Reader's proceed with caution. Mild swearing reappears this chapter.
"They've what?!"
"The troops have turned on us sir. It started just a couple of seconds ago."
"This must be the plan Puzzles was putting into action." Momo commented. "He must have hypnotized them just like he did us on the way here."
"Precisely." Light replied. Turning to his communicator, Light gave his orders. "Anyone attacking you is now an enemy. Take them out."
"You CAN'T be serious." Silver nearly yelled as she heard Light's order. "Those people have served the NAA faithfully and THIS is how you want to repay them? You could have at least tried to think of a way to snap them out of it."
"We don't have time for that." Light replied. "Each one of those men knew what they were signing up for when they joined the New Age Alliance. I too would like to save them-"
"Well you sure have a funny way of showing it." Silver cut in.
"As I was saying." Light continued. "I too would like to save them but experimenting on ways to turn them back would cost too much time and energy. The troops we have now are tiring and even look at us! I'm at about half power, that blast had to have taken quite a bit of energy from Grunt."
"I'm at about three quarters power."
"Exactly and Momo can barely even stand." Light said. "It may seem cold but it's our best option right now."
"I don't care!" Silver cried. "I'm not attacking my own allies."
"That's fine." Light said, his face slowly turning stoic. "I'll do it myself. You and Nate head to Slateport and find Puzzles."
"Are you sure you want to do that Light?" Nate asked.
"I'm the commander of the NAA forces." Light declared. "And I have to lead my troops by example. I'm sure others are having the same misgivings as the rest of you. If I'm there, I can convince the others to do the same."
"Or else.." Silver muttered under her breath.
"Grunt, you stay here and protect Momo. The rest of you have your orders." Light said before flying off in the direction of the rampaging troops.
"You ready Nate?" Silver asked.
"Yeah let's kick his ass!" Nate replied before both of them set off toward Slateport.
Light POV
Upon arrival at the scene, Light found that Haunter's maneuver had turned the tide of battle once again. The remaining forces from Slateport were teaming with the hypnotized NAA forces and seriously outnumbering the remainder of Light's forces.
"Thank goodness you came!" a Sawk cried as Light landed on the scene, upon closer inspection, this with the soldier that had radioed in the disturbance a few moments ago. "I think I misheard you on the radio because I could have sworn you said to attack our own troops."
"That's exactly what I said." Light replied.
"Don't you have any emotions!" Sawk asked. "They're your own troops for Arceus' sake!"
"I just had this discussion a moment ago with Silver and I'd like to go through this only once, so if you could wait a moment." Light said as he once again rose into the air and turned on his communicator to speak with all the troops present.
"Attention all NAA forces! This is your commander Light speaking. As you all have noticed, some of our troops have decided to switch sides due to hypnosis from the enemy's commander. You orders are this: All turned troops are now to be considered enemy combatants. I repeat: All turned troops are now to be considered enemy combatants. Attack them without hesitation."
"And what if we refuse?" Asked a Knight pilot nearby.
Light descended to match the height of the Knight and replied firmly. "If anyone is to refuse, they too will be treated as an enemy combatant and I will deal with them personally. Do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal." Replied the confrontational pilot sarcastically.
Although there was unease building at the order just given, the NAA soldiers soon began to fulfill their duties and attacked their former comrades.
So far so good. Light thought. The troops aren't happy but soon all of the enemy forces will be defeated. Heck I might even still get a shot at Puzzles for doing this.
Almost as if on cue, Lizardcrap(LC) came out of nowhere and began to attack Light viciously, eyes glowing under the spell of Puzzles' hypnosis.
"Just when I thought things were going well." Light said. "It's a good thing Silver isn't here. There is no way she would fight her second in command."
LC then charged in with a Brick Break attack which Light blocked, before hitting him with numerous Night Slashes. After finishing his assault, Light jumped back to try and create some space between himself and LC, only to realize that his attacks didn't seem to have much of an effect, and Lizardcrap came charging after him.
This might be a little harder than I thought. Light thought, preparing himself for the long battle ahead.
Meanwhile
As Nate and Silver entered Slateport, they found the city strangely quiet and in good condition, considering the blockade that had been ordered against it.
"What happened to the blockade?" Nate asked. "This town should look a lot worse than it does now."
"Are you talking about those pesky ships you sent to try and weaken us?" Puzzles asked, suddenly appearing from the side of a nearby building. "They proved to be very susceptible to suggestion, if know what I mean."
"So you hypnotized them too?" Silver asked, already knowing the answer.
"Correct! Give the lady a prize!" Puzzles replied clapping his hands wildly. "In fact, hypnotizing those ships gave me the idea to use it against you again today."
"You'll pay for that!" Nate yelled ready to charge into battle.
Stopping her comrade for acting rashly, Silver said quietly, "That doesn't matter now. We once again have the upper hand. Just don't let your guard down; I'm sure he has a few more moves left to play against us."
"Oooo. Forming a strategy? I hope it works."
"It will." Silver replied confidently. "Time to end you. Shadow Ball!"
Just after Silver launched her attack, Nate used a Sonicboom on the Ball greatly increasing its speed and power, and began to follow it to its target.
"How cute! You're already using combinations on me." Puzzles said as he dodged the oncoming attack. "Too bad it won't work. Trick Room!"
Everything began to slow as Puzzles launched his attack. Nate, who had been charging at nearly full speed toward Haunter was barely moving at all, even the missed Shadow Ball from before slowed to a standstill.
"Wh-What?!" Nate yelled surprised.
"Don't you like my special room?" Puzzles asked jokingly before releasing the technique, causing the unsuspecting Nate to fly wildly off course and opening the door for Haunter to focus on Silver.
Now even more wary of her foe, Silver launched a Swift attack and began to run to buy some time.
That Trick Room is going to be difficult to overcome. Silver thought. He takes advantage of his foes disorientation to block attacks and the slowing of everything in order to plan his next move.
"Poison Jab!" Puzzles yelled.
"How can you hit me when you aren't even near me?" Silver yelled before getting hit from behind by the Poison Jab attack.
"You forget that my hands float freely, giving them a nearly infinite range." Puzzles replied as he began to close rapidly. "Sludge Bomb!"
"Sonicboom!" Nate's attack collided with Puzzles', cancelling the attack.
"Thanks, I wouldn't have been able to dodge that one."
"No prob." Nate replied curtly as both he and Silver charged at their foe.
"Sword Resonance!"
"Shadow Ball!"
"Double Team!"
Even though Puzzles' was able to launch a Double Team, his luck stopped their as Silver's Shadow Ball hit the real Haunter on the first try, opening the door for Nate to hit the disoriented Puzzles with his Sword.
"Keep pressing the attack!" Silver yelled. "Don't let him recover!"
If we can keep him off-balance enough to keep him from using Trick Room, we might have a shot at this.
Light POV
While things had begun to look up in the battle against Puzzles', things were taking a turn for the worse for Light. The NAA troops, disgruntled about their orders, had begun to fight carelessly against the enemy and were dropping like flies. Light, while still fighting diligently, was not faring much better. Any attack he launched at LC would bounce almost harmlessly off his hard exterior as he continued to chase Light across the battlefield.
I can see how he became the Queen's Guard's second in command, this guy is relentless! Light thought, while evading an oncoming Double-Edge.
Rather than turning back to continue his chase of Light, Golem stopped in his tracks and began to gather power for an Earthquake.
Jumping in the air to evade the attack, Light counterattacked with a Dark Pulse which, like the other moves he had tried against LC, didn't seem to work.
I'm running out of options. Light thought as he began to fall back to the ground. Everything I've tried against LC hasn't put a single scratch on him while the NAA forces are falling apart around me. What do I do?
Knowing his enemy would be defenseless just after hitting the ground, LC had begun running toward Light's projected landing area with a Bulldoze attack at the ready. With no other option left to him, Light was force to take the Bulldoze attack and flew back several meters in the process.
LC was already launching a Stone Edge attack when Light finally got to his feet. As he began to weave his way through the oncoming stones, a sudden pain began to affect Light's legs, leaving him helpless against the remainder of the attack.
Damn it! Light thought as he got back to his feet once more. That Bulldoze attack sprained my leg. If he takes away my speed advantage, I can just about kiss this victory good-bye.
Sure enough as LC came after Light for another Double-Edge attack, Light found himself struggling to maintain the distance between them, a feat that had been child's play a few moments before.
Running out of options, Light launched a Dark Pulse at Golem's feet, releasing a dark cloud of dust and began to charge in for an attack.
I've been playing Lizardcrap's game too long. I need to strike now before I get any more worn out.
As soon as he was close enough to launch an attack, Light yelled "Night's Fury!"
This technique, combining the speed of a Fury Swipes attack with the power and typing of a Night Slash, was met by LC's counter of a Brick Break attack. While some swipes were successfully blocked, countless more broke through Lizardcrap's guard.
After a short while, LC began to notice the pattern of his enemy's attack, prompting Light to end the attack and retreat. Only before he could get away, his leg convulsed in pain once again, leaving him open to yet another Bulldoze attack which aggravated the injury even more.
Now running with a limp, Light was at the mercy of Lizardcrap's attacks which were becoming harder and harder for the injured Light to dodge.
Crap crap Crap! Light thought. With my leg torn up like this, I can't keep dodging these attacks. Somethings gotta give soon.
It turns out that something was his leg as it sent another wave of pain throughout Light's body and allowed LC to trap him within a Rock Tomb.
Unable to move anything now, Light took the opportunity to survey the battlefield around him. There were no allies nearby and the only fighting that could be noticed were a few shots off in the distance, presumably Grunt leading the remaining troops.
As LC walked over, Light began to try and find a way out only to find that he couldn't.
Even if I break out of this Tomb, I won't be fast enough to avoid being put right into another one. And if I can find a way to defeat LC, I'll still have all of these other troops to deal with along with my bum leg. Light thought with dismay. I guess all I can do is pour all of my power into my next move and hope it works.
As soon as he came face to face with LC, Light began to make his move.
"If you're controlling these people I'm sure you can hear me Puzzles." Light yelled, unsure as to whether Puzzles was actually listening or not. "You may think you've won but there's still a long ways to go before you can claim victory over the New Age Alliance. Hell, you haven't even defeated MEEEE!"
On his final word, Light launched his attack, a massive Thunderbolt, comparable to the one he launched months before in Verdanturf. As the electricity radiated from Light's body a tower of Thunder could be seen from even miles away in Mauville.
AN: And so the battle for Slateport continues. I know most of my other battles have been two chapters but I swear Slateport will finish next chapter. Also let me know what you think: Did I pace the battles OK? Do you guys like the juggling between two battles thing I've been trying? Leave a review with your thoughts!
OC submissions are still going on! Check Chapter 18 for details.