"Shh!" hissed Thea, looking back at the pokemon packed tightly into the room with her. "We have to let them pass…" She peered back out through the slightly cracked door and watched as a dozen SDC members ran past, at each other and out into the rest of Crag.
"SDC! IF YOU ARE SDC, REPORT TO LEVEL TWO! CITIZENS, REMAIN IN YOUR HOMES!" bellowed a machoke that jogged past the door. As the shouts and footfalls grew distant, Thea finally opened the door to the Communal she'd crammed full of pokemon and stepped out. She shut the door and followed the walkways in front of the next four buildings in line and knocked on each of their doors thrice, saying in a low voice at each, "Thea. We're moving."
After knocking on the fourth door she immediately turned around and jogged back to the very first building in the line, threw the door open, and said in a much louder voice, "On the move! Go!"
Dozens and dozens of pokemon filed out of each of the buildings, and as Thea watched them spill out, one after the other, building after building, she began to grow worried.
Sure, she'd successfully convinced a fair few defense forces and citizens alike to join - far more than she'd expected, even. But the fact the SDC had secured the very highest floors meant getting the support of high-ranking Council members would be almost impossible.
Then again, I don't really need them begging me for promises that they'll get some stupid shit when this is all done, thought Thea. The less she had to promise anyone the better - as it stood, it was doubtful she'd deliver on even the most basic of promises: that she knew where to take them all.
Of course, it wasn't like she had no idea, but she certainly did not have a solid one. Somewhere below, that was where Outrider, Ran, Valor and most likely Stone and their forces were. And here they were still in the middle levels of Crag, ducking past SDC members as the mercenaries made their way to the top of the city.
"How much farther?" asked a voice behind her. Thea looked over her shoulder and frowned. It belonged to a golduck by the name of Current. She'd been jumpy about joining the cause to bring Octavian to justice, especially after Thea made it clear they would not be taking letters up to the Elder Council, but rather joining up with a large force of pokemon that would be beating back both a raider attack and the dangerous band of mercenaries engaging them.
"I'm not sure. A few more levels, at least. Like I told you two floors ago, I went tall and narrow, Stone went wide and short," explained Thea. "And no, I'm not leading us to Stone instead. If we find her, good, but if we don't, we keep looking for Outrider."
"It's just so strange to me that this is how we're trying to beg justice from the system Crag has," said Current, sounding worried.
"You've seen how useless the councils are." Thea looked back at the vigoroth behind Current as the sloth continued, "And you heard what Thea said as she read the letters. If Octavian has been able to corrupt the system this badly, how can we be sure no one else in the Council has?"
"The rest of the Elder Council positions aren't elected," said Current, looking back at the vigoroth.
"And that magically makes them immune to corruption? From choosing to protect their own asses and save the pokemon that 'really matter' from justice? Did you think Octavian was actually going to see anything even remotely resembling an actual trial?" asked Thea.
"I'd certainly like to think so," mumbled the golduck.
"Yeah, we all would," said Thea, sighing. "Shit goes well for us, maybe we end up with something or someone that cares about justice."
"How does this end?" asked Current. "What are we going to do? Cut off Octavian's head? Try the Elder Council ourselves? What happens after? What is this going to accomplish?"
Thea chewed on her tongue, trying to think up an answer that wasn't a naked, "I don't know." She made a noise in her throat halfway between a hum and a groan. "Outrider will have details about that. Maybe Stone too. But for the moment, I can offer you one thing."
"And that is?"
"That things will at least be better."
The vigoroth behind them laughed and said, "Let's focus on seeing that dragon's head roll, first. If we can get that far, then we can worry about what comes next."
"Hey!" said a sharp voice far to Thea's right. She looked over and her eyes went wide. A sizable group of SDC mercenaries had caught sight of her, and one of them had taken a step towards her, a machamp.
She felt a rock drop into her stomach. Probably noticed Current and that vigoroth too. She raised a paw and waved awkwardly. "Can I help you?" she called out.
The machamp continued to walk towards her along the swaying rope bridge that connected the exterior building walkways his group were using and the one Thea's was using. A few machoke and gurdurr followed closely behind. "Haven't you heard? Citizens are to remain indoors while the crisis in the lower levels of Crag resolves."
Thea strode towards the machamp - hopefully it would keep him from noticing that she was in the process of delivering a sizable number of pokemon to that very crisis. "Uh, no, I must have missed some of the patrols. Are there patrols? I've just been out for a walk with Current here." She gestured to the golduck standing a few feet behind her.
"And the vigoroth?" asked the machamp, crossing one of his pairs of arms.
"Ran into him while I was out with Current. He's just as confused about where everyone's gone." Thea deliberately put her right leg forward, hoping her silver pendant would catch the eye of the merc. "But we figured it doesn't affect us much, we're just out for a walk, right?"
"Go home," commanded the machamp, using one of his free hands to point off somewhere behind her. "And remain there until you are told you may exit."
"This doesn't seem right," said Current, walking towards Thea. "How is the guard able to make these demands of Crag's citizens? Wouldn't these orders be carried out by someone else? I'm certain a council dedicated to tasking pokemon with doing what it is you're doing exists, yes?"
"Sudden attacks mean we gain authority until the situation is under control. Octavian pushed that order through some time ago. If you have an issue with it, take it up with the proper channel," said the machamp. He rolled his eyes and pointed them away once again. "Now go."
Thea turned around and put a paw to Current's shoulder to wheel her around and lead them back to the vigoroth - and the rest of the pokemon hidden out of view. She stopped the second she had rounded the corner of the building and put a digit to her lips to shush Current and the vigoroth. Her right ear perked up as she strained to hear if the machamp was drawing closer.
No. No, they weren't. They were walking away. She chanced a single peek around the corner and saw the retreating back of the machamp. With a sigh of relief, she continued to watch until he disappeared completely from view, and then gestured for everyone to follow once more. "Let's get moving," she hissed. "Pass the order down."
The next four floors were taken as quickly as Thea could manage with the pokemon in tow. The patrols were thinning, and she heard their shouts and the orders for citizens to stay indoors more than she saw any.
Current was quick to point out that they were burning an awful lot of luck that would have been better used during an actual battle. A stupid sentiment to have, really. Luck didn't burn out - it wasn't a wick, or a campfire.
But as Thea watched several pokemon make their way down the fifth set of stairs, the angry voice somewhere behind her made her briefly consider that perhaps luck did indeed burn out. "What the fuck are you all doing?" it said.
Thea turned around slowly and saw two conkeldurr, a dozen machoke, and perhaps as many timburr all staring at her and the pokemon filing down the stairs. Nearly all of the SDC forces staring her down had taken to stable walkways ringing buildings, or sturdy, properly built bridges between the different buildings. In contrast, Thea stood upon a rope bridge with several missing planks and had access to a single ramshackle walkway that appeared to be made almost entirely of scrap wood.
There were places to run, but none of them were worth running to. She could perhaps duck into the building to her right off the back of a very brave jump - but if there were no other points of entry in the structure, she'd simply be resigning herself to being overwhelmed in cramped quarters. She glanced back at the forces she was leading - they'd all frozen midstep and watched the SDC troops looking back at them with wide, fearful eyes.
"Explain yourself! Defense force or not, you shouldn't be out! The SDC is handling everything," said the conkeldurr, his tone harsh. "Get moving! Up! Up!"
This is the worst fucking spot this could have happened, thought Thea. She cleared her throat and began, "We're just-"
Several stones came in from somewhere to the conkeldurr's left and struck one of the timburr near him in the neck, sending the pokemon falling over as it clutched at its neck, gagging. The SDC forces looked to the left, distracted. One of them shouted, "Flanking attack!"
Thea tumbled forward, pulled a wand from her tail and pointed it straight at the group of pokemon. A machoke looked towards her, and his eyes went wide.
"Another!" he shouted, pointing at Thea.
"You're damn right it is," she whispered. An enormous fireball exploded out of the end of her wand.
Stone looked back at the mass of pokemon she was leading and tried not to frown. This wasn't what she fucking wanted, and yet, here she was. She could have been a shitty pokemon - person - whatever. She could have been. She could have just run.
But she'd never do such a thing. No, even if she thought Outrider should have let them all cut and run. Still, it didn't make this any easier. All these expectant eyes, waiting for orders. How fitting, really. If only Danse could see her now. He'd probably be jealous, actually.
After all, there was another absol in the crowd, and a male to boot. But the sight of him had only spurred feelings of wistful nostalgia in her that quickly gave way to profound anger. She balled her paws into fists. Why couldn't she have stayed ignorant?
Now wasn't the time to get lost in this. She'd promised herself - promised them all. "We have to keep moving down," she said to Foremost, "Take half and move them down that set of stairs across this bridge." She gestured across a well built, railed bridge a few feet from them.
The stantler nodded. "Sounds good," he replied. "Hope we stay as lucky as we've been. Not having to fight mercs has been nice."
"Yeah, you can say that again. Get goin'."
Foremost took half of Stone's forces across the bridge and then down the stairs she'd pointed out. Stone watched them begin to file down to the lower level before turning back to the pokemon following her and gesturing for them to follow her.
As they all filed down and spread out between the walkways around three adjacent buildings, Stone waved Foremost back over and collapsed their forces once more. Though it had been slow going, she'd opted to take stairs a decent distance from each other as she descended. It was impossible to truly know where exactly any of the SDC were, or what they were even doing. She'd only seen a few rush past her when she'd started gathering up pokemon, and since then she'd seen perhaps a single machoke rushing across bridges in the distance, shouting something indistinct.
As they made their way across the various walkways jutting from each building and across the swaying rope bridges that dominated the lower levels of Crag, Stone's ear twitched. She could hear something in the distance. Voices. They were getting closer to a group, but it was impossible to tell if it was SDC or not. She frowned. It could have been Thea and whoever she'd managed to rally to the cause, but it just as easily could have been SDC members speaking to each other or chatting up some citizens.
Stone beckoned for Foremost to rejoin her. As he approached, she said, "Hearing some voices nearby. Worth checking out?"
"We've managed to avoid fighting until now. This could put us in a bad spot," he mumbled. "If you think it's worth it. You're in charge, remember?"
The lycanroc scowled. "Yeah, yeah." She grit her teeth and rubbed her neck, nervous. "Yeah… Let's go. Let's go. Fuck it." Stone turned towards the source of the noise and set off, looking around all the while. There were no windows to use here. They were too low in the city. Was really hoping for some ranged hate from some of the pokemon with us. She looked back at the troops behind her and then at Foremost.
"Is something wrong, Stone?" asked the stantler, cocking his head.
"Yeah. I don't like throwing us into unknown shit like this. No windows - no ranged options. We should have anyone that isn't good in straight-up tooth and claw hang back and lob shit into the fight." She frowned. "Carefully. Can't go losing pokemon to friendly fire."
The stantler nodded, but his head remained cocked. "You said... Outrider? Right? A lucario, you said he put you up to this?"
"Sorta, yeah," she said, nodding.
"I can see why. You speak like a leader with experience," he noted. It was an earnest compliment.
The midnight lycanroc frowned. "I don't know how to do shit," she whispered to Foremost, "I just know the words and what they mean."
"That sounds like experience."
Stone faced forward again and shook her head. "Just get those orders for ranged support out to the troops. And for the love of the gods, please make sure they get the memo about friendly fire."
"Of course." The sound of the stantler's hooves began to fade somewhat, overtaken by the din of the footfalls of the army behind her as they crossed rickety bridge, sturdy path, and swaying rope and plank walkway alike. The ambient light was beginning to fade around them. It couldn't have been very late in the afternoon, but the towering city far above them would cast a false night on their heads soon.
The sounds were getting louder. They were voices - deep and bearing the martial cadence of the SDC. Stone stopped in her tracks and immediately held up a paw balled into a fist. "Stop!" she hissed to the pokemon behind her. A ripple flowed through the ranks spilling out across the various bridges and walkways around buildings behind her, each body stopping as the one in front did.
"The SDC is near. We move slowly and try to get close enough to ambush them. Ideally we hit them from behind." Foremost cut through the crowd in the distance, drawing nearer with her every word. When the stantler stood before her once again, she continued, "Foremost, you're going to take half the force and follow slightly behind me. If I see the SDC stop for whatever reason, I'll send a signal. The last in my line will give you a sign that says you should find a way to flank around. We're gonna spitroast the fuckers."
"The SDC won't cook up too well," said a dewpider standing beside Foremost. "Regular machoke are already tougher than anything the Abyss could ever puke up. Imagine our own trained guards."
"Not quite what I meant," said Stone, suppressing a smile.
"Well, what do you mean?" asked the dewpider.
"If you and I both live-" she faltered and then shrugged. "Eh, fuck it. Means you're getting your trap and whatever you lay eggs with stuffed at the same time."
"Oh." The spider's expression flickered to a mixture of minor concern and moderate disgust for an instant. "Sounds like you're a fan."
"Take him with you," said Stone, looking at Foremost. "Now let's keep moving. The voices are getting closer."
Or, more accurately, they were getting closer to the voices. Perhaps around this next corner. Perhaps around the next. No, this coming one. The one after? The voices grew louder and then faded. Louder. Faded.
They weren't moving fast enough, but if they started to pick up speed they might alert the SDC and lose the opportunity for an ambush. Stone glanced around and frowned. "Where the hell even are we?" she mumbled. A particularly massive block of buildings sat some distance away, accessed by one major, particularly nice bridge and nothing else. The bridge seemed equal parts entryway and support for the various wooden and iron support beams that ran out from beneath it towards the roofs of the buildings somewhere below. Thick ropes also helped keep it suspended from the building flying above it.
Here, more than anywhere else, the interconnected nature of the floors and buildings of Crag was clearest. An endless array of wooden beams extending up from somewhere below and onward to something above. Ropes and chains running here and there - the former holding up bridges and the latter looping through large metal rings affixed at regular intervals to the walls of the super Communal. The complex looked like it was sitting atop the supports beneath it as much as it was dangling from the ropes and chains that held it in place.
Stone caught a glimpse of a brilliant white pillar and familiar cyan runes etched into it. It extended out of some central part of the roof and disappeared into the floor of the building above. Several ropes, metal beams and wooden supports were fastened to it and provided support to buildings nearby.
"Looks like we're near a Communal super block," said Foremost, behind her. "A little experiment a council tried. Build all the Communals very close to each other somewhere around the center of the level. Run a primary through it for support and…" He trailed off. "And that was about as far as they really got? There's another super block one level below, I think. Keeps the other half of the primary support safe."
"Safe how? The pokemon living there keep it protected?" She put a paw to her ear and checked the noise levels of the SDC. They were still roughly the same distance away. Damn it all.
"Keep your house safe, and keep the primary safe by extension." Foremost nodded for emphasis. "Makes sense, doesn't it?"
Stone shrugged. "I guess. Unless you decide to just abandon your house."
The stantler's tail twitched nervously. "They didn't catch on for a reason."
"Hold on!" said Stone, straining her ears. "We're getting closer. And fast. They stopped." She looked at Foremost meaningfully, and the stantler nodded and took off towards the rear without another word.
She peeked around the corner of a building and stared down the walkway. There, perhaps a hundred and fifty feet away, stood a fair few SDC members. How many were hidden by the building between her and them was impossible to tell, but at the very least, she had their flank. Wait. Her eyes snapped to the figure standing in the middle of a rope bridge. A braixen.
Stone swallowed hard. "That better not fucking be you Thea. That better not…" she muttered. With a low growl, she gestured for the pokemon behind her to follow quietly, and hissed, "Don't make a fucking sound. Wait for my signal." She rounded the corner and crept forward along the walkway that stuck out from the buildings, as low to the ground as she could manage. Now and again, she'd duck into alleys between the buildings and peek around the corner. They were shouting something at the braixen, but she still couldn't make it out.
Almost there. Almost there.
Less than thirty feet now. The conkeldurr staring the braixen down did not look pleased. The mercenary was leaning forward, his shoulders drawn up to give him a more imposing frame, and he was still shouting at the fox.
"Up! Up!" he shouted.
It hardly mattered if that braixen was Thea or not at this point. She was already so close. She had the flank. And I can't fucking believe I'm going to do this. You owe me, Outrider. The lycanroc stopped as abruptly as she could, her claws scraping against the wooden walkway she stood on and driving thin lines into it all the while. She delivered a sharp roundhouse kick to the wall beside her, breaking it into several large chunks. She tossed one up into the air and drove a full-body haymaker directly into the piece.
Crack.
Thin shards of stone screamed directly at the SDC mercenaries, striking several of them, and sending a timburr to the ground with a half-scream, half-gag of pain.
"MOVE!" she screamed over her shoulder. Stone faced forward and broke into a full sprint on all fours, directly at the mercs. Her eyes went wide as she saw the braixen tumble forward and raise a wand. Then they watered as the brilliant flash of a fireball manifested in the tip of the thin piece of wood and flew straight at the mass of pokemon. Several SDC members caught fire, and their screams met Stone's ears immediately after the roar of the fireball exploding.
They were right there. A few more paces. Time for a trick. She jammed her right paw into the wall beside her as she ran, carving a long line into it and leaving a pile of rubble in her wake. And now she was upon them. With a shout, Stone dove backwards to avoid several punches and kicks from an enraged machoke, and ran back towards the forces trying to catch up to her. She stopped just long enough to scoop some of the rubble she'd created and crushed it into tiny, sharp granules. "Think fast!" she shouted, spinning on the spot and tossing the sharpened sand straight at its face.
The mercenary screamed in pain and stopped to rub his eyes, desperate to get the debris out. Perfect. Stone dove straight back at the blinded pokemon. She reached out towards the wall beside her once more and pulled a chunk of wall free, then launched it directly at the machoke's stomach. It hit home, earning her a sharp, "Guh!" from the machoke as it doubled over in pain, now wheezing and desperately trying to get the sand out of his eyes. Stone kept going, and bent her head down to bite onto the handle of the sword sticking out from under her upper arm. With an incredibly clumsy, tugging flourish, she got the blade free and drove it directly up into the machoke's hands and face.
Pain filled her mouth as the lifeless pokemon fell forward. The blade was stuck in his skull, and his full body weight had nearly yanked the sword from her mouth. With some difficulty she rolled the mercenary over and tugged the sword free.
Stone was immediately jostled as the troops she led thundered past her as best they could. They spilled out everywhere - crossing bridges and walkways wherever they could. Those that could skirt past her did. Those that could wall-run sprinted overhead. Some went soaring past, taking their strides as long bounds.
Absolute chaos erupted before her.
Screeches. Screams. Wayward blasts of energy of all types. Holes blown through walls as directed beams of energy missed their mark and crashed into the homes around them. The facades of buildings opened up as bodies sailed straight through, creating new doorways in the process. Terrified civilians hopped out into the already clogged walkways and bridges, desperate to get away.
A mothim flew out of one such hole, clearly horrified, and did its best to get away. Stone watched it soar above the chaos - and then fall somewhere far below as a stray beam of glowing ice struck the moth and partially froze it.
Stone focused on the melee in front of her once again and could see that many of the SDC were facing away. That other group of pokemon had boxed them in. They might not even need Foremost's help. Lucky bastard. Her eyes scanned the fights all around her, trying to find someone who might need help.
There - a timburr holding a piece of iron aloft, ready to bring it down on a bleeding dewott. She reached out and seized hold of the club before the pokemon could bring it down upon the otter's head. She couldn't yank it free. The timburr was strong. Too strong. It wheeled around, pulling the rod free all the while. Didn't take a lick of effort to do it either. With a single step forward, the timburr brought the rod straight to Stone's side, but she managed to deflect the attack with a clumsy block from her sword.
But she shouldn't keep her mouth on it. The attack knocked it free, and the weapon lodged itself into the floor point-first next to her. And the timburr was already swinging again. No time to block. To think.
A deep, guttural roar exploded from Stone's throat as she threw her head forward, directly into the path of the rod. Point first. She was lucky. The stone-tipped mane of fur above her head found the weapon before her face did, and while the rod kept going and struck her head, the force of the headbutt was just enough. Sure, her vision was filled with stars, but not so many she couldn't still see the shocked expression on the timburr's face. Can't do that too many more times. But she had her opening, and with a flurry of swipes, punches and kicks, she laid into the mercenary two-fold.
A desperate swipe of the rod struck her in the leg - and while the pain was intense, it wasn't broken. She kept up her assault, but a second strike, this time to her shoulder, sent her off balance. Fuck fuck fuck. She'd given him his back, but even as she desperately spun around, ready to take whatever attack was surely coming, she heard the timburr scream.
There he stood, clutching at a bloody stump where a forearm once was, the rest of his arm still on the floor, hand tightly gripping the iron rod. Thwip. The sound of something rushing through the air met Stone's ears, and the timburr went from trying to stop the blood pouring out his new stump to desperately trying to stop the blood spilling from his neck.
"F-fuck you," spat the dewott a few feet away, panting heavily. It held several sharp shells in its paws aloft.
Stone pulled her sword from the ground and sheathed it with some difficulty, then immediately turned back to the dewott. "Can you walk?" she asked, kneeling down and looking the otter over.
"No," he breathed back at her, gritting his teeth. "Fucker got me in the leg. It's broken." Stone glanced down at the dewott's right leg and shuddered. Shins didn't bend, and bone wasn't supposed to poke out of skin. She got up behind the otter and began to drag him towards the nearest entrance into a home. "The fuck you doing?" he shouted up at her. "Aren't you leading this shit?"
"Unfortunately," she muttered. "I'll get back to it once you're safe inside." And so, she dragged him completely into the home and set him against the far wall. "I don't have any splints on me, but with bone sticking out of your shin, I don't think it matters."
"Go! You've wasted enough time on me," he commanded, his face screwed up in pain.
"Here, in case you run out of shells…" said Stone. She ran over to a small pile of rubble next to a hole that had been punched through the front of the home and picked up the largest piece she could find, then began to cut it into thin slices of stone. The lycanroc handed them over to the dewott and added, "Hope those work."
With a grimace, the dewott picked one of them up and flung it directly at the wooden door. Half of it embedded itself, but the other half shattered and fell to the floor. "Good enough. Now go." He raised a paw and pointed insistently at the way out. "Go!"
Stone nodded and made her way to the door. The second she stepped out, something slammed straight into her side and sent her stumbling away. Stone snarled and raised her claws at whatever it was that had nearly sent her tumbling over the railing and down to her death, and then tilted her head at the strange sight before her. "What the fuck…?" A corpse - right? Something blue and white and glittering lay in pieces a few feet away, brilliant and glistening turquoise staining the wood all around it.
It was a shattered cryogonal.
"Stone! Stone! Over here!" shouted a voice through the din. The lycanroc looked up in time to see Thea meet a charging sawk with a flaming sweep kick that she then followed through to a wide, arcing axe kick that collided right into the center of the pugilist's chest. Flames erupted around her foot, and with a flourish, she spun the business end of her wand towards the mercenary and fired a thin gout of flame directly into its face.
"So that was you on the bridge," shouted Stone, rushing over to her. She ducked a straight punch from a machoke that kept going and hit its intended mark - a loudred. A loud crack met her ears as the ogre's cheekbone shattered, and so with a grimace, she turned about and raked her claws against the machoke's stomach.
The mercenary turned his attention away from the crumpled loudred and bellowed in Stone's face, "Die!" Another straight punch came at Stone and went sailing right past her head as she sidestepped the attack and jabbed straight at the mercenary's stomach once again. Oh fuck, that didn't bother him at- A vicious left hook filled the lycanroc's eyes with stars as she stumbled away from the machoke and right into the wall beside her. No time. She pressed her right paw against the wall and then rolled away from the advancing merc, surrounding herself in large chunks of rock all the while.
Her vision was still blurry as she fired chunks of stone at the machoke, making any kind of precise aiming not only difficult, but dangerous. The battle swirling around the two of them presented far too many opportunities for a stray rock to ruin an ally's day.
Crunch. The first rock went purposefully low and succeeded at doing little more than spraying pebbles and dust at the machoke's shins.
Crack. The second rock exploded right before it struck the mercenary's stomach. All it took was a well aimed punch.
Stone snarled and launched the three remaining chunks of wall at the machoke at once, but he kicked two of them to pieces in quick succession and caught the third. Her eyes widened. Great, I gave him a weapon. She went to dive to the right on instinct alone, but as the machoke raised the rock over his head to toss it at the lycanroc, a ball of flame struck his exposed chest and he burst into flames.
The section of wall fell uselessly to the floor as he feverishly tried to pat himself out, screaming in pain all the while. Stone stumbled to her right as she stopped herself from rolling aside, and launched herself forward at the pokemon. Payback for that fucking hook. The lycanroc craned her head down to bite onto the hilt of her sword, and in a flash of cyan-tinged steel, she sent the machoke falling to the floor, clutching at the tear in his stomach and howling in pain.
"You owe me for that," said Thea. Stone looked over her shoulder at the smug expression on the braixen's face, and then immediately seized another piece of wall and flung it directly at the throh rushing at her from behind. A dull thud of the rock hitting it full on in the face was her reward, along with the pokemon collapsing forward, unconscious.
"Not anymore," said Stone. She stepped over to the throh to look down at it and then back up at Thea. "Are we taking prisoners?"
The braixen frowned and looked down at the mercenary. "I don't know. Outrider didn't say."
"Do you want to?"
"Everyone I've fought is dead, Stone. I didn't fight this poor soul, so I'm not making that decision," said Thea, her tone brusque. She turned away and immediately transitioned into launching a volley of fireballs at a conkeldurr locked in a melee against a glaceon and a delcatty, closing the gap all the while.
"Sure, I'll go ahead and make it then, why not," grumbled the lycanroc. Just what I fucking wanted. She glanced around at the war that spilled from walkways and broken facades out onto bridges and the cramped airspace hanging between it all. A bruised conkeldurr, covered from head to foot in cuts and punctures, lifted a roserade sporting arms bent at odd angles out over the railing, above the long fall down into some lower section of Crag. A cruel smile stretched across the ogre's face as it let the pokemon go. Then, his eye twitched as he stumbled forward and over the railing himself. Stone only just caught sight of the excadrill embedded in his back, desperately trying to dislodge itself as it plummeted with the mercenary to their doom.
Her eyes wandered back to the throh in front of her. An explosion of cheers erupted somewhere behind her and pulled her focus away from the pokemon. SDC members ran past her, jostling her around but otherwise paying her no mind. Where the fuck are they going? She tried to peer past the equally stunned crowd of troops that found themselves suddenly without an enemy and understood. A mass of pokemon were rushing towards them, and as they drew closer so did the cheers. It was Outrider's army. They'd made it, and the surge of fresh blood had broken the SDC's will.
Stone took off, rushing past Thea, but stopping just long enough to gesture for her to follow. "Come on, come on, those are ours!" The throh was somewhere far behind her, somewhere she'd gladly forget.
You're someone else's problem now.
The situation had deteriorated across just four reports from runners. The fourth was especially troubling, partially for what the report contained, and partially because the runner was sporting a broken arm and several incredibly deep gashes and punctures. The machoke had had just enough energy to provide the last estimated location and the strength of the defense forces - and then he had expired.
Octavian watched the machamp's fingers point at different sections of the map on the table before them. One hand pointed at a set of floors roughly halfway up Crag's total height - the location the late machoke had reckoned the enemy had made it to. Another pointed to the ground floor. An oran berry with a leaf rising up behind it - the universal symbol for medical treatment - had been scribbled next to a large box drawn around the entirety of that floor. Beside the height map of Crag were several more - though these bore an aerial view of several floors in the towering city. One was of the ground floor, and it remained largely blank. Three others were of floors roughly in the center of Crag, with different buildings bearing little wooden figures to act as markers for potential rebel activity.
It was difficult to pin down exactly where the fighting was concentrated - there wasn't much in the way of differentiating features once you got low enough in Crag. Space became cramped as the realities of perching a city above and below any given floor set in. Anything in the bottom three-quarters or so of Crag required careful consideration of how everything was built, and while the floors dedicated to the city's artisans were at least nice, they still bore the signs of being designed with load-bearing in mind. Halfway down, however, was where the artisans and common, industrial rabble met - and where buildings were totally devoid of windows to allow for struts and pillars that intersected and flew from everything to connect to everything else.
No one knew exactly where the camp the wounded were being held was, only that it was on the ground floor. He'd entertained ideas of sending a detachment down to rid this little "rebellion" of any hope of recovering losses, but that seemed neither feasible nor wise. He needed this problem dealt with sooner rather than later.
Still, it wasn't all bad news. Two of his runners had confirmed that the Children of Mother were, if not annihilated, at the very least completely incapable of continuing to fight. They'd scattered during the same rout the SDC had to suffer at the hands of the rebels - but unlike the SDC, the Children had nowhere to regroup. They were in hostile and unknown territory, and that was enough to sate Octavian's worries. Perhaps when this matter was resolved he could assign a force to rooting out the last of those miserable raiders, but for now, he had more pressing matters.
"Multiple routs," he said, tracing his eyes from the finger pointing at the center of Crag and then up two floors to where the majority of the SDC had regrouped to await orders. "How did you all break so easily?" asked the dragon, leveling a hard gaze on the conkeldurr beside him.
"Because we never expected the defense and recon forces of this city to shit down our throats, Octavian," spat General. The wizened face of the conkeldurr held a single bloodshot eye, and it was furious. "We've been on the back foot for this entire gods damned shitshow, and you're lucky we have the forces we do. Besides, we've posted the Corps in a particularly large complex." He gestured at the map in front of him, pointing out an impressively sized shape that had only two bridges connecting it to the rest of the walkways and buildings around it. "Assaulting it would be suicide."
"And if they decide to simply blow the building out from under you?" growled the druddigon.
"Why the fuck would they do that, Octavian?" shot back General. "This is their home. Cosmetic damage to building facades? Broken doors? Destroyed bridges, walkways, and gangways? Those are all destroyed without much fear of total collapse. But blowing apart whole buildings is where things become dangerous. To say nothing of destroying tertiary, secondary or even primary support beams."
"You make a fair point. These idiots aren't looking to destroy the city…" Octavian leaned over the table and studied the maps more closely, his eyes flicking from wooden figure to wooden figure, and then over to the map marked with the location the SDC had recovened. "What do they want?"
"It's hard to say. None of the reports from runners have made any goals clear to us, and it's not like those rebels are screaming about what they're fighting for."
"Do we know who is leading them?"
"Haven't a gods damned clue, Octavian," sighed General. "But the troops probably have some idea. The last of them should be making it to the rendezvous point soon, so I'll send a runner now and have them soak up as many rumors and stupid tauros shit as they can stuff into their brain and have them report back." The conkeldurr straightened and locked eyes with a machop standing near the doorway into Octavian's office. "Do I need to repeat myself, soldier?"
The machop shook its head and bolted from the room.
"This is becoming far messier than I had anticipated. Just a few hours ago, I had this rabble pinned for a few disgruntled defense members that had finally had enough of something meaningless. But who could have predicted widespread betrayal?" muttered Octavian.
General coughed.
"Yes, I know, ironic. But I am not betraying Crag, just her worthless Council." The dragon straightened up and looked across the table at Sledge, standing dutifully at attention. "Where are Providence and Harvest?"
"In their quarters, sir. I believe neither of them have gotten wind of the betrayal by the defense and reconnaissance forces," said Sledge at once.
"Hrm… Good. One fewer truth puff up," mumbled the dragon. "Very well. I believe that I will need my full attention on what is to come, and that means I must put these annoyances out of my mind." He turned away from the table and made for the door. "Sledge, kill Harvest for me, please. Take whoever you need with you." He paused in the doorway and looked back at General. "I'm off to break a tropius. What do you plan on doing, General?"
"I plan on conducting a war, Octavian. It's what you hired me for," said the conkeldurr, his tone flat. "Enjoy your murder."
"Is that judgment I hear?"
"I am a mercenary. I don't judge."
"Of course you don't."
Outrider kipped up, and his eyes found a door flying directly at him, edge first. No time. With a furious rising kick, he shattered the makeshift projectile, sending its splinters spraying out in front of him.
In the throes of something he likened to a battle trance, the world appeared washed out. All the better, really, as it made the brilliant auras of the pokemon around him that much more noticeable. He locked eyes with his opponent as he rushed towards Outrider. He'd never seen sawk or throh wandering with the SDC around Crag, and it was clear why - they weren't especially good at fighting.
Like the others before him, this sawk's sharp, precise movements and lightning quick strikes looked overwhelming. Looked. But even as the sawk's aura soared with raging reds, the strikes were hardly what he'd call "effective" - even at the disadvantage Outrider found himself. The lucario launched a speeding roundhouse at the mercenary's head, but his opponent ducked and threw the momentum into a sweep kick. Outrider lost his footing, but half-twisted in midair, caught himself on a single hand and sprung away from a follow-up strike from the sawk.
Outrider whirled around and fired a volley of glowing cyan projectiles at the pokemon, only one of which struck the pokemon - the rest were deflected with sharp, almost robotic parries. The sawk was at least well-trained. The lucario gestured to his opponent. "Come on," he mumbled.
It was enough, the sawk sprinted straight at Outrider and then dropped into a sliding kick. The merc's outstretched foot never made it to the lucario. A shock ran up Outrider's armored shin as it collided with the sawk's head and sent it flying to the left, through a wooden railing and down some other level of Crag altogether.
He scanned the battle around him, his eyes flicking from one burning aura to the next. His eyes found the brilliant silver of Valor's aura cutting through the thinning battle around him. Why it had shifted from gold to silver was concerning, but he couldn't deal with that now. He kept scanning, and his eyes found at last what he was searching for. The blazing aura of lilac that now surrounded Ran. The strange sphere of darkness over her heart had dissipated, though he noticed now and again that crackles of black energy would arc around her body, rising and falling with the furious reds that exploded from her as she fought.
The weavile disappeared through a tear of black energy and appeared on the other side of a machoke, in a swirl of black and purple. Claws wreathed in ice slashed at his ankle, biting deep and sending the mercenary to the ground as his foot gave out. Ran was upon him the second he hit the floor. A flash of red, and she left the machoke gurgling on the floor, clutching at the throat she'd torn open.
"We're almost out of stragglers to deal with," said Ran, walking up to him. She frowned. "No prisoners?"
"It's hard to get orders to orders instructing the troops to try for captures over kills in the best of times. A battlefield command while they're fighting for their lives in this…" He gestured to the battered buildings, destroyed walkways, burning bridges and scattered bodies all around them. "Seems a bit unreasonable, doesn't it?"
"I guess so." She glanced over her shoulder at the gurgling machoke writhing on the ground a few feet away. "Yeah. Fair point. Judging from what I know about fighting, Karan wasn't big on prisoners."
"Someone else in your head. It's unbelievable."
"It wasn't someone else."
"Outrider!" shouted a voice. He turned in its direction and found Stone and Thea rushing over to him. "There you are, we were hoping you wouldn't take forever to find," added Stone, drawing close. "Where's Valor?"
"Nearby. A building somewhere behind you all is being used to hold wounded while the SDC retreat. It would seem our arrival was timely - their morale broke the moment we joined up with rear detachment. It was being led by a stantler," explained the lucario.
"Foremost. He okay?" asked Stone.
"He was at the time. Can't say now."
Thea looked concerned. "You haven't seen a golduck named Current, have you?" asked the braixen. "I lost contact with her once the fighting erupted. Nice shot by the way. Didn't get a chance to tell you that." She nodded at Stone, and offered her a swift smile.
"I've seen a few golduck," said Ran, chiming in, "But I haven't talked to any of them. A few of them looked like they were running away, honestly. Might have been civilians?"
"I need to get back into contact with my officers, as well as yours. I gave orders not to chase the SDC as they retreated, but I have no idea how far they actually made it," explained Outrider, stepping past Stone and Thea and making his way in the direction he said Valor was. He paused long enough to bend down and pick up a fallen sylveon, then glanced over at his friends. "Grab the wounded and follow me."
Stone immediately bent over and picked up a fallen sableye and said aloud, "Good news. Definitely not Jasper." She caught up to Outrider and looked back at Thea and Ran.
"Who?" asked Thea, walking over to a fallen girafarig and straining to pick it up. "Ran! Help me out here?" The weavile rushed over and together the two lifted the pokemon up and followed after Outrider.
"Someone who stopped by Nomad. Doesn't matter much now," mumbled the lycanroc.
"Hope he's doing alright," added Ran. "Then again, anywhere's better than a place at war."
Valor sprung out of a building in front of Outrider and rushed to a fallen geodude. With a grunt of exertion, he began to drag the fallen rock towards the open door a few feet behind him, but paused when he caught Outrider's eye. "Outrider and Ran! Oh! Stone, Thea! You're alright!" he called out to them. He gave them a single wave and then continued dragging the fallen pokemon. "Medics are in here, come on!"
The building they'd chosen was sizable - an above-average Apartment, or so said Thea. It was also in utter disarray. Pokemon smacked into each other as they rushed back and forth from the cramped main lobby and into the main hallway. Outrider set the sylveon he was carrying down beside the injured geodude that Valor brought in. His eyes wandered to an injured torchic, then a simipour and then a turtonator.
He eyed the torchic with some suspicion - it wore no red bandana, but it was impossible to tell if perhaps one of the Children of Mother had decided to cut and run. Still, legs don't bend that way, and the torchic's right leg was in a dreadful state. The simipour didn't seem as bad, though the few specks of blood coming through the bandage on its head made it hard to tell. The turtonator appeared entirely uninjured. Indeed, it was sitting up, though it did not appear to be paying any attention at all to its surroundings.
Outrider waved a paw in front of it's eyes and said softly, "Focus." He shifted his own focus to reading the auras of the pokemon around him, but fought down the urge to grimace when he saw the turtonator's own aura was a single shuddering flicker of white somewhere in the center of its body.
The turtle slowly turned its head towards the lucario and stared without seeing into his eyes. "Medic," he said, dragging the word out.
An audino cut in front of Outrider and snapped him out of his own focus on the shell shocked turtonator. He watched the audino take the sableye from Stone and then bustle away.
"How do they know who needs help first?' asked Ran. She glanced down at the girafarig beside her. "What's even wrong with this girafarig?"
Outrider shook his head. "I'm not sure…" He focused on the girafarig's aura and then dropped his gaze. "Whatever was wrong with it, it doesn't matter now."
Thea glanced at him, her eyes matching the weariness in her voice. "Don't say it."
There was no aura shining in the giraffe. Outrider shook his head. "You...tried. That's enough." He looked over at Valor. "Stop the next medic that comes by. I have a few questions to ask them."
"Do you need something?" asked Ran, walking up to Outrider and rummaging in her side pouches. "I've got plenty of supplies." She gestured at her own body. "Been lucky up until this point, you know?"
"You're effective in combat. Luck has only a little to do with it." He smirked at her and then shook his head. "No, I'm fine. I just need to find my officers."
"I saw one of them," said Valor, perking up. "The pyroar. Still Grasses? She was taken to a room. Didn't look too good." He frowned and averted his gaze. "Didn't sound good either."
Outrider grimaced. "I told her to stay down at that makeshift triage center…" He shook his head. "What about Coal and Catch?"
"No sign of them."
"Foul Abyss…" hissed Outrider. He strode out of the lobby and onto the walkway in front of the Apartment complex. "It's almost too dark to navigate as is. If they don't show up here soon, how are we supposed to plan for tomorrow?" He turned and found Ran and Stone looking back at him. Beyond them, Valor and Thea had busied themselves with moving those awaiting care around to help make the lobby a little less cluttered.
"Settled into commanding real quick, eh?" said Stone.
"Is there a problem?" asked Outrider, looking confused.
"Yeah, but it can wait. A lot of stuff can wait." She gestured all around them. "Including us - you said it yourself, I won't be able to see my own fucking nose in fifteen minutes. Were pokemon trying to destroy the torch sconces?" She paced back and forth. "I don't think we've got an easy way to find those officers of yours."
"Has word been rippling out that the wounded are supposed to come here?" he asked.
Stone shrugged. "No idea. I sure as shit didn't tell Foremost to come here. I didn't even know 'here' existed until right now."
"Talking about me behind my back?" asked a voice to their right.
"You son of a bitch, you're alive," said Stone immediately turning to look at the approaching stantler. Several pokemon followed behind him, his horns glowing to provide them all illumination.
"Bringing up the rear has its advantages," replied Foremost. "I've been gathering up our forces. As it got darker and the SDC fragmented and broke away, we thinned out. Might be something to reinforce in the troops, Outrider. Organization breeds success."
"Have you seen a flareon named Coal or a kadabra named Catch?" asked the lucario.
"I have an unconscious flareon. No idea what their name is," said the stantler. He looked back and then over at Outrider once again. "No kadabra. My apologies."
"Very well. Get your wounded treated. Come see me after," said Outrider. Foremost nodded and led the troops behind him into the makeshift infirmary. When the stantler had disappeared from his sight, Outrider looked back at Ran and Stone. "Is it worth it to send scouts out to look for my officers and any other pokemon that can be brought back here?"
"We got anyone that can see in the dark?" asked Stone.
"Several, I think," muttered Outrider, rubbing his chin. "We wouldn't have to risk carrying torches around and risking being ambushed."
"Wouldn't the SDC have to carry torches around too? None of those mercenaries can see in the dark," said Ran.
"Good point," said Stone. "I guess we could just send anyone out with some torches and have them look around. But if there are any Children of Mother wandering around, they might get some funny ideas about an ambush." She grimaced. "What the hell happened to those fuckers anyway?"
"Hard to say. They suffered significant losses after fighting both the SDC and our own troops…" Outrider looked out at the darkening city around them and gestured back into the infirmary. "Back inside. No sense risking exposure to some kind of covert attack by speaking out here." He ushered them back indoors and waved down the first audino that rushed back into the lobby.
The nurse nodded at him, but then turned their attention to the many injured pokemon waiting for assistance. "A pyroar by the name of Still Grasses, where is she?" asked Outrider.
"Down the main hallway, last fork on the left, room at the very end, on the right," said audino at once. She picked up an injured pidgeotto and bustled away.
Outrider sighed at the audino's retreating back and walked over to Foremost. "Is this the flareon your troops found?" he asked.
The stantler nodded.
"Where did those troops go?"
"If you head down the main hallway and make a right at the very end and follow that branch all the way down, you'll find a stairwell on your left that leads you up a floor. The upper floor's rooms are being used by the troops to settle in for the night," explained Foremost.
"Who gave that order?" grumbled Outrider.
"Not sure, so I sent Priscilla out to get me an answer."
Stone smirked. "I know how to pick officers," she boasted.
The stantler laughed. "Everyone gets lucky eventually."
"This is the flareon your troops brought in, yes?" asked Outrider, gesturing at the flareon laying a few feet away from Foremost. The stantler nodded. "Good. When Priscilla gets back, come to Still Grasses' room. You heard where the medic said to go, yes?"
The stantler nodded again. "Yep. I'll be there."
Outrider picked up the flareon and looked at his friends. "Let's go. We have a war to plan."
"Good tea, as always." Octavian set his tea cup back down on the table between him and Providence.
"It has become a bit of a hobby," said the tropius, her tone warm.
"Time well invested, it seems."
Providence nodded, but her expression became worried. "I've heard quite the din outside. Several guards have come and gone through the chambers looking worse for wear. What's happening?"
"The investigation is proving...complicated."
"How so?"
Octavian eyed the tropius. She was laying down on a single, oversized cushion, surrounded by smaller, plush ones. Her cracked, lined face and yellowing leaves stood in stark contrast to the cold greys of the stone floors and warm wood of the walls. The fruits dangling beneath her chin were overripe and swollen, and the skin around her stomach and joints was loose and wrinkled.
Overripe fruit. How fitting. An overripe Elder, and long past the point anyone would even dream of giving her a second thought.
Yes. Overripe.
The dragon stood and walked over to Providence's relaxed form. He raised his clawed hand up to the back of her long neck and patted it once in a reassuring sort of way. "There is a tremendous amount of interference we're attempting to sort through. It is entirely possible that Bounty wasn't behind what happened, and that's truly terrifying. I am not yet in over my head, but still..." His eyes drooped in mock worry. "You can imagine what it must be like for something that seemed so straightforward to suddenly become complicated."
The tropius nodded. "Did you need my counsel?" she asked, her tone reassuring and gentle. "I am always willing to provide some."
Octavian smiled. "No, no. Thank you." He sighed and patted Providence's neck once more. "I think..." He seized the back of her neck, the claws on his hand digging into the flesh. In one fluid motion, he wrenched her long neck back and then brought his jaws down onto her throat. He tore effortlessly through the flexible, bark-like skin and soft flesh beneath, filling his mouth with the taste of copper and nectar. A truly foul combination.
Another bite. Another. Another. Another. He pulled his head back, his claws still holding fast to the tropius' neck and watched Providence's legs flail weakly beneath her as blood spurted from the enormous tear in her throat. Wet gasps, coughs and gags filled the chamber, mixed with the sounds of bloody nectar splattering on the stone floor.
"You've given all the counsel you needed to," said Octavian gravely. He bit into the wound again, though this time he continued to apply pressure. Snaps and cracks began to fill his head. Louder and louder. Until-
Crunch.
He bit completely through the tropius' spine and tossed Providence's head and what neck was still attached to it aside, and let the rest of her body slump over. He spat flesh and bits of bone from his mouth and grimaced. "Disgusting." He picked up the folded cloth napkin she'd given him with his tea from the table and wiped his claws and face clean, then tossed it aside and strode out of Providence's chamber. He looked to his left and stared at the door that led to Harvest's office.
Shouts and screams of pain filtered poorly through the heavy oak door, but still he could hear them. The sounds of furniture smashing met his ears next, alongside more shouts. A much louder yell that sounded like Sledge echoed through the hallway and then the sounds ceased.
Silence. Unbroken silence. A single, unmoving oak door.
And then slowly, it creaked open and revealed the slouching body of a machoke. Sledge. He noticed Octavian and immediately strode over to him, though his slouch remained. A vine was wrapped around his forearm several times. When he made it to Octavian, Sledge stood up straight and said, panting, "Harvest is dead."
The druddigon's eyes slid from the machoke's face to the vine wrapped around his arm and then back. "Tough time?"
The machoke raised his arm as if to make a point, then pulled the vine off and tossed it aside. "A bit. No serious injuries, but Harvest was not what you'd call 'old.' Speaking of…" He gestured to Providence's door behind Octavian.
"Get someone to clean her up before she starts rotting," said the dragon, looking back in the direction of Providence's office. He turned towards his office and then stopped mid-step. "And if anyone sees Thump…" He paused. "Shatter him, please."
Sledge nodded and then immediately turned back to Harvest's office.
This didn't seem completely necessary. Cramming her friends and Current, Coal, Foremost and Still Grasses into a single Apartment room wasn't particularly comfortable, and the looks the comfey was giving them all as he tried to treat both Still Grasses and Coal were anything but approving.
But they had to have this tactics discussion, so here they were.
Outrider leaned against the same wall as Ran, his arms crossed, his brow furrowed. "Foremost, find volunteers that won't need torches to keep watch of the perimeter of the building. They can take the watches in shifts - no sense tiring them out more after a day of combat."
"You're sure we shouldn't be trying to find out where the SDC retreated to?" asked Coal from his pile of hay. He winced as the attending comfey slathered a mixture of honey and herbs on the gash in his side and then wrapped it in fragrant bandages.
"What good would that do us? You wanna lead a night attack?" asked Stone, giving the flareon a disapproving stare.
"Hey, I would gladly do it if I wasn't stuck in this hay waiting for a lucky shot to heal up," he said hotly.
"But you are, so it's not worth considering. Besides, it would take forever to even find where they've retreated to. And they're not going to be stupid and retreat to some building that's easy to get into."
"You mean like we have?" asked Still Grasses. Her face was partially bandaged over, obscuring one of her eyes. Several other parts of her body had also been wrapped up, and Ran noticed that the pyroar's tail was now much shorter than she remembered it, and tipped with a strip of stained cloth. "Why are we in this building? Because it's convenient?"
"We already had a detachment burn or destroy all but the largest bridge you can use to access this block," said Thea from the corner she sat in. Valor sat beside her, his head against the wall and eyes closed. "Making this a pretty ideal building to hole up in for the moment."
The pyroar growled. "Fair enough."
Current cut in, her tone nervous, "What exactly are we doing tomorrow? More of the same?"
Outrider frowned and said, his tone grim, "Yes. We take the fight to the SDC once again. They've been routed every time we've engaged them. Things are in our favor. We have momentum. We have purpose. We have an objective." He let out a long sigh and added, "But we need as many of the wounded as we can afford to be treated and ready for backline support. Our numbers appear superior, but the problem of fighting a force that has gotten into the habit of retreating is that it is difficult to measure their actual size."
"They can't be that large," said Coal. "All those dead SDC we've seen… They just can't be that big at this point. Maybe we've taken care of fifteen percent of them? We don't even know how many the Children of Mother took care of, too."
"Fifteen percent? Where did you pull that number from, your ass?" asked Thea, looking over at Coal in disbelief. "You don't have the slightest fucking idea how many of them are left. I know I sure as fuck don't. Valor doesn't. Ran doesn't. None of us do. Not even Outrider, and it's his fucking job to be guessing at these things and making decisions." She stood up and pointed at the medic, now placing a pile of scented herbs dangling from a string around Still Grasses neck. "We might as well ask the gods damned medic and go off that!"
"Thea," said Valor gently, standing up and placing a stubby arm on her shoulder.
Thea looked back at Valor, her eyes hard and said, "I've seen more today than I've seen in the week before." She reached out and waved her paw in the empty space where one of Valor's quills should have been. "And part of that week was Mother Superior's gods damned camp." She turned away from the quilladin and stared through Ran, at something far away. "I'm supposed to be used to this. But these are Crag's citizens that are dying. It's not like watching a raider crumble to ash. Or a wildling roast alive. Or one of those fucking SDC bastards try to put out a fire in his gut." She looked at Current. "It's watching…" She trailed off and shook her head.
The golduck lowered her gaze, her eyes drooping.
Only the muffled moans and groans of the wounded next door and across the hall could be heard. Ran saw something in Thea break, and she sagged in front of them. "I just didn't think I'd have to see so many go."
Current stepped forward, her webbed hand outstretched and her tone gentle. "It was my idea to have everyone that wasn't hurt sleep upstairs, so I got a pretty nice room. Go unwind there. It's the first room on the right once you make it to the top of the stairs."
"I'll go with you. Just in case someone tried to claim it, I can help you toss them out." Thea did not walk out so much as Valor swept her from the room without another word.
The latch on the door had hardly shut when Stone sighed, shook her head. "Are we done here?" she said, striding to the door herself and putting her paw on the latch. "Because if we are, there's only one part of me that isn't sore yet and I'd like to find an absol to fix that."
The abrupt shift in mood was so sharp that Ran felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. The comment was almost absurd, and yet nothing but sincerity lived behind the lycanroc's eyes. Beside her, Outrider struggled out, clearly reeling, "The plan is to continue the assault tomorrow when it's bright enough out. We'll be splitting our forces to reduce congestion as we move up. Ran and Valor with me, you with Foremost, Thea with Current. With Catch dead, his forces will be divided up between Coal and I. Still Grasses will be returning to the triage center that we set up on the ground level of Crag." The pyroar frowned and laid her head down on her bed of hay.
"I'll find a quickshot then," she said reluctantly. The door swung open and closed, and she was gone.
"No one in their right mind is going to fuck her with a war on," said the comfey. It was the third thing he'd said the entire time he'd been treating Still Grasses and Coal, the first and second things being "Good news, you're still alive," and "Where does it hurt?" respectively.
"I'm going to see if Thea is okay," said Current loudly. "Since we're done here and all. You know where my room is; when it's time to move out tomorrow, just knock. I figure we'll be up at some horrible hour to make sure we can get everything properly organized." She threw the door open and disappeared behind it as it closed with a loud snap.
"Don't make it too horrible," said Coal, looking at Outrider from his bed, "Some of us have a puncture in our side."
"And some of us are missing an eye…" added Still Grasses, sounding miserable.
"You don't need two eyes to climb down stairs and back to the triage center you were supposed to be scouting for," said Outrider harshly. "So I expect your condition will have little bearing on your ability to fulfill your mission, yes?"
The pyroar nodded and curled up, looking thoroughly chastised.
"Very well. I suppose we ought to get some rest too, Ran," said Outrider, looking down at her.
She nodded back and followed him out of the room and down the narrow hallway of the Apartment complex. Current wasn't very far away, and it appeared that Outrider opted to simply follow her. They crossed the main hallway and entered another narrow hallway, following Current until she turned to her left and entered the stairwell the audino from earlier had talked about.
By the time they'd caught up, Current had already disappeared into her room. It hardly mattered.
"The rooms are rather cramped, if that brief stint in Thea's taught me anything," explained Outrider.
"Feels like that was forever ago," said Ran.
They continued down the hallway, eventually coming to the last pair of doors. On the left, the door no longer existed, and the same could arguably be said for the room. The walls had been blown apart, scattering rubble throughout the interior. Even then, a pile of hay had been salvaged from gods knew where, and bore swellow, pelipper and fletchinder.
The door on the right swung open, revealing Stone. The lycanroc sat against the far wall, staring out a hole the size of a window into Crag. She looked over at Outrider and Ran and smirked. "Figures." She gestured to the room. "Make yourselves at home." She paused and grinned. "And remember, if you start fucking I get to join in."
"I thought you were off to see an absol to do something like that," said Ran, chuckling.
"No one fucks in the middle of a war," grumbled Stone, looking back out of the hole in the wall. She frowned and stood up abruptly. "I should check on Thea. Don't let anyone else stay here, okay? I'm coming back to sleep in this room. Even if we've gotta get snuggly." She smirked. "So mind where you're pointing that thing, Outrider."
The lucario stared at her in disbelief.
"The spike." She pointed at her chest. "It's pointy."
"Go check on Thea before you come up with any more innuendo," said Outrider, half-exasperated and half-amused. "That's an order."
Stone gave him a mock salute and swept herself from the room, closing the door behind her.
Ran made her way to the corner Stone was sitting in and patted the empty space beside her. "Come sit down," she said.
Outrider did so uneasily and glanced out of the hole. "The random spots of light out in the distance… Torchlight. The building next to us doesn't stretch all the way up to meet the floor above."
"Yeah, it's a room with a view."
"Views are dangerous, Ran."
The weavile slumped back against the wall and sighed. Electricity rose up out of her stomach and crackled through her body. She didn't have to fear it.
She finally didn't have to fear it.
She looked over at Outrider and reached for his face, then stopped halfway and drew her paw back. The lucario stared intently at her all the while. "I'm dangerous, Outrider."
The jackal chuckled. "I didn't have you pinned as someone that opted for such cliches." Ran crossed her arms and pouted. He chuckled. "You know I didn't mean that."
Ran gave him a look of mock disbelief.
"I'm being completely serious! Or are you giving me that look because of my comment? Because if you are… It was entirely accurate. Though it was completely devoid of tact and reading the mood."
"Can't you read auras?" asked Ran.
"Yes, but the last time I did, I saw you overcome with bloodlust and plain lust. And over your heart, a strange, swirling-"
"Ball of black energy?"
Outrider nodded. "Yes. How did you-"
"I did some, uh-" Ran looked back out the window and shrugged. "I guess you could call it soul searching? Had a conversation with myself? And the whole time I did, that ball of energy was over my heart."
"You mean you had a conversation with the entity that gave you those terrible rages?"
"Yeah. And that entity- it was real once. Her name was Karan." Ran hugged her knees and rocked back and forth, thinking. "My name was Karan. Or is, I guess." She looked up, still rocking and fornwed. "I don't know, Outrider. I don't feel like Karan."
"What does Karan feel like?" asked the lucario.
Ran stopped rocking and looked at him. A long silence fell between them. "She feels like the very essence of rage," said the weavile at last. "I will never be that angry."
Outrider frowned. "But the-"
"The lust part of bloodlust?" asked Ran. He nodded. "Yeah, she feels like that too. Raw, violent desire. The kind that..." She let go of her knees and looked down at her claws, then began tracing the runes on the chainmail gloves she wore, but did not continue. She spun through the thoughts bouncing around in her head. What the hell was she talking about? All of a few minutes ago she was ready to reach out and take hold of his face, and now she was ruining everything with this.
"If you don't want to talk about this…" began Outrider.
Ran reached over and pulled Outrider into a tight embrace, angling herself so the spike in his chest wouldn't poke her. "I do want to. But right now, I want something else more." She felt Outrider return the embrace and smiled.
"And that is?" asked Outrider, looking down at her.
"I want to enjoy not having to be afraid of my own desires. I don't have to worry that chasing them is going to make me tear someone apart." She paused and smiled, then added, "I want to enjoy not feeling alone."
"Is keeping you by my side not quite enough?" asked Outrider, chuckling down at the crown of her head.
Ran pulled back to look up at Outrider. Silence stretched between them once again. Ran reached up with her paws and took hold of both sides of his face with tremendous care and gently caressed his cheek. Her head felt like it was full of cotton, but her vision remained clear, and crackles of electricity running through her limbs felt invigorating, not menacing. She was fine. She would be fine.
And so, when Outrider breathed, "If we survive…" she smothered the rest of his sentence with a kiss.
When she pulled away, Ran whispered, "Never finish that sentence." Exhaustion gripped her, and she laid her head down on Outrider's shoulder.
Whistle looked around at the few Orphans of Mother he'd managed to gather together. A dozen. Just a dozen. Well, eleven. One of them was combing through the rooms, looking for survivors. He glanced down at his bandaged, broken wing and shook his head. "Things haven't gone well for us. And I'm not much of a leader," he mumbled.
The chipped electrode next to him laughed weakly. "You got us to clear this building out. That's something."
A koffing by his side joined in the laughter, and added, "I think you mean I cleared this building."
The bodies of several pokemon had been piled into the corner of the room. It was difficult to know just how many they'd put down through Chimney's gas, and how many had fallen in the subsequent room-to-room fights, but it hardly mattered. They were just common citizens, and despite the fight each of the pokemon tried to put up, the Orphans overpowered them every time.
Of course, they had lost Points, but the maractus had successfully distracted an especially scary bewear and that was all they needed to tear it open.
Whistle shuddered at the memory of Points' broken body. "Doesn't matter who did what in the end. We're… at the end of our rope."
A graveler sitting by the doorway into their room said gruffly, "Didn't Vain give you anything to go off of?"
"Not really. Just really wanted this place to suffer." Whistle shrugged with his good wing and shook his head. "We didn't do the best job but we made them fight for each of us."
The nuzleaf sitting beside the graveller looked glum. "We lost a lot of Orphans out there, Whistle."
"I know Branch," mumbled the sparrow. "I know. We could try to run. But once we're out of the city, staying alive isn't going to be easy. We're all a bit fucked up, and we're all definitely tired. A bad group of wildlings might kill-" He stopped mid-sentence and froze. Someone was stomping up the hallway outside. A terrified voice accompanied it.
The smell hit Whistle before Heap stomped into the room, dragging a horrified looking mawile behind him. Her larger mouth had been bound shut with soiled lengths of rope, and when the garbodor tossed her in the center of the Orphans, she couldn't figure out where to turn.
"Wh-what do you want with me?" she stammered. "P-please don't kill me." Tears ran down her face and she began to hiccup.
"Oh shut up, will you?" grumbled Heap. "You've been saying that this whole time."
"What'd you bring her here for?" asked Whistle, looking at the mawile with disgust. "Could have just killed her where you found her."
"She wouldn't tell me what this weird pillar I came across did. Was covered in blue runes. Runs through this building."
"So?"
"Then it's gotta be important, right?" asked Heap.
"It doesn't do anything, I s-swear!" said the mawile between sobs. "I promise, it's just- it's just-"
"You want me to start dissolving her arm?" asked Puke. Whistle glanced over the grimer and made a low crooning sound. Wasn't a bad idea, really.
The mawile broke into hysterical sobs and retreated as far from the pile of sludge as she could, but the electrode she backed into let loose a bolt of electricity and sent her tumbling back into the center of the Orphans.
"Just tell us what it does and we'll let you go," said Whistle, closing his eyes and groaning. Her high-pitched cries were giving him a headache.
"P-p-promise?" she asked, looking at him with bloodshot eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, just tell me what that pillar does," said the spearow.
She rubbed her eyes and stammered, "I-It's a sup-p-port pillar. A p-primary."
"The fuck does that mean?" asked the graveller by the door.
"It- It holds up a lot of weight. S-Supports the c-city," she explained. "I-It's m-magical."
"Can't burn this place down, but collapsing it doesn't sound too bad," said the electrode. "Good enough, yeah?"
Whistle nodded. "Good enough."
"How much damage can those things take?" asked Heap.
The mawile shook her head vigorously "I-I don't know. It's m-magical. No one t-tries to destroy i-it."
A machop with his arm in a sling standing behind the mawile rolled his eyes. "I could throw her at it until it cracks. Might give us an idea."
"Y-you said y-you'd l-let me go!" she begged, her hysterical sobs resuming full force.
"You keep lying to us, why shouldn't we?" spat Whistle.
"I'm s-sorry, but I r-really don't kn-know!" she cried, her eyes pleading. "I j-just h-help make p-paper!"
The spearow sighed. "Move aside, Heap."
The garbodor did not move, and instead stared at the spearow. "You really letting her go?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"So they know the Orphans of Mother did this," said Whistle, his eyes hard. "Worthless fucks in this city need to know why they've got rubble instead of a place to live."
Heap continued to stare at the spearow but eventually shifted aside. "Fair enough. Run little mawile. Before one of us changes our minds." The mawile was out of the room in a second, and the stomping of her feet in the hallway had disappeared not even ten seconds after.
"So now what?" asked the electrode.
Whistle looked from the electrode, to the koffing, to Heap and the grimer beside him, then to the graveller and nuzleaf, then to the machop and the four ferroseed behind him.
The spearow gestured at the machop. "You punch the pillar until you can't anymore. Get some cracks in it." The machop nodded. "And then the rest of you…" He paused and closed his eyes.
"We know," said Heap. "You don't hafta say anything. Go get a good view. Don't wanna end up full of shrapnel once the booms start."
"I'm getting the best view in the house, Heap," said Whistle at once.
The garbodor looked surprised for a moment and then grinned. "Damn right."
The light hit her before the sound did. Ran pulled her head off Outrider's shoulder and looked outside, covering her ears with her paws as a deafening boom washed over her. Outrider followed suit almost immediately. She watched, slack jawed in horror, as a brilliant flash of white exploded out of a building in the distance. Then another. And another. Then a flash of cyan. Then another flash of white.
And then the rumbling, snapping and shuddering began. The din was everywhere around Ran. It swallowed her whole as the sounds of collapsing buildings, snapping wood and shattering stone rushed through the air. Stone had joined them, watching the darkness and the horrors it concealed as the sounds of collapse filled their ears.
No one noticed their door swing open as Thea, Valor and Current rushed in, shouting over the din. It wasn't until Current herself screamed in Ran's ear that the sounds outside made sense.
"Someone destroyed a primary! Someone actually destroyed a primary! Everything above and below it is collapsing and crumbling!" screamed the golduck.
Ran shouted back, "How far out does it extend?"
"Can't we just run?" bellowed Stone, cutting in.
"And die tired, Stone? No one knows!" Current screamed back. "This has never happened! We might be safe for all we know, just stay put!"
The weavile stared at the golduck in disbelief. "MIGHT!?" she screamed. When the duck nodded at her, Ran turned to Outrider and pulled him into an even tighter embrace than earlier.
Tonight, from soaring cap to grimy base, an entire section of Crag fell.