Chapter Five: The First Major Test of Strength
Authors' Note: Here we are! The end of the first wave of chapters! Buckle up, this one is longer than the others (it's probably not too much longer, but fair warning regardless). It'll be a little bit before another chapter comes out. We're taking some time off from production, but we'll be back in full swing soon. With that said, I hope you all enjoy!
It was fair to say that Violet was beyond shocked at the sight before her. Yesterday was filled with a lot of abnormal events, but nothing that reached the caliber of a decimated farmstead. Her mind was racing. She had no idea of what to do, and looked up to the sky, deep in thought. She turned to Cobalt, whether for advice, out of concern, or both, she did not know.
His face was full of concern and fear. His mind was racing. He had no idea what was going on, and was nervously looking down at the ruined building. But his face grew serious—someone could be hurt, or even trapped. He set aside his fears, clenched his fists, and took a step forward.
"No!" Violet cried out, moving forward to block his path, "Don't even think about it! We don't know what's down there, or if it's safe!"
"Someone could be in danger!"
"We can get help from the guild, they'll know what to do. We can count on them to get this done." Violet nodded to herself as she spoke, assuring that this was the best thing to do.
"That would take too long!" Cobalt tried to move past her, but she blocked the way, crouched down before him.
"It's not about how long it takes, it's about staying alive!" Violet hissed, "The smart decision is to go get help and let them handle it."
Cobalt pushed past her and walked away defiantly, "Well go ahead! I'm not the boss of you. If we don't act now, either way, it'll be too late," Cobalt replied, "So...?"
"As if I have a choice! I'm not gonna let you go alone and get yourself killed," Violet huffed, following her partner down the hillside. "Okay… if we're going to do this, we need to at least have some sort of plan."
"Of course we need a fucking plan! I'm not stupid, Violet!" Cobalt barked, "We're gonna keep out of the open as much as possible. It's just a quick sweep—go in and look for anyone we can easily rescue. After that, we rush back to town and get others to help investigate. Now, let's get in closer to the main building."
"To get in close to use your Aura more effectively?"
"No. I can't do that."
Violet gave him an incredulous stare.
"What?"
"You're a fucking Riolu!"
Cobalt sighed. "Yes, I'm a Riolu, but consider, I don't know how to use it. You know? The whole lost memory thing?"
"Great. This is a perfect plan," Violet deadpanned with a frustrated sigh, "I can't possibly see this going wrong."
Cobalt rolled his eyes and sighed, "Did it ever occur to you that, since this place was clearly inhabited, there might be a way to call for help?"
"Well, I guess…" Violet mused to herself, while Cobalt silently hopped up onto the railing of the porch and then dove into the desolate building's porch-side window frame. He opened the door and beckoned Violet in, and, after a moment of considering things, she joined him with a running start and a smooth landing. The inside mirrored the outside. A lot of scarring and scorch marks littered the walls, and the staircase leading to the second floor was completely torn to shreds. The lights were dark, and the house felt stagnant and stale.
"Kitchen," Cobalt quietly murmured, before padding his way over to the room. Violet watched him go, and, as he disappeared into the room, she couldn't help but focus on the eerie whistling of the howling wind as it blew through the holes in the walls. She found herself feeling a little uneasy, and moved to follow Cobalt. But then, she heard something in the distance. The sounds of crops rustling. She raced over to a window frame that overlooked the fields and her eyes widened, something was rapidly moving around within the remaining crops.
Violet raced over to Cobalt and found him staring out of a huge gaping hole in the back wall. Another hole was torn straight through the barn behind it. "I didn't even know it was this bad! You couldn't see it from up on the hill," Cobalt commented.
"I saw something move in the fields," Violet whispered, "Let's find a way to get upstairs. I want to get a better look."
Cobalt nodded, and pointed to scattered feathers strewn about the room, murmuring, "Someone was here."
Violet narrowed her eyes in thought. "Those look like Dartrix feathers, but I haven't seen anyone downstairs." Cobalt nodded and pointed to the ceiling—upstairs was the safest bet. They headed over to the broken staircase and sat there, trying to think of what to do, though Cobalt was the first to act. He crouched down and leapt straight up into the air. Banking on the natural speed and power of his species, Cobalt swung his paws to grab onto the second story as he neared it, though he found it started to get smaller rather rapidly instead. He then, in about as much time as he put into thinking of the plan, clattered to the ground and broke through the weakened flooring below, smashing into the foundation. He did not clear the jump. "Ow," he groaned pathetically as he crawled out of the hole he had just made. He admitted defeat and moved to the side to let Violet give it a try, but only after she quietly laughed to herself, much to Cobalt's chagrin.
Instead of trying that, however, Violet took the smarter route. She opened up the closets of the house until she found a suitable ladder for her needs. Cobalt, getting where she was coming from, picked it up and placed it down against the wall, the hole he made complicating matters. He climbed up and jumped across the hole while Violet held the ladder steady. After he got to the top, Violet pushed the ladder over on its side. The lip of the second floor caught the top of the ladder, and Violet climbed it to the top as Cobalt held it steady.
"Not bad," Violet mused.
"Yeah," Cobalt admitted, "We aren't that bad of a team when we try."
"Indeed, now, come on," Violet mewed, but before she could continue, a groan came from around the corner. Cobalt crouched low to the ground and sidled down the wall of the room; Violet stalked behind him. Inside the room was a Dartrix who was curled up and shaking on a mattress. He nearly jumped out of his skin upon seeing the duo staring him down, but calmed once he recognized they weren't trying to kill him.
"O-oh Arceus! F-finally, someone showed up!" the Dartrix wailed, sitting up properly to greet his rescuers.
Violet noticed something. His left wing had been torn up heavily. Violet opened her pack of supplies and set to work—getting him bandaged up and taken care of right away. "Easy there, I'll see what I can do to get you fixed up," Violet started with a cool, gentle tone, "Cobalt, talk to him while I work on this."
Cobalt was unsure of how to get information out of this Dartrix without overwhelming him all at once. He decided to start with a classic, and calmly asked, "What were you doing here?"
"I-I work… worked. Worked here on the farm," the Dartrix corrected himself, "Worked with Lurantis, Simisage, and our boss, Tropius. I was out in the fields with Simisage and noticed that Lurantis and the boss were not coming out to the fields as usual. I went to check, and I found them...fighting. Savagely. Boss was trying to protect himself, but Lurantis had this… feverish look about her. I tried to help him, but I got overwhelmed quickly, and ran up the stairs in a fright. After that, well…" he trailed off, the evidence of what came from that was painfully obvious.
"Right, what happened after that?"
"Lurantis blew the boss straight through the wall and into the barn, and was about to kill me," Dartrix continued, "Before Simisage surprised her from behind and drew her attention away. I managed to crawl into this bed before you all showed up. I don't know what happened after that. All I know is I heard shouting and screaming from out in the fields. That wasn't too long ago, and I think Lurantis might be on her way back."
"Shit, that must have been what Violet saw,"He thanked Dartrix for the debriefing. They needed a way to get help and fast. "Is there any way for us to call for help?"
Violet finished her work of stopping the bleeding and let Dartrix respond to Cobalt's question. Dartrix winced and he shifted on the bed and pointed towards three small buildings on the other side of the clearing. "My sister… she works at the guild in town. She gave me a badge in case I needed to call for help. It's in my shack, off with the others. You need to go now. I don't think we have much longer."
"She works for the guild? Fantastic, that makes this so much easier!" Violet's spirits lifted, before she raced back down the ramp. "Cobalt!" she shouted, "Come on!" Her partner wasted no time in sliding down the ramp and leaping out the hole in the wall in a mad dash for the shacks. The rustling grew louder and closer; Lurantis had noticed them now. "Go search that one!" Violet screamed, sprinting to the shack right next to his as fast as her legs could carry.
Cobalt rushed inside the small building and frantically searched all the shelves and drawers for the button, but found nothing like what Dartrix described. A loud roar echoed through the silent clearing, causing his anxiety to spike. He looked around in a panic, before his eyes snagged sight of a messenger bag in the corner. He tore through its contents. Another explosive seed like before, a few apples and two blueberries. He shook it up and down vigorously, before giving up and throwing it against the bed, when all of a sudden, a small object came tumbling out. Cobalt rushed over to pick it up, and found a small, greenish-yellow feather attached to some beads on a string. Cobalt didn't have time to question what it might be, and shoved all the contents of the bag into his own and rushed back outside to check the final shack.
"Stop! I found it! Come here!" Violet called out to Cobalt, who quickly skid to a stop and scrambled into the building as fast as he could. She was on the bed, sitting before a small circular badge with wings and a central button that was currently pushed in. He heard the sound of static before a serious, professional voice spoke to them.
"This is the Treasure Town emergency hotline, please state where you are and what your request is."
"Violet, I'm a Vulpix that lives in town and was visiting Tropius's farm with a friend when one of the workers went crazy and ended up attacking some of the farmhands! She's coming towards us, you need to hurry!"
"Got it, we're dispatching someone right away. Hold out for five minutes, she should be there soon," the voice stated, before the static cut out. Cobalt and Violet looked at each other and nodded, they needed to stand their ground and wait for reinforcements. Dartrix was counting on them to pull through, and, as they looked at one another, they recognized the situation they were in. They were counting on each other as well. While they may not get along completely, they had to try their best. Together, they stepped outside and stood tall on their side of the clearing, waiting for the enemy to appear.
"Of the relevant stuff I found, I got a blast seed and some blueberries," Cobalt commented, keeping his eyes squarely on the fields ahead.
The crops rustled, the screeching was even louder than before.
"Oran berries," Violet informed him, "They'll stimulate your healing factor at the cost of draining your energy. Use them wisely."
The field was being sliced down left and right.
"Got anything for range?" Cobalt asked, stretching out as they waited for their opponent to show up.
Violet handed him three more blast seeds. "I've got fire. These are for you, it'll help against the Lurantis. Oh, and this," Violet rolled a bottle with a white label across the floor to him, "Drink it along with the berry. It'll give you a boost in energy to make up for the Orans."
Cobalt stuffed the goodies away in a rush. "You'll stay back and I'll get in close?"
"That's right." Violet stated.
"Alright, I'm counting on you."
"So am I."
The conversation ended there, as the duo finally saw their target break through the crop barrier and enter the clearing.
The Lurantis was much taller than both of them, and had an air of malice around her. From the blood on her pincers, and crazed look in her eyes, they both got the feeling that this wasn't going to be anything like their fight at the cave. Cobalt wasted no time in racing off towards her in a large arc, giving Violet ample space to use her larger blasts more freely. The Lurantis bared her mandibles and sped towards him in return, the tips of her pincers glowing with a bright energy. A thin stream of flames cut off her forward momentum and forced her to skid to a stop, causing her to lose sight of the Riolu in that moment. She turned towards the source of the flames-the tips of her pincers flashed with an unnatural energy.
A bright flash of light erupted from her pincers as twin beams of solar energy seared straight through the air. Violet leapt to the side and the beams missed the mark. They tore into the shack behind her, and continued on for a solid fifty meters. Violet scrambled to her paws, afraid of another incoming attack. The Lurantis adjusted her aim in return; Cobalt sent an uppercut straight to the side of her face to send her stumbling backward.
Cobalt clenched his wrist and cried out in pain-her carapace was harder than he expected. All his uppercut had done was merely get her pissed off. Nevertheless, he pressed the attack. His danger-sense was tingling, and he rolled to the side of a pincer thrust straight into the dirt where he had been a second prior. He hadn't even the time to properly react, and, if his foresight hadn't stepped in, he would have been speared through then and there. He stepped forward and delivered a blindingly fast punch straight to her side, but the same thing happened. He bounced off rather harmlessly, his fist aching horribly. He grit his teeth and ducked down as Lurantis lashed out in a large horizontal arc, he felt the edge snag on one of his ears and took a sharp breath in. He lost focus for a second, and Lurantis brought her pincers down to strike, before being blasted with a flamethrower. It was a direct hit, thanks to his distractions, and the Lurantis shrieked out in pain and rage. Cobalt was shielded from the fire by her body and was ecstatic to finally see her react heavily. Violet gasped for breath as the spout of flames died, and he reengaged the Lurantis.
She was furious, and lashed out at him with a straight jab using her right pincer. Cobalt unable to dodge such a sudden move at such a close range, he held out his forearms, braced diagonal to the thrust, and sent it scraping off of his arms to the side with the metal contacts on his arms. Thinking quickly, Cobalt stepped forward past her dangerous pincers and swung his arms in a savage arc, smashing his blunt, metal protrusions straight into the Lurantis' sides. The sound of a cracking shell and another shriek of pain told him that he had done well, and he grinned at finally getting a solid hit in. However, as he tried to remove his arms from her sides, he found them lodged into the sides of her body. He tried to rip himself free, but a pincer managed to snag onto one of his legs. With a mighty roar, the Lurantis spun around and sent him flying across the clearing. Violet screamed out to Cobalt as he went flying. He tumbled through the air, on a collision course with the large house. He grit his teeth in anticipation, hugged his bag, and curled up to protect the fragile objects inside. Cobalt tore straight through the weak, wooden walls in his way. He tumbled to a stop in the kitchen, dazed and left reeling from the force of the impact.
Dartrix shouted to him, "Holy shit! Are you okay?!"
"N-no..." Cobalt groaned weakly, "...But I got some meds." He pulled out some of the oran berries in his bag and stuffed them into his mouth.
"You got your ass handed to you out there! Are you really going back now?"
"I'm not going to let Violet die! I have to try something!" he shouted back, rising to his feet as he heard the sounds of fighting outside.
"Wait!" Dartrix squawked, stopping Cobalt in his tracks, "There's something in the cupboards that you can use!"
Violet shouted out, horrified to see her partner take such a brutal hit, before the Lurantis turned to face her. She panted in exhaustion and pointed one pincer directly at Violet and raised the other as a shield of defense, slowly creeping forward. Violet slowly backed up, and took a moment to think. Cobalt would be okay, he had the Oran berries on him. She couldn't focus on that now, she needed to protect herself first. They had spent maybe all of two minutes fighting Lurantis, and still needed to hold out for a bit longer. Her opponent wasn't firing beams anymore, maybe she was too exhausted to do it again? Regardless, she was still a dangerous threat. Violet sent small blasts of fire towards Lurantis—simple potshots to keep her busy. She just needed to stall for time, that's all. Lurantis blocked them with her thick shield, showing no signs of damage.
Violet's opponent started to rush at her, not willing to give her a second chance at firing off another strong blast. Violet concentrated in front of her, waiting for her opponent to be just a little bit closer. Once Lurantis was about five meters away, Violet's eyes flashed with an eerie light, and a ball of energy radiated and pulsed at a confusing, rapid pace that disoriented her assailant. Violet blasted herself up into the air, vaulting and twisting around her opponent, before delivering another powerful, fiery blast from point-blank range. Violet was elated. However, to her surprise, she saw glistening within the flames. She sidestepped rapidly as a thin beam of light scraped against the side of her head. She yowled out in pain and scrambled away in fear. Lurantis had used her shield to block at the last moment, only the lower half of her carapace was charred. Though, in the spots Cobalt had cracked, she seemed to be seared heavily. Lurantis was before her in a second with murder in her eyes, poised to strike straight into Violet's body, before an explosion sent her flying off towards the fields.
Violet looked off towards the house and saw Cobalt smash a small glass bottle with an orange label against the ground. He wiped his mouth on the back of his paws, cracked his knuckles and took off running low to the ground towards Lurantis. He sent blast seeds flying through the air to keep her busy as he closed the gap between them. Lurantis was forced to tank the blows with her pincer shields, but the force of the blasts managed to finally break her guard and left her wide open. In this moment, Cobalt got in close. His opponent hastily thrust her pincers out in a jab, but Cobalt had anticipated this. He flipped around to the side and dodged the attack before grabbing onto both of her pincers with an iron grip. In an instant, he shifted his footing and positioned her directly behind his back, standing squarely on the ground. He arched his back, put one paw under her pincers and another near the tip for leverage, and lurched forward, pulling her up and over his shoulders with an adrenaline filled cry, and flipped her up and around in the air to slam her down on the ground before him. She smashed into the dirt with a hearty thwack, stunned from the force of the throw. Cobalt leapt backwards, and with blood roaring in his ears, screamed at the top of his lungs, "Shoot, NOW!"
Violet rapidly spun a fiery vortex around the Lurantis and kept her pinned down on the ground. Violet had trapped Lurantis in a flaming prison, allowing the two to recollect themselves as they stood together and looked down on their opponent, panting with exhaustion. Help couldn't be more than thirty seconds away. As Cobalt took a moment to recollect himself, he was able to focus on his surroundings once more. The instant he did, his Aura Sensors shot up—something huge was coming. He moved to warn Violet, but a huge, chaotic swirling of leaves erupted from the field crops behind Lurantis and shot straight towards her victims. The violent winds slammed into both of her targets like a ton of bricks; the razor edges of the leaves cut them over and over in an endless assault. Howling out in pain, they crashed into the dirt. The furious blizzard died down as both of them lay in the middle of the clearing, bruised, bloodied, and beaten.
Lurantis rushed forward, eager to finally end the fight. However, before she could get far, a hail of arrows rained down on the mantis, piercing through her tough armor with ease. Over and over, she let out an ear piercing screech. She strained to rise back up to her feet but found it impossible to move—a whole tangled mess of ghostly chains kept her from moving at all. In an instant, a Decidueye disappeared and reappeared right before her, staring down at Lurantis who cried out violently and strained against the chains holding her down. The Decidueye narrowed her eyes, and, in the blink of an eye, loosed three arrows straight into Lurantis's throat to make sure she wouldn't get back up for good. After the life left the mantis' eyes, and she confirmed her kill, Decidueye turned around and looked at the destroyed battlefield, picked up Cobalt and Violet, and went searching for her brother.
END CHAPTER FIVE