Book II: Impending Twilight
Chapter 95: The battle commences.
Point of View Black
The sketchy servine and I climbed our way down the mountain. It was a long climb down, and the base of this rocky terrain was so close, I just had to manage not to fall and die by then. I carefully limped down the steep incline, making a small jump from time to time. All of this was made difficult due to my self inflicted injury. The bleeding had almost stopped, but a raw stinging pain constantly reminded me of what I just attempted. The moon acted as painkillers for me, my body took in the lunar rays like a grass type in the sun. Luckily, the full moon kept me strong enough to keep going, I easily felt three times stronger than usual.
With one final jump off a ledge, my three good legs met with the soft grassy ground. I let out a breath of relief before I continued to make my way towards Shalour. I just had to cross through a small tree line and I'd be within the urban setting. Lucy followed behind me. The servine also appeared weak, but this could have something to do with the lack of sun. Her tail sagged against the ground, and she lacked the vigor that those smug grass types always had.
"So," Lucy spoke up, "Are you going to tell me about your super powers?"
"Super powers?" I asked as I quickly walked through the wooded area.
"No eeveelution can do that, not even the top tier pokemon that we have altered to be a lethal killing machine."
"I don't know how I ended up like this honestly. I always guessed it was some kind of mutation from when I evolved," I answered shyly. With some honesty, Lucy was the first person I ever talked about this with, mostly because she was the first who saw me use my special gift.
"Hmm, perhaps it is a mutation, but why didn't you just kill me with it the other night? You could have had me at a complete disadvantage," the servine questioned.
I hesitated for a moment, I wasn't too sure if it was wise to talk to Lucy about this, but at the moment she was my ally. "Its not really that simple."
"Oh, tell me then, this intrigues me."
"Well, for one: I can't just spew out any element I want, I need to have that element near me. Second: I can only use this power on nights that the moon is whole. Yesterday night wasn't full, and even if I could use it, I wouldn't have done it in front of others. I only use it when it's an absolute emergency."
"You really are a pitiful umbreon, you know that right?"
"Excuse me?" I spoke sharply.
"You're lying to your friends. You did this to them and now they're paying for you being a whatever the hell you are."
"I've heard enough of this shit, I told you, I'm going to make this right."
"It's pretty cute seeing someone so dimwitted making the silly choices," Lucy giggled.
"And what's so foolish about my choice? Should I remind you who saved your ass?" I said with irritation.
"Let's put it this way. Mandus is in the city, and I've heard plenty of stories about this Mandus fella. You won't stop Mandus, only Rhys can. Second, Rhys is in the city with plenty of backup. I doubt you would get far against Rhys army… Even if you did beat what he brought so far, he would just have an even bigger, badder army sent within an hour."
"Then I'll stop Rhys: no Rhys, then no army."
"Wrong," the servine said as she laughed hysterically.
"What now?!" I scowled in annoyance.
"Rhys is at the top tier of Genesis. His body has been modified to make him practically unkillable. Only a small handful of pokemon actually come close to Rhys, he could kill you seven times over before you even suspected him of coming at you."
"Well, you promised to talk to him for me, so you're going to hold up your end of the deal as well."
"I'll do what I can," the servine said with a nod.
The denseness of the forest went down and soon I was out in the open. The only thing separating me now from from the city was a wire fence.
"Why don't you get it Blacky, I wanna see more of this phenomenon you use,
Lucy asked.
"Fine," I frowned as I walked to the fence. As I neared the fence, I looked down towards the grass, I searched for a moment until I found a border of leaves that followed the fence. I placed my good arm against the leaves and two leaves began to slide up my arm. One went behind my forearm while the other went to the end of my tail, kinda like a leafeon.
"I don't use grass a lot, so we'll see how this goes," I warned Lucy. I took a step back as I inhaled a breath. I took a moment to take in some more energy from the moon. The leaves began to emit a greenish light as the grew in size and solidified with razor sharp edged that could match a knife. I quickly spun horizontally and slashed the fence with my tail. I then finished the job by slashing an opening with the other leaf on my arm. For a moment the fence stood perfectly fine.
"Wow, that did absolutely nothi-" Lucy began to tease, before the hole I cut fell apart, revealing an opening for us. "Errr, I knew you had this Blacky."
"Why don't you stop calling me that," I told her as I squeezed my way through the opening. Lucy followed behind with no problem fitting through. "Now, I need to find my friends or this Rhys person. I have to stop this."
"Then let's go Blacky, I mean, your friends can only die if we sit here."
"Shut the fuck up before I make you! I do not understand how you can joke around about that!"
The servine flinched back in response, before a smile crept onto her face. "Jeez, touchy touchy, alright, I'll be quiet about that."
"Let's just go," I muttered as I got a move on. I didn't bother looking back at the servine, but I guessed she was following me. I moved as fast as I could on my three legs as I headed towards the hotel we were staying at.
Third person Point of View
For both WPA and the Genesis pokemon, the world stood still. Both teams remained petrified at the sight of the mighty lucario. Most pokemon in Genesis and WPA were trained to stay calm in bad situations, but both teams appeared tense as they watched Mandus. The lucario stared down the opposing army with a serious glare, causing a few of the Genesis pokemon to move back a bit.
"Mandus, why are you here? I don't understand, you don't appear to be with Genesis," Zack called out to the lone lucario.
"I'd never have anything to do with that freak show Genesis," Mandus answered calmly.
"Then why are you here? All of us who were around at the time haven't forgotten your betrayal."
"Betrayal? You truly are ignorant towards how I feel if you view it like that."
"Call it what you want, but I demand a reason as to why you're here."
"I don't have to answer to anybody, and I have enough reason to do what I did."
"Enough reason my ass," Zack muttered.
"But I don't see how talking changes the outcome of this night, I have nothing more to say to you Zack. Your world peace lie ends here," Mandus spoke as a blue aura flared up around his body, engulfing him with power.
"Don't take Mandus lightly," Zack warned the teammates next to him.
"Noted," the machamp said with a nod.
Mandus held his hand up into the air as all the aura around his body ran to the tip of his palm to form a ball of lucario threw the ball of energy and it flew towards the bunched up group of pokemon. The aura tore through the ground that was near it as all the pokemon dodged out of its path. About halfway down the street, the ball of aura detonated. A blinding light flashed as a powerful shockwave caused the ground to tremble, and sending a strong gust of wind full of debris. Everyone clenched their eyes shut for protection.
Once the shockwave cleared, everyone looked at the lucario's last known location to see him missing. Everyone looked around.
"Up ther-" the Genesis dragonair shouted, before a lucario smashed down onto him with a force palm. a loud boom echoed through the air as an invisible force splattered the dragonair's blood everywhere. The ground below the serpent was reduced to rubble and the middle of the dragonair was almost ripped into two, only attached by a strand of flesh. Zack responded in an instant with a flame thrower. He targeted the lucario even though two Genesis pokemon were in the way. A raichu dodged out of the way, while a xatu received minor burns in an attempt of escape. Mandus weaved around the attack and moved towards Zack with speed that made him a blur. A few different elemental attacks came towards Mandus, but he eluded every one of them fluently. Zack froze up as Mandus threw his fist at him. Brock quickly moved in front of Zack as he caught the lucario's punch using all four of his hands. The machamp was pushed back by the force as Mandus continued to push him back with his fist. Soon he fell to his knees as Mandus continued to overpower him.
"You think you're tough just because you come at us alone?" Brock managed to grunt as he held the lucario at bay. Mandus let out a sigh before he stopped pushing and grabbed the machamp by his left wrist. In a twisting motion, Mandus bent his wrist, causing him to move at his will. Mandus used his other arm to throw the machamp on his front side, while holding his arm up behind his back.
"I don't think I'm strong... I know I am," Mandus muttered before he kneed the machamp's elbow, causing the bones to snap like twigs. The machamp yelled in agony as Zack came to his aid. Mandus dodged a torrent of flames that passed over Brock.
A hose of water from a blastoise came from behind Mandus. The lucario turned his head just in time to get hosed down as his skin was sliced up from the pressure of the water. Mandus quickly jumped to safety as he got some room between him and the group of opponents.
"Don't give him a moment to breathe!" A glaceon shouted, before he sent a storm of hail towards the lucario.
Mandus dodged to the side as he formed an aura sphere and chucked it. This one moved faster than the last, and it collided with the glaceon. A bright light blinded everyone as blood splattered in every direction from the explosion of energy that created a torrent.
"What's the matter Mandus, why'd you back away?" Zack taunted as all the other pokemon and him enclosed the gap between them and Mandus.
"It is ten on one," Mandus replied.
"Tfff, this is just a testament of your might, ten pokemon shouldn't even pose a threat to the great Mandus," Zack spitefully responded.
"None of you pose a threat, this is child's play," Mandus responded as his fists tightened.
"I think the odds are more than fair," Mark commented as he rose his pincers.
All of the pokemon closed in on Mandus. All of them charged up their own attacks as they moved in to finish the battle.
"Don't get cocky," Mandus spoke as he put his palms together as if he was meditating. A series of elements went towards Mandus as his body emitted a bright light that covered his form. All of the attacks collided with their target as debris filled the air. Everyone squinted their eyes at the lucario as they tried to see what happened.
"Did we get him?" a xatu asked.
The debris began to clear, and within the debris was a standing figure. Everyone became startled at the sight of the mega evolved lucario. A flare of aura circled the lucario and blew away the remaining debris. The small army of pokemon could feel the energy from the lucario pushing them back. Mandus stared down the enemy for a moment before moving in a flash. The lucario teleported in front of a fraxure as he sent punches at the dragon faster than the average eye could see. The fraxure flew back as he spat out blood, while his rib cage was in pieces. Before the fraxure even hit the ground, Mandus moved onto his next target. Mandus flashed in front of a raichu with a kick, landing a solid blow in the rodents face. A loud crack echoed as the rat flew through the air, and collided with the side of a building. Mandus stood in place as everyone remained quiet for a moment. Everyone who opposed Mandus began to back away, even Zack and his WPA members. A kadabra from the Genesis team began to run away from the scene, fearing for his life. Mandus chuckled to himself as he saw everyone cowering from him.
"What's so funny?" Zack questioned the lucario.
"It was just a moment ago you asked me why I backed away. I'll ask you all the same question. Why did you back away just now?" Zack gritted his teeth together as Mandus began to move towards everyone. "Don't blink, you may miss this."
From the top of a tall building, Rhys was looking down at the whole scene with a birds eye view. From the very beginning of the fight he watched as both WPA and his own team struggled to thwart Mandus. The zorua sighed as he backed away from the ledge of the building.
"This is Rhys," the zorua spoke into nanotechnology that was built into his body. "Send in another tier, Mandus is stronger than I anticipated." from the other side of the conversation someone spoke to Rhys.
"Just send in our A ranked pokemon, maybe a few S ranked as well. I anticipate the police coming into play soon. Someone has to call them, there is a war going on out here."
Point of View Flare
We weren't even an hour into our search and we were being confronted by enemies. Our whole team stood our ground on the sixth floor of a building that was being constructed. No windows were added to this building yet, this floor only had a floor and steel beams that supported the floor above us. A marowak, a bayleef, a combusken, and a floatzel stood in the way of our search party. All of these pokemon were rather chilling, especially since they all shared the same light blue eyes. This wasn't going to stop me though, if they have a hand in Kana or Black's disappearance, I'd burn every last one of them to ash.
"Ready yourselves," Isaac spoke to us. "These pokemon won't hesitate to kill you, I'd suggest you all do the same."
The marowak stepped forward as he gripped his club with two hands, "Take them down, these pokemon are associated with that shiny umbreon."
"So you did come here for Black, tell me then, where is he?" Gray questioned the marowak.
"Even if we did know, none of us would talk," the marowak spat out as he charged at the group with his club in both hands.
Gray responded first. He opened his mouth wide with an energy charging and released a storm of hail towards the combusken jumped in front of his teammate as he blew a flamethrower. Both attacks canceled each other out, while creating a thick mist in the process. A series of razor leaves came through the mist. All of us jumped to the side. A leaf gashed my side, leaving a long cut that travelled towards the back end of my body.
Seeing it was my turn to move, I charged towards the pokemon while my body burst into flames. The mist in the room cleared just in time for me to see more razor leaves. I ran into every leaf I could to protect my team from them, burning each in the process. After I ran towards the bayleef.
"Flare!" Naomi and Gray yelled at me as the floatzel hit me with an aqua tail. The tail slashed another gash into my side, creating an X. I tousled to the ground, drenched and freezing. Shivers ran through my body as I tried to pull myself up.
"Finish him!" The marowak commanded. Water spawned out of nowhere as the floatzel charged at me like a tsunami. I pulled myself up just in time to get blasted away by a wave. I collided with a steel beam that was right by the edge of the building. If it hadn't been there, I would have fallen off the building and splattered on the cement below.
The ice cold water that drenched me caused me to shiver, but I kept myself under control. In the background I made out the rest of my team fighting the other pokemon. Everyone shot attacks back and forth and used everything they had, but neither team could get the edge on each other.
With a grunt, I pulled myself off the ground. The floatzel kept a safe distance from me as his chest puffed up and he used a hydro pump. I jumped to the side as I responded with an ember. The small flares of flames went towards the buizel, but he countered them with an aqua tail.
"Damn…" I muttered. The floatzel charged at me with a speed I didn't even think a floatzel had. The water type came in close as he swiped another aqua tail at me. I jumped back from the attack, only to have one of my back paws slip off the building. I managed to catch myself before I completely fell off. The water type then inhaled a deep breath before he exhaled a whirlpool of water that forced me back. I dug my claws into the ground to resist, but it hardly even slowed me down. I was pushed off the side of the building, but I managed to barely cling onto the ledge with my forepaws. The whirlpool went on for another ten seconds as I used every muscle in my forepaws to hold on for dear life. The attack ceased after a moment, and I was left panting on the ledge of the building.
"You're a tough guy to kill," the floatzel commented as he stood a meter from me. My glance made its way down to see the long fall. My eyes then snapped back on the floatzel. He walked towards me and placed his foot over my paw and stepped on it as he pushed it back. I tried to resist, but he pushed one of my paws back. I was now dangling from the side of the building with one paw.
"I don't want to die like this," I said out loud as I felt the floatzel target my remaining paw. "I haven't even found Annie."
"Get your fucking stubby foot off him, bitch!" In an instant, the floatzel lit up with an electric attack as he flew over me and fell. I felt a quick jolt transfer through my body for a moment, and my paw slipped. I began to fall, before a furry yellow paw caught me. Looking up I saw Hesh gripping my arm.
"Hang on!" Hesh yelled as he heaved me up with a loud grunt. I came back onto the safety of the sixth floor as I panted in exhaustion alongside Hesh as I lied on the ground. I glanced outward towards my team to see that all of them managed to take care of their opponents, all of which were unconscious. I looked back at Hesh to see him leaning against a steel beam panting as he leaned his head back. The pikachu looked a bit sick as he panted like his lungs were giving out.
"Hesh, are you alright?" I questioned the pikachu.
He didn't even look at me as he leaned against the beam, "I… I never… I've never killed someone before…" The pikachu responded as he tried to calm himself. I glanced down towards the ground to see what was left of the floatzel. I cringed at the bloody mess.
"Hesh, you saved me though. It was him or me, and you did what you had to. If you didn't it'd be me down there," I reassured him as I sat down next to him.
"I know it had to be that way, it's just doesn't feel right either way…"
Isaac, Gray and Naomi joined the scene. All of them remained silent as they gave the pikachu a moment to cope with his actions.
After a minute of silence, Isaac spoke up, "If we want to make any progress tonight we need to go."
"What about them though?" Gray asked as he looked at the three unconscious pokemon.
"I'll take care of them in a moment," Isaac responded.
"What do you mean…" Naomi asked as she looked at the grovyle with a worried expression.
"I'm going to do what needs to be done. They'll only come after us if they live."
"No, killing can't be the answer. Can't we just restrain them and turn them into the police or something?" Naomi argued.
"Naomi, remember when you were caught by the police. They were going to kill you, these pokemon are no different. We're only watching our backs, and by doing so, we may even protect the lives of our friends."
"But…" Naomi began to say before she stopped herself. She tried to say something, but in the end she ended up biting her lip to control herself. "If you want to be a killer, then be one," Naomi spoke spitefully, before she made her way towards the stairwell.
"Stay or leave the room if you don't want to see this," Isaac suggested as he walked towards the unconscious pokemon. "The pokemon of Genesis have taken many friends from us. Sometimes the only way to preserve one's life it to end another. WPA learned this the hard way when most of us were killed off. You would all be wise to think that through."
Point of View Black
After a bit of a trip through the city, we were nearing the hotel that we were staying at. My left paw stung with a strong pain. At the end of the street I could see a hotel. I quickly limped towards the building while Lucy followed behind me. 'If I can just see that they are safe, everything will be fine,' I told myself.
"Blacky, hold up," Lucy called from behind me.
I stopped moving and sighed, but glanced back at the servine anyway, "What is it?"
"I want to talk about something before you see your friends again."
"Can't this wait? We don't have much time."
"Just hear me out, okay?" I sighed again in response as I waited for her to speak. "What would you do if your friends already died?" the sick twisted servine asked as she moved in close to me and invaded my personal space.
"What kind of question is that?" I snarled at her.
"I'm just curious, I mean, it isn't impossible. For all we know we could walk up there and find your friends all dead. That fennekin, the absol, that ignorant trainer of yours, the young little eevee, oh and that scrawny umbr-"
"Lucy!" I rose my voice. "I swear, if you don't stop with these demented questions I'm going to-"
"You're going to what?" Lucy asked as she extended her hand out and rubbed my chin. I froze up from her doing this. "I know everything about you Blacky. I could ruin you in a second. I knew you were special from the moment I saw you, I just wanted to play dumb. I know your secrets, I know what happened to your family, down to the exact detail of how they died. It's no wonder you're still traumatized."
"Just stop…" I begged as I tried to back away, but two vines wrapped around my neck and pulled me into a tight hug against the servine. Lucy leaned in until her mouth was practically against my ear, while I tried to pull away, but the vines kept me in place.
"Truthfully Blacky, I know everything. How you're able to use dark matter, your fear of blood, favorite foods, what type of pokemon you like, friends, enemies… I could easily just tell your friends everything… None of them would look at you the same, they'd all fear you, because you're a liar." One of Lucy's vines released my neck as it rubbed against my neck and then slowly made its way down to my chest. The vine continued down with its unnerving touch, until it followed along the snake like scar on my chest.
"This scar here is rather fitting. Did you know that in some cultures a snake is symbolized as a liar? kinda like the shape of this scar. But I'm also a snake, ya know?"
The vine that touched my scar slowly slithered below my body until it went around my stomach, slowly wrapping around my body multiple times. My eyes widened as both vines tightened around me, one around my gut, the other around my neck. I was quickly thrown back away from the servine as a bone crushing force strangled my body. I tried to scream, but nothing came out from me.
"It's cute how you actually trusted me enough to help you. You're just flat out desperate to help your friends, I'll do you a favor though. I'll take you from them, then if your friends live long enough, they can maybe live a bit longer." The servine used her vines to throw me to the ground, all while constricting my body, and slowly crushing me.
"Just think, if your friends never got burdened by you, they'd be on a normal adventure right now. None of them would have to die tonight."
I tried to fight the vines for a moment, but soon I felt too weak to resist. I lied limp on the ground, barely conscious. For some reason, the servine chose not to finish the job completely. Instead, she walked towards me and leaned close to me, so her red eyes were directly in front of mine. The sight of her snakelike eyes sent tremors of terror down my spine.
"You're powerless against me. You only survived because of your luck the other night. Now, do you want to be a good boy and obey me? Or do I have to wring you out like a wet rag?" Her grip around my neck loosened just enough for me to talk.
"Please do-" I tried to say, before her grip tightened again.
"I guess I'll have to break you a bit." The vine around my gut released me, and it spiraled around her, but didn't contact her skin. Pointy thorns emerged all around the servine's vine, making it even more deadly than before. "One perk of being with Genesis is that they can modify any pokemon. I am a S ranked pokemon in their ranking system. Do you know what that means? My body can regenerate faster, and I have received modifications to make me stronger. These thorns on my vine, they're actually poisonous. It's kinda like a croagunk, it shuts down your muscles and can even cause organ failure if enough exposure occurs."
Lucy looked at me with a victorious smile, she knew she had me at a disadvantage. The thorned vine slowly came towards me, specifically heading towards my injured paw.
"I know, I'll wring that paw of yours off, since you were too weak to do it yourself."
"Hey, freaky bitch with the thorny vines, let him go," a voice yelled from down the street. My eyes peered down the street to see a burning light in the darkness. A charmander had his eyes deadpanned on the psychotic servine as smoke puffed from his nose.
"Who the fuck are you?"
"The charmander that's going to roast your ass if you don't let him go!" Aiden stood his ground as the servine focused her attention on him.
"I'd like to see you try," Lucy giggled as she got into a defensive position. Aiden responded by getting into a defensive position, with smoke fuming from his mouth.
To Be Continued...
Chapter End
Author Note: Alrighty, I got some good/bad news to announce. I have recently gotten a job, soooo, I'm not sure if I can do weekly updates anymore. While I'd love nothing more than to update once a week, idk if it'll be possible. The only time I will have this week to write the next chapter is during the weekend, and sometimes I just don't feel like writing during the weekend, I do most of my writing on randoms days. So, bare with me as I see how this goes. All week I'll only have about two hours to relax, all the rest will be school, work, and sleep. But this does not mean I'm dropping the story, just may slow down my writing routine.
Anyhoo, Thanks to genericgamer207 and The Pokemon Melody for editing this chapter.