance ordered rapidly, hoping he could do something, anything, to stem the sudden tide.