Disclaimer: Pokémon is still owned by The Pokémon Company, which in turn is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, and probably others I forgot. The following fanfiction is me playing around in their sandbox, using characters they envisioned and created, except for the odd character that wasn't. I own nothing of this.
A/N: Slightly graphic violence warning.
Chapter 49: A Desperate Defence
The smoke, Danny saw as soon as he landed, was caused by a vulpix that had briefly set something on fire, but a moment later, the reason for the vulpix's attack became clear as a wave of psionic energy tried to blast everything in sight. Pidgeot shielded him from the worst of it with what looked and felt like a Steel Wing, but it still tugged at him hard.
The wing lowered, and Danny saw the culprit. A grumpig, blinded by rage and hatred, lashing out at everything around it. Some earth in nearby gardens was torn up; fences broken or disjointed. There was also a vulpix, using embers to distract, but it wasn't strong at all, and no other Pokémon seemed to be around.
It was the suburbs on a weekday afternoon. Most people were probably not here or something.
Hoping that it was only Psychic-types that were affected, Danny chose to send out houndoom, keeping the pokéball primed in case of Dark-types also going crazy. The canine immediately saw what was going on, helped by grumpig lashing out, and got to work.
One minute later, the grumpig was down and out for the count, and a door opened. "Thank goodness," a woman said, and turning around revealed her to be in her fifties or something close, with long and greying hair, dressed in nurse's scrubs. The hospital kind. "I was about to head to the hospital when that grumpig appeared. Vulpix kept it occupied, but, well..."
"It's more your faithful pet, not a battling Pokémon," Danny finished easily as the fox walked up. He shoved thoughts of Max's vulpix – and that ninetales – away, and gently stroked the tuft on top of the Fire-type's head with two fingers. "Is it anyone's?"
"No. I know every Pokémon on this street. The only Psychic-type used to be three houses down, but they moved to Johto two months ago. And it was the sweetest bronzor too. It'd never do something like this!" The woman knelt by her vulpix, petting it for a moment before returning the fox. "Did you see where the worst was happening?"
"Downtown. Looked worst around Devon Corp." Danny searched for, and found, the pidgeot's pokéball, and after a quick shared look, the bird returned itself. "Where do you work?"
"South of here. I'd ask for help, but I think I'll just have to risk it myself." She took Danny's hands in her own. It was a stronger grip than he expected. "If you find injured people who can still walk, send them over to the Rustboro South Hospital. The one in the north of town is the trauma centre. If anyone downtown gets hurt, they'll be sent there first."
"Will do."
"Good. And I'd better not see you there, mister."
Despite everything, Danny smiled. "I'll try."
"That is all we can do, isn't it?" the woman replied. Then, she walked off in a bit of a hurry, and Danny followed suit in a different direction. He had a decent idea of where the next plume of smoke was compared to his current location, and it wasn't like he couldn't just look up and follow the signals.
It was a minute and a half until he found the next Psychic-type affected. This one, though, had just destroyed a bunch of things. Just a casual glance down the street as he sent out houndoom again – it was an exeggcute – revealed a bunch of trash strewn across the street, with remnants of what was once a trash can nearby. A small amount of bricks had also been knocked loose from someone's garden wall, and the gate in that same wall didn't exactly look okay.
The main danger, however, was one tree on the opposite side of the street from that gate. It hadn't been uprooted fully, but Danny was pretty certain that the eggs weren't too far off toppling it. "Distract it," he said as he reached for aggron's pokéball.
Swampert was probably better at holding the tree upright, but aggron was better in the event of the eggs blowing the tree up. More resilient and all, and the lack of weakness to Grass helped as well. This was a marathon, not a sprint, and even if Solarbeam wasn't realistically an option – too slow to form in October weather generally – Bullet Seed or a draining move could still do plenty.
The worry was ungrounded. Houndoom got up close and personal with one of the eggs, slamming her tail into one of them for starters before planting a Dark Pulse right down at her front paws.
She jumped away, landing slightly awkwardly on some trash goop. The eggs were completely scattered, knocked out.
The Dark-type returned herself as Danny checked on aggron – the tree was back in place, but probably needed some tender care he couldn't give – before returning the Steel-type as well. There were more places to help out at, and not nearly enough time.
Not a minute later, he found himself near a battle. The sounds were a dead give-away: there was the distinct crackle of electricity being wielded, on top of something hitting the ground at speed, and that was before Danny heard a young voice – too young, and scratchy as well – cry out for the Pokémon.
He turned the corner, only to have to immediately drop to the ground to avoid a Psybeam sent at him by a kadabra. Then, it turned around, aiming an attack at a flaaffy, who held it off as Danny got up and sent out houndoom yet again.
He was going to keep her out, he decided. This whole return-and-send-back-out was just stupid.
In any case, it was as easy as the other two fights had been. The Pokémon weren't too strong, clearly. In fact, it felt like they were barely trained at all, if Danny had to guess, but he didn't know why he thought that.
"You okay?" he asked as he walked up to the other Trainer. Or younger sister of one. She didn't look a day over 10, with a vivid pink hairband and large round glasses that didn't look like they had actual lenses in them. "That the family flaaffy?"
"No," the girl replied as the Electric-type bleated before carefully rubbing its coat against her hand. "My brother's. He—" she suddenly let out a violent cough that didn't sound good at all to Danny's ears. "He's at a friend. Left flaaffy for company," she finished, wheezing a bit.
The teenager checked the flaaffy more thoroughly, and he saw hints of it being trained well. The fur was well-trimmed: not too short, which would hinder storage of electricity, and not too long, which would hurt it with releasing attacks. It also kept a close eye on houndoom and him, even as it subtly moved between them and the girl. "Well, it did a good job of company and protecting you," he praised the woolly Pokémon. "You heard from your brother?"
A shake of the head. "No. But he'll be okay. He's a good Trainer." She looked at the kadabra on the ground. "Shouldn't you catch it?"
For a moment, everything froze as the words made their way into his brain. Then he felt stupid as heck. The best way to get them off the street was to catch them and have Professor Oak deal with them. And there wouldn't be a disruptor there either. "Good idea," he said, palming an empty pokéball and lazily tossing it at the beige Pokémon.
Only for it to bounce off ineffectively.
The pokéball didn't work. That meant it was someone's Pokémon. "Houndoom, search," Danny ordered as he scanned the street to see if it was anywhere visible. "Man..."
"It didn't work? That means it's owned, right?" the girl asked. She'd walked up a bit, and flaaffy had stopped being between them. "Nobody has a kadabra. That house has a linoone, and that one has a torterra, and that one has a dewgong and seel..." she said, and Danny caught the last two houses she pointed at.
"But it's still..." he started, but then something clicked in his brain. Knowledge, clarity, a connection so clear he felt stupid to not have seen it. And disgust strong enough to find his fist clenched. "They would..."
"What is it?"
"I'm sorry," Danny said, breathing deeply through his nose to try and calm down a bit. "Can you get back inside? Just in case there are more Pokémon out there?"
She wanted to argue, he could tell, but then another cough came out, and the Electric-type next to her gently pushed her in the direction of the two storey house behind. "Okay…" she said, turning around and walking away.
She was halfway up the garden path when houndoom announced her return with a bark, and a generic pokéball was deposited into his hand without needing to ask. It looked fairly new: most of Danny's had little pockmarks here and there from hitting rocks and trees all the time, even while shrunken down. It was inevitable. This one, however, had barely any.
Cosmetic marks aside, it did what it was supposed to, and the kadabra vanished in red light before Danny pressed the button and put it in stasis. He put the ball in one of his pockets as he turned his eye towards the sky, looking if there was something to be seen: some kind of smoke that would serve as a signal for where to go.
For now, there wasn't any visible, so he would have to move blindly. With what he had seen while still in the air, though… It probably would not be long until houndoom had to take out another Psychic-type.
And Danny knew that she would do so brilliantly.
~~§~~§~~
An apartment complex's emergency exit stairs. A perfect place to perch for a moment; look over and see what was going on from the safety of height. It revealed little, excepting one of his Pokémon taking care of a nearby grumpig on the loose.
Well, little except a fairly destroyed larger street a quarter mile north. Sidney had seen it from above; it being a reason to land here, uncaring if someone saw him. There were times for hiding and stealth, trickery and sneakiness, and then there were times like these when everything went to groudon's lair in a handbasket. The reason he guided the pidgeot here was simple: it would not do to be caught in a trap from people moving in behind whichever pair was coming from this side.
Better to trap the trappers, should the need arise.
He jumped down the last few feet, landing easily as umbreon moved up, carrying something. A Pokéball, minimised. It didn't feel extremely new, but it wouldn't open to reveal the identification number; a sign it was a used one. "Grumpig's?" he asked, and the Dark-type yelped before darting through his legs. He aimed the ball at the fallen Psychic-type, turning around the moment he saw the red settle and hurrying after his own Pokémon.
He found something peculiar. On closer look, the damage here did not match that of a Pokémon battle gone wrong. Cars on their side made no sense for that; not in this manner. This was displacement through psionic force, not physical force; a powerful Pokémon's doing for certain.
Sidney looked down the street and saw the expected. Mostly.
"Can you hear me?" he asked of the teenager sitting in the middle and at the head of the badly destroyed part of the street. He knelt, feeling a chill as he did so. He saw the half-focused eyes of someone stuck inside their own head. Years had passed since he had seen it, but the symptoms were the same as ever; regrettable as it was on someone so young, from a vastly different cause.
Pulse elevated, but within normal parameters. Breathing aggravated, but reminiscent of anger. Eyes didn't focus on him after raising eyelid. If awareness of the adult was present, it was far away; a gentle whistle in a cacophony of rage. All science suggested time and gentleness was required. Neither were available.
Purple flashed, and he saw umbreon knock a ralts out. A probopass was nearby; well trained. It did not recognise him. Brock of Pewter's then. Or a random Ace-tier Trainer's. No, that made no sense.
Umbreon's move sparked an idea, but before he could put it into action, a sceptile landed nearby; looking satisfied, and a ninjask zoomed down from up above as well. "Tile. Scep," it – he; it was the boy's starter – said. "Tiiiile."
They recognised him as a friendly person, yet were wary, and fresh from a battle. He sent out honchkrow, and the ninjask needed no words to fly up, followed by the Dark-type. "He's been like this before. How did he cope."
In response, the Grass-type motioned at his neck, contorting face in anger for a second. Then, he made a rapid sideways swipe with the right arm – one of cutting something out.
A chill near Sidney's hand made him move it back, and a doublade emerged from invisibility. One of the blade tips tapped the boy's side; a green pokéball just below it, stasis-enabled.
That tracked with what he had been told and what they had assumed, yet not. The cutting motion deserved thought, later. "We need him. Consumed by rage is better than this. He—"
A sudden drain on his energy was a warning sign. Tassels wrapped his wrists. Umbreon barked, incineroar and bisharp impacting asphalt.
The cloth unwrapped; the sting remained. Could that… "Doublade. Wrap your Trainer's arms; drain as gently and little as you can," he ordered, but the Ghost-type did not obey. Of course not. "It is a focus so he can get out of his head. Pain overrules anger." He hoped. "I cannot stay here. I am needed. He is a sitting psyduck; your guarding cannot be infinite until the machine turns off."
It was the last argument that convinced at least the doublade, though the sceptile, at close look, remained apprehensive. "Ep-tile, tile. Tile," the starter said after several seconds. He extended a Leaf Blade, and pointed it at Sidney lazily. "Scep."
"If I am wrong, you get one swing after this is over." Sableye would protect him, yet a concession needed to be made. "Now, shall we?"
At length, there was the nod, and Sidney took a few steps back to give the teenager the space to stumble and doublade the space to attach. Glass shattered in the distance, and sirens came closer. Fire department. Sidney paid it no heed, looking at Max specifically.
And the teenager looked back at him. Slowly. Numbly. Angrily. "Sidney. Where is Brock."
The Dark-type Master hid a wince. He doubted there would be immediate retaliation; this was not what he had envisioned regardless. "Downtown I'd assume; follow the trail of destruction. What do you remember."
"Enough." The Grass-type stood next to his Trainer. "A fight, disruptor activating. Gardevoir directing attack away." That explained the cars, though not why the Psychic-type was out in the first place. "Struggle to not let rage master me." A glare.
"You are mastering it now," Sidney countered as he returned incineroar.
"No. It's… It's there, but in check." There was an attempt at a grin, but it looked more like a grimace. "It is working. At bay."
"Good." He unclipped the bottle of extract and held it up. "If you're slipping, say so." A careful nod. "All right. Let's get down to kicking these losers out of Rustboro."
~~§~~§~~
Danny dropped to the ground in an instant, and his back was uncomfortably warm before houndoom leapt into the path of a sudden jet of flame, activating her Flash Fire.
The other Pokémon was an arcanine – Flash Fire of its own a distinct possibility – and it immediately jumped into action when houndoom launched a Dark Pulse in its direction. They were just behind the Trainers' School now; and there were a few paths to the left that led to the grounds proper. The right side looked like a building project with the windows not put in yet, giving someone plenty of space to hide on the upper floors.
Danny had absolutely no doubt it was someone trying to get rid of him. Too perfect a location. Coming here was a mistake. "No mercy," he said as he released swampert as well. "Defend me."
Without the cheap shot, the arcanine was clearly no match for the houndoom. It was fairly strong, Danny could tell, but houndoom was clearly incensed from the attack and tore into her fellow Fire-type relentlessly, giving it absolutely no room to leverage any of its other attacks – the one Bulldoze it tried was paid for by a Dark Pulse that hit its front paws.
Swampert suddenly launched a Mud Bomb with a loud grunt. The sound was enough to make houndoom jump up, onto a nearby dumpster, and the Ground-type move soared past, connecting with arcanine straight-up, just as it opened its mouth to do another attack. "Nice!"
Then, suddenly, there was the sound of someone falling behind him, and he turned around to see a man impact the ground, followed by a linoone and a furret. The linoone landed on the man's back, and the furret landed just off him, before moving to the man's ankle. A scizor appeared out of nowhere, starting to fight the two Normal-types.
Danny would've told swampert to help him, except the black clothing made it clear which group he belonged to. Instead, he sent out magneton. "Get that scizor."
"Hey!" a voice came from the side and up, and Danny saw someone his age – black with short black hair – stand one floor up as yellow lit up the alley. "You okay? Guy tried to sneak up on you!"
"I'm fine now!" Danny shouted back as he turned around just in time to see houndoom deliver a coup de grace to arcanine, basically going mouth to mouth with the larger canine and delivering a Dark Pulse right down its throat; something that caused him to wince a bit. That was definitely something the hydreigon had come up with at some point. Of all of Sidney's Pokémon, that one lived up to its reputation most in battle, though it was comparatively mellow otherwise. "Thanks!"
The other teenager jumped down, landing in a perfect roll. Danny was impressed, especially after he put his hands out and basically bounced off the wall on the other side. "Houndoom yours? Didn't know they gave out permission for that."
Danny's hand went to his side, and the Dark-type's head appeared under his fingers a moment later. He scratched her fur, thumb rubbing calming circles over the left horn as he studied his ally. They were about as tall, but compared to Danny, the other teen seemed to be more muscled and agile at the same time. He looked older, though, with a lot of pockmarks from bad shaves on the teen's face. "Who says I have it?" They shared a grin. "Name's Ken."
"Tauros shit," the black teenager said, holding out a hand regardless. "Swampert, magneton, houndoom? I saw you fight in Johto, man. And your voice just told me who you are. So, Ken, why ya here."
Despite being found out, Danny couldn't find it in himself to be mad. It was impressive deduction. "Heard there was something going down. I was nearby." He took the hand, and they shook. It felt a bit off, thanks to scraped, raw hands. He hadn't even noticed. "What do I call you?"
That caused a short chuckle. "Let's stick with my middle name," was the reply as magneton lit up the alley again. From what Danny had been able to see, the scizor wasn't exactly being given a lot of room to attack, but they were durable. "Call me Ed."
"Oh, let me guess. Daniel?"
"Dan. Close enough," Ed replied, smiling. "You think he knows something?"
"Maybe where stuff is happening, but we already know—watch out!"
The scizor suddenly broke out of the kind of box it had been forced into by flinging furret at magneton. The Electric-type couldn't get out of the way, and the Bug-type lunged towards the pair of teenagers. Ed dove to the side.
Green erupted as swampert extended a Protect powerful enough to send shivers up and down Danny's entire body, and then a muted clang indicated impact; the outstretched Metal Claw not even a foot away from where Ed's head had been moments before.
And then houndoom sent blistering flame on the outside of the shield – the heat still made the teenagers scramble away – and it connected with the quadruply-weak Pokémon.
It screeched in abject pain; flying, rolling, bashing against walls to douse the flame. Swampert obliged with a powerful Water Gun after a moment; one that slammed the Pincer Pokémon into the human on the ground, and houndoom barked in satisfaction.
"The hell was that?" Ed asked, sounding incredulous as he got up. "That's no normal fire."
"Know that Pokédex tale about houndoom flames hurting forever? Because of toxins or whatever?" Danny asked as he knelt by his very angry canine. She let him pat her flank to calm her down, though. "It's basically that. Cursed flame." He thought back to what Sidney had told him about it. "That scizor's going to feel that for a long time." He looked at the standing teenager. "She's allowed to use it if we're in serious danger."
Hands went up, palms facing outward. "Not blaming ya. Won't lie it's not scary, but aren't all Pokémon?"
Wasn't that the truth. Danny returned swampert and magneton. "Yours seem friendly enough," he said as the two furry Normal-types ran up, rubbing their body against Ed's legs. They looked in generally good shape, but something told him that they lacked that final tiny edge. "You quit travelling recently?"
"Ya. Johto was my last. Lost to the guy with all the Flying Pokémon." A hand went down to rub both of the brown Pokémon on their heads. "We're in decent shape, though."
"Got others on you?"
"Ya. Might want to step back." Out came an ivysaur with pretty big fronds, and the half-opened bulb on its back shot off a round of blue powder after a quick call for "Nap time," by Ed. "Quagsire, graveler, medicham are my others. You?"
"Aggron, ferroseed, helioptile," Danny answered. An explosion filtered through into the alley, sounding like it came from the other side of the Trainers' School, and loud screams erupted. "Let's leave him here and tell the police later." He returned swampert, but decided against returning magneton. "Be ready for anything."
The two teenagers hurried past the man's body. There was a gate of roughly their height blocking the path to the rear courtyard of the building, and without hesitation, magneton rammed it, which caused the bars to buckle. A kick was enough to open it, and they soon started full-on running, taking the left route around the building.
Was it his imagination, or did he see a face in the window?
The moment the front gate came into view, Danny saw the problem.
About half a dozen Pokémon and a bunch of Trainers had just burst through that gate. Three of them were Fire-type, immediately sending Flamethrowers in his direction, but houndoom blocked the worst and magneton Protected the rest. More flashes of white light appeared, and Danny saw an electabuzz and a poliwrath among them. "Send out quagsire and graveler, and tell them to show no mercy."
"Got it," Ed said, wordlessly sending out the two Ground-types and relaying Danny's words. "They want to destroy the school?"
"Probably." Danny wished that he had the ability to Mega Evolve aggron, but he banished that thought a moment later, even before the Steel-type appeared. He would have to do without. "We need to take them out fast." More Pokémon appeared, and dark purple flew in the direction of the gate. He looked at the graveler, going through common moves they knew. "One of those two know Bulldoze?"
"Ye—" Ed started before the world went blindingly yellow and green.
~~§~~§~~
Finding Brock of Pewter had been easy, but uncharacteristically, he seemed to be stuck, with only three Pokémon fighting: a defending boldore, and a swampert plus Max's manectric attacking, and from afar, those two seemed to be flagging. "Yo!"
The probopass zoomed past Sidney, tossing a weak Zap Cannon out that went exactly where it was meant to: into manectric's Lightningrod, and the streets lit up with a proper Thunder attack. Good. "Sidney?" Brock said, now within hearing range. He looked like shit, tired and angry; wary and weary veteran, no fresh newcomer. "Whe… How'd you get him along?"
"Low-grade energy draining with the tassels," Sidney replied casually as he released hydreigon. "Pure luck it worked." He unclipped the bottle of extract from his belt and walked the couple of feet. "Open up."
"Not a fucking baby," Max grumbled, but he accepted a mouthful regardless. A glance to the side saw sceptile look utterly bemused. "Rhydon and steelix down?"
"Some machamp threw rhydon into steelix, and her horn got into the eye socket," Brock replied darkly. "And they're clearly prepared."
"Not anymore they're not," Sidney said, pointing at his Dark-type who just launched a triple Dragon Pulse bombardment. It was devastating to the enemy position. The screams were music to his ears. Probably to Max's as well. "Can you hold the line here?"
The Gym Leader snorted. "With that hydreigon helping out?"
"Excellent. I am going to check on the others." He had been told that Steven and Roxanne were on the other side of the square, yet from what he could see, there was nothing there. A suspicion had arisen, and he needed to check it out.
"How?" the teenager said, and Sidney saw the doublade on his right arm move a bit so the manectric could receive pets; deserved without a doubt. She was a strong one, that much was clear, even if the probopass had given her a tiny boost with that Zap Cannon earlier.
"A loaned pidgeot. Just need a bit of cover." His umbreon would do that. "Keep them busy."
A smokescreen arose, a pidgeot alighted, and up and over he flew. Shouts came from below, one attack easily avoided before there was a loud scream as someone ended up on the wrong end of some Pokémon attacking.
What he met was not what he expected, yet eerily reminiscent.
The Gym Leader was the only one standing, hair singed, clothes frayed, ordering her Pokémon forward with fury. Steven was behind her, sitting on a former planter. Devastation surrounded them: windows blown out; asphalt cracked, melted and solidified; nothing even remotely in a straight line. "Went a round with yveltal?" Sidney asked as he jumped off the pidgeot from ten feet up; footsteps leading him towards his boss, crushing glass. "Metagross did this?"
"Perceptive as always," Steven replied, voice hoarse, looking up; raw skin revealed. "It and them kept us busy. They're uncannily prepared." He accepted the bottle, carefully gulping about a mouthful before handing it back."Your apprentice not around?"
Unsurprising that Steven would know of that; exact identity known or unknown. Word went around, useful tools to obfuscate and dissemble. "Elsewhere in town. We heard together, but split en route."
"Pity. Then least this would be of use." A hand opened, revealing a damaged stickpin on a necklace. Sidney knew Steven wore the pin on formal occasions, but this was not one. It still served its purpose. "How're they doing?"
"Battered, but better than you. Street's a mess like this; Brock didn't look hot." And speaking of, he lazily lobbed incineroar in Roxanne's direction; the wrestler immediately jumping into the fray at her barked order. "Kid's raging. Gardevoir was out; protected him mostly."
The look he got was a significant one; Max had told Steven. Good. Made the future easier. "How's he standing?"
"Pain in low amounts focuses." Some rubble fell down, and Sidney immediately sent out bisharp above him, but there was no sneak attack from above. The Steel-type was returned before hitting the ground. "Will you be okay?"
The Champion glanced at his wounds; trace amounts of blood and developing bruises in sight. "Though I'll hate everything tomorrow, yes. What are you planning?"
"Just sowing a little chaos in their ranks." He hopped onto pidgeot before Steven could reprimand him. Not that those were ever listened to; guidelines were far more amenable to him.
With a whispered word, he urged the pidgeot into a low dive; the Flying-type avoiding a blast of water and throwing up dirt and wind on the first pass. Sidney tensed, guiding the turn around.
And he jumped off, sending out bisharp and sableye as he did, landing with a roll and using upwards momentum to punch a stomach. "Bisharp. Annihilate."
A slashed thigh, artery avoided. Sidney swept the leg of that man, bisharp moving on, slicing the palm of a hand. A pokéball dropped, a Power Gem took care of the half-formed Pokémon.
Knee met groin, blade met Protect, and a man tried to rush him from behind. Duck, weave, punch, elbow, Disable. Next target. Bob aside, feign, feign again, leg swipe, bisharp bodily slamming into target.
Pokémon appeared, but the Trainers were on the ground. "Surrender, or your Trainers get it."
Most complied. The two that did not ate Power Gems.
Simple. Brutal. Effective. The motto of the Dark.
~~§~~§~~
Helioptile, out. Swampert, hanging back, one arm useless. Aggron okay. Ferroseed roasted. Houndoom pushed to her limits. Magneton conserving electricity.
At least it was going better than Geosenge, but it didn't feel good to compare those two situations. Most of the opponents had focused his Pokémon, which had allowed Ed's Pokémon to do some good work. Only the furret had been knocked out, and that had been a sacrifice to protect the quagsire.
They were still outnumbered by a few Pokémon, but it'd be a matter of time before they'd win. The question was if they could without wrecking the school. Twice already, swampert had had to put out flames on the exterior, which was a reason why he had told his starter to hang back after an encounter with a machoke's Cross Chop had hurt his left arm.
"Ivysaur, to your left!" Ed shouted, and Danny saw an ariados skittering along the ground, looking for a favourable fight. Magneton was close by and dropped a Tri-Attack to deter the Bug for a moment, which allowed the Grass-type to gather Razor Leaves and the nearby graveler to roll there. "They keep coming."
If Max were here, he would've responded with a pithy comment about letting them, but Danny was more on Ed's side of responses. "We're doing good so far," he said, noticing that aggron and quagsire had just finished off yet another Pokémon, not too far from them. Those two were getting along great. "School is still standing, we're winning despite being outnumbered." He put a hand on houndoom's back as the canine walked up beside him, and his other brought down the bottle of extract, which she sipped greedily. "They'll ge— PROTECT!"
Aggron, swampert, and houndoom all threw up powerful shields. Aggron's fell under the attacks heading their way, but swampert's held, Danny saw from his prone position. It took him a moment to realise he'd jumped for cover, and got up. "Hy… Hyper Beams…"
"Yes." He got up as houndoom howled. He would've frozen to the bone if he'd heard that a year ago. Maybe even half a year ago. It was burning rage incarnate, and the canine jumped forward without regard for her own safety. Magneton, quagsire, swampert, and ivysaur all provided covering attacks. "They'll do it again." He remembered the steely Mega Evolution bond, holding tightly to the memory.
"They…" Ed was breathing heavily, and he'd gone six shades paler. "We need to take them out." Before they take us out was left unsaid. "By… No mercy, right?"
"None." The other teen's eyes went to graveler, who had just rolled up. "Does it know Explosion?"
"Yeah, but she can't move around on her own while charging it."
That wasn't a problem. "Aggron, throw graveler on my mark." He cleared his throat. "Houndoom, magneton, interference!"
"Ivysaur, Stun Spore!" Dark brown eyes met Danny's. "Graveler, do it."
The Trainers and Pokémon were a bit too busy with light Embers and various paralysis-inducing moves, except for the poliwrath, who tried to flank quagsire and engage in hand-to-hand combat. Ed saw it coming, returning the Pokémon mid-Water Gun and sending it out immediately after near them.
"Now," Danny ordered softly as he aimed two pokéballs at his Pokémon. Both beams hit, and ivysaur was returned and sent out for safety as well as a glowing rock flew in the direction of the group.
Some Flamethrowers impacted, but that was not enough to knock the Rock-type out, and though the world turned green as swampert Protected just in case, both of them had clear sight of what happened. Graveler exploded with tremendous force.
Some of the lighter Pokémon – a charmeleon that Danny hadn't seen come in close yet and the ariados that had tried to ambush ivysaur earlier were the two he saw for sure – were sent flying hard and fast. There were screams too; agonised ones as dust and smoke arose.
A barrage of attacks – a Hyper Beam, two Flamethrowers, and some projectiles – all converged on the teens, but aggron was there. Magneton was there. Houndoom, tired as heck, was there. Swampert, unable to use Protect, was there, drawing himself up as best he could as the Trainers ducked for cover.
Aggron used Protect. Houndoom intercepted one of the Flamethrowers. Swampert and magneton blocked a bunch of projectiles with attacks of their own. Small explosions whipped up dust and smoke, but Danny and Ed were safe.
It was time to finish this."Earthquake and Bulldoze!"
Ed returned graveler as aggron, swampert, and quagsire got to work. The earth bulged, completely destroying what was left of the front yard of the school, and, when the attacks reached the front wall, collapsing that too. The Pokémon standing there couldn't remain standing. Some darted away, but immediately found attacks waiting: Razor Leaf and Tri-Attack and Flamethrower. Others fell over, right onto some of the humans there.
A part of Danny winced when he saw that. The magcargo in particular would hurt. At the same time, they deserved it. "Keep up Bulldozes. Swampert, get closer and then use Icy Wind."
"You use Ice Beam then, quagsire," Ed added. "Didn't really seem good to use earlier," he added when he saw Danny looking at him. "Too many Fire-types."
"Okay, yeah. Makes sense." Ivysaur let out a loud cry, launching a Seed Bomb at the charmeleon it was beating along with magneton. "You okay?"
"No," Ed said, holding an arm out. Danny could see it shake. "But doing nothing's worse. I… We're alive."
He grabbed the outstretched arm and, on instinct, pulled the older teenager into a one-armed hug. "We're alive," Danny echoed. He knew full well where the thoughts came from. "Talk about what happened, okay?"
"That's how you're sane?"
"Not sure about that." It was more something Max would say, but it felt appropriate. "But…"
He saw the door to the school open from the corner of his eye, and he turned away from the battle, trusting his Pokémon to mop up. A middle-aged woman walked out, door closing behind her, and she sent out a chansey as she headed up to them. "Are you okay?" the brunette asked as the nurturing Pokémon prodded at Danny's arms and hands. "You probably saved the school." She smiled. "Good to see you made something of yourself, Dan."
Ed's smile turned to one Danny knew incredibly well. Max wore it all the time when Danny heaped praise on him. "Yeah. Travelling taught me a lot."
"You never were one for formal education. I'm glad you found something that worked for you." She looked at the fight that was being mopped up behind them. "And I can guess who you are. You're leaving town soon, aren't you."
"I don't think it would be smart to stay," Danny replied. Chansey did something to his hands, and they felt a little better. Still looked pretty raw. "Thank you." The pink Pokémon saluted happily and moved over to Ed. "And thank you as well."
"Like I said, couldn't do nothin—aaaah." Soft healing energy danced on a small gash that Danny hadn't even noticed on the other teen's wrist. "And especially not after that cheap shot."
"Cheap shot?"
"I was behind the School when an arcanine tried to ambush me, and then Ed, eh… Dan shoved the Trainer out of the building. He's still there," he added when the woman raised both her eyebrows in surprise. "Unless ivysaur's Sleep Powder wore off."
"Double dose like that doesn't that fast." The ground shook a bit, but nothing out of the ordinary, and a look left revealed that it was just about over. "Ya got a Pokénav to call the hospital?"
"I already called the police that people were attacking the school," the teacher said. "They should be here soon enough. I'm surprised they aren't."
Danny wasn't. "There were attacks all over Rustboro. Devon Corp, and Psychic-types all over town were being affected as well." The kadabra's pokéball was proof of that. "If you're still injured, Dan, should probably go to the south hospital."
"I'm good now. Thanks." He enlarged a pokéball. "Looks like—whoa!"
The reason for the exclamation became clear in an instant, as the ivysaur was engulfed in bright light. Danny returned all of his Pokémon except aggron while it was going on, and then he followed the other two to the new venusaur. "Congratulations."
The mottled green Grass-type showed appreciation by carefully wrapping a vine around his wrist before lifting Ed up into the air; something that the Trainer clearly enjoyed.
"Perhaps we should deal with the attackers?"
"You heard her, venusaur," Ed said as he got put down again. "Sleep Powder them."
The Grass-type lumbered a few uncertain steps forward before launching an obscene amount of Sleep Powder that had the humans present take more than a few steps back in case it blew into them. "Have fun teaching everything anew," Danny said, smiling to take the sting out. "Even if you're not a real Trainer, well… Venusaur's really different. Can't exactly use the vines to take things out of kitchen cupboards or something."
"Oh man, that's a thing." Ed grabbed Danny's hand. "Thanks for everything."
"Same. Wouldn't be here without you." Aggron was returned, pidgeot came out, and it was only then that Danny remembered the bottle of Full Restore extract. He located it a moment later: empty from the time they'd dived for cover from the Hyper Beams. "Maybe we'll meet again."
He mounted pidgeot, and as he heard sirens start to arrive, the Flying-type took to the skies, and after a moment, started moving towards the south-east. Towards Littleroot.
Between the sun, the angle of flight, and his uneasiness in the air, Danny could not tell how things had gone elsewhere in Rustboro.
~~§~~§~~
Brutally attacking a bunch of them had broken the resistance, and Roxanne had made quick work. Steven thanked her for holding out while he had been recovering, and then his own Pokémon got to work, with several of the attackers ending up drained of any energy.
From the other side, Brock and Max rejoined, several Pokémon by their side. One was auspicious in lack of presence. "Disruption over?"
"Yeah," Max said, sounding bone-tired. "Minute or so ago. Crobat and ninja… What happened there?"
"That is what happens if you cross the Dark," Roxanne commented. "Thanks for helping out Sidney, but I want answers."
"And you will get them; time and tide withstanding." A ninjask and crobat flew up, catching Steven's attention for a moment, and when he focused back on the others, wounds twinging with the movement, Sidney was right next to the teenager. "Take this. Go to Oldale to heal up, then head into the wilds." The Dark-type Master turned to him. "Steven, give him your metagross."
"Why?" both Gym Leaders asked.
"A Pokémon not present cannot be taken. You know who's responsible." A piercing gaze settled on Steven, and he met it easily. "Metagross caused millions of damage. Champion or not, blood will be demanded. Best to avoid."
There were things that went over his head, but Sidney was being uncommonly straightforward. He would probably be able to pump the man for information later. "Send it to Oak or Rowan."
"Professor Oak it is," the teenager replied as he opened a pokéball, which revealed a pidgeot. Sidney's ride? "What about you?"
"I can borrow another. Go. Before you are found and bound."
Pokémon were returned, and the pidgeot flew off into the sky not ten seconds after. "Found and bound?"
"There is far more going on here, Roxanne. You have to choose now," Sidney said. "Recite the Gym Leader's code on defending for me."
"To protect and serve the people of Rustboro and its surroundings, against those who would harm," Roxanne said, paraphrasing it slightly as far as Steven could tell. "Why?"
"Against all who would harm," Sidney corrected. "This buneary burrow goes deep. Will you trust me to tell you how deep?"
The question warred within Roxanne; anyone could see that. The desire to blame Psychic-types for what had happened – there was a reason that there had been two letters reminding her of the separation of Gym Leader and politics sent by the Elite Four – and the desire to trust someone who had just helped her defend her city battled.
"Alright. Tell me."
~~§~~§~~§~~§~~
A wide-scale attack on Rustboro City left two people dead and at least eighty people severely wounded today. Starting around two in the afternoon, Psychic-types started attacking everything in sight, while several groups of Trainers attacked elsewhere in the city. The main area of battle was the downtown district, where Gym Leader Roxanne, Champion Steven Stone, and visiting Gym Leader Brock, of Pewter, Kanto, barely fought back the attack with the help of some other Trainers.
Author's Note (2): Alternate chapter title: Sidney Steals the Show. Guess that's Elite Four competence for ya.
Too bad not all of them are on the same side.