Holy **** *** on a sandwich with ****** on top, and a side of ***** ***!! Six reviews for one chapter o_O
ClinicallyInsaneAndDangerous: Awesome penname :D *Ding!* OC accepted. Thx for the review!
Insan: *Ding!* OC accepted. No, no, Phoenix Wright is a lawyer, not a verb. ;) Thx for the review!
ShadowDragoon32: lol, yeah, *Ding!*, and np
DelinquentDuo: …That's not how I would describe him… Thx for the review!
Skroy Horitz and the book master: … Nothing to say in reply, really…
I really cut my responses short this time around, didn't I?
So I heard you like mudkips, but that doesn't change the fact that I don't own Pokémon.
Pace grumpily tore another mouthful off the long, red spiked fruit he held as he walked through the woods. When I ate that wacan berry, that was only half an hour ago, wasn't it? How the hell did I get so hungry again? He thought as he chewed the spelon berry. At least it tastes better than the wacan did… He popped the rest of the fruit in his mouth, letting the spicy flavor ravage his mouth. As weird as it sounded, he enjoyed having that burning sensation on his tongue. He glanced up after swallowing, then blinked.
"Okay, this is getting insane now," Pace grumbled, looking at the staircase sitting in the middle of the malformed trees. It was a good three feet wide and it extended well into the upper canopy of the forest. The base extended for about six feet, but after that, the stairs went on with absolutely no support. "Freak trees, freak healing, freak hunger, and now, freak staircases in the middle of nowhere," he growled under his breath. "Honestly, what the hell is with this place?"
He approached the stairs, stepping into a puddle of thick mud. He snarled as he jumped out and peered closely at the grey stone. He turned his gaze upwards. The stairs continued into the layer of leaves, the end completely obscured. Looking back at the trees, Pace saw that the staircase, assuming it went on straight, wouldn't meet any of them. The possibility of someone building the stairs to get to the top of a tree was ruled out, though it was crazy to begin with. Then again, the entire staircase was crazy to begin with. "Gagh! What am I even doing?! I've got better things to do than mess around with- this- thing!" He said loudly, as if trying to bring himself to his senses. He stormed off away from the staircase, muttering quiet curses. There was silence again for the staircase as a light breeze stirred a few leaves, dappling it with sunlight.
000
Pace's eye twitched.
"Damn it… I've been going… in a straight line… So what gives?" The staircase was right there, in front of him. It's a different one. It's got to be a different one, he told himself. There was the footprint of a buizel in a dried patch of mud. His footprint. His eye kept twitching.
…
"Nothing for it, then," Pace sighed as he walked to the base of the stairs. "…Why the hell am I even doing this?" he grumbled, taking a step on the smooth surface. After a few seconds, he put his other foot on the step above. The staircase didn't react at all to his weight. He continued to walk up, the leaves of the trees getting closer. Soon, he was in the middle of them. There were so many of the leaves that Pace was starting to have trouble shoving past them all. Damn it! He thought as a twig nearly whipped his eye. The canopy didn't look this thick from the ground!
Suddenly, they were gone. Pace stumbled from the sudden loss of pressure. He whipped his head around, to see that the staircase was behind him, now leading into the ground. He was in the middle of the forest, in a clearing. By all purposes, the forest was exactly the same as the one he had just left.
"Just what the hell is with this place?" Pace grumbled, looking at where the stair case disapperaed into the earth. The trees rustled slightly in the breeze. Before he could ponder what just happened, a wet, sticky mass attached itself to his back. "What the… Waugh!" He was quickly jerked off his feet and dragged towards a set of bushes by the webbing.
"Damn it! Let go of me!" he roared, twisting around, grabbing the non-sticky part of the thread and digging his feet into the ground. He slid for two meters before he and the webbing reached a stalemate. With a growl, he flicked the silken string, stumbling forward slightly as he did so. But to his satisfaction, his assailant was tugged out of the shrubs.
"Shoot!" the ariados cried around the mouthful of string that was still attached to Pace. The buizel jumped slightly at the presence of another talker, but he quickly recovered, letting go of the thread and jumping towards his foe. The bug pokémon quickly bit through the string and leapt to the side, avoiding his attack. As soon as Pace landed, he summoned more of the dark energy and lunged forward for a pursuit attack, still trailing the length of silk. The ariados responded with a spray of purple needles from its mouth.
"Damn it!" Pace muttered, releasing the dark aura and twisting away from the poison sting.
"Fast, aren't you?" the ariados said as Pace rolled to his feet. "Well how about this, aye!?" He, as Pace identified, lunged for the end of the webbing still attached to the buizel.
"Oh, no way in hell!" Pace growled, grabbing the thread at his end and tugging it away from the spider pokémon. As it was jerked away, the ariados missed it completely, crashing to the ground. He quickly stood up and spat out a mouthful of dirt as Pace rolled up the thread around the sticky wad still attached to his back, to prevent any more such problems.
"Come on, kid! Hold still!" he shouted, twisting around and facing his rear spinners towards the buizel, who simply moved his head to avoid the thick shot of silk. Pace growled as he lunged forward again, this time creating a burst of water behind him. Suddenly, a beam of freezing pale blue light shot through his shoulder, interrupting the aqua jet.
"Another!?" he shouted as he rolled away, grabbing at his numbed shoulder where shards of ice had formed.
"Nyra! What do you think you're doing!? This is my fight!" the ariados roared into the bushes.
"Oh, please, Kraid," a glaceon sighed, walking out of the shrubs. "All you had to do was reel that brat in, but nooo, you let him pull you into a battle! Disgraceful!" she humphed. A flash. She stared wide-eyed as a scyther sliced through the sonic boom Pace had sent straight at her. The scyther was covered in thin yellow lines that ran across his exoskeleton symmetrically, two of which intersected between his eyes.
"Damn it," Pace cursed under his breath, then spat a mouthful of water at the ice to help it melt.
The scyther, stood in his pose for a second, then smacked both Nyra and Kraid with the backside of his blades. "You're both fools!" he growled. "You have both have severely underestimated your foe," he chided as the glaceon rubbed her head.
"Who the hell do you think you guys are, attacking me like that!?" Pace shouted out, catching their attention.
"Well, you silly boy," Nyra giggled, apparently having recovered from the smack, "we're kidnappers! When you came along by your lonesome self, we couldn't help but to pick such an easy target to…"
"There wasn't a single word you said that didn't make me want to rip off your tail and gag you with it," Pace growled, interrupting her. Kidnappers?! Damn it, just my luck, He thought. I don't see a trainer nearby. Are these guys…?
"Ugh! So uncouth!" the glaceon harrumphed, turning her head away.
"Talking to a lady like that? Where are your manners?" the scyther said to him, crossing his arms.
"Said the kidnapper."
"Touché."
"As for kidnapping me, you won't get anything out of it because I don't really know anyone who'd pay for my release," he said before any of the others could respond. That's the truth, I suppose.
"Ah, is that so?" the scyther asked. "Pity. Move along then, stop wasting our time," he said dismissively, turning around.
"Now wait a damn minute! You're just going to just let me go!? I could be lying to you, you dumbasses!"
"It's believable that you have no friends, aye?" Kraid shrugged. Pace ignored the comment.
"Are you guys seriously kidnappers?"
"Well, just outlaws in general, but yes," The scyther shrugged.
Pace blinked at him disbelievingly.
"Hold on a minute."
"Damn it, you guys. How many of you are there?" Pace growled, turning towards the newest voice. A gliscor hung from a tree, half-covered in shadows.
"Whether or not he is lying, which I firmly believe he is, it would be unfortunate if he were to be allowed to inform authorities of our presence, would it not?" The gliscor's eyes gleamed. Wait, how could I inform the authorities? I'm a pokémon!
"Bah, we've were about to leave the area anyways," The scyther replied, unconcernedly. "Even if he does, we'll be long gone before anything can be done. Let's move."
"Aye," The ariados sighed. "Kid, our battle's not done. We'll meet again," He told Pace. "And…"
"Humph! I hope we don't!" Nyra said, turning her head away again.
"And you still have some of the web on your back," Kraid finished after the interruption.
"Some?" Pace grumbled lowly, picking up a stick to prod the large, wet mass off. A massive understatement… Looks like the scyther's their leader. Some kidnappers. Just who the hell are these guys, really? He glanced around the clearing, and blinked when he realized the staircase was no longer around.
"Tch," The gliscor spat. He suddenly threw himself at Pace, his claw radiating dark energy.
"What the…" The buizel barely avoided getting beheaded by the night slash. "Damn it! That could've killed me!" he roared as the top of his stick fell clean off. The gliscor swooped up and circled around him.
"Cancer!" the scyther called in a warning tone.
"What would you do if I killed this boy?" the gliscor asked quietly.
"Kill me?" Pace echoed. "Like hell I'll let you!" he shouted, dropping the severed stick and settling into a ready stance.
"What is this?" the scyther muttered under his breath.
"Answer, Cross!"
Cross glared back at him silently. "So you would?" he finally asked.
"Pah, I had enough of your softness," Cancer growled back. "For example, the delcatty. If you had listened to me and killed one, the other would've never had the confidence to escape."
"Bastard," Pace grumbled.
"With that spinda, you wouldn't allow me to get rid of the witness you so carelessly allowed to hear us. We were found out and had escape without collecting ransom."
"Cancer! Just listen to yourself!" Kraid shouted at him.
"How many times have you avoided killing!? Even against the Watchers, you would never make a finishing blow! Even preventing me from killing off those pests!"
"You despicable…" Nyra growled. "I always knew you were mad..."
"Now, you're simply allowing this capture to walk away!"
"At least I have some sense of honor, unlike you," Cross told him.
"Honor?" he chuckled darkly. "What use is honor, in a time and age like this?"
"..." Cross continued to glare at him.
"You're pathetic! You're all pathetic!" the gliscor roared. "Countless times since I joined you, you showed weakness! On this side of the law, weakness is not something you can afford!" he shouted, almost maniacally. "I have been planning this for a week! This is the perfect opportunity to introduce you to the harsh reality!!" he roared, diving straight at Pace before any of them could react. His claws began to shine as he swung them in the shape of an x. Pace deftly ducked under the claws, but Cancer quickly twisted back, swiping at him again. The buizel jumped over the claw, but the other claw caught him in midair. Cancer grinned, immediately following up with a diagonal slash in the other direction.
"No!" they all cried as blood splattered across the forest floor. "Cancer! You…" Nyma gasped, watching Pace fall roughly on his back.
"Damn it," the buizel gasped, gritting his teeth as blood flowed freely from the two gashes in his chest. He tried to sit up, but the wad of silk attached him firmly to the dirt.
"Congratulations. You managed to avoid a fatal blow," Cancer said quietly, flapping his wings to hover in place. His claw shone a pure white color. "But not this one." He dove again.
"No!" Cross shouted, running to defend Pace. He wasn't going to make it. I haven't been in this body for two hours and I'm about to die. How pointless, Pace groaned mentally.
Suddenly, a barrage of stars came out of nowhere and slammed into the gliscor. The attack only caused Cancer's claw to miss Pace's skull. The buizel's eyes widened as they sunk deep into the soil besides his head. "What?" All five of them looked up into the trees.
"Radi! Luma! What the hell are you doing here!?" Pace called hoarsely.
"Shut up, stupid!" Luma shouted at him, looking very pissed. Radi seemed to be a bit more focused.
"Sister," he said lowly. She nodded. They both vanished, then immediately reappeared, slamming into Cancer. He growled lowly, barely flinching, and pounded both of them away with his claw, pulling the other one out of the dirt.
"Oh, no you don't!" Cross roared, swinging at him with his bladed arms. Cancer countered with his menacing pincers.
"Damn it! Be careful up there!" Pace shouted from under them, still trying to pull himself off the webbing on his back.
Nyra, from further away, started to gather an orb of blue light in front of her mouth. "No! You could hit any of them!" Kraid told her. She immediately cancelled the ice beam with a growl.
"What can I do then?" she muttered. Kraid didn't answer, instead, dashing towards Cancer's backside, gathering a black aura around his body. He thrust a single leg at him, but the gliscor, seeing the sucker punch coming, knocked Cross away and quickly jabbed his tail straight out behind him. The poison jab smashed into the arachnid's head, knocking him away. Cross took the chance to lash a blade across Cancer's face.
"You're fired," he growled as Cancer reared back. The gliscor glared at him with his right eye, as his left had been scratched, leaking a few drops of blood. With a roar, he lunged forward, right past Cross, towards the two pachirisu. "No!" The gliscor raised a glowing white claw above them. The scyther quickly leapt to their defense, blocking the guillotine with his blades, though the move slammed his arms and the rest of his body into the earth. To add insult to injury, the save was completely unnecessary, as the pachirisu had already jumped clear of the attack.
Grinning, Cancer turned back to Pace. The buizel was still stuck, and though his injury had healed somewhat, he was clearly suffering from the blood loss. "Die!" He thrust an open claw towards him again.
"No! Cancer! Stop it!" Nyma cried. Cross started to stand up, but it was far too late to do anything. For Pace, the world froze. The gliscor's shining pincer slowed almost to a stop as he watched it. He heard his heartbeat slow down in his ears. This feeling… he thought dully. I've seen death before… The blue sky wavered. I've experienced death before… The guillotine attack came closer …But how?
The claw never reached him.
"You…" Cancer growled.
"You idiot…" Pace said in a whisper.
Luma stared, mouth gaping, as Radi glared defiantly back at Cancer. The defiance faded as the life was drained from his body. The gliscor removed his claw, allowing Radi to fall back, on top of Pace.
"Brother!!"
Cliffhanger.
Whoa, bet none of you saw that crap coming. I'm still mentally smacking myself for pulling the kidnappers right out of the blue. These guys had been planned for a while, but the only way to get the results I wanted was to plop them in here.
Review!
Edited 8-3-09
Nyma is now Nyra. Minor edits. Move along, nothing to see here.