Chapter 65: The second humanoid.
"He is a stubborn idiot I tell you Garchomp," Cynthia complained as she soared high in Lumious skies returning to help Ash and Alder.
"Gar garchomp." her reliable ace replied in confusion.
"I am talking about Frost... first he agrees to allow me to help him and all of a sudden he doesn't,"
"Gar..." the pokemon growled as he flapped his wings to gain more altitude.
"I know I know he trying to not get me hurt but... in doing so... you should have looked at him he is taking on everything."
Her pokemon didn't reply at Cynthia's genuine concern as they reached the crater Metagross made to start the raid.
Landing near Ash she asked
"How are you two holding up?"
"Oh look who finally decided to join us," Ash replied with a small scowl on his face.
Alder didn't
It was justified considering Diantha, Lance, Steven, and herself had left him and Alder to fight god knows how many grunts on their own.
Although the four of them had faith that the two of them could handle worse scenarios than this it was obvious that Ash's displeasure was due to not being kept in the loop about the actual plan.
"Look Ash I am sorry but we purposely did not involve you because Stone was keeping an eye on also you just disappeared while we discussed this." Cynthia immediately justified.
Ash still wasn't satisfied but he decided to drop it when Pikachu hopped in his shoulder and quite literally tased his trainer to snap him out of his childish pout.
"Ouch ouch I am sorry okay please that hurts Pikachu!" he begged the electric mouse as Alder approached Cynthia.
"Don't sweat it kid these four are always up to something else." he moderated.
Everything was over on this side with every Galactic grunt being rounded up by the Police and with the Rangers watching the flanks any escapees were quickly dealt with.
For the Champions this raid was officially over but Cynthia knew the truth.
[This is far from over...] she thought as her expression stiffened a bit.
Alder having caught this subtle change asked her
"Everything alright Cynthia? What did you see down there?"
She couldn't possibly begin here not in front of Ash so she answered vaguely.
"Just what the rangers told us... nothing more... nothing less."
Thankfully Alder understood by her reluctance to answer and decided to drop the subject and Ash who was busy in his bout with Pikachu completely ignored the topic.
"So what should we do now? these amateurs were nothing." Ash spoke proudly as Pikachu thumped his chest to show his dominance.
Cynthia smiled at the small mouse's confidence as she replied.
"You two can rest now Alder and Diantha have already taken over."
"What about Steven?" Alder added.
"Last I checked the rangers went to pick him up so he should be safe."
"Good, then I suppose that is all for us." Alder relaxed as Ash checked his Pokegear.
"Hoooooooooooly 102 missed calls and another 20 unread messages." Having seen the messages from his Mom and his Kalos gang Serena excluded he shivered at the thought of how angry his friends and family going to be once he finally talks to them.
Alder chuckled and replied
"Oh, how it was to be young..."
But he stopped talking once he saw his own phone.
Cynthia did not even get to ask who it was before Alder stepped away to talk to what she presumed was his significant other. Alder's desperate pleas and apologies were the only confirmation Cynthia needed to simply smile herself.
"Ash..." she broke the boy out of his trance.
"Keep an eye out for trouble." she finished before hopping back onto Garchomp's back and flying away.
"Pika Pika?"
"What was that supposed to be about?" the boy wondered as his night came to an early close.
"Movement in sector 5 the ranger Patrol saw something move towards the north."
This was all Frost needed to change directions he called on his radio.
"Ember! Stone! movement towards you two be on guard."
"Leader we have Steven Stone and two Galactic leaders with us we need help to get them to safety." Stone's reply was instantaneous.
"Priorities the Champion's safety is Ember with you?"
"I am here leader," she spoke.
"Good if you have contact with the humanoid the joints are the weak points and until Spark finishes his work that is all we got."
"Joints alright then," Ember replied confidently.
Once they were informed Frost spoke again.
"Champion where are you?"
"I am going north."
"I need you to stop," Frost spoke seriously.
"Excuse me? But sorry I don't think I will."
"Stop being a nuisance Champion!" Ember's harsh tone rang across the open channel.
"Did I ask for your opinion?" Cynthia spoke as calmly as she could while in the air.
"Don't stick your head..." Ember couldn't finish as Frost growled on the radio.
"Shut it both of you!" and immediately both women stopped.
"Ember focuses on protecting Champion Steven and as for you Cynthia... I need you to listen carefully."
"If you are asking me to stop then forget it." She slipped in between Frost's voice as he got cut off again.
"Would you just listen, I need you to stop and pick up Rain from whatever roof she is watching."
"Oh... you should have just begun with that."
Frost didn't reply
"I am near the center Champion just fly near me and I'll flash a light at you or something." Rain's voice broke the tension of the radio as Frost spoke again.
"Rain you know what to do."
"I'll get in touch with you once I get in position, also I am sending Greninja to support," she spoke.
"Copy," Frost replied as he ended the radio transmission and called out Noivern.
"Let us get moving Noivern." as just like back when going to rescue Cynthia, Frost just pointed at the direction they needed to go and that was all that was needed for Noivern to understand the situation.
With both of them on their way, Frost could only hope that Stone and Ember will keep the Champion safe.
"You heard the man, protect the Champion," Stone told a furious Ember.
"That Champion..." she began before Stone smacked her head.
"Deal with the other Champion later keep this one safe," Stone told her as she nodded in agreement and turned towards Steven.
"Champion listen carefully, keep these two with you, and stay a reasonable distance away."
Steven was shocked to hear Ember talk seriously as he asked
"What is wrong?"
"You remember that killer robot we were talking about?" Stone cut in and Steven paled in response.
"Do you need help?" He asked.
"No our job is to keep you safe till Leader and big sis come here, the plan is that I and Ember will keep the robot occupied while you stay back are we clear," Stone told him.
"Okay..." Steven agreed rather reluctantly.
"Goodman, here Em take this." Stone began as he opened his duffel bag and retrieved two rifles and some spare ammo.
"Now we talking." she spoke as he handed her the 'equipment'.
As Ember reloaded the weapon with a fresh magazine Steven could only gawk at the dexterity of both the Rangers in front of him.
It was very late at night now and the only form of illumination they had were the street lights that were placed an equal distance apart from one and other.
As Steven took both of the unconscious people with him and dragged them behind a few parked cars in the side of the road he saw both of the rangers slowly walk towards the middle of the road both with guns in hand ready to shoot.
"Talk to me! Stone what do you see?" Ember began as the light attached to her rifle slowly checked each alleyway around them she checked the roofs just to be sure.
Stone stood still as he entered a trance this was a serious situation and he needed to find where the humanoid was and he needed to do it fast. Now if it was Ash here this would have been done much quicker. Activating his Auran sight he began sensing any small movement in their proximity he could sense them all the people inside their homes locked in the rooms away from any windows or the Pokemon hiding in the alleyways.
Ember touched her back with his, she felt his body heat up and warned him
"Don't overdo it, Aura will come in more handy to fight the bot believe me they are fast and strong."
Stone sighed as he opened his eyes, what Ember was saying was right he shouldn't waste his power right now because unlike any other Aura Guardian his abilities were severely limited and constrained due to various reasons.
Steven who was watching from a distance gulped not in fear but because of the extreme pressure this situation exerted on him he glanced at the unconscious bodies next to him and then back at the pair in the middle of the street.
Stone glanced at the Champion who had tucked himself at both the Galactic leaders to safety and it was then when he started to hear it.
*THUMP *THUMP *THUMP *THUMP
It sounded like heavy metal striking the surface of the roads and boy were they right about that as it walked out of the alleyway and under the lights both the rangers looked at it with absolute shock.
7 foot tall broad as any bodybuilder full metal construction with a metal helmet just for added intimidation. Each body part was reinforced with armor plates and just like the previous one this one also had only two cameras peeking under the faceplate of the helmet.
"Was the last one this tall?" Stone voiced as Ember replied
"Nope that one was like small and thin this is completely different."
Stone shot first but the rifle rounds leave nothing other than small dents in the armor plates covering most of the humanoid's massive body.
"Well, that was useful." He joked as Ember chuckled dryly, they were in deep shit.
As the humanoid started to move again it grabbed onto the nearest car with both its hands and lifted it off the ground.
[Fuck.] Both of them thought at the same time as the humanoid tossed the sedan towards them like it was made of cardboard.
Stone and Ember both rolled in opposite directions dodging the cars barely.
"CHANGE OF PLANS STEVEN!" Stone yelled from the other side.
"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" Ember finished.
"YOU SAID KILLER ROBOT THAT IS A TANK!" he yelled back at Ember but received no reply.
He glanced at the two galactics sleeping peacefully as he grunted and picked Mars on his shoulder and started to drag Saturn by his hand. Steven was worried about Stone and Ember but right now the two unconscious ones were the most in danger and he prioritized their rescue first.
As both Stone and Ember arched around in opposite directions so that only one of them was ever facing the bot head-on.
"Please tell me you have explosives on hand," Ember asked Stone who replied.
"I have a couple of grenades that is it but we need to place them in between the armor plates for them to have any effect." he quickly summarised.
"I'll distract it then you get the explosives ready," Ember told him.
"Be careful" he added before she started to run towards the giant.
She fired a few shots at it to get its attention before she rushed inside the striking reach of the Humanoid.
It swung its huge arm in an arc-like it was a bat and Ember reacted fast by sliding on her knees avoiding the hit.
The street lamp was not as fortunate thou as the arm of the bot collided with the metal pole and flung it into the wall of the adjacent building. Ember gulped at the raw display of power as she definitely could not survive even a single hit from this humanoid.
She quickly backed off firing rifle rounds even while running backward.
[How do you even restrain this?] she wondered as this time the humanoid took up the offense and charged towards Ember who jumped out of the way just in time as the humanoid smashed into the wall of the building ripping a hole into it.
Ember wanted to confirm whether anyone got hurt in all this but the humanoid that just walked back out of the hole it just made in the building was simply not allowing any of it.
"Stone the explosives!" she yelled.
"They are ready! Now we just need to get them on it," he yelled back a reply.
"Easier said than done!" She replied as the Humanoid swung at her and she ducked under and once the swing was completed she grabbed the humanoids arm and used it to jump behind it.
Stone joined her in the front and handed her the grenade belt.
"We can only take out one limb at best with this little if I am being honest," Ember said truthfully as she looked at the belt.
"I know and even for that we need to wrap the belt around the limb and pull the pin." Stone summarised.
As the humanoid leaped towards them both of them stopped conversing and jumped away.
The weight of the humanoid caused the road to sink in a little and since no sewage line lay below the entire road got saved from collapsing.
"We need to get it to stay still!" Ember told Stone.
"Yeah but how?"
"I don't know !" She yelled back as she jumped away from another charge from the tank/humanoid.
The humanoid broke through another building wall casually and Stone voiced his worry.
"We need to stop this or an entire building could fall."
"NO SHIT!" Ember replied as she shot at the humanoid's frame.
"Stall for time?" Stone asked Ember.
"YUP! Keep its attention on us and try to minimize damage to the area." Ember's instincts told her and she relayed the same to Stone who nodded and kept shooting the humanoid whenever possible as it proceeded to thrash the surrounding areas into a pulp.
To Ember, the humanoid wasn't as fast as the previous one but since it was strong enough to one hit anything it touched you had to proceed with extreme caution and the worry of civilian casualty on top all this made her head hurt in short.
[This humanoid was a pain in the ass.]
Author's Notes:
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PEACE