Theme for this part is "FF7: Jenova absolute".
The first foe to emerge from cover was a Lombre, clutching an axe in his webbed hands. Cyndaquil shot him through the head, causing a drizzle of blood to spatter the soldiers behind him. Automatic gunfire raked back and forth across his position, and Cyndaquil was forced to dive to one side. There was almost no cover on this part of the ascent to the top, so they had to keep low and keep moving in order not to be hit. He reached the next enemy; a short Machop, and thrust upwards. The fighting type flailed his arms and legs on the end of the bayonet, and Cyndaquil pulled the trigger and blew the dying pokemon from the end of his gun. A Nuzleaf swung at him with a sword from his right, and Cyndaquil turned and spat a hail of burning embers into his face. Screaming, the grass type stumbled off the edge of the cliff. Beside Cyndaquil, Ratter blew the head off another Machop, and was forced to use the pistol to block a bayonet thrust from a rifle-toting Meditite. On his other side, Treecko took on three opponents at once and slew them all in seconds. A muscular Monferno appeared beside him, hefting a massive war hammer above his apelike head. Cyndaquil began to turn, knowing it was too late, but at the last moment, a ring of water slammed into the Monferno's side and sent him staggering away in confusion. He glimpsed Dratini summoning her strength for another attack, before he was forced to go back to fighting by an angry Bulbasaur with a horned helmet, who charged him from the side. A bullet swiftly ended the Tackle attack. Suddenly, there were no more enemy soldiers: they were alone on the ledge and the last few hostiles were retreating up the stairs to their artillery base at the top.
"Well done, guys!" laughed Cyndaquil, surprised at the ease with which they had slain the defenders. He picked his way over the corpses and to the bottom of the stairs.
"Is it over?" Rattata asked, hauling the body that was pinning him to the ground off.
"Not yet" Cyndaquil said, grimly "there's the gun itself, up there."
"Let's get this over with…" Dratini growled, suddenly out of character, and she slithered up the stairs ahead of them.
"You okay?" Cyndaquil asked Treecko, who was standing in a dazed fashion in the center of the carnage. The grass type nodded again, and took a shaky breath. Unknown to Cyndaquil and Rattata, as they turned to follow Dratini, he pushed back a fold of his cloak to reveal a ghastly injury to his torso. A bullet had punched straight through his ribs, missing his lungs and heart by millimetres, and another had hit him in his already-wounded arm. Gritting his teeth, Treecko produced some Oran Berries, which would kill the pain, and swallowed them. He hefted his katana, which felt heavy all of a sudden, and began to follow his master up the stairs.
At the summit of the cliff, they came to a cobblestone street. It felt strange to have been climbing and walking uphill, and suddenly stand on a flat, empty street. The silence seemed to echo in their minds, which were now hardened to the noise of battle. Suddenly, the silence was broken by an ear-splitting crash; like a thunderclap, and they saw an object, trailing smoke, arc from somewhere ahead of them and speed towards the town.
"The Cannon is through that gate; inside the old church." Rattata declared, gritting his teeth and toying with his gun.
"Doubtless the last of those Pokemon are going to make a stand inside." Dratini growled.
"There's nothing we can do about it but fight. Let's go!" Cyndaquil decided, and led them forwards. The door was securely locked, but a simultaneous Slam attack from both Treecko and Dratini smashed it off its hinges. When no shots or even shouting greeted them, the four rebels entered, cautiously.
New track. The theme tune for this part is "FF7, Shinra Company".
"What the hell happened here?" gasped Ratter, jaw dropping open. Before them, on the tiled floor of the Church lay the shredded corpses of all the enemies which had retreated, minutes earlier. Blood was splashed up the walls and across the floor. A harsh bark of laughter resounded around the cavernous building and they all started. Standing at the Lectern, like a hideously ironic parody of a priest, stood a bulky figure.
"My congratulations…" the Pokemon yawned. He was an enormously fat Slacking, who wore a red, lavishly-decorated uniform over his bulging belly and thick legs. "I am General Slakos; the Slacking. Welcome!"
He smiled, evilly. Behind them, something rustled and detached itself from the shadows; a huge bear like creature, with a golden ring on its torso.
"Meet Ursaring!" Slakos hissed "He likes killing things, as is evident with these cowards."
"You killed them because they ran away?" asked Cyndaquil, horrified.
"Cowards are of no use to me in this war. I want soldiers."
"You need a new army then" laughed Ratter. Slacking's yellow eyes fell on the little Rattata, and he growled.
"My army is the finest in this land, and as we speak; it moves in to crush your little UPDF and take control of Kind."
"That's why no help has come to us…" Dratini mused, softly.
"Yes; they are embattled on every front." The fat Pokemon laughed "and soon they will be no more."
"You're a coward! You let these men fight for you and then kill them when they run away?" Cyndaquil snarled. There was the sound of a door slamming, somewhere in the depths of the church, behind Slacking, and an out-of breath Machop appeared at his side. The Pokemon snapped to attention.
"Your transport is ready; sir!" the fighting-type barked, flatly.
"I'm afraid I haven't the time to chat with you, I have other business to attend to. Ursaring will provide an excellent playmate while I'm gone, so have fun…"
As the Slacking turned to leave, Rattata brought up his weapon.
"Die, coward!" he hissed, aiming at the bloated creature's head. There was an ominous 'Ker-chak' from behind our heroes, and they all spun to face the Ursaring. It clutched a blocky, snub-nosed shotgun, with a sickle magazine curving from the bottom of it.
"Shit…" Cyndaquil breathed, as the gun came up.
I know the music has changed quite a bit in this chapter, but bear with me: the next track is: "Pendulum: Blood Sugar".
The shotgun barked, without warning, and a cone of floorspace in front of the massive bear was ripped into shreds.
"Water Pulse!" Dratini exclaimed, blasting a ring of water at the Ursaring. As he was distracted by the attack, Cyndaquil and Ratter blasted round-after-round into him, to no avail. He turned and raised the shotgun; one-handed. The gunshot was deafeningly loud to Cyndaquil, and he was thrown to the floor by the impact. Opening his eyes, the fire-type realised that he had not been hit! Treecko had tackled him; knocking him flying and taking the full force of the shot.
"NO!" he gasped "Treecko!"
The grass Pokemon lay, twisted and broken on the floor, beside the pile of dead enemy soldiers. He was completely still.
"I'm going to kill you, you sonnovabitch!" He screamed at the top of his voice, raising his rifle and firing again and again, until it emitted an ominous, empty clicking noise. Ratter opened fire from his left, wounding the enormous beast in its arm, but it simply swatted him away into a wall, where he settled to the floor, unconscious. Dratini fired a glittering ice beam, which sliced into the beast's flank. This looked like it had actually inflicted some damage, because the massive Pokemon roared and turned his gun on the little Dragon.
"Eat this!" Cyndaquil snarled, ominously. He had cast aside his rifle and discarded his cloak. The flame on his back flared up, and he opened his mouth wide and sucked in a deep breath….
…then he let fly with a Fire Blast, which scorched the floors and walls as it sped into the monster Pokemon and sent him flailing backwards, into a pillar. It swayed for a moment, and then crashed to the floor. There was a moment's silence, and then the three surviving members of the squad turned and ran to the fallen Treecko.
"Treecko!" Cyndaquil cried "Don't die!"
"M-master…" the grass type wheezed; voice coarse and unused.
"Look out!" screamed Dratini. Cyndaquil half-turned, and then a massive paw closed around his throat and he was lifted from the floor. His neck was constricted, and he began to choke; legs kicking. Dratini began to summon the energy for another ice beam, but a shaggy foot pinned her to the ground. Ratter lay, unconscious on the other side of the room and everything began to haze over for Cyndaquil.
As his vision gave out, and everything turned dark; a sudden light blazed into life, and he knew no more.
The darkness receded and Cyndaquil opened his eyes.
"What-" he muttered, and then he sat up, grunting with the needles of pain that exploded in his neck "Treecko!"
Before him stood what was once Treecko, except he was taller. His arms and legs were lightly muscled and he had feathers made from leaves on his arms.
"You've evolved!" he exclaimed. Grovyle nodded, smiling. Cyndaquil realised something:
"Where's the Ursaring?"
Dratini appeared at his side, excided.
"Grovyle just appeared behind him and beheaded him! He's dead!" she sang.
"Rattata?" he asked, turning to see the normal type lying beside him.
"He'll be fine; just concussion." Dratini beamed.
"I can't believe you evolved, just to protect me from that thing!" Cyndaquil muttered, astounded at his friend's loyalty "Thank you!"
Grovyle spoke; his voice hoarse and rusty-sounding:
"My duty is to protect you, until the time of my or your death." He stated, simply, before falling into his lapsed silence again.
Cyndaquil got to his feet and gazed over at the massive hill of fur that had once been an Ursaring. Its neck had been severed with a single, mighty blow: Grovyle was stronger than he looked. The little fire type turned from the blood-slick furry beast and wandered over to the door that the president had escaped through in the back of the church.
"I guess we had a lucky escape there" he sighed, troubled at the thought that if this backwater town had suffered such a serious threat, what would the capital and her UPDF be facing?
"What do we do now?" asked Dratini, coiling behind him to sit and watch the sun cast its morning glow over the land. Grovyle sheathed his Katana, hoisted Ratter over his shoulder and wandered over to join them.
"What else can we do? The enemy are at our gates, literally. We fight or we die I guess…" Cyndaquil told them "but I can't ask you two to come to war with me: fighting for our town is one thing, but on the frontline is quite another."
"Don't think that we're going to go home, just because things are looking bad for Kind!" Dratini exclaimed, incredulous.
"You guys will fight with me?" he asked, hopefully.
"Of course we will, right Grovyle?" Dratini smiled. Grovyle nodded and drew his Katana from the folds of his robe, holding it up in a salute to Cyndaquil.
"Gnnnn…" Ratter moaned, coming to on Grovyle's shoulder.
"He's in too: Excellent!" Cyndaquil cheered "Let's go to the UPDF recruiting station in St.Garden and sign up. We'll make these buggers pay for ever setting foot in Kind, let alone bombing our homes and killing our families!"
What did you think? Please leave comments, even if it's just a simple "Good" or "Bad", or elaborate if you have the time. I love it when people review my story because then I know I haven't just written it for nothing.
Oh, and as the scene of our heroes standing on a crumbled balcony (watching the sunrise) fades into the credits, the End Song from Portal kicks in.
Man I love Taco's!