In most situations, when faced with a terrifying presence, one imagines they would freeze up and remain petrified in face of certain doom. Evolution gave Pokémon a natural instinct to these circumstances. Fight, flight, or freeze, all in accordance with what is most suited to their natures.
For the Foresters, the natural sneaks that they are, flight was their first and only choice.
The thieving group fled through the maze-like catacombs, pumping their legs as hard as they could, as the hall behind them enveloped in a malevolent darkness that hunted them down like prey. The oppressive, burning red eyes of the darkness loomed over them as it kept up with their panicked escape.
Melissa and Klaus took the lead, gripping the twins' hands as they trailed behind, stuck with carrying their weakened team leader, whose ragged and gasping breaths filled them with concern. They focused solely on escaping, however, so that they can tend to Fabrice's mysterious ailment later.
"Mel—Harlow!" Klaus yelled, nearly tripping over the stone floors. "How do we get out of here?!"
"I don't know!" Melissa screamed, tears flying from her eyes. "I'm too scared to remember!"
"Hurry, hurry, hurry!" the twins complained. They felt the shadows of their pursuer lick their heels with its cold, airy touch. Shrieking, the twins doubled their pace and gradually ran side by side with Melissa and Klaus. "He's going to kill us!"
"I'm too young and pretty to die!" Jewel added.
"No one's going to die!" Melissa assured them, even if her tone didn't display confidence in it. "We need to lose him through the catacombs and find an exit!"
"He managed to find us down here!" Klaus said. "He may know these catacombs better than all of us!"
"But I thought they were restricted!" Gold exclaimed. "Why would he know the layout of the catacombs?!"
"I'm still trying to figure that out!"
"Shadow Ball!"
They looked over their shoulders and yelped as the mass of darkness fired a single Shadow Ball at them. It whizzed past their faces and detonated on the path ahead. The explosion tripped the Foresters up and sent them sprawling to the floor. The twins wrapped their arms around Fabrice and broke his fall as they skidded off their backs.
"Ow," Melissa whined as she stood up. She looked back over her shoulder and shrieked as the reaper loomed over her, scythe in hand. "G-G-Grim Deadlock…"
The menacing red eyes narrowed down on her. "You. You're the one known as Harlow. The menace of Verde Kingdom, and the scourge of the criminal underworld."
Melissa laughed nervously as she backed away, hands raised defensively. "W-Well, if we're being totally honest, there may have been a few embellishments regarding my criminal history—" She kicked her heel into a loose stone and fell onto her rear. She flinched and shuffled back on her hands as Grim closed in. "C-C-Can't we talk this out like civil folk? You look like someone with lots of class and etiquette."
Grim raised her scythe, its crescent blade radiating with a red shine. "All scum of Virdis shall be executed by my hand. The corruption of this broken world shall die alongside me!" He swung his scythe straight for Melissa.
Melissa shrieked and covered her head. The blade whizzed over her head as Klaus tackled her from behind, pinning them both flat to the ground. Melissa felt a few hairs shave off from the back of her head. She felt the cold sting of metal graze across her skin for the briefest second.
"Twins, now!" Klaus ordered.
Gold and Jewel leapt over the pair, claws unsheathed as they faced down the nebulous reaper. "We'll tear you in two, freak!" the twins yelled as they dove into the fog with a flurry of slashes. They left nothing to chance, shredding through anything in front of them, even if they accidentally clawed each other.
However, their claws met with no resistance as they passed through and fell onto the damp floor. They quickly scrambled to their feet and looked back at the fog in dismay. "Wait, that doesn't make sense," Gold mumbled.
"There was nothing in there," Jewel added, just as disturbed. "There's nobody in that fog!"
"What?!" Melissa and Klaus gasped.
Grim turned to the twins and swung his scythe, trailing with the red aura accompanying the blade. The twins jumped back, wincing as the energy trail nearly grazed their chins. Grim pulled away and casted a dark wind through the passageway, blasting into the twins.
Jewel flew off her feet, but caught the ground with her claws. Gold, despite a breeze brushing through his fur, was left unaffected by the shadowy winds. His eyes lit up in realization. "Ominous Wind. He must be a Ghost-Type!" He smirked and lunged at Grim. "Which means you still have type weaknesses like the rest of us! Foul Play!"
Gold lit his fists with dark aura and swung his fist at Grim's head, or at least where a head should be. Gold's moment of triumph fizzled out almost instantly as his fist passed through the fog unobstructed. His Foul Play, a move with a malevolent aura capable of sending spirits writhing with pain, struck nothing but the black fog.
"Wha—" was all Gold could say before Grim slammed the end of his scythe into the Meowth's chest and pinned him against the wall. Gold squirmed and gasped as the pole pressed into his throat.
"Gold!" Jewel cried. She unsheathed her claws and lunged at Grim. "Leave my brother alone!"
Grim obeyed her request, removing the scythe from Gold's neck and immediately turning it on Jewel, bashing her across the face with the back of the weapon. Jewel skipped off the floor and crashed into the wall, nearly falling unconscious. Gold collapsed to the floor and clutched his aching throat.
Melissa and Klaus picked themselves off the ground, teeth chattering and limbs quivering. "W-What's going on?" Melissa asked aloud. "Gold's Foul Play should've struck him. Dark-Type moves should be able to affect Ghost-Types. He…He is a Ghost-Type, right?!"
Klaus' prehensile hair twitched in conjunction to the fear bellowing inside him. "This doesn't make any sense. What are we even fighting?"
Grim turned his sights on the pair and glared, eyes that struck the image of a devil into Melissa's soul. What little she could see of a face beneath the mass of black fog resembled that of a demon, too. Melissa wondered if, perhaps, they were facing the actual reaper himself.
Grim raised his scythe at the frightened Buneary. With panic overcoming her, Melissa quickly reached into her pockets and chucked smoke bombs at the fog demon. They passed through and exploded behind Grim. Melissa reached for her dagger and a vial of clear liquid.
"Leave us alone! Please!" Melissa crushed the vial and splattered the dagger with the potion, the same potion used when she fought Althalos. A necessary item she carried with her given her natural moveset's glaring weakness to phantoms. "Don't come any closer, or else!"
Grim paid no attention to her threat and reared his scythe further back, readying his swing. Desperate and beside herself, Melissa threw the dagger straight for the reaper's face. To her utter horror, the dagger passed through without trouble and clanged against the wall behind Grim. She tensed up as Grim swung his scythe for her again.
Klaus skidded in front of the attack and stopped the scythe in its tracks with his sword. To both their reliefs, the scythe was solid and stopped against the sword, though the crackling aura coming from the blade still left them on edge. Klaus flinched as sparks danced across his skin, and he felt an uncomfortable chill come over him. A chill that almost felt…draining.
Klaus shook his head, then parried Grim's scythe away. "Burning Jealousy!" Klaus lunged, igniting his weapon in the burning heat radiating from his body, and slashed down the middle of the fog.
A burning trail cut through the darkness, leaving behind a red scar down the length of Klaus' strike. However, it lasted only a second before vanishing inside the fog, a scar that was never there. Klaus' eyes darted up in alarm as Grim raised his scythe and swung at the Morgrem.
"Metronome!" Klaus thrusted his arm out as he jumped back, firing a Silver Wind from his palm.
The Silver Wind passed through Grim harmlessly, leaving the shadowy reaper to slice through Klaus. The red aura of his blade cut through the Morgrem instantly, slicing a thin line across the stomach. Klaus, eyes wide in horror, collapsed in front of Melissa's feet.
"KLAUS!" Melissa screamed, tears pouring from her eyes.
"R…R-Run…now!" Klaus gasped, straining to speak.
Melissa looked up at Grim and backed away on her heels as Grim set his sights on her again. "P-Please, I'm begging you! Don't kill my friends, please! We don't deserve this!"
Grim's hostile glare burned brighter. Melissa felt like it was staring right through her, a glare wrapped with such malice and fury. It wasn't the eyes of a mercenary. There was nothing in those eyes, not a shred of decency or sympathy her way, but the purest essence of wrath.
"That's all you do," Grim responded, his voice dripping with venom. "No one deserves tragedy. No one deserves suffering. No one deserves terror. Yet you stand before me, a thief who ruins lives and causes misery on the undeserving, all to satisfy your inflated egos."
"W…What?" Melissa whimpered.
"I see no humility or morality in your misdeeds. All I see…is the source of this world's corruption!" Grim took his scythe in both hands and raised it high over his head. "Nothing but worthless trash!"
"AAAAAAHHHH!"
The blade came down with a blazing red aura, aiming to cut through the terrified Buneary's neck. Melissa couldn't run, fight, or defend herself. There was nothing she could do but pray for mercy at the top of her lungs, begging the universe to let her disappear from the nightmare. She closed her eyes, screaming her heart out and pleading.
In her panic, Melissa took one last step back, and her foot collapsed through the ground.
"Huh—" Melissa yelped as the ground sank beneath her and dragged her down as the scythe whizzed over her head, shaving a chunk of fluff out of her ear.
Grim pulled back and glared at the ground. "What the…?" He knelt down and touched the ground. He scooped something up in his hand and let it drip over the floor. "Mud?"
A splash breached the ground behind him. He turned his head and saw Melissa emerging from the floor, snatching Gold and Jewel off the floor. "Gold, Jewel! Grab the boys, now!"
Grim glared at the downed Marshtomp and Morgrem and darted at them, brandishing his scythe. Melissa emerged from the ground again, where the twins caught the boys' collars and pulled them along. Grim slashed at them, but he missed Melissa's head by a hair. His scythe grinded against the wall as the hapless thieves dove back under the ground, rushing through the floor and up the walls.
Grim growled, his billowing cloak of fog swirling erratically. "Justice will be exacted." With an unholy screech like a banshee, Grim chased after the mud-swimming Foresters.
Armant and Frediano raced across the rooftops, keeping an eye out for anyone suspicious on ground level. Frediano, to break the silence, said, "So, that infamous specter of punishment is on your mind. You only came here hoping to start a brawl?"
Armant huffed. "It can't be helped. If he's as tough as they say he is, I want to see for myself. Just once, I want a fight that doesn't end in a single backhand."
Frediano laughed. "Quite the theatrical story, my friend! I dare say, what nightmares stain your history to have such a cryptic reason?"
"Why don't you tell me who you are first?" Armant countered.
"Nay, my friend! The Great Frediano will only reveal his gripping backstory at the most dramatic time! It's all about building suspense."
Armant sighed. "Whatever—"
"Well, since you're trying to pry it out of me! It all started from humble beginnings! I was but a humble farm boy with dreams of theatre—"
"Wait, shut up." Armant stopped and pointed at the street. "What's going on down there?"
"Down where?" Frediano peeked down at the street.
At first, there didn't seem to be much going on, but then a surge of mud shot out from the street and hurriedly raced straight ahead. The mud surge clipped through buildings and sank anything that was directly under it like quicksand. From Armant's best guess, it looked like it didn't know where it was going, or that it cared to know. Almost like it was running from something…
"Wait, that's the same mud wave that absconded with my nemesis!" Frediano exclaimed. "The one the Foresters took in their escape!"
Armant glared and kneeled down. "So, it would seem." He jumped ahead, bounding over three buildings before leaping again after the mud wave.
"Hey, wait for me!" he heard Frediano call out, but Armant paid no attention and focused on hunting the mud wave.
It didn't take long for Armant to catch up and run parallel with the fleeing mud wave. An excited smirk found its way back onto his face, a glimmer of greed shining in his eyes. From what he heard, there were at least five Foresters in the city, including the infamous Harlow by some accounts.
This will put a serious dent in my debts. Hate to you be you, Foresters, but I need that money. Armant cracked his knuckles and prepared to jump down to ground level, but paused on his plans when something else emerged from the ground, too.
His eyes widened as a black fog, shaped like the cloak of a reaper, rose up from the melting street and chased after the mud wave. Even from his elevation, Armant could see the wrathful red glow of the reaper's eyes, dead set on hunting the fleeing swimmers.
"Grim Deadlock?" Armant turned back to the mud wave. "That's definitely the Foresters. They really got themselves into trou—"
Armant nearly lost his voice as a head poked out from the mud wave. A Buneary, cloaked in a blue aura and dragged four people behind her, swam across the surface of the street, wearing an expression of determination and utter distress. An all-too familiar look for the invincible Machamp.
"Shrimp?"
"He's gaining on us!" Gold and Jewel screamed, kicking their feet and lobbing clumps of mud at the pursuing reaper, which only served to annoy him and pick up the pace.
"I'm going as fast as I can!" Melissa yelled, squinting through the mud splashing across her face.
"How are you even doing this?!" Gold shouted.
"I-I don't know! I just wanted to disappear, and suddenly this happened! I must've copied Fabrice's ground swimming technique without thinking!" Melissa used her ears to shield her face from a large glob of mud. "Although, I don't think I can keep this up for very long. I'm…so tired."
"I will bite you if you fall asleep right now!" Jewel threatened. "Now, move faster!"
Grim raised his hand and conjured a Shadow Ball in it. "Sleep for eternity." He lobbed the Shadow Ball in their direct path.
Melissa gasped and swerved around the Shadow Ball as it exploded through the ground. Melissa made the mistaken of checking over her shoulder, for a whole shower of Shadow Balls rained down on the street. She dove under the road, eyes closed, and tried to navigate through the explosive noise. She could feel the twins squirming in her grip, almost struggling.
Air! Melissa swam back to the surface and drew a breath. The twins gasped behind her, coughing up mud.
"Warn us when you're going to do that!" Gold yelled.
Melissa flinched apologetically, then asked, "How are Fabrice and Klaus?"
Jewel looked them over again and winced. "They still look like they can't breathe. I don't think going underground is a good idea."
"But if we don't, Grim will—AAH!" A dark slash cut through the road and exploded into an upcoming building. Melissa looked over her shoulder again and yelped as Grim coated his scythe with Shadow Ball's energy.
"Reaping Shadow!" Grim struck the ground and released the shadow blade. It hunted the group down like the fin of a Sharpedo breaching water.
Melissa tried to swerve away from it, but the blade tracked her movements with tight turns. No matter which direction she moved, the shadow blade would follow along. It was as if it had a lock on her soul, determined to destroy her at all costs. Melissa screamed and kicked her feet harder, adding what little more propulsion she could.
"Harlow!" the twins screamed.
"I'm trying!"
It closed in, faster and faster, shredding through the deformed ground. It was but a hair from grazing either Fabrice or Klaus. The twins pulled the barely awake boys into their arms and tried to kick mud into the shadow blade, which once again was a fruitless desperation.
Melissa rapidly lost steam and found herself slowing down. Though she didn't fear the shadow blade itself, the explosion could cause harm to her friends, maybe even her from the shrapnel of rock. She tried her hardest, but she couldn't go any faster. The blade was right on her toes, ready to rupture the ground and leave them open to be mercilessly slaughtered.
"Earthquake!"
Melissa's eyes widened, alert to a startling familiar voice roaring from above. She looked up as a four-armed humanoid leapt off the rooftops and crashed into the ground in front of her.
All four hands slammed into the ground and released a shockwave across the surface. It passed over the Foresters and caused their muddy terrain to tremble before shooting them up in the air. Nearby buildings split open with cracks and unaffected terrain burst open with bullets of rock shooting out over the street, punching holes in stone and shattering windows.
Grim stopped and covered his face as a wave of stone and mud shot into him. The Foresters went sailing through the sky and nearly splatted across the cracking terrain. From the dust, however, the interloper of the tremor lunged out and caught them before they hit the ground.
Melissa let out a breath she was holding and touched her chest, feeling her heart pounding wildly inside. Though in shock, she looked up and gazed into the eyes of their savior.
"Ar…Armant?"
The Machamp gave her a solemn glare, one devoid of any notable emotion. A cold shiver ran down Melissa's back. She could tell those eyes were studying her. The same hidden, intellectual look one wouldn't expect from the boisterous, food-loving madman.
"Harlow."
Melissa yelped and covered her face. "Y-You know my name?"
Armant nodded, then sighed. "Should've figured. All the signs were there, yet I didn't bother to look deeper. Shame on me. Some bounty hunter I am."
Melissa's eyes widened, fear overtaking her. "D-Does that mean you're here to…"
Armant didn't answer immediately. He looked at the rest of the Foresters in his arms. The twins were holding each other, distraught to once again face the man that nearly crippled them. Klaus, though barely awake, had a nervous tint in his eye. Fabrice was barely conscious, but unresponsive to the situation.
Armant then looked down the road and glared at the specter rising up from the mud. Grim raised his scythe and shook the mud off with a single stroke. His eyes locked onto Armant's with a fury no less or greater than given to the Foresters. Just as Zech warned Armant, Grim was after everyone who started up trouble earlier.
Just what I wanted.
Armant set the Foresters down and, to their surprise, pushed them behind him. "The knights will want to know what's happening over here. That should buy you all time to escape."
Melissa gasped. "What?"
Armant closed his eyes and chuckled. "I never expected my little friend would turn out to be the infamous Harlow. I was really hoping to get that bounty on you. It would've solved so many troubles. All that money." He shook his head and sighed. "I'm too soft-hearted. This is why you don't make friends with the enemy."
Melissa stared up at Armant in awe. "Armant, you…"
Armant pointed over his shoulder. "Quit looking slack-jawed and go! Hurry while you still can!"
Melissa yelped and stumbled back. "R-Right! Gold, Jewel, we need—"
"Harlow!" Melissa turned and saw the twins loading Klaus and Fabrice into a small wagon. "Let's go!"
Melissa hopped over to them and looked over the wagon. "Wait, where did you—" She looked at the shop they were in front of and deadpanned. The window was smashed, and there was a brick laying on the floor. "Never mind. You two push, I'll pull!"
The twins saluted and got behind the wagon while Melissa grabbed the bar. She turned back to Armant one last time as he bounced on his toes and stretched his arms. She hesitated about leaving, worried for Armant's safety, but she doubted the Machamp would allow her to talk him out of fighting. It couldn't be helped, even if she felt bad about leaving him behind.
"Armant!" Melissa called out. Armant looked over his shoulder with a puzzle look. Melissa took a deep breath, then tried to her best to smile brightly. "Please be careful!"
Armant stared for a moment before flashing a thumbs up and a hearty grin. "Next time we see each other, let's get some candied apples!"
Melissa laughed with fresh tears leaking. "S-Sounds good." She shook her head and focused on the path ahead. "Gold, Jewel!" Melissa thumped her feet readily, then bounced forward with the wagon in tow. Gold and Jewel pressed into the wagon and pushed it along, flying down the street and into the night.
Armant watched them escape with a wistful smile, then flicked a tear out from his eye. "Stay safe, shrimp. Stay safe." He smirked at Grim, who remained floating patiently in front of him. "You could've taken me down during our little exchange there."
Grim gripped his scythe in both hands. "Rush Force Armant. Tell me, are the rumors I've heard about you true? The rumors about your…cursed strength?"
Armant snickered. "You want to know?" Armant spread his legs and raised his fists. "You'll have to fight me and see for yourself!"
"Secure the castle, now!"
Luna snapped out of her trance as knights rushed down the hall outside of the king's chambers. Luna glanced back at the locket in her hand, glared, and snapped it closed before running out after the knights.
The knights stretched their numbers out through the castle, taking position around windows and entrances leading outside. Luna darted around the knights and made her way to the main floor, where she found the king and queen joined by Angelo and the Swampert knight. Romano, she believed his name was.
"Are you certain?" King Visconti asked the Swampert.
Romano nodded. "Affirmative, my king. There was a great disturbance in the main shopping district. We're worried a fight is breaking out."
The kingly Jellicent shuddered. "That is not good."
"What's going on?" Luna asked as she ran up to them.
Angelo pulled his collar down and said, "We got a report that the Foresters and bounty hunters were found. Grim Deadlock is currently engaging them."
Luna bared her teeth. "And…Harlow is among the Foresters, right?"
"Should be, yeah."
"Right…" Luna touched her forehead and sighed shakily. "W-What's the plan?"
Queen Corinna glared and said, "First things first, lock down the castle and prevent entry in case the fighting finds its way over here. Second, send a team of knights out onto the scene and prevent the damage from spreading. If it finds its way to the residential district, lives could be in danger."
Luna's eyes widened. "But I thought Grim Deadlock didn't target innocent people."
"We are more concerned about the people he is hunting. Did you not feel a tremor a moment ago? Someone really powerful is among his targets, and anyone that powerful struggling to survive can cause serious damage."
"I…guess that makes sense," Luna agreed.
"You will not concern yourself with this affair, however. Right now, we need to confirm our staff and children are accounted for. Some of them have a poor tendency to sneak out in the middle of the night."
Romano raised his hand. "I've already confirmed the youngest princesses are in their rooms, as well as Princess Azelia."
"What of Asterio and Evangelina?"
"I checked and confirmed their locations. Prince Asterio is in the archives, and Princess Evangelina is in the rooftop gardens."
Corinna sighed. "Thank goodness. Retrieve Evangelina, then. I want her inside where it is safe."
Romano bowed. "As you wish, Your Majesty." He turned and ran up the stairs.
Corinna turned to Angelo and Luna. "As for you two, join the knights out back and guard the entrance there—"
"Actually, Your Majesty!" Luna interrupted. "I have something of a request!"
King Visconti's eyes widened. "Lady Freia?"
Corinna blinked at Luna in surprise. "What is this now?"
Luna flinched. "I'm…sorry for speaking out of turn, but I want to lead the investigation on the scene, please. The pr…I mean, the thief known as Harlow stole important documents from me, and it would be to my benefit to retrieve them at once. I…need to confirm something."
Angelo leaned in on the Snivy with a skeptical brow. "You feeling alright? You look a little pale. And tense."
Luna gritted her teeth. "It's nothing, really. I just…I need to find Harlow immediately. I have some choice words for her after our last interaction."
Corinna frowned. "While your service to the Verde Kingdom is noted, I cannot allow you to—"
"Your Majesty, please! I need to go out there, even if it puts myself at risk!" Luna begged. "It's not like Grim Deadlock is after me, and I can hold my own in a fight. I just really, really need those documents back, and to find Harlow at all costs."
Corinna glared. "I do not recall this sudden fixation on Harlow since I have met you."
Luna grimaced. "I…can't explain, mostly because I'm not sure I believe it myself, but you just need to take my word for it. This is for the good of the Verde Kingdom, in more ways than one."
Corinna tried to protest, but the gentle touch of her husband's tentacle to her shoulder stopped her. The king sighed with a shake of his head before nodding at Luna. "If that is Lady Freia's request, I see no reason to deny her. The king trusted her with an important assignment, so we should honor that ambition."
Corinna frowned at her husband, but relented to his soft gaze. The queenly Gourgeist massaged her forehead and sighed. "I suppose my husband has the final say in this matter." She glared at Luna. "But you will not stray for our knights, understand?"
Luna sighed. "Thank you, Your Majesty."
Corinna glared at Angelo. "And you will keep her from getting herself into trouble."
Angelo saluted. "Aye, Your Majesty." The king and queen nodded, then vacated themselves from the main hall. Angelo looked back at Luna as she marched to the main entrance doors. He followed behind and asked, "Care to explain what's got your armor in a twist? I know what I said earlier, but you also seem…agitated?"
Luna huffed through her nostrils. "I'm just confused and irritated."
"About the documents?"
"Something like that…"
Armant wasted no time, springing into action with a flying tackle. Predictably, he passed through Grim without resistance and landed on the other side of the specter. Armant twisted around and punched the ground, rupturing the street open and showering Grim with a land wave.
"Ominous Wind!" Grim's shadowy cloak expanded itself and blew into the land wave, shielding him in the dark winds. Grim reared his scythe back and threw it out of the cyclone like a disc.
Armant sidestepped the weapon, watching it boomerang through the air. He caught sight of the psychic aura wrapped around the weapon as it made its return trip back to him. The scythe was coming in hot, spinning like a pinwheel. Armant reached forward when the scythe was in reach and caught it by the staff. The scythe shook and bended, but was locked under the Machamp's unbreakable grip.
From the dust, however, Grim popped up behind Armant and slammed a blank point Shadow Ball into his back. The shock knocked Armant forward, but he remained planted on his feet and with the scythe in his grasp. Fighting against the Psychic-controlled scythe, Armant turned and swung the weapon at its wielder.
The scythe passed through Grim until it reached his hand, where he grabbed it and engulfed the weapon with darkness. Armant felt the weapon leave his hand like a gas and reform itself back into Grim's possession. With his scythe back in hand, Grim reared it back and fired his Reaping Shadow attack. Armant thrusted his hands into the shadow blade and caught it. With only a little grip strength, he destroyed the shadow blade and scattered its wisps around himself.
"Bulk Up!" Armant flexed his already impressive physique, increasing the size of his muscles. "Earthquake: Clap!" Armant clapped all his hands together with such force that a visible shockwave burst out around him.
The shockwave slammed into Grim, ruffling his shadowy cloak and nearly blowing him away. He hooked his scythe around a nearby lamppost and kept himself anchored. The force of the shockwave rippled out across the buildings around them, further destroying the walls and reducing the window to glass powder.
"Earthquake: Strike!"
Grim's eyes widened as Armant lunged at him with a palm strike. It passed through, but Armant swerved his arm down and struck the street instead. A geyser of earth exploded out from under the reaper, enveloping his shadowy form in rubble and dust.
A hand swiped through the debris and slammed into Grim's scythe, taking the reaper along with it. Armant tossed Grim across the street, throwing the cloaked darkness into the building and splattering like paint. Armant grinned as the darkness dripped down the walls, victory twinkling in his eyes.
"Guess we can discount this being an illusion or clever trick," Armant explained. "I wondered if this was some fancy puppeteering with your Psychic, but the shadows wouldn't have flown if there weren't hands holding that elegant weapon. There's definitely a body under that darkness."
Grim reconstituted himself off the wall and picked his scythe off the ground. "How astute of you, Rush Force. Very astute." He raised and pointed his scythe at the invincible Machamp. "You're the first ever to lay a strike upon me. Then again, you aren't common trash like the degenerates I've slain."
Armant grinned. "You now understand my strength?"
"I understand that I must tear you limb from limb with a bit more efficiency." Grim's eyes exploded with aura as his dark cloak expanded outward. "By swallowing you in perpetual darkness! Reaper's Domain!"
Armant covered himself as the Ominous Wind rushed through the street and trapped him inside a cyclone. The light sucked away from his vision. Armant was barely able to see his own hand in front of his face. He staggered around, swiping at the air with his fingers like claws to catch Grim's scythe out of the air.
A sharp sting crossed his arm from the darkness. Armant turned and swiped the air as he covered his arm. No blood came out, and he didn't feel drained like the previous victims. Was it possible his hide was too dense to penetrate? It wouldn't surprise him, but surely the reaper will soon realize the tight spot.
Armant scanned vigilantly through the darkness for the elusive reaper until another slash struck his nape. Armant retaliated once more, but no reaper. With his attention diverted, more attacks slashed at Armant from behind, dealing harder and swifter with each strike. Armant kept grabbing and punching at the air, catching brief glimpses of something lurking around him. Not even the piercing gaze of the reaper's state could penetrate the consuming darkness.
"Darkest Lariat!" In a similar manner to his fight with the thieving twins, Armant twisted his body with such speed and force that the wind whipped up around him. It smashed into the surrounding cyclone and blew it away, bathing Armant once again in the moonlight.
Armant sensed movement from behind and whipped his Darkest Lariat into it, landing a lucky hit across Grim. Got you! Armant cheered.
However, though contact was made for a second, Armant's arms passed through the reaper once more, scythe included. Armant's eyes widened to find the weapon also coated in the same mysterious shadows, imbuing them with its wielder's remarkable intangibility.
Grim charged his scythe with dark energy. "Fall to my blade, bounty hunter—"
"Did somebody say the Great Frediano!"
Both Armant and Grim froze as a flashy Weavile emerged from hiding, catching the reaper by surprise. Frediano wrapped his arm with Shadow Claw and leapt dramatically behind Grim with a cascade of sparkles mysteriously appearing from nowhere and dancing off his elegant red cape.
"Know your place, understudy, for I am the star of this performance!" Frediano plunged his Shadow Claw through the darkness, stabbing out through the reaper's front. "Fall to my dazzling attack, phantom!"
A moment of pause came after, with neither fighter moving an inch. Frediano, basking in his greatness, failed to notice that Grim was still alive and well, unharmed even. The reaper even turned his gaze onto the egotistical performer once the shock settled in.
Frediano finally realized he was being stared at and looked at his Shadow Claws. "Huh, we…appear to have gone off script. My attack should've fell you, mighty phantom. May I have a do over—" Grim whacked Frediano across the face with his scythe and sent him flying through a building.
"I'll save you for last," Grim muttered. "As for you, Rush Force—" Grim was taken aback as Armant lunged into him, gripping the tangible scythe.
"Thanks for the distraction, Fred!" Armant kicked the ground and launched himself and Grim into the air. Once they were high enough, Armant unloaded a palm strike into the scythe and spiked Grim straight down into the rooftops.
Grim reconstituted himself again and glowered as Armant landed on the other side of the roof. "Lucky shot, but you won't fair to kill me if my scythe is your only means of contact."
Armant smirked. "Your intangibility is most unusual, but I fair a decent chance of uncovering the mystery."
"As will I, the Great Frediano!" Frediano declared beside Armant.
"…" Armant looked down at the Weavile, both perplexed and impressed by his speedy recovery. "Where did you come from?"
"Like any great performer, even in face of adversity, the show must go on!" Frediano replied.
"Fair enough!" Armant cracked his fists. "Think you can lend me a hand?"
"A dual performance alongside you, my friend? We shall vanquish our murderous antagonist with style and comradery!"
"I'll take that as a yes."
Grim huffed, his cloak billowing wildly around him. "Come."
Armant charged forward while Frediano manifested his ice claws, firing a flurry of Icicle Spears at the reaper. Grim weaved through the icicles while dodged Armant's frenzy attacks. Armant whipped his arm so hard that a gust of wind ruffled Grim's cloak. Frediano's Icicle Spears, meanwhile, exploded across anything that wasn't the reaper and coated the roof in a sheet of ice.
"Quick Attack!" Frediano jumped onto the ice and speedily skated across it. "Dark Frostbite Claws!" His Shadow Claws coated the ice around his arms and molded them into malleable, purple ice claws. He turned both claws into sickles and proceeded to spin across the ice. "Prepare for a reaping, Deadlock!"
Grim bounced into the air and hovered out of Frediano's reach. "Reaping Shadow!"
Frediano skipped gracefully away from the crescent shadow blade that cut through the roof. "Haha! And now a take on a classic! The new and improved Reaper Shadow!" Frediano molded both claws together into a giant sickle overlapping more of Shadow Claw's aura around it. "Tally-ho!" He detached and threw the sickle like a boomerang.
Grim raised his scythe vertical to the sky. "What a cheap imitation. HA!" He sliced through the middle of the flying sickle and split it in two. The separated pieces went flying over the city and crashed a few streets away.
Armant sprang up behind Grim and plunged his hand through the dark cloak, grabbing hold of the scythe. "Got you!"
"Do you?"
Armant gasped as the darkness spread out from Grim's cloak like tendrils and bound themselves around Armant's wrists and ankles. Though they were shadows composed of air, they latched on as strong as iron. With a flick of his wrist, Grim threw the Machamp straight down, the collision rattling the rooftop and throwing Frediano backward.
"You will perish beneath my will!" Grim extended his hands to the sky and conjured Ominous Wind. Currents of wind separated and compressed themselves into spheres, rapidly growing in size. As Armant and Frediano picked themselves up, they gazed up in awe as dozens of Shadow Balls littered the sky above, surrounding the infamous reaper.
Frediano squeaked and said, "I do not remember this from the rehearsals."
"Rain of the Styx!" Grim swung his scythe down and commanded the Shadow Balls to plummeted into the duo.
"Get behind me!" Armant ordered as he clenched his fists. "Close Combat!" Armant released a rapid flurry of punches into the hail of Shadow Balls, while Frediano jumped behind the Machamp and covered his head. The rooftop exploded beneath their feet, filling the air with a ghastly fog.
Grim continuously spawned Shadow Balls from his cloak, replenishing with each explosion. The murderous fury blazing from his eyes continued to grow and flare, a burning rage billowing deep beneath his chest as the duo continued to resist. He poured on the pressure, firing faster than he could replenish and razing the buildings beneath him.
Nothing will stop his vengeance.
Melissa and the twins ignored the explosions going on in the far distance behind them and pushed themselves faster to the kingdom walls. Klaus and Fabrice rattled around in the stolen wagon, groaning and shivering as their breathing worsened.
"What did that monster do to them?" Jewel asked.
"Heck if I know. It doesn't even look like he struck them that hard," Gold said. "Maybe he ripped out their souls."
"Don't make me think about that!"
Melissa shivered from their conversation, trying to focus her attention on escaping. Her eyes lit up as she saw the wall in sight, with the only exit secured by a team of knights. "Gold, Jewel! We're almost out of here!"
Gold and Jewel looked ahead and flinched. "How are we supposed to get passed them?!" they screamed.
"I'm thinking, I'm thinking!" Melissa clenched her eyes and skimmed her tired mind for solutions. Though a chore to do, a plan sprung from the murky depths. "Get as many smoke bombs as you can! Loot them off of Klaus and Fabrice if you have to!"
Though confused, Gold took over pushing the wagon while Jewel jumped in and ransacked the boys for their smoke bombs. "I don't think this'll help us get through the gates!"
"We're not going through the gate! Jewel, give me the smoke bombs and take over for me!" Jewel dumped the smoke bombs into her pack, then used Trick to swap them with the stuff inside Melissa's. She jumped down and took over with the wagon handles. "Keep going toward the wall, and don't stop no matter what!"
Gold grinned nervously. "We're not ghosts like that freaky reaper, you know!"
"Just trust me! Super Springy Dash!" Taking on the name of her most infamous technique, Melissa raced ahead in only a couple kicks, rocketing toward the knights.
The knights saw the Buneary speeding toward them and drew their swords and crossbows. Some went for the catapults and loaded them up with barrels. Melissa dug through her pack and scooped the smoke bombs into her arms.
I helped Shade make these things numerous times, and I know all the ingredients that goes into them. Melissa spun on her foot and, bringing herself to a sudden stop, lobbed the armful into the air. As predicted, the knights instinctively looked away from Melissa and to the pellets flying in the air. A little spark here, and you got a cloud of noxious fumes! My apologies, everyone!
A purple aura resembling a familiar Salandit engulfed Melissa as she pressed her fingers together. With a click of her fingers, she fired a miniature Flame Burst into the smoke bombs and detonated them all at once. A flaming cloud of green smoke descended on the knights.
The knights flailed around and yelled as the smoke enveloped and burned through their armor. One by one, knights passed out due to oxygen deprivation and collapsed to the ground. The knight operating the catapult fell over on the lever a prematurely fired the barrel into the air, arcing in a direct path to the twins and the wagon.
Melissa quickly bounded over to the twins. "Get in!" Gold and Jewel scampered onto the wagon while Melissa got behind and started pushing. "Super Springy Dash: Desperation Maneuver!" Invigorated by the all-powerful emotion of crippling panic, Melissa tripled her effort through her legs and blasted the wagon straight for the wall.
The flying barrel nearly crashed down on them, missing Melissa's heel by an inch, and exploded into a sticky puddle of glue. Melissa hopped faster and faster, burning her muscles to their limit.
Gold and Jewel hugged each other and screamed as the wall closed in on them. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
"This!" Melissa closed her eyes and concentrated, surrounding a blue aura around the wagon, herself, and her teammates. "Lend me your strength, Fabrice! AAAAAHHHHH!"
"AAAAAHHHH!" the twins cried.
The wagon crashed into the wall, but didn't shatter. Though bending against the viscous force of the wall, the wagon and its occupants passed through seamlessly, pushing through a thick layer of melting stone as Melissa kept pumping her legs. Nothing but complete darkness and distorted silence around the Foresters until the break of moonlight shined on them.
The Foresters burst out from the wall, slathered in mud, and went tumbling down the small incline outside the capital. Their wagon shattered, and the Foresters tumbled over each other before crashing at the bottom of the incline. Wagon pieces rained over them.
Melissa and the twins groaned openly while Fabrice and Klaus, barley awake, were twitching in pain. Gold, who was laying on top of Melissa, said, "You…I can see now why half the region thinks you're insane…"
Melissa pressed her face into the grass and groaned. "Shut up…"
Armant continued pummeling through the shower of Shadow Balls, neither side slowing down in their attack. A smokescreen from the Shadow Balls surrounded him and Frediano, making it harder for Armant to accurately deflect the attacks. Some slipped through and exploded at his feet. A trivial scuff to his physique, though.
"He's quite powerful to summon this many Shadow Balls in a continuous stream," Armant said aloud.
Frediano lifted his head. "Any luck on slowing him down?"
"Not of yet, though perhaps you can catch him by surprise. You seem to have a knack for startling folks."
Frediano rose and saluted. "I shall make the grandest return to the stage!"
Frediano dashed through the smokescreen and popped out directly under Grim, who spotted the Weavile almost immediately. Grim divided his Shadow Ball stream and fired some on Frediano. Frediano spun and danced through the raining orbs of darkness as he manifested his Dark Frostbite Claws.
"Tremble at my glory, fiend!" Frediano leapt into the air and fired Icicle Spear at Grim.
Grim halted his Shadow Balls and spun his scythe to deflect the icicles. With the stream over, Armant immediately leapt from the smoke and went for Grim. Grim noticed too soon and sidestepped Armant's attack, though not before the Machamp used Darkest Lariat and whipped up a whirlwind with his forceful spin. It knocked Grim off balance in the air, nearly peeling his cloak off.
"You…!" Grim gripped his scythe and prepared a Reaping Shadow.
"Aha!" Frediano popped up behind Grim, his claws morphing into a giant icicle. "Tremble beneath my stardom, fiend! Icicle Crash!" He kicked and detached the icicle into Grim.
Unlike previous attempts on the reaper, this attack actually managed to land a direct hit on Grim's back, careening him straight into the ruined rooftops. The Icicle Crash exploded across the roof and covered the surface in jagged ice. Frediano dove toward Grim, forming another Icicle Crash.
Grim disappeared just as Frediano struck down and reappeared behind him in a whirlwind of darkness. He bashed his scythe across Frediano's face and threw him aside before calling upon a cyclone of Ominous Wind to whip the theatre-loving hunter in the air.
"This is not the stardom I meant!" Frediano yelled, spinning within the cyclone.
From the corner of his eye, Grim saw Armant coming at him again and dodged. Grim's glare intensified as he released a blank point blast of Psychic into Armant, knocking the brutish bounty hunter away. Armant slammed his feet down and anchored himself through the roof. Even as the psionic wave blew against him, Armant remained as unfazed as ever.
"How'd my little buddy hit you back there?" Armant asked over the Psychic. "Is it possible there's a limit to how long you can maintain that mysterious intangibility?"
Grim responded with only his glare. He channeled Psychic through his scythe, fusing it with the Reaping Shadow technique. "Reaping Shadow: Blade of Styx!" He swung and fired the shadow blade as a rotating circular saw with blades of Psychic tipping the edges.
Armant dodged the shadow saw, but Grim flicked his wrist and curved the saw back at Armant. Armant thrusted his hand and destroyed the attack with a single palm strike, but razor-like particles scattered from the projectile and shredded across the length of his arm. Little scratches decorated themselves over his arm.
"Breathless Execution!"
Armant turned and saw the scythe swinging for his face, coated in red aura. He caught the staff just before the blade touched his chest, but struggled against it as a draining sensation crackling in front of him. If he had to wager a guess, the energy coated around the blade was some sort of draining move.
"I've already told you, your weapon won't pierce my skin!" Armant yelled.
Grim growled. "Is your strength mightier than my rage?" Grim's eyes glowed brightly with teal light, traveling across his scythe.
Armant felt a pressure against his arms as the scythe actually started to fight against his grip. He was forced to hold it back with two hands, and even that proved a challenge. Grim pushed on the blade, guiding it closer to Armant where the draining effects of his scythe grew stronger. Though it wasn't the nigh-instant kill move, Armant felt his stamina sapping away little by little.
"A mighty titan who wanders the region, bearing that of a cursed strength unlike the world had ever known," Grim said. "How is it, with strength like that, the almighty Rush Force remains dormant at the low end of Virdis' most wanted?"
Armant forced a smirk. "I try to stay out of the public eye."
"Then your wish will be granted. Eternal damnation in secrecy."
"Did somebody say the Great Frediano!"
Grim lost his concentration as a chilling slash pierced through his head. Armant let go of the scythe and jumped back before it cleaved into the roof. Grim turned and fired a Reaping Shadow at Frediano, who deftly evaded it. Grim snarled. "I'm getting sick and tired of you, clown."
"A clown, you say?" Frediano flipped backward to the edge of the roof and took a bow. "Do not compare me to some feeble clown, reaper! You will address me as the Great Frediano, the legendary thespian of our generation!" He formed his Dark Frostbite Claws. "You will worship my glory! Quick Attack!"
Frediano sprang forward, rapidly flickering across the roof. Grim tried to keep pace with Frediano's erratic movements, catching brief glimpses of the Weavile before he disappeared just as soon. A cold slash passed through Grim again, followed soon by another to the head. Ice formed over the reaper's demonic face.
"Aha! A reaper as cold and malevolent as you finds himself overtaken by a much colder reaper! A reaper of the fine arts, that is!" Frediano spun to a stop and fired Icicle Spear into Grim's back.
His shadowy cloak billowed again, whipping at the icicles and shattering them before they made contact. The winds shattered the ice off of Grim's face as he turned to glare at Frediano. "You truly are a pest."
Armant laughed aloud and exclaimed, "Keep it up, Fred! I'm not sure why, but you might have the best chance of slowing him down!"
"Naturally!" Frediano ran circles around Grim and continued firing Icicle Spear into him. "For I have class, while you, my macabre fiend, are the lowly jester of tragedy! Allow me to turn your career into my next comedy!"
Grim kept track of Frediano's movements as the Icicle Spears continued passing through him. Grim steadied his breathing, even dropping his guard. He focused solely on letting the attacks pass through him and tracking the speedy Weavile. "A tragic jester, you call me?"
"Indeed!" Frediano leapt into the air and raised his hands. "And I shall wash away this tragedy for good! Whirlpool!" Water whipped up between his claws and grew into a massive vortex. "I shall drown that dreary fog into these waters, then we shall see who the reaper truly is! Have at you!" He threw the Whirlpool down at Grim.
Grim faced the Whirlpool as it fell toward him. He glared it down, however, not budging an inch in its presence. In fact, to Armant, he got the distinct feeling the reaper was smirking at the Whirlpool, something that made the Machamp uneasy.
The Whirlpool struck and completely washed the reaper into its spinning currents. Streams of shadow mixed into the overwhelming vortex, washing the darkness around endlessly. Frediano landed on the roof and laughed at his triumph.
"Let that be a lesson to you, fiend! Only a true star can stand on this stage! Wallow in your shame, understudy! The Great Frediano is unparalleled to such subpar performance—"
"Fred, it's a trick!" Armant yelled.
"Eh?" Frediano gasped.
Frediano realized too late as the Whirlpool, which he thought had drowned the fog-covered reaper, was instead drowned out itself. It became instantly swallowed in a veil of Ominous Wind before disappearing before his eyes, reaper included. Nothing but a bare wet puddle remained, and with no reaper in sight.
"He's made of fog, though!" Frediano gasped. "That should've overpowered him or something! Ripped away the mask or—" Frediano froze as darkness shot up from the cracks beneath his feet, shaping into the reaper himself with his scythe aglow in hand.
"Tragedy begets comedy."
SHIING!
Armant gasped as Grim slashed through the unguarded Weavile with his Breathless Execution. Frediano's mask cracked and jettisoned off his face, revealing his shocked, disbelieving face as he collapsed to the ground. His mask bounced and clattered in front of him, split in two.
"FRED!" Armant yelled.
Grim pressed the end of his scythe down on Frediano's neck, sneering as he grinded the staff into his nape. "I grant you a little respect, bounty hunter, for you and Rush Force are the only foes to have given me a challenge." His eyes blazed brighter. "But that is hardly worth celebrating, for you scum will always be below me."
Armant gritted his teeth, eyes shifting between Frediano and Grim. Fred's on a timer now. I have no idea what the Breathless Execution did to him, but he's a sitting Ducklett now. Neither of us can make a dent in this freak. I can probably eventually work out Grim's tricks, but with Fred like this…
Grim turned and glared at Armant. "You're next, titan."
Armant flexed his fingers and tensed his muscles. I can't risk it. If he manages to get a lucky hit and scratch me with that scythe, no strength in the world will keep me from collapsing.
Grim turned and flew at Armant, scythe wrapping with draining energy. "This will be your resting place!"
Armant kicked his legs and lunged at Grim as well. However, he didn't go for the scythe or Grim's head. He tucked his arms in, enough to barely miss Grim's swing, and crashed through the reaper's fog-like body. As Grim reformed himself, Armant scooped Frediano and his broken mask up and leapt into the air with a powerful kick.
"Sorry, reaper, but I'm not letting a single life be taken this night!" Armant shouted as he flew up into the sky.
Grim spun around and yelled, "You will not escape! Binding Shackles!" Currents of Ominous Wind flew from his cloak and tracked Armant like arrows.
The wind currents struck and coiled around Armant's ankles, wrists, waist, and body before enveloping in Psychic. Armant froze in the air, his body bound to the shackles of wind. Armant dug his fingers into the shackles, but passed through like regular air. Though they couldn't completely restrict his movements, he had no ground to move on, and nothing to escape from his motionless plight.
The shackles turned Armant around as Grim levitated to his level. The reaper sheathed his scythe onto his back, then raised his arm. "If you wish to leave so badly, I'll remove you from this realm. I grant you…oblivion!"
Armant tensed up as darkness spiraled from Grim's cloak and compressed into a single point, similar to the Shadow Ball barrage performed earlier. However, it wasn't forming multiple Shadow Balls. All the wind currents conjoined to a single point, building up on each other as the sphere of darkness grew in size. From the size of a pebble to that of a stone, and from a stone to the width of an Electrode. Larger and larger, it continued to build itself up.
Armant found himself subconsciously tilting his head up as the Shadow Ball continued to grow, eclipsing his view of the moon. A Shadow Ball looming above him like a Wailord curled up to perform a dreaded cannonball. A Shadow Ball that balanced on the hand of Grim Deadlock.
Armant bared his teeth into a worried grin. "H-Hey. Isn't that a little overkill?"
Grim scowled. "The only recourse for corruption…is to send it to the deepest pits of oblivion. Shadow of Phlegethon!"
With a simple flick of his hand, Grim commanded the giant Shadow Ball to leap forward. Almost instantly, it accelerated as if it were a regular stone, flying at Armant at great speeds. Armant was barely able to raise his hands in time to catch the giant Shadow Ball. Sadly, with no ground to fight on, the Shadow Ball won out and blasted across the sky.
The speed of the giant Shadow Ball pressed Armant into its dark surface, sinking him deep and nicking away at his body. Armant held Frediano behind him with his lower arms, then pummeled into the Shadow Ball with his upper arms. A wild flurry of Close Combat dishing into the mass of volatile darkness.
Though strong, his punches were ineffective, as if the force was being absorbed deep within like light swallowing in the darkest cavern. He felt his legs sinking through the darkness, which crackled and burned at his skin. Much like the shackles that once held him prisoner in the air, he was punching nothing but smoldering darkness.
"Come on, come on!" Armant roared, punching wilder and harder. If I don't do something soon, Fred will…!
Armant dared a peek over his shoulder and saw that the kingdom wall was fast approaching, ready to squish him and Frediano between it and the colossal ball of darkness.
"RAH!" Armant bashed into the Shadow Ball even harder, snarling like a wild predator. "I've got to try something now! What else can I—"
Armant paused as an idea sparked to the forefront of his mind, and a terrible realization came to him. But if I use that, I'll…I just can't use it, right? He looked down at Frediano, who dangled limply in his arm with gasping, ragged breaths. Armant clenched his teeth, then sighed in defeat. It can't be helped.
Armant slung Frediano onto his shoulder, then plunged his lower hands into the Shadow Ball to get something of a grip in. He closed his eyes and breathed in as he called upon something deep inside him. A spark triggered within his body as a pale purple glow electrified through his veins and nerves, visible through the bare skin.
Armant's muscles swelled in size, ballooning into massive stones, before shrinking down. His impressive physique shrank, giving his body lean muscles that sparkled with the glow of his veins.
As the wall came close, Armant ripped his legs out of the Shadow Ball and slammed them into the wall, forcing himself to stop. The Shadow Ball continued to drive into Armant, crushing the wall under the unstoppable weight. Armant pulled back one hand and readied his attack as the Shadow Ball started to consume and burn away at the wall.
Yveltal's Blessing: God Shattering Strike!
Armant slammed his palm into the Shadow Ball's surface, power rippling across its dark surface. The Shadow Ball ruptured with its inner energy, piercing purple light jettisoning all at once, before releasing into a devastating blast. The kickback of the blast shot into Armant and the wall, ripping the top's patrol bridge to pieces and flinging Armant out of the kingdom in a shadowy smog.
In contrast, however, the force of Armant's strike sent the Shadow Ball scattering over the kingdom as a dark hurricane that whistled like the call of a demonic dragon.
Grim, who was chasing after his attack, stopped and gasped as the dark hurricane blindsided him. He held up against the violent storm, but his dark cloak nearly peeled from his body, unable to withstand the ungodly power. Grim squinted through the winds, glaring with a newfound calmness.
So, perhaps the rumors are true, Rush Force. You are…that monster.
Grim relented to the storm and willingly vanished within its winds. Though an unsuccessful hunt, a little more corruption had been temporarily reaped.
Armant twisted his body as he fell from the sky and crashed onto his hands and feet. The ground caved under his landing, cracks splitting out for meters and rupturing the earth into spires around him. His body crackled as the newly acquired strength swam through his trembling body. He was especially gentle holding Frediano, worried he might squish the unconscious Weavile.
Armant heaved a shaky sigh and stood up. "He actually forced me to use Yveltal's Blessing. How…exciting." Though a nervous one, a smirk appeared on his face. "Perhaps there's still fight left in the region. I will study and train for a rematch with you, Grim Deadlock, but thank you for reminding me of my mortality. I became lost without that blessing."
Armant looked down at Frediano and frowned at the pale state of his…partner? Friend? Regardless of relations, medical attention was in order, and Armant was fortunate his bag was untouched in the exchange.
"Hold on a little longer, buddy. We need to lay low for a while." Armant tensed his legs and dashed forward, practically disappearing and disintegrating the ground behind him as he fled into the distance.
Just as the Foresters hobbled back to their underground hovel, they flinched at the ringing sound of an explosion behind them. They turned and saw a portion of the wall, where the patrol bridge was, explode with a burst of dark energy.
Gold's fur stood on end. "Was that Grim Deadlock's doing?!"
"What the what?!" Jewel shrieked.
Melissa frowned. "Armant. Oh, I hope he is—" She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a second explosion, though more natural sounding, to her far left.
She turned and, though it was nearly pitch black, she made out a figure landing in a jagged crater. A moment after, the figure fled, followed by the completely annihilation of the ground behind them.
Melissa blinked slowly, then sighed in relief. "Never mind. Guess he got out, too." She turned back to the burning wall and frowned. "Still, Grim Deadlock was capable of doing that?"
Jewel nodded. "It's insane. We're lucky to be alive."
"Well, mostly," Gold muttered, earning him a punch in the shoulder from his sister. "OW! Joking, joking!"
The trio froze as Fabrice started trembling and coughing. He spat blood onto the ground and nearly slipped out of the twins' arms. He and Klaus were starting to look dangerously pale.
"Oh Arceus, Fabrice! Klaus!" Melissa shrieked.
"Melissa, what do we do?!" the twins exclaimed.
"I-I-I-I-I don't…" Melissa scratched her head aggressively, growling through clenched teeth. "Um…rations!"
"Huh?" the twins gasped.
"W-Well, it's a long shot, but maybe our rations can help them. There has to be a logical explanation for what happened to them, and our rations have a lot of nutrients in them."
"But we barley have enough left for all of us, much less any other food. We only have enough to last one wagon trip, not on foot." Jewel pointed out. "And we can't stay here. The knights might tear the land up looking for us."
"I don't think we have a choice," Gold said after looking at Fabrice's face again. "If Melissa says our rations might get their strength back up, then it's worth a shot."
Melissa nodded shakily. "Let's get back to the hideout, feed them all our rations, and get as far away from here as possible. We may have to walk until we find a ride."
Though saddened by the prospect of walking all the way back to Fort Lucus, which could take weeks by foot (maybe months given how exhausted they were), the twins silently agreed with Melissa. They hoisted Fabrice up and marched ahead.
Melissa readjusted Klaus onto her back and whispered, "Klaus, if you can hear me, feel free to take some of my stamina. You need it more than I do."
A faint whimper escaped Klaus' lips. Melissa grabbed his hair and pressed the tip into her arm. She felt a faint draining sensation, which relieved her some. She shook the sleep from her eyes and followed after the twins, mentally preparing herself for the torturous journey home.
With the fires of battle extinguishing outside the castle walls, knights moved in to investigate the damages. Angelo headed the investigation team, picking up the remains of a desperate escape while the rest of his team helped the fallen knights off the ground. Scattered across the ground were remnants of smoke pellets and the scorched terrain from a most surprising counterattack.
"The Foresters' trickery knowns no limit, it seems." Angelo stood up and stretched. "That's the first time anyone has ever escaped Grim Deadlock. That's one for the history books, wouldn't you say?" He turned to Luna for acknowledgement.
Luna didn't respond, instead looking up at the damage done to the upper wall. The smoke of the massive Shadow Ball lingered on the chunk blasted out on top. She then faced the warped space in the wall ahead of her, still dripping in its newly muddied state. A lot of damage caused by a small group desperate to escape.
Angelo approached her side and crossed his arms. "Guess you won't be getting those documents back in time."
Luna sighed. "I'll have to make do without them. I still remember the town I need to investigate, at least. I doubt the Foresters will have much use for an old knight's address."
"True." Angelo shot a curious glare at Luna. "Pardon my badgering, though, but I never got a definitive answer from earlier. I understand a certain spitefulness, what with Harlow being a root cause to your kingdom's troubles, but what brought on the sudden interest?"
Luna clutched the locket hidden inside her armor. A scowl found its way onto her face. "I…guess it's because I was face-to-face with her. Never gave it much thought until I faced her for myself. After all, this is a matter of the Verde Kingdom's future."
Angelo nodded. "I suppose you're right. The princess' capture shook all of us. The only heir, with such a responsibility to her people, taken away in the blink of an eye."
"And with the kingdom on the brink of desperation," Luna added with a snarl. "It's almost…infuriating to think she caused all this strife."
Angelo shrugged. "Can't be helped. Freaks are a strange breed." Angelo glanced over and saw some knights waving him over. "Pardon me, I have to take care of something." He approached the knights to help examine the damages to the catapults.
Luna pulled the locket out and flipped it open. "A freak, maybe." She glared at the image of the late Queen Odolina inside, alongside a second portrait of the fair Princess Melissa herself. "But hardly becoming of a princess to abandon her kingdom."