Ch. 45

Battle of Hearthome (Part 2)

Ultima the Eternal Dragon: It's definitely not looking good for Dmitri, Sparkplug, Kiera, Zangoose, or Haxorus, but Dmitri is probably getting the worst of it.

Pokemon is the property of its respective owners

Although she felt like she was being burned alive by Houndoom during one of Alice's training sessions, Sparkplug managed to stay conscious from the invisible strike that nearly knocked her lights out. All she saw when she went to tend to Zangoose and lay down cover fire was her intense golden eyes meeting Mienshao's focused crimson ones before she felt a burning pain as if someone had flayed her leg before she collapsed on the ground next to an unconscious Zangoose.

Turning her head despite her body's protest to the action, the electric lioness widened her eyes and growled angrily when she saw Kiera laying on her side with her chunks of her exoskeleton scattered around her and black smoke wafting off of her body and turning her head once more, she saw Haxorus clutching his face while trying to force the immense pain down. Hissing, Sparkplug exhaustedly climbed to her feet and limped toward Mienshao, Eelektross, Volcarona, Hydreigon, and Beartic and focusing her electricity into a large, compressed javelin, fired it at the polar bear's wrist.

Being too preoccupied with its doubts on its mission, Beartic felt the javelin barely penetrate its wrists causing the polar bear to hiss at the painful, yet superficial attack, but the force of the blow was enough to knock the ursine off of Dmitri allowing the badly wounded battle ace to take in precious amounts of air. Smirking a bit, Sparkplug continued to stagger towards her foes that seemed none the worse for wear despite the previous battle as Mienshao gave a silent order to its cohorts and approached the lioness alone while the others simply stood over Dmitri threateningly, but made no hostile move against him.

"(You're still conscious after what I did to you?)" Mienshao asked the big cat with a raised brow and noting that her enemies tone was absent of any condescension, Sparkplug allowed a tired smirk to come to her lips before returning to a serious expression.

"(It's the only good thing that came out of Alice's training,)" Sparkplug replied simply causing the martial arts pokemon to narrow its eyes at what the big cat said and folded its arms while the lioness simply stared up at the forward team's leader coolly.

"(Pokemon trainers…so cruel to those whom they're supposed to be friends with; wouldn't you agree?)" Mienshao inquired curiously and upon hearing that, Sparkplug twitched her ears and lowered her head to the ground with a contemplative look on her face before looking up at Mienshao with the same calm expression as before.

"(I'm not gonna' lie, there are some asshole trainers out there that abuse us pokemon for misguided views of strength and just see us as tools. Even the supposed good ones have captured pokemon without asking if they had any other responsibilities or if they wanted to go in the first place and unfortunately, can be left alone for years at a time in unknown area like the Chosen One has done to his previous teams)" Sparkplug responded in a level tone causing Mienshao to nod at this explanation and took in these words, studying them carefully, and then looked back at the lioness respectfully.

"(Sparkplug is the name the spawn of the Legend Killer gave you, yes? Sparkplug…I humbly request of you to join our cause and put your abilities to better use. It's like you said earlier; even good trainers will capture pokemon without taking into consideration what they want to do or be left alone to be forgotten,)" Mienshao shot back and waited for the big cat's answer and Sparkplug, raising a brow at what her enemy said, shook her head slowly without hesitation at the offer causing the martial arts pokemon to clench its paw tightly.

"(While what I said is true, it's also true that great trainers like Dmitri saved me from an abusive trainer and because of that I wanted to join him and since then he's taught me so much. None of the pokemon that you see lying around you defeated have been captured by him; Kiera wanted to see the world and joined up with us, Zangoose was assigned to be his healer so he could master how to use his artificial arm, and Haxorus was a pokemon under the tutelage of another great trainer who willingly inserted himself onto our team after Dmitri had an argument with his champion,)" Sparkplug retorted with a defiant look in her eye and despite knowing she was in no condition to fight any longer, she readied herself for combat while Mienshao, noting that his foe said these words without any hesitation, sighed and slowly settled itself into a fighting stance as well.

"(If what you say is true, then perhaps the spawn of the Legend Killer isn't the monster we envisioned him to be and for that we will grant him mercy,)" Mienshao said back to the lioness who cocked her head to the side as the martial arts pokemon signaled its allies without taking its eyes off of the big cat and Sparkplug widened her eyes in shock when Hydreigon, Volcarona, Eelektross, and Beartic summoned energy from their respective elements into their limbs.

Sparkplug rushed forward as fast as her battered body would allow her, but let out a hiss when she felt Mienshao stomp down onto her head, keeping her in place, and could only watch in horror as her enemies fired their attacks down on the helpless human, intending to leave not even ash behind. Letting tears come to her eyes when she felt the tremors of the beams resonate throughout the broken battlefield, she reluctantly opened her eyes and saw to her shock that Dmitri was no longer in the crater, but in the arms of the Garchomp that helped them against Lugia off to the side.

Seeing that the dragon had some of sea serpent and a jackal like pokemon with it, Mienshao growled and took its foot off of Sparkplug's head and aggressively stormed toward the trio with its cohorts following the martial arts pokemon.

"(We disabled all your mines; it's time for you to give up!)" Garchomp demanded as the dragon briefly noted something in the corner of her eye, but luckily this went unnoticed by Mienshao and his allies and she intended to keep it that way.

"(Give up? Have you not seen what we did to the spawn of the Legend Killer's allies? Perhaps it's you that should be surrendering,)" Mienshao shot back smugly as the martial arts pokemon and its allies readied themselves for another fight and just as Beartic charged forward, an unseen attack rocketed forward and impacted the general area where the forward team was standing, but luckily for them, they managed to get out of the way in time.

Turning in the direction of the attack, Mienshao widened its eyes when it saw an otter like being covered head to toe with shell like armor that left none of its squishy body parts exposed and took note of the fact that the armor was reminiscent of some of the warriors who fought with the humans during the war. While it had seen previous Samurott's who had been through enough battles to adapt shell like armor all over their bodies in order to protect their weak spots, the shock came from that these pokemon usually fought for their brethren so why was this one fighting them?

Pov shift

"(Who the fuck is that!?)" Maris yelled incredulously as neither she nor Luka sensed this newcomer's presence to which Luka could only give her an unsure shrug in response while Cynthia focusing on the standoff between her pokemon and the enemy pokemon, broke off from her stare when she heard the steps of heavy combat boots approaching her.

"Ma'am, we have surrounded the building and have the air space above the coliseum patrolled by our strongest pokemon capable of flight," one member of Cynthia's task force informed her causing the champion to nod at this information and turned to the member with a calm expression on her face.

"Very good; how are the local authorities cooperating?" Cynthia inquired causing the task force member to growl underneath his mask before readjusting his posture and placing his hands behind his back.

"Convincing them not to storm the building with their officers and their pokemon not trained for this level of combat was certainly a challenge, but I managed to convince them to go along with your plan," the task force member hesitantly answered causing the champion to raise a brow and fold her arms, expectantly staring at her ally who sighed and continued speaking.

"In order to go along with the plan, they requested to take Delia Shiina, Catherine Wayne, Dmitri Long, and their pokemon being taken into custody for questioning," the task force member replied causing Cynthia to pinch the bridge of her nose as she remembered how the police explained Alice's pokemon attacking the city as a terrorist act by Team Galactic despite the fact Dmitri and his friends had stopped their resurgence in Eterna.

"Not this shit again; anything else?" Cynthia pressed causing another member of her task force to step forward and fill in for her ally who was scanning the bleachers for any sign of movement.

"Langston is currently leading a SWAT team into the building which is why Frederick is on edge right now," the female member of Cynthia's task force said causing the champion to resist the great urge to roll her eyes; true, SWAT teams and their pokemon were trained to handle situations normal officers couldn't, but they were still out of their league if they intended on fighting the forward team.

"All of the pokemon already here have surrounded the dome from a safe distance so I'll just convince them to do that when they show up," Cynthia responded as the members of her task force nodded and resumed their positions of surrounding the dome in a circle with their partners, an Arcanine and an Umbreon, while Cynthia took point with her remaining team and simply hoped this newcomer would help her friend's son.

Hearing the double doors being knocked down and seeing Langston and his SWAT officers approaching them, the champion stood up to talk to them despite wanting to remain where she was and give backup for Dmitri.

Pov shift

"(Why Samurott? Why betray our kind to aid this human?)" Mienshao stated in disbelief as the samurai otter only gave a soft snort in response and unsheathing its blades that were much longer than the usual length of a katana, Samurott slashed at the air with its blades sending a crescent blast of water from them causing Mienshao and its cohorts to duck.

To Mienshao's shock, the blast caused the barrier that was put up to flicker violently before shattering like glass and taking advantage of this, Samurott, faster than a being clad in heavy, shell like armor should be, appeared right in front of Mienshao and slashed at the martial arts pokemon, trying to cleave the pokemon in two. Mienshao reacted in time though and back-flipped away while his allies formed a defensive circle around their leader as the small army of humans and pokemon surrounded the forward team, ready to strike at a moment's notice. Giving small, subtle nods to one another, Mienshao fired up a beam of purple energy up into the sky while Beartic and the others barely managed to erect shields around themselves when Maya and Jet's team attacked them from the slightest twitch of their muscles.

Hearing the sounds of battle and screams of agony roaring outside, Langston broke off from the group and took out his radio and held it to his lips with a concerned look on his face, dreading on what he thought was going on outside.

"O'Hara, what's going on out there?!" Langston shouted into his radio in a mix of anger and worry for his fellow officers as he heard O'Hara give a howl of agony on the other side of the radio before the police officer managed to reply.

"Sir, a large amount of pokemon emerged from the forest upon that beacon of light being shot into the sky and are attacking us! They're too strong, we can't push them back! Sullivan, watch out! Damn it, Sullivan is KIA and I fear I will be joining him soon. Goodbye sir," a female voice said over the radio before a final, ear piercing cry and a clean, sharp cut could be heard over the radio and then all could be heard on the device was just static while the battle outside raged on.

"(It was simple really; all I had to do was convince the wild pokemon around this city that the Legend Killer's hatchling was a threat to all pokemon and the ones who were abandoned by their trainers or had a previous enmity against humans eagerly joined our cause. Don't be alarmed though, they won't hurt any civilians provided they don't try to attack our troops,)" Mienshao explained calmly and upon hearing those words leave the martial arts pokemon's mouth, Maris's magenta aura fired up like a raging volcano threatening to a destroy an island, but knowing this anger could be put to better use by saving the police officers, glowered at Mienshao with blank eyes before rushing outside to assist the law enforcers.

Without hesitation, Cynthia and her task force rushed outside to help the police officers along with Ash, Brock, Dawn, and Zoey leaving Jet, Maya, Delia, Catherine, the SWAT team, Officer Langston, and Samurott alone with the prisoners.

"Cilia, set up a sick bay to treat the wounded; Officer Langston, you and your SWAT team will remain here to provide assistance for Cilia as you and your pokemon are no match for neither the forward team or any of the pokemon battling your officers," Maya commanded causing the esteemed Nurse to nod and began speed walking to the spacious back stage area to set up and while the police officer scrunched his brow and clenched his fists when those words left the dragoness's mouth, he knew she was right and went over to help Nurse Joy.

"Delia, Lopunny, Catherine, and Luka your main priority along with your team is to bring injured officers or civilians into the sick bay Cilia set up; Jet and I will remain here with the prisoners to watch over them," Maya ordered causing Delia and Lopunny to nod and while Catherine nervously saluted the dragoness causing both Delia and Luka to roll their eyes and drag their partner with them out of the double doors leaving only the newcomer, Samurott, without a defined roll.

Summoning a giant sphere of water the size of a truck, Samurott, with the precision of a surgeon, gently spread the water of Dmitri and his team's injuries causing them to all let out sighs of relief of the pain leaving them and after the otter finished, Dmitri's team picked themselves up save for the battle ace who was still lying unconscious. Zangoose and Sparkplug grumbled a bit as they still felt some pain flaring up in their body, but they were able to walk over to Kiera with little trouble as the massive centipede growled and slowly got back up to her feet.

To their relief, they saw that the holes in Kiera's exoskeleton that were oozing purple blood were slowly regenerating causing Sparkplug to rush forward and nuzzle Kiera's chest with her head with tears streaming down her face while Kiera blushed slightly at this action and gently lowered her head so her chin was resting on top of Sparkplug's cranium. Zangoose timidly rubbed her arm and offered the megapede pokemon an awkward, heartwarming wave, but gasped slightly when Kiera gently nipped her arm and dragged Zangoose in for a hug with her and the lioness.

Shaking his head to clear the cobwebs of the battle, Haxorus got onto all fours while putting a claw to his face before seeing the approaching forms of Sparkplug, Kiera, and Zangoose causing the dragon to force down some of the remaining pain and pull himself to his feet.

"(Are you guys doing okay?)" Haxorus asked them concernedly as Kiera winced when she moved her body to show the chips in her exoskeleton where regenerating, Zangoose hissed when she raised up her arm with the cauterized shoulder wound, and Sparkplug twisted her injured leg in some directions with gritted teeth, but they were otherwise fine.

"(How about you? I heard you screaming, but I didn't see what happened,)" Zangoose inquired worriedly causing the dragon to chuckle softly and remove his claw from his face showing the burn mark he suffered in his struggle against Beartic had turned into scar tissue causing Sparkplug to wince and look at her own scar running down from her leg to her chest.

"(Scars show that you're someone not to be trifled with,)" Haxorus reassured her causing the lioness to purse her lips, thinking deeply about this, before puffing her chest out proudly causing her friends to laugh before they turned to the mystery pokemon who was standing over Dmitri's unconscious form protectively causing the lioness and her allies to approach the newcomer.

"(Thanks for ya' help, but I gotta know...why'd you do it and where did you come from?)" Sparkplug interrogated the newcomer with a hint of caution in her voice causing the otter clad in armor to sigh and look back at the forward team who was still under tight surveillance by Maya and Jet's team.

"(It is not safe to discuss my origins within earshot of Mienshao and his cohorts,)" Samurott explained causing the lioness to narrow her golden eyes at the otter, looking for any signs of distrust, before gesturing to Dmitri with her head causing Haxorus to place his claws underneath Dmitri's armpits and Samurott, not wanting to break the little trust it had been shown, placed Dmitri's feet underneath its armpits and helped the dragon transport him away from earshot of the forward team.

Gently setting Dmitri back down onto the ground, Samurott backed off as Sparkplug and her allies stepped in front of their trainer and knowing it was time to explain, the otter placed one of its arms across its chest while keeping its head down.

"(I know this may be hard to believe, but I assure you that what I say is indeed the truth; I was sent here by Dmitri's father and Giratina from the Distortion World to be Dmitri's bodyguard,)" Samurott began causing Haxorus and Sparkplug's eyes to glow dangerously and tense their muscles for another fight, but a sudden rasping cough from behind them caught their attention.

"Da…cough…sent…you?" Dmitri said weakly in a tone that the others barely picked up causing the Dmitri's team to reluctantly step aside, allowing Samurott to approach the downed human, and taking this opportunity Samurott walked toward the battle ace slowly so as not to appear hostile to his friends.

"(Yes, Dmitri; your father sent me here so I could you protect during this conflict. He says he loves you by the way,)" Samurott replied with a soft smile on its face until Sparkplug's low growl caused the otter to be on guard as it felt a stream of electricity coursing through its body that hadn't harmed it as of yet.

"(I'm not buying that shit till I see some proof,)" Sparkplug snarled at the otter causing Samurott to sigh and placing its hands on its legs, leaving it in a vulnerable position so it couldn't quickly unsheathe its seamitars, it looked to Dmitri with a calm look while the human continued to breathe heavily with one eye open.

"(Did you ever ask your mom to help you look up amicable in the dictionary?)" Samurott inquired causing Dmitri's eyes to widen in shock which had the unfortunate effect of causing his breathing to become erratic, but luckily Zangoose helped calm him down and after a few more guttural coughs; the human was fine as he could be in his current state.

"Tr…cough…cough…trust…her," Dmitri informed his friends causing Sparkplug and Haxorus to glance at each other and then at Samurott before Haxorus nodded at what Dmitri said and backed off while Sparkplug growled under her breathe and broke off the stream of electricity with a huff.

Sparkplug stomped backwards to give the otter room to get up while Kiera and Zangoose looked at one another before backing off as well seeing as how both Haxorus and Sparkplug seemed to trust it to not attack their friend.

"(What should we do Dmitri?)" Sparkplug asked her partner just as a sudden tremor shook the coliseum causing the lioness and her allies to kneel down to maintain their balance.

"Stay…here…cough…cough…you…injured…battle," Dmitri responded feebly causing Sparkplug to snarl under her breathe as she the cries of the people outside assaulted her ears causing her to look at the double doors intensely before nodding hesitantly and turning to her friends and the newcomer.

"(Get Dmitri to the sick bay and then go check yourselves in for treatment,)" Sparkplug commanded her allies causing Haxorus to grab Dmitri's armpits and Samurott to grab Dmitri's feet and began slowly walking to the sick bay while Kiera, Sparkplug, and Zangoose stood at either side of them, ready to act if needed.

Pov shift

"Ariados, Meganium, that's enough; thank you both for your help," Cilia gratefully said to the arachnid and the saurian who made makeshift hospital beds out of webbing or out vines summoned from the earth causing both of Cilia's pokemon to nod and slowly approach her, awaiting further orders.

"Miltank, you will run the sick bay along with Umbreon and Meganium. Ampharaos, Ariados, and Gengar, you three will assist me in going out into the battlefield to bring back any wounded," Nurse Joy commanded her pokemon causing Miltank to solemnly nod as she saw Dmitri and his pokemon enter the sick bay with slight limps where they placed the human on one of the makeshift beds.

Barking some orders at Umbreon and Meganium, they set to work treating the injured human while Sparkplug and the rest of her allies laid down on some of the other beds to get some rest causing Cilia to smile briefly before going back to a serious expression as she turned to Officer Langston and his SWAT Team.

"Officer Langston, thank you for pointing where to make the beds so we can accommodate as many people and pokemon as possible. Please remain here and provide security for the sick bay just in case some enemies sneak in here," Cilia told the lawman with a gentle, but firm tone causing the police officer to look back at Dmitri and his pokemon before nodding slowly and telling the SWAT team to patrol the area.

With that done, Cilia turned to Samurott with narrowed eyes and studied the otter meticulously to see if anything was off while the water type stoically looked back at her while being careful not to make any motions that appeared to be hostile.

"Assist Miltank in running the sick bay," Nurse Joy tersely ordered the samurai mustelid in a tone that left no room for argument causing the otter to hesitantly nod at the request, wanting to safeguard Dmitri over all else, but nonetheless followed the order.

Sighing, Nurse Joy quickly cut her hair to a short length so that it wouldn't be grabbed and changed out of her wedges into her spare pair of running shoes that she brought with her and following Dmitri's lead, cut off some of the fabric of her magenta dress in so it wouldn't restrict her movement. Quickly crouching down near the door, she mouthed a countdown to her pokemon that were going with her and when she reached three, she barged the door to reveal the chaos going on as police officers, Delia and Catherine's team, and even some brave civilians were fighting back the army of wild pokemon.

"Spread the word that there's a sick bay in the back of the coliseum," Cilia ordered Gengar causing the ghost type to solemnly nod, unable to find any bit of humor in this situation, leaving only Nurse Joy with Ariados and Ampharos.

Seeing an injured female police officer with one of her legs cut down to the knee and two of her fingers cut off, Cilia mentally breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the Growlithe standing protectively over the officer had closed up the wounds.

"It's like working with the International Police all over again," Cilia grimly thought to herself before shaking the thought aside and slowly approached the officer with her hands up to show Growlithe that she meant no harm to the downed police woman.