Fire Province: City of Emberguard: Temple of Moltres: Age of Mew(waning): Year 656: Resurgence Of The Renegade, Prologue Part 1
Moonbrand Present: Aaron
The temple of Moltres itself was well-light, by both torches inside the towering chapel as well as sunlight shining in from the roof that had yet to be repaired from an Obsidian Legion attack a few months earlier.
"I'm sorry to try to drag you into this." Bai reluctantly apologized as she closed the chapel door behind Aaron and herself as the aggron observed the sanctuary with wonder.
A statue to the goddess Moltres herself, one of the Fire Province's earliest documented deities of light, fire, and the season of spring, stood at the end of a long crimson carpet-way.
"First, I'd like to know what 'this' even is." Aaron grunted. "You can't just say Giratina and expect me to know what you mean by that. I want to know where it is, what the threat level is, and what this giratina might be doing!"
"I'd thought it would be obvious." Bai chided back in response. "I don't mean any old giratina, I mean Giratina, the god of violence, antimatter, gravity, opposition, and ruler of Nowhere before Arbiters began to replace him during the waning years of the Age of Reshiram. Theobold's been busy helping my father keep our nation in order as best we can. It's hard when we've got to worry about the UGM from the west, the Obsidian Legion from the north, and well...The wilderness to the south of Longguo is host to all sorts of nasty pokemon. Too much turmoil, so we're keeping all our problems close to home. Now is not the time to be indebted to another province. In any case, because of this, I was busy trying to tack down Garian the garchomp, our former representative, in order to get answers out of him behind his disappearance. During my quest, I noticed a passenger had turned up on a ship to the Ghost Province under a name that's a common alias that Garian used when he wanted to avoid detection. However, while I was doing that, Theobold was uncovering secrets back home, and we learned that Garain's been having frequent dealings, and may even be a member of, a group of pokemon that call themselves The Acolytes of Giratina. I believe that with the chaos and entropy present and rising in the four corners of the continent, that group may try to summon Giratina as a god back to the mortal world. If that happens, our entire continent might as well become just one big realm of Nowhere, that's how dangerously violent Giratina is. It takes the strength of legends to stand up to a god, a real god, and slaying one has never been recorded in history, period. That's why I want your help."
"I'm sorry, you must have my team confused with the old Moonbrand. We are in no state to take on something like that. What made you seek us out in the first place? What do you expect us to do about this?"
"To be brutally honest, I arrived at that luncheon party looking for aid from other nobles, but the only ones who weren't horny, or only concerned with maintaining rank through marriage, were in no condition to help me or lend aid. I had no intention of asking your team specifically for help at first, but then I remembered the special circumstance surrounding your team."
"The human leader?" Aaron guessed.
Bai shook her head. "I suppose that is special as well, but I was more referring to what appears to be a complete disregard for the dangers inherent in high-ranking missions. You're also the mercenary band that seems to accept anything from anyone who asks. You want to know what I expect you to do about any of this? I expect you to do your job as mercenaries and head to Wamekufa, that's the Ghost Province, and get back to me with an actual answer about whether or not there even is a ritual to summon Giratina going on. If you can find definitive proof, then my father can devote his time to devising a way to counteract the cultists."
"So, you want us to go to the Ghost Province, snoop around looking for this Acolytes of Giratina group, and determine whether or not they're trying to summon Giratina." Aaron repeated what Bai had told him back to her. "Why can't you do it yourself?"
"If I could do it myself, I'd have done it already and I wouldn't be asking another mercenary band for help! Listen, I've already explained how Longguo is surrounded on all sides by potential invaders, and my father is strong, no doubt, but he is far from invulnerable, and should he fall in battle, I must be there to succeed him as Longguo's new empress. If I am not there, if I am killed in the field, Longguo would be left without a leader, unless Garian showed up again, at which point, our proud and ancient nation would have sealed its fate. Finally, there's something important about Moonbrand specifically that I believe merits sending you above all other mercenary bands. Your team is already on good terms with the Arbiter herself, or at least, she seems fond of you."
"So, what can we do to help?" Aaron sighed. "I get that you want us to head to the Ghost Province and collect information, but how are we supposed to relay it back to you? What specifically do you need us to do?"
"I need you to track down Garian and shadow him. Note him engaging in suspicious activity in the Ghost Province, and then head to the north of the isle and hand the evidence off to Team Aspect's newest member who will be waiting at the docks. He's one of father's finest marine soldiers, and don't worry about what he looks like or his species. He'll beckon you over when he sees you."
"So, is there any recommended size of a party to send over for this job?" Aaron grunted as he scratched his head. He doubted a full mercenary team would even be enough.
"Truthfully, as long as they can avoid suspicion, as many as possible," Bai sighed "but to give a specific answer, i'd say-gahh!"
She jumped back as Micah appeared in between the two of them.
"I'm sorry." He nodded at Bai. "But I must relieve Aaron of this meeting. We've been called upon to defend Geotherm, I will make sure whatever message you gave him reaches the rest of us.
"Hey, wait-" Aaron began, but it was too late. Micah grabbed his arm and teleported.
Fire Province: Town of Wildeburn: Age of Mew(waning): Year 656: The Wildeburn Summit, Part 8
Moonbrand Present: Bravero, Conlan, Mandy, Rudo, Ornia
"Match #10 between Nezarix the noivern and Xenon the sceptile will now begin!" Alvar spread his wings as both pokemon took to the cracked arena. "Pokemon ready, fight!"
"You got this, Xenon!" Razr cheered his teammate on from the sidelines. "Let's meet each other in the semis!"
"The Flying Province could use that money, Nezarix!" Faden called out to his own teammate. "Show these guys what it means to truly be a royal rank mercenary!"
"Who do you think is going to win this one, Ornia?" Bravero asked.
"Nezarix, if he remains in the air again, has the distinct advantage, but it would be foolish to assume Xenon is not at least a little prepared for that situation." The carbink responded, before adding "I would also like to point out that I am not a mercenary database, and shouldn't be sought out for my opinions on strangers so often."
Nezarix immediately took off and with a quick thrust of his talon launched an Air Slash at Xenon with such force that it knocked the sceptile back a few feet as well as opened a small hole in the ground of the arena where everyone could clearly see magma bubbling below the ground.
Well, everyone except Xenon, who was busy flinching from the forceful wind in his arceus-damn eyes. This presented Nezarix with an opportunity that he eagerly took as he fired a Flamethrower at the sceptile, who managed to regain his sight just in time to avoid any direct hit, instead only feeling the fire graze the spores on his back as he ducked under the jet of fire and rolled out of its range.
"I guess I have to." He sighed as he struck a calm pose and the world shook for a small moment, before the spores on his back opened up and his tail grew immensely as a product of his mega-evolution, before he aimed it over his shoulder like a gun and fired a Dragon Pulse at the flying noivern, blasting him back quite a few feet in the air.
"So that's a mega-evolved pokemon's power." Ornia, despite her earlier claim, appeared to be studying everything that each mercenary did. "To think a rank A mercenary able to deal so much damage to a royal rank mercenary in a single blow...What a phenomenon."
"Heh, well, if you're going to play it like that…" Nezarix grinned as he disappeared from Xenon's field of vision, replaced by a substitute that looked exactly like him.
"You think you're the only one with that move?" Xenon laughed as he too disappeared and left behind his own carbon copy substitute.
"No, but I'm the only one of the two of us with Infiltrator!" Nezarix responded as a Draco Meteor attack descended from the heavens above, burying both Xenon and his substitute in a mound of meteorites.
As Nezarix reappeared and dug Xenon up, the outcome was clear.
"Xenon is unable to battle, which makes the winner of this match Nezarix!" Alvar announced. "Nezarix moves onto the semifinals!"
"Nezarix beat Xenon?" Conlan asked as he and Rudo returned from the wilderness.
"Yeah." Bravero nodded. "Next up is Razr and Cochrane, so we should probably go prepare for our fight too."
"So, where in Tapu Lele's name did you go?" Ornia asked Rudo as she sat down while Conlan and Bravero left to go get ready for their own fight.
"I uh…" Rudo blushed heavily as she looked away and avoided eye contact with either Ornia or Mandy. "I'd rather keep what I was just doing private…Let's watch Razr and Cochrane fight! Come on!"
"Match #11 will now begin!" Alvar announced once Razr and Cochrane had taken their places on either side of the now meteorite-covered arena. "Razr the zoroark versus Cochrane the charizard! Pokemon get ready...fight!"
Razr grinned as he thought a Nasty Plot to himself while looking over Cochrane. He was no fool. He'd seen Cochrane's last match, and wasn't about to let Counter do him in. Instead, he began to think up a much more preferable strategy.
"I serve Queen Tashia," Cochrane announced as he stepped one foot forward "ordained by Reshiram, and as such I will shine the light of truth down upon this battlefield!" He stepped forward with his other foot and the red clouds in the air parted to let the large blistering sun heat up the battlefield immensely.
"That Sunny Day...really put Bravero's earlier one to shame…" Mandy said as she began to fan herself with her fake mouth as well as her left hand.
"Now that we're done with our arms race…" Razr grinned. "Let's make some noise!" He strummed a Night Daze across his guitar and the fast-moving pulses of darkness smacked Cochrane square in the charizard's chest.
"For Ignia!" Cochrane yelled as he cloaked his entire body in roaring flames and lunged himself and a low altitude towards Razr, ramming himself straight into the zoroark, causing them both to tumble to one end of the arena.
"That Flare Blitz was extremely powerful." Tashia noted.
"More like extremely reckless." Satinka crossed her arms. "What has Inkeri been teaching him? Look at how bruised he is now!"
"Hngh…" Razr grunted as both he and Cochrane staggered to their feat. "Glad you've got so much fight in you." He steadied his guitar. "But can you handle THIS!" He shouted with a Hyper Voice as he strummed on his guitar knocking the Charizard back towards the center of the arena.
"Cochrane, you got this!" Rudo cheered. "Come on, get up!"
"I don't think he will." Gertrude shook her head.
"Hrngh…" Cochrane put his hands to the ground and began to push himself up.
"I...will fight...for-" But as he was completing his speech, the sunlight shining upon him seemed to suck the last of his energy away, and he collapsed back onto the ground.
"Cochrane is unable to battle!" Alvar announced. "Razr is the winner and moves onto the semifinals!"
"Well…" Satinka smiled as Cochrane was helped off the arena by Razr after he came to "For a vet a few decades out of combat, he didn't do too bad."
"Match #12 is about to start!" Alvar announced as Bravero and Conlan took their places on the arena.
"Go Conlan! Go Bravero! Put up a good fight!" Rudo cheered before shaking Ornia. "Come on, cheer your teammates on!"
"I would prefer to observe silently."
"You guys can do it!" Mandy cheered along with Rudo.
"You ready?" Conlan asked Bravero as he took a fighting position.
"I'm ready." Bravero replied with a grin. "You haven't seen all my tricks yet."
"And you haven't seen all of mine."
"Bravero the blaziken versus Conlan the monferno!" Alvar announced. "Pokemon ready...fight!"
"Here I come!" Conlan immediately disappeared as Bravero lowered a fist. Conlan then reappeared right in front of Bravero at fired off a Mach Punch that the blaziken managed to catch in one had before he used his lower fist to deliver a Sky Uppercut to Conlan's chest, sending the monferno flying up into the air.
"Conlan!" Rudo stood up, concerned.
I'm really high up, Conlan thought to himself, too high up to allow myself to fall.
"Hngh…" He somersaulted in the air so that he could get his bearings and noticed Bravero down on the arena.
"If you aren't going to come to me, I'll come to you!" Bravero announced as he rocketed upwards with another Sky Uppercut at the ready.
"I'm not letting that hit me again!" Conlan announced as he lunged into and then launched himself off of Bravero's shoulders with an Acrobatics, throwing the blaziken back down towards the arena while he landed on the other side.
Bravero slid across the ground, over the magma hole, and soon rushed back towards Conlan, this time with a toxified foot for a Poison Jab attack.
Conlan noticed the attack and quickly bounded towards Bravero, prepared to jump for another Acrobatics, both attacks not managing to hit either fighter as they nimbly dodged out of the way with the rest of their bodies.
"This isn't going to end well for you if you stall." Bravero warned as he lunged forwards with another Poison Jab. "I get faster as this battle progresses!"
"I, ugh!" Conlan was hit by a Poison Jab, though he managed to counter it and the succeeding Poison Jabs with his own Fury Swipes attack. "I know that! But I'm not about to give up. I still have a ticket out of this!"
"Really?" Bravero asked as he prepared himself with a Bulk Up, and then rushed forwards with a Poison Jab, though when he was halfway to Conlan, he also lit up the leg for a Blaze Kick, which caused the toxins to immediately explode, sending him back to where he had started.
"I see what you were going for." Conlan nodded. "That exploding poison was how I managed to win my earlier match after all. But I still have this handled!" He announced as he shot out a large Fire Spin from his mouth aimed at Bravero. "If you can't move, your speed means nothing!"
"But I'm too fast for that move to hit me." Bravero grinned as he lunged out of the way and rushed towards Conlan with another Poison Jab.
Conlan ducked down. "But how well can you multitask?" He wondered aloud as he shot out another Fire Spin to retaliate before lunging himself up into the air,
"Hrahh!" Bravero was forced to stop his Poison Jab in order to dodge the Fire Spin attack while Conlan landed on the other side of the blaziken, who also was able to dodge the Acrobatics sweep he made with his foot.
"Face it, I'm too fast for you!" Bravero rushed toward Conlan once again attempting to combine his Poison Jab with a Blaze Kick.
"Oh?" Conlan grinned as he disappeared, before reappearing behind Bravero. "How did this match start?"
He swung his Mach Punch, and it would have hit, but Bravero used his exploding kick to his advantage and rocketed to the other end of the arena.
"I can match your speed!" Conlan announced as he once again appeared behind Bravero to deliver another Mach Punch, this one getting a direct hit in on the blaziken, sending him tumbling backwards once again.
"Hngh…" Bravero grunted as he brought himself back up, and once again performed a Bulk Up.
"Rahh!" He charged once more, a final time, with his Poison Jab and Blaze Kick combo, a Blast Kick, so to speak. "This time it'll explode on you!"
"No!" Conlan responded as he he brought a Fire Spin from his tail and shot it towards Bravero. "This time it'll explode on you!"
Bravero lunged into the Fire Spin directly at Conlan, who as quickly as he could narrowed it down to trap his opponent, and then, the explosion happened.
The mound of meteorites flew all over the place, forcing Ornia to put up a Light Screen to keep the audience from being hit by debris.
"What in Reshiram's name-?" Cochrane exclaimed.
"How in Nowhere…" Jaslynn looked on in awe.
"Are they both still standing?" Satinka's eyes opened wide in surprise.
"Wait a minute…" Gertrude's eyes narrowed before she gasped in shock.
"Well…" She gave a small smile. "I'll be…"
Bravero, despite still standing, was completely spent, and incapable of movement. Conlan was struggling to stay up, but was quite clearly still conscious as he rose his fist into the air.
"YES!" Rudo cheered. "Wooo! Go Conlan! Now you can avenge me and then go to the finals and then win the tournament!"
"You think he can win the tournament?" Ornia wondered. "It is not that I don't applaud his creative direction, but from the many scenarios I've been running through my head, I see very few in which Gertrude is not victorious, and next to none in which Conlan places first."
"Bravero is unable to battle." Alvar announced. "Conlan is the winner and advances to the semifinals! After the contestants are given time to rest, we will begin the next set of matches and here they are!"
Match 13: #16(Gertrude) VS #6(Conlan)
Match 14: #11(Razr) VS #4(Nezarix)
"Alright Conlan, listen up." Rudo lectured him as he got ready to head right back out onto the arena. "You're about to go up against Gertrude, and she knows Attract, so you need to be extra careful to not fall for it. Furthermore, you can't let yourself get hit by Hypnosis, because if she lands a Dream Eater on you, you won't be able to fight it off as well as Ornia, who's had training for that kind of thing. You're at a small advantage in that her other attacking moves are all fairy type and will only deal neutral damage to you, which means as long as you don't get hypnotized, you don't have to worry about super effective attacks. Finally, and this is the most important piece of information to remember, Gertrude's really full of herself, so if you humiliate her, it'll really mess with her focus!"
"Thank you, Rudo." Conlan laughed to himself as he thanked her. "I'll be sure to keep all your advice in mind."
"Fight as hard as you just did with me, and you'll come out on top for sure." Bravero nodded from the doorway. "Come on, Alvar's waiting on you. Get out there, and show that gardevoir why she's being forced to help the Fire Province in the first place."
"Match #13 is about to begin!" Alvar announced as Conlan took to the arena, opposite Gertrude.
"I'll be honest, human, I'm not too sure how to approach you in a fight." She announced.
"Gertrude the gardevoir versus Conlan the monferno!"
"That sounds like a problem for you to work out on your own." Conlan responded. "If you're confused, then I ought to use it to my advantage."
"You sound like king Paulo." Gertrude laughed with a smile.
Now Conlan was the confused one. "Excuse me?"
"I'll explain it all after my service to Ignia ends and I can return to Fable."
"Pokemon ready…"
Both Gertrude and Conlan took a fighting stance. "Fight!"
"Are you going to run at me with your Mach Punch?" Gertrude mused.
Conlan simply smiled as he did nothing. He looked up and down at Gertrude, centering his focus in on all her weak points, focusing all his energy into future attacks, pumping himself up for the battle.
"Very well then, I'll make the first attack." Gertrude, failing to notice Conlan's Focus Energy, brought her hand down and a small moon appeared by her right shoulder before it shot out a large beam of moonlight.
"With that Moonblast, Gertrude has marked Conlan as another worthy opponent." Ornia said as she sat between Mandy and Rudo. "It looks like she intends to fight seriously with him as well."
"She better!" Rudo exclaimed. "But Conlan's not gonna lose this!"
As if to prove Rudo's point for her, Conlan easily rolled under the Moonblast Gertrude had prepared and gulped as he rushed up towards her.
"Hup!" He grunted as he slashed down with a Fury Swipes at his opponent.
"First her forearm!" He announced as he slashed at Gertrude's right forearm, causing the small moon floating beside her to disappear as she wailed out. "Next, the knee caps!" He slashed twice, once for each knee of Gertrude's knocking her down to them, once again to cause her to painfully groan. "Now the top of the head!" Conlan announced as he stuck her across the head, bringing her down to a crawling position. "And finally, the small of her back!" His final Fury Swipe slashed across her back, pushing her completely down to the ground.
"Wooo!" Rudo cheered from the bleachers.
"At least I'm focused on the battle." Conlan couldn't help but taunt to her as she lay there before him.
"So...this is the true strength of a human?" Gertrude wondered to herself as she slowly began to get up. "Then perhaps I show off my own!"
Gertrude's body began to glow an incredibly bright white as she rammed herself into a blinded Conlan, knocking him back across the arena, giving her enough time to stand up.
"I am not the leader of Team Kirei for no reason, human!"
"Well, I am not the leader of Team Moonbrand for no reason either," Conlan retorted "But the reason was because at the time, I was the only one who could get approved as leader, so I'm not sure how much merit that 'leader' boast holds."
"You-!" Gertrude had to stop herself from completely losing composure as Conlan rushed forward brandishing another Fury Swipes attack.
"You will not achieve the same result twice." Gertrude spoke as she danced around his attacks, turning elegantly before bringing her hand back down to shoot another Moonblast, this one hitting Conlan square in his back, sending him rocketing to the other side of the arena.
"Oof, that looked like a direct hit." Mandy cringed.
"Well, all of Conlan's Fury Swipes earlier were direct hits too." Rudo wasn't about to give up hope. "Gertrude's putting on a tough act, but I think she's closer to defeat than she'd like to admit."
"I don't want to use it with your little girlfriend present, but you're forcing my hand, Conlan!" Gertrude called out.
Caress and Comfort the comfey each looked at each other and cocked their heads in confusion.
Gertrude brought the small moon her earlier Moonblast had summoned and shifted it above her head so that a shimmer of light shined down upon her. She flicked her hair before looking back at Conlan, just to make sure it was working.
"Ah!" Conlan gasped.
"Sorry that I had to do this." Gertrude shook her head as she walked closer to him, and put her hand on top of his head. "But this is game over for you- Hey!"
Conlan was laughing to himself.
"What's so funny?" Gertrude asked.
"It's just that…" Conlan smiled. "I knew you'd be too proud of yourself to think I could fake your Attract working. Get ready, because this is going to hurt, and might ruin your dress."
He let out his Fury Swipe claws one more time.
"Impossible!" Gertrude gasped as she tried to fire the Moonblast she had prepared but instead was knocked back by a measly two swings of Conlan's claws.
"Oh...that wasn't as effective as I was hoping for." He mumbled.
"Well, then I suppose this is the end of the line." Gertrude smiled as she began to glow another brilliant white.
"Yep." Conlan agreed as he brought his hands back behind his tail before shooting a Fire Spin forwards. "You're about to blind yourself!"
The Fire Spin quickly enveloped Gertrude just as her Dazzling Gleam was reaching its climax, and the scream heard from within the vortex was..
"Ugweeeeeeaaahggghh!"... decidedly not beautiful in any way.
The vortex stopped spinning to reveal Gertrude completely singed, from her shiny blue hair to her formerly white dress, she was barely holding on by a thread,
And then she fell down towards the magma hole.
"Shit." Conlan cursed under his breath as he quickly lunged forwards with an Acrobatics to get Gertrude away from the deadly trap he had accidentally sprang upon her.
"How in Reshiram's name is that even possible?" Alvar himself stood up from his seat, utterly bewildered. "Gertrude is unable to battle, which makes Conlan the winner and our first finalist?"
"Conlan!" Rudo rushed up to Conlan as he set Gertrude down near Comfort and Caress as they both began to heal her wounds. "You did it! One more fight left for you before we bring home all that poke for Moonbrand and Lightgrasp!"
"Right!" Conlan nodded.
"Match #14 will now begin." Alvar announced as Razr and Nezarix both took to the arena. "Razr the zoroark versus Nezarix the noivern! The winner of this match will go on to face Conlan in the finals for the reward of 250,000 poke! Pokemon ready...fight!"
Alright, Razr thought to himself as he quickly used a Nasty Plot, Nezarix is royal rank, and usually goes up into the air to fight, but might also use a substitute to buy himself time. I also know not to waste my time with any protective moves, but that doesn't matter much to me anyways. His attacks all seem ranged, which would make physical attacks a rather ineffective counter, but now that I know all this, I ought to be able to pull something off. I understand the Flying Province wants money to fund themselves after the secession, but this is peanuts to them, but the Dark Province could really use the funds for the mission Hadria wants to send us on.
"Oh my." Nezarix smiled from the other side of the arena as he slowly lifted himself off the ground. "Is it really that important to you that you would think up so much about me in so little time?"
"What the-?" Razr felt his entire plans crumble around him before looking up at the noivern. "How did you-?"
Nezarix laughed, the sound echoed by his metal jaw. "I've noticed your Nasty Plot habit, so I decided I'd Snatch it for myself!"
"Well, there goes me using Focus Energy in the finals against him." Conlan lamented.
"Well, if I can't think up plots...I'll just move onto the main event!" He strummed a Night Daze down on his guitar that reverberated through the air and slammed directly into Nezarix, causing the noivern to struggle to stay at a common altitude without veering too far in any direction.
"Argh…" Nezarix grunted quietly to himself. "That messed my vision up, I can't hit him reliably like this...I guess I'll-"
Nezarix disappeared from view, leaving behind a substitute noivern to take the attacks.
"Don't you hide from ME!" Razr unleashed a Hyper Voice as he strummed his guitar, though the substitute was still standing after being it by the sound waves.
Razr clicked his tongue. His opponent would make a good dark type.
As Razr turned to look for his hiding opponent, and was faced with a giant Air Slash that knocked him off balancing, causing him to flinch as he felt his way back up to his feet. When he did finally get up to his feet, he noticed the small line of flames heading his way, and quickly jumped away from them.
He strummed down on his guitar creating another Night Daze, though this one was far less effective, barely even scraping the noivern substitute.
He was answered by meteors falling from the sky.
Thankfully for Razr, they were falling near the mountain range to the north, rather than anywhere near the arena.
"Guess that first Night Daze saved my ass." He mumbled to himself.
"Where ARE You?" He strummed with another Hyper Voice, blowing away the substitute, and revealing the actual noivern, still flying in the air. "There you are!"
"Hnh." Nezarix grinned as he fired an Air Slash off at Razr, who managed to roll around the attack thanks to the noivern's misfire. He might as well have just flung his jaw for all the good it'd do.
Wait a minute…
Razr grinned.
He brought his guitar back, and then Flung it up towards the noivern.
"That's not how you use a guitar!" Nezarix exclaimed before the giant instrument knocked him out of the sky.
"Nezarix is unable to battle!" Alvar exclaimed. "The winner and our second finalist is Razr the zoroark!"
"I really thought that it would be the other two semifinalists making it to the finals…" Fernando rubbed his wing behind his head. "But at least I know now to work on Team Horizon's reactions to unexpected events. It'll help buy time before I find a new pokemon to take charge of our mercenary bands that'll be left without a guild."
"Looks like it's you and me in the finals, kid." Razr greeted Conlan with a smile. "Sorry about the disappointment of you coming so far only to lose. Team Soulwind needs this money to fund a future mission, and getting our image out there wouldn't hurt either. I remember you from Groundquake you know. You're a lot better than you were then, but don't think we haven't also improved. You come at me with everything you've got, understand?"
Conlan nodded.
"You have to return the favor though!"
Fire Province: Blaze Desert(30F Mystery Dungeon): 30F(Geoid Mesa): Age of Mew(waning): Year 656: Crustle's Caravan, Part 8
Moonbrand Present: Bennett, Gina, Magdalene, Verden
Verden hid behind his substitute copy as he held his poison orb close to him in one hand and tossed a Spore attack at the mimikyu bandit with his other hand, narrowly missing its target.
Magdalene, for her part, was focused on the magcargo. She concentrated her mental energy into an Extrasensory attack aimed at the bandit, but instead the attack was intercepted by Bennett, who immediately doubled over and clenched his head in pain.
"They took a child from her mother! Kill them! Their bones are not fit to host their flesh!" The voice in his head was more overpowering than ever.
As she warily stared out at the crustle tracks leading into the desert, Gina brought herself up through the hole in the carriage roof, and let a Frost Breath loose, aiming for the Golurk, the chilling breeze causing the bandit to stumble backwards towards her campsite.
"Heehee!" The mimikyu laughed as he multiplied himself with a Double Team, creating a good five copies.
"KILL THEM!" Bennett repeated the voice in his head, finally unable to mentally fight it any more as he tossed a Shadow Ball like a grenade before detonating it managing to do a good number on the unsuspecting swalot before him.
"Someone get this insane kid!" He announced as he quickly shot a Toxic at Bennett in retaliation.
"I'll help boss!" The golurk offered as she fired her fist at Bennett in a Shadow Punch, though he seemed to catch the attack and toss it back to her.
"Then, I'll get that pesky glaceon back there!" The magcargo grinned as she summoned up rocks in an Ancient Power attack before tossing them towards the caravan carts, the farthest reaching rock managing to graze Gina's cheek.
"Hup!" Gina quickly let loose an Ice Shard aimed at the golurk bandit, once again knocking her back towards the campsite, this time also knocking her onto her bottom.
"Someone finish her off!" Gina announced as the Golurk responded by firing her arm towards Gina with another Shadow Punch, this one hitting Gina full force, square in the face, causing her to fall back into the cart.
"Verden, you get her, while I deal with this one!" Magdalene offered before turning to the magcargo bandit and glaring at her with a Disable, effectively shutting down the use of Ancient Power until further notice.
"Right!" Verden nodded as he tossed a Seed Bomb to the golurk, bandit, who took the full force of the attack head on, and rolled off the mesa, and into Hajari's crevice, where he quickly and carefully took out as astrafialpide knife, and slit her throat.
"1 neutralized, kek."
"If I can't use my rocks then…" The magcargo smirked as she let a Flame Burst loose towards Bennett, which Magdalene rushed to take instead, as her body began to glow a faint red owing to her Flash Fire ability.
"You'll what, exactly?" Magdalene asked.
"Time to Play Rough!" The mimikyu giggled as he lunged at Bennett, lightly bruising Bennett's body all over the place.
"At least one of you lot is helping me!" The swalot snapped as he fired off an Acid Spray attack across the field, removing Verden's substitute, and completely drenching both Magdalene and Bennett.
"KILL!" Bennett shrieked as he shot a Shadow Ball at the swalot, who easily ate the attack without so much as a second thought.
"Let's go to sleep, little Vulpix girl!" the magcargo chimed sweetly with a Yawn, only to have it blocked by Verden, who had made his way over, while charging up a Focus Punch.
"Sorry." He smiled as he nodded to the Toxic Orb in his other hand. "But I've already picked my poison." He punched his Focus Punch straight through the magcargo's shell before bringing it back to his side, and turning to Magdalene. "Hey, I could use your help with that mimikyu. His Play Rough attack isn't something I want to hit me."
"Right." Magdalene nodded as she glared towards the mimikyu with another Disable attack.
"Heehee!" He laughed. "You thought that would save you!"
Verden realized with horror what was going on as he was lifted off the ground by an invisible energy.
"This...this is the mind move Grutyme was talking about? Fucking Psychic?"
"Bingo!" The mimikyu excitedly responded as he slammed Verden to the ground, just in time for a reemerging Gina to notice.
"You'll pay for that!" Bennett growled as he launched another Shadow Ball, this time at the mimikyu.
"Hah." The mimikyu scoffed as its disguise fell over and he reverted to his 'Busted' forme. "Nice try, but we came prepared! Heeheehee!"
"Prepared enough to die?!" Gina shouted from the caravan cart as she summoned a Blizzard that lost a considerable amount of power as it passed over the swalot and mimikyu.
"If you wanted death…" The swalot let loose another Acid Splash. "Then be my guest!"
Magdalene dodged out of the way, while Bennett supernaturally lunged past the attack and grabbed Verden to make sure he wasn't hit by it while he was down.
"Get back here!" The swalot shot a Toxic at Magdalene, who shuddered as the poison began to coat her fur.
"You did not just do that." Magdalene responded sternly as she fired an Extrasensory towards the swalot in retaliation, knocking the bandit back with psychic force.
"And now you truly die!" Gina announced again creating a Blizzard, freezing both the swalot and mimikyu solid in fury.
She slowly limped off the cart and turned to Magdalene. "Help me push these guys off the mesa. Hopefully they'll shatter and-...and…"
Gina had gone speechless at what she saw.
Bennett was hunched over the magcargo's body, devouring her corpse.
"SWEET HOLY MOTHER OF MEW!" Magdalene shrieked. "Bennett, What in Nowhere is wrong with you?!"
"You step away from that gods damned body right the fuck now!" Gina agreed.
Bennett looked up at the two of them with crazed eyes.
"She had taken a mother from her child, and murdered countless innocents. She doesn't even deserve to rot."
"B-Bennet?" Magdalene nervously asked, trying her best to regain any small amount of composure she could. "I-Is this the problem you wanted to talk about earlier?"
"Henhhhh…" Bennett breathed heavily. "Bennett, your friend, is my avatar."
"He's more of a work associate…" Gina was quick to distance herself.
"Regardless." The not Bennett responded. "I'll leave you for now, but I have plans for Bennett. He will act as my vassal and occasionally…" He gestured to his surroundings. "My vessel as well. You would do well to not to disturb or disrupt him whenever he acts up. It's all according to my own will."
And with that, Bennett's eyes returned to normal, before they grew in extreme fear as he spat the magcargo flesh in his mouth out.
"Gah! Ahh! Ahh! What in Nowhere was I doing?!"
"You fucking tell us, you possessed little shit!" Gina lashed out.
"W-woah, where is all that anger coming from?"
"Put Verden down right now!"
"Oh…" Bennett looked over at the unconscious Verden who was still hunched over his shoulder.
He gently set the breloom and the ground and backed away from both Gina and Magdalene.
"Verden!" Gina limped over to him as quickly as she could, before collapsing on top of him, and giving a quick sigh of relief.
"Oh good. Still breathing."
"That is good news." Inkeri announced as she walked up into the mesa from the previous floor of dungeon. "I believe this is for you, having passed through the desert successfully and all. Don't worry. I also know all about the little scheme that was going on thanks to some interrogating I did with your ex-client. Here's your full pay. Mission complete."
Understandably, no one was happy enough to actually get excited over it.
"I just want to get my leg fixed and go home." Gina sighed.
"Yeah." Magdalene agreed. "Home sounds good."
"I think I should see a shrink or something too." Bennett suggested.
"Unfortunately, as much as I agree that you all deserve a break after what an ordeal of a mission that must have been…" Inkeri frowned. "We need you to remain in Geotherm until further notice. A Type 2 heatran is making its way across the province, and under no circumstances can we allow it to harm the Geotherm Power Plant. I've already called in Team TMNT to help with evacuating the citizens, and a good portion of Moonbrand is there already. Once the rest are done at Wildeburn, we'll have everyone available present. Now then, off you go."
After Inkeri shepherded a reluctant Gina, Bennett, and Magdalene along with Verden, into Geotherm, she turned around.
"Well, now I suppose we hold out for as long as we can." She said aloud, pretending that she didn't realize Hajari was listening in on her. "Still though, there's no way we can win this. If only we could help from somewhere...anywhere…"
AN: So, there was some combining of moves into one going on here, and I wanted to lay down this now: If when you fight, you want to combine two moves to make one, go ahead and try it. As far as I'm concerned they're just like any other move and rely on the d20 for effectiveness, though perhaps they are a bit less forgiving when it comes to low rolls. That's about it.
AN2: Razr, send in strats please
AN3: All Moonbrand, you WILL all be in Geotherm next chapter, so if there is anything such as shopping or rumor gathering or the such (perhaps even a support conversation with another member?) now is the time to send in those plans.
AN4: OC Application Sheet
OC Name, Sex, Species:
OC Home Province (Where they are from):
OC Role(Teammate Hopeful, Other Team Member, Minor Villain, Commoner, Etc.):
OC Profession(Are they unemployed like Terune, are they a veteran like Concordia, an assassin like Semora, etc.?):
OC Moveset:
Move 1(From Natural Movepool):
Move 2(From Natural Movepool):
Move 3(From Natural Movepool):
Move 4(From Natural Movepool):
Alt Move 1(Can be TM or Egg Move):
Alt Move 2(Can be TM or Egg Move):
OC Personality:
OC Background:
Anything Else Doobop Should Know:
That's all for now! Thanks for reading ^.^!