ShadowedTactician: I have a demand to keep up... now help me here with these reviews.
Imppala: Whatever...
Gijinka Renamon
Imppala: Mewtwo for Athos? Now that is way off... ShadowedTactician did give Lugia to Athos in his cards, though not Houndoom to Nergal...
ShadowedTactician: You'll see in due time.
FadE
Grim: It looks as if Toxic Bishounen and Psycho Sword Lady have met their analytical match. Speaking of PSL, we haven't seen her in a while...
ShadowedTactician: Well, FadE, thanks for the review... as I've said, explanations will be dished out bit by bit, so do be patient and see if your predictions are correct.
ShadowAngelUmbreon
ShadowedTactician: I got a chair of laughter! Now I can sit on it and fall off it! (promptly falls off his new chair of laughter) Ow... no offence, but I still prefer my good ol' sacred swivel. Marcus doesn't have Rapidash, and Rebecca doesn't get an Eeveelution, but Raven does have Tyranitar in the cards. Thanks for reviewing!
Toxic Bishounen
ShadowedTactician: Actually, TB, I allotted the Pokémon to their characters in alphabetical order, as in I started with Athos, then Bartre, Canas, Dart, et cetera. I gave Louise Wurmple-Silcoon-Beautifly because it's one of the closest things I could get to give to a sniper (Poison Sting... String Shot...). Pent was given Dustox for counterparting. And now we have Imppala to explain why Priscilla and Kirlia do not fit...
Imppala: Thank you, ShadowedTactician... I've compared the official artwork for both characters, and will now point out the differences between the two of them after much critical analysis. The hairstyles for Priscilla and Kirlia are not really similar; the ends of Priscilla's hairs point in the direction of her face whereas Kirla's hair points directly downwards, and Kirlia's hair covers most of its face. Kirlia's 'skirt' is divided into distinct pleats unlike Priscilla's clothes. Lastly, Priscilla's ear decorations are directly behind her ears, and Kirlia's horns are way above where her ears should be.
ShadowedTactician: A main reason why I gave the Gardevoir family to Lucius was because Gardevoir looks like a female human, yet can be male. (Ironically Gardevoir's breeding group is 'indeterminate' which pretty much sums up Lucius' gender at face value.) The Gardevoir family is also known to protect its trainer even at the cost of its life, and it also has the ability to detect hidden emotions, which I feel is basically Lucius' role in his relationship with his friend Raven. (In case you wondered, Priscilla was given Clefairy in the cards because it's predominantly female and is extremely shy like she is.) Now that we're done, on with the story...
A mysterious group seems hell-bent on capturing Nils and Ninian. Having failed, this group, the Black Fang, flees. Rumour has them travelling southwest. Lyn and her colleagues follow in hopes of recovering a lost heirloom. The Black Fang have made a stronghold of an abandoned castle in Khathelet. Its dark halls are alive with shadowy figures...
In the temporary Black Fang stronghold, Beyard the mercenary and leader of the escaped Black Fang members stood nervously. A woman with blue hair, wearing a violet outfit and riding a Fire Horse Pokémon faced him with a very displeased stare. The Pokémon she was riding resembled Ponyta, but had bigger flames on its body and a horn on its head.
"So the brother escaped, and the sister was rescued by a band of strangers," The woman repeated Beyard's report. "Do I understand you?"
"Yes..." Beyard was too ashamed to even look at the woman. "They ambushed us, and..."
"Hold your excuses," barked the woman. The end is all that matters."
"Yes, ma'am."
"And your plan for recovering the siblings is?" The woman asked.
"We've word that the entire group is headed this way, with the brats in tow," answered Beyard.
"They're coming here?" The woman's left eyebrow rose. "Why would they do that?"
"They may well be after this ring..." Beyard said as he showed the glittering silver item to the woman. "It's a rare piece that we took from the girl. It was a stroke of luck that we did, especially if it brings them to us now. I'll grab the lot of 'em with this to bait the trap."
"I see..." nodded the woman. "Very well, I'll give you another chance. I've business elsewhere, but I shall return once it's finished. You have until sunrise tomorrow. Do you understand?"
"Yes," bowed Beyard.
"If you do not have the children when I return... my hand will deal you the fang's punishment. " The woman spoke as she turned to ride away. "Remember that. Bear it closely in your mind." The poor mercenary could say nothing as his superior left, and he ordered the others to assume battle positions.
Outside, Lyn's group had just reached the castle after following the Black Fang from a distance. "I believe they went in here," said Lyn.
"Milady, are you really going in there to get the ring back?" asked Nils.
"Yes, we are," Lyn answered.
"But this is their stronghold!" Nils cried. "They're bound to be well-defended, not to mention well armed!"
"Please, milady, forget about the ring," pleaded Ninian. "It's okay..."
"Shadow agreed to attempt this... recovery, I wouldn't be here if not for that," replied Lyn, starting to sound less sure of herself. "Shadow believes we can do this, and I'm sure that decision was not made lightly. With Shadow at my side, I'm confident we can win." Turning to face her tactician, Shadow could see the fear and doubt in her eyes and began to think. What Lyn said was true; it wasn't easy for him deciding on retrieving Ninian's ring. However, he could tell that not just Lyn, but also everyone, was slightly apprehensive about this course of action. He recalled the mysterious warnings of the Khathelet innkeeper who had Nils thrown out...
"That's quite a group you've gotten yourself involved with. You do know you're facing the Black Fang, right?"
"The who?"
"They're a band of assassins. Anyone they target winds up... well, you know. No one escapes the Fang! That's what they say, anyway. You and those odd children? I'd say you're finished. Not that I'll have any part of it. Course not!"
"Let's get your ring back, Ninian." Lyn's voice shook Shadow from his thoughts.
"Milady..." Nils pleaded. Ninian only looked down at her feet in sadness and fear.
"Milady Lyndis!" Sain called. "There are more of the foe inside than we thought!"
"This is their stronghold... It's imperative we move carefully." The plainsgirl frowned. "So, Shadow... What do you think?" Lyn looked at the tactician standing next to her. "How we move forward is completely up to you."
"Alright. Grim, I'll need you to help me here..." Shadow whispered a few brief orders to his Duskull, who floated through the fortress wall. About ten minutes later, the Requiem Pokémon floated back out.
"Now, use Will-o-wisp on this piece of paper," Shadow said as he produced a slip from his pocket. Grim's eye turned purple as he shot out a very small beam of light and scorched a series of lines into the paper. "It's too risky for us to go inside and have a proper look," explained Shadow. "I thought of this plan in case we're ever in unknown territory where we can't go in and take a look. Hmmm..." The tactician studied the map Grim had scorched.
"There are two narrow corridors here and here. We can engage the enemy in these corridors to avoid taking too much damage. Although..." Shadow pointed to a huge room on the left. "There's supposed to be a chest in the room here, and a damaged southern wall. I need Dorcas to break through the wall and Matthew to get whatever's inside that chest." This was followed by a "Whoopee!" from the enigmatic thief.
"If there are no more questions," Shadow said as he rolled up the paper, "we're going in."
As Shadow carefully led Lyn's group into the castle, their presence was immediately picked up by some of the Black Fang guards, who immediately set their Pokémon on the band.
"Sain, Kent!" Shadow ordered. "Now!"
"Fire Spin!" Sain shouted. Ponyta breathed out a tornado of fire that trapped some of the Black Fang members and slowly burnt them away.
"Confuse Ray!" Kent commanded. Stantler's horns started to produce a mysterious red light. This had the effect of causing the Black Fang members to start butchering each other.
"Alright! Let's move in!" At Shadow's signal, the others rushed in quickly to finish off any remaining enemies in the corridors, except for Matthew and Dorcas who had gone elsewhere to retrieve the treasure from the chest. Nils and Serra hung behind the group to support (and in Serra's case, heal) anyone if necessary. Suddenly...
"Ahhhh!" Florina screamed as a thunderbolt appeared magically out of nowhere. "That's... that's the Thunder magic attack!" realised Shadow. "Erk! Lucius! Counter it with your magic!"
"Fire!" "Lightning!" Obeying their orders, the two magic users produced their bolts of flame and light, flinging them over the wall. Screams of agony were heard a few seconds after that. Meanwhile...
"Captain Beyard!" A brigand rushed into the room where the mercenary was in. "The strangers are starting to close in even more! We've already lost half of our men!"
"How? How? This can't be... they should be dead!" Beyard repeated to himself. "Everyone! Get in there and finish them!" he ordered. "This is our final chance!"
"Yah!" A crumbling sound was heard as Dorcas finally bust the wall open, allowing Matthew to retrieve the chest's treasure in his own good time.
"Ah!" Matthew exclaimed. "This is a hammer for axemen! It's suitable for using against knights. Maybe you should use it, Dorcas!"
"Many thanks, my friend." Dorcas rushed over to pick up the weapon which was too heavy for the thief to carry properly, but felt light as a feather in his own hands. Just then, a shaman, mage and thief burst into the room from a door in the north. "What say you we polish off these newcomers, Dorcas?" smirked Matthew.
"Doesn't seem like we have much choice." The axeman shrugged, "Let's go."
When the group had all gathered together again, they had assembled outside Beyard's room. Shadow had told Nils and Ninian to stay back and leave the fighting to Lyn and the rest. Even though he was vastly outnumbered, Beyard was still muttering to himself, "I mustn't fail... I cannot fail. The consequences are too..."
"You there!" Lyn's voice interrupted his train of thought. "Surrender the stolen ring, and we shall not harm you!"
"Oh, really?" Beyard produced his sword. "Perhaps you'd better worry about yourself first!" The mercenary raised his hand, and all of a sudden the entire room was filled with a chilling mist that cloaked Lyn and her colleagues.
"(cough, cough) What is this? Gastly?" Lyn choked as she gasped for breath.
"No... This gas isn't purple like Gastly," Shadow answered as he covered his mouth with his cloak. "It looks like... a Haze atta...!"
"Se-VIPER!" Before the others could react, a shower of Poison Stings rained down on the group, pinning them onto the floor. Sain's Ponyta, Kent's Stantler, Rath's horse and Florina's pegasus were struck down by the needles, and collapsed. As the smoke cleared, a Pokémon revealed itself in front of Beyard. It was a snake-like creature with yellow markings on its purple body, as well as red fangs and matching blade-like tail.
"It's Seviper!" cried Lyn. "It hid its movements using Haze and fired its Poison Sting to immobilise us!"
"Screech attack!" Beyard called. Seviper reared its head, then opened its mouth to release an ear-splitting sound. "ARGH!" cried the others as the Screech screamed into their ears. As Lyn and Shadow tried to resist the powerful noise, they heard an ominous crack from above. "Wha..!" Lyn exclaimed. "The ceiling's... breaking up!"
"Seviper's Screech attack must've caused the rocks in the ceiling to dislodge!" shouted Shadow.
"The children will be recaptured, and I'll be spared of the fang's punishment," Beyard said to himself. Lyn and her friends could only watch in horror as rocks started to fall from above, ready to crush them to bits...
"UNGH!" Instinctively, Shadow kicked at Dorcas' waist, activating his Pokéball and sending out Poliwhirl. "Poliwhirl!" The tactician yelled. "Help us out with your Mega Punch!"
"Poli!" Understanding the situation, the Tadpole Pokémon immediately knocked the rocks aside effortlessly. "Now get us up!" cried Dorcas.
"No, you won't! Seviper, use Glare!" The Snake Pokémon shot Poliwhirl a deadly look that immediately froze Poliwhirl to the spot.
"Oh, no!" Shadow began to struggle even more violently. "Everyone! Get your Pokémon out now!"
"Right!" After flailing around, Lyn, Erk, Lucius, Rath and Matthew managed to release their respective Pokémon. "Attack that Seviper!" Shadow called.
"Screech!" Once again, Seviper launched another round of its shattering noise, stopping the advancing Pokémon in their tracks. "Now, use Poison Tail!" Seviper's sharp blade-tail began to glow in a deadly purple light as Seviper used it to slash at Bulbasaur and company, making surprisingly short work of them.
"This is terrible!" Shadow cried, "Their defences have been eliminated with Screech! Seviper's Poison Tail has become much more effective!"
"And now..." Beyard and Seviper began to move closer to their victims. "It's time you passed the children over to us... or suffer the consequences."
"Nooooo!" Of course, Serra had decided to scream at the most inappropriate of moments. "I'm only an innocent cleric! This business has nothing to do with me! Spare me, please! Somebody heeeeeeeelp!" At that point, the Pokéball around her waist suddenly began to vibrate, and all of a sudden, Whismur emerged in a beam of white light. "Whismur!" Serra gasped. "What are you doing out here! Get back in your Pokéball this instant!"
"So. You've still got one Pokémon left?" A small smile finally crept across Beyard's face. Maybe he wouldn't fail after all. "Seviper, Screech one more time!"
"No! Don't hurt her!" screamed Serra. Too late. Seviper slithered right in front of Whismur and Screeched at it not more than a few centimetres away. However, Whismur seemed to unfazed by the technique. "What? What's going on?" growled Beyard.
"That's Whismur's Soundproof!" Shadow realised. "It blocks out all sound-based attacks like Screech!"
"Grrrr... still, that won't save it!" Beyard raised his hand, "Poison Tail!"
"Whismur!" The Whisper Pokémon suddenly looked up, and started to produce a scream of its own. This scream however sent Seviper flying backwards into a wall.
"Now Whismur's using... Uproar!"
"Seviper! Get up!" Beyard shouted. Weakly the snake creature slithered besides its master. "Seems like you're pretty strong, you little pest!" he snarled as he moved towards Whismur, sword raised above his head.
"Whismur! Look out!" Serra cried as she realised what was going to happen. Whismur managed to dodge the blow as Beyard brought down his sword, creating a crack in the floor. It trembled nervously as Beyard and Seviper trapped it into a small corner.
"HAAAAAA!" Beyard thrust his sword over his head, ready to strike again...
"Noooooooooo!" Serra screamed as if she was the one about to take the blow, with a few tears begnning to flow from her eyes...
"Whis... mur!" Whismur looked up at the enraged mercenary, closed its eyes... and began to glow with a brilliant light!
"Eh!" Lyn looked on in shock. "Don't tell me... Serra's Whismur is starting to..."
"Evolve!" Beyard echoed her thoughts. "It's... it's not possible!" he shouted. He was so close to fulfilling his orders!...
When the light had vanished, the cute Whismur was nowhere to be seen. It had been replaced by an indigo creature about a metre tall, with a gaping mouth, yellow lips and most significantly, two huge circular ears that were attached to its head like an insect's antennae. "Loudred!" It said.
"Seviper, get that freak!" Beyard shouted. The Fang Snake lunged, fangs dripping with venom.
"Lou-DRED!" Serra's new Loudred simply stuck its palm forward, and smacked the Seviper right in the face.
"Whoa!" Shadow exclaimed. "Loudred's doing some major damage with just a Pound attack!" The tactician suddenly noticed a light pink band of cloth tied around Loudred's head. "Matthew..." Shadow arched his head to look at the thief. "Isn't that the Silk Scarf you found a few days ago?"
"Yeah... but Serra snatched it away from me," Matthew shrugged. "Said she wanted to make her Whismur look cuter..."
"Now I understand! The Silk Scarf multiplied Whismur's strength for Normal-type attacks! Nobody noticed it because it was practically invisible against Whismur's pink skin!" realised Shadow. "No wonder its Uproar was so strong!"
"Seviper!" Beyard shouted frantically. "Iron Tail!"
"LOUDREEEEEEEEEED!" The indigo Normal-type Pokémon opened its mouth, letting loose a powerful Hyper Voice that threw Beyard and Seviper against the wall. A sick crumbling sound was heard as the force from Loudred's Hyper Voice had the mercenary and his Pokémon breaking the wall from the impact. "Earrrrrgh!" screamed Beyard.
"Lou! Dred!" The Big Noise Pokémon wasted no time in freeing Lyn, Serra and the others from their fixed positions. Shaking the dust off her clothes, Lyn stepped forward to face Beyard, who was lying on top of Seviper amongst a pile of rubble. "Aaaah..." he groaned in pain and defeat. "No... I... I cannot..."
"Now..." Lyn said fiercely as she grabbed the mercenary by the collar. "Give us the ring, and swear us this oath... you must promise to leave Nils and Ninian alone. If I have your vow, I'll spare your life."
"Spare... my life?" Beyard smirked. "Failure... means... death... urgh..."
"What!" Lyn quickly turned the mercenary around to discover that Seviper had sunk its fangs deeply into his body. "Seviper's Poison Fang! He took his own life?..." Without warning, the Seviper hissed quietly before using its tail to slash itself across the neck, falling dead besides Beyard.
"These are no common bandits we're dealing with," Kent noted as he stood besides Lyn. "This man was trained by a well-organised group. Even his Pokémon is trained to sacrifice itself in the face of failure..."
"But... what do they want with Nils and Ninian?" Lyn looked back to see Nils and Ninian had entered the room, after they had realised it was safe for them to go in. Both wore worried looks on their faces.
"Nils, Ninian. Everything's going to be fine," Lyn reassured. "As long as you're with us, you'll be safe."
"But..." Nils opened his mouth in protest.
"You witnessed our victory, right? With Shadow's planning and my sword, you've no worries," Lyn said as she smiled. "If we all work together, there's nothing we can't overcome. I don't care who comes after you; I'll not let you be taken."
"Really?" Nils asked hopefully.
"On my honour. Right, Shadow?" The plainsgirl turned to her tactician who was smiling knowingly at the children.
"Milady..." Ninian did not know what to say.
"Oh, yes..." Lyn said as she revealed a small glinting object in her hand. "This is yours."
"Ah... it's..." Ninian gasped as Lyn pressed the object into her palm. "You called it Ninis' Grace, did you not? That lout had it. I found it on his finger when I confronted him."
"Milady Lyndis!" gushed Nils. "Thank you so much!"
"I have no other words, save thank you." Ninian said as she smiled serenely. Everyone else had gathered around and started to applaud, seeing that the children were safe and everything was alright. Everyone, that is, except Erk who was trying to comfort a crying Serra.
"Serra?" Erk asked concernedly as tears poured down Serra's cheeks. "...Is anything wrong?..."
"Waaaaaaaaaaah!" Serra finally began to wail. "My cute Whismur evolved into a big, nasty Loudred! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" This comment elicited several groans from the others (mostly from Erk), but at least everything was fine, and the group decided to move on before more enemies could attack.
"Hmmmm." The woman that had met up with Beyard earlier that day now looked over his fallen body. Night haddescended upon the landand she had returned, only to find several walls demolished, and corpses lying all over the place. "Lady Sonia will not be pleased with my report," she briefly muttered before riding away into the darkness.
To be continued...
Imppala: A lot of self-insertion, I see.
ShadowedTactician: At least it all makes sense.
Grim holds up a sign saying "Review!".
