Gaigax: Jubilife Arc
Chapter 13: The Storm
Zan had quickly pass out on his stomach in the hotel room. With Lady Moore gone he could claim the bed to himself, which his pokemon were sharing the bed with him. Boris sprawled out at the end of the bed while Augment had perched himself on the oak bed post. Nala had claimed one of the extra , scarlet, pillows to herself and curled up in a ball of fluffy. Though she was currently not asleep. Her green eyes were wide open and they were shaking. Her pillow bed was right next to the pillow that Zan's head was resting on.
"Zan, Zan, wake up" whispered a worried Nala. A purple paw stretched out to nudge Zan on the cheek. She didn't want to disturb Boris but was desperately trying to get Zan awake now. There was a very bad feeling in the air and the psychic tried to ignore it but the longer she ignored it the worst the feeling got. Her trainer was still fast asleep though, he was exhausted. Nala hesitated for a few more moments, maybe she could just continue to ignore this feeling and it would pass. The espeon tried hard to close her eyes but they would just not shut. "Zaaaan!" she screamed in a moment of rashness. The sound made Boris awake in so much shock that he rolled off the bed with confusion. Zan did not make any sudden movements but the scream wake him up.
"Wha, what?" he asked groggily.
"I don't know what's going on. But it is something involving Wes and the feeling is very strong in the air" explained Nala to the best of her abilities. That knowledge helped Zan wake up much faster.
"Do you know where he is?" Zan spoke clearly.
"I don't know why, but I do." Boris was just getting to his feet now, still quite confused. Augment hadn't even woke up for a second throughout all of this.
"Let's go" responded Zan. He had passed out in his regular clothes and bounced right up to his feet in a second. Before they could comment Augment and Boris were returned to their pokeballs and attached to Zan's belt. His backpack was the only thing he left behind before storming out of the room with Nala clutched in his arms.
The rooftop where Grave and Mort were fighting on was still in surprisingly perfect shape. The battle had warred on for a good hour now while managing to keep very quiet. Neither side wanted to attract attention so the special moves were kept to a minimum. The two men were just slugging it out punch for punch. Mort took the lead this time to go on the offensive. He charged one of his chubby arms low towards the stomach of Grave. The Hunter Mort was faster than one would imagine. The hooded Grave wanted to leap back to dodge but he was too worried about protecting his identity. If he moved back too fast his hood would come sliding off. Instead he sacrificed his arms to block the punch by forming an x shape. The attack still hurt since it was coated in a very light, tan energy. It was a Mega Punch after all. Grave's arms were really sore, they had started to get bruised since the battle had been going on for so long. Mort kept the offensive going by throwing another Mega Punch with his left hand this time. The punch was thrown high and hooked towards Grave's right ear. The hood was hung so low that it hampered Grave's visibility greatly. He saw the hook coming and was able to duck under it just fine. But then another Mega Punch was planted right under Grave's Jaw. Mort followed up by pushing his feet down, giving his fist more power to push off of, sending Grave into the air. The large nose man snatched out his left hand to wrap around Grave's ankle before the hooded man soared too high. Grave's body stopped rising and was twisted like a clock hand due to Mort. The roof was so small that just one step and Grave was now dangling over the edge. Mort had to bring up his other hand to grab Grave's remaining ankle. This gave the man enough power to hold Grave up and stopped himself from getting kicked in the face. Grave had the pleasantry of long arms though especially compared to Mort's short arms. Before the black cloaked man could fight back a small cloud had passed through his face. The attack caused the vigilante to release a long, stretching yawn. He was still awake but his eyes were fighting for sleep.
"And here comes the underdog out of left field to snatch up the mischievous Grave. Neither the strong leader nor the stubborn tracker could succeed before me, the Great Mort" he monologued. Grave's identity was fully exposed now, leaving his blonde hair to flow in the wind. Instead of trying to keep his hood on Grave used his final actions to lock onto Mort's ankles as well, since that was the only thing the taller male could reach. He was still awake but the speech by Mort was helping put him to sleep. "It was rather simple, all it took was putting up a double team clone where I was supposed to be guarding. That made you drop your guard as long as you were thought of site of my clone. Then again you are a rather simple criminal. But any threat to Gaigax must be eliminated before it blossoms. That is what they say at least, all I care about is the promotion I will probably get for catching you. I really want Vraska's job, I could do so much better than that stupid demon.
"You're all the same" muttered Grave. Mort was surprised to hear the man's voice and glared down in disgust, hoping he would fall asleep already. "If you work for Gaigax then you stand for his ideals. That ideal of burying other beneath you so you can climb to the top. And then when you're at the top you can change your actions and just do whatever pleases you. You're all the same. And I hate that ideal."
"Ooooh, large words coming from the loser. Do you think you're the lion? Look again Wes Bartrin, you're the mouse." Mort had recognized the appearance once the hood dropped and he was totally spot on. Grave was Wes Bartrin. The beat up blonde boy let out a wounded laugh.
"I'd say I'm more of a raven" Wes muttered.
"Well then, let's see how well you fly" threatened Mort as he released his grip around Wes's legs. Wes's own grip on Mort's ankles slipped very easily as the boy had completely fallen asleep.
"Let's see you fly too!" exclaimed Zan while releasing a fire punch straight into Mort's face. The brunette boy had teleported behind Mort out of nowhere. The big nosed man had no defense up and was sent flying off of the tower. He quickly recovered though and preciously aimed his right arm towards the edge of the tower. This arm was the one that was completely sleeved in red cloth. The cloth was extended from his hand and flew towards the tower, wrapping around a small bar sticking out. He aimed the attack fair enough away from Zan so the brunette couldn't undo the wrap with force. Still the boy shot out a quick flamethrower but the blast of flames did very little damage, since Mort's skeleton clash had a lot of energy left to keep him protected. His cloth move was also an attack, it was Wrap so it had a natural aura around it already. While this was going on, Wes continued to free fall down. A light pink aura engulfed his body and allowed him to slow down his dive to death. The stop was not sudden though, inches before hitting the ground was when the male finally came to a halt, still levitating in the air. Right next to the sleeping Wes was an exhausted and worried Nala. She let out a sigh of relief that Wes was saved and dispersed the Telekinesis around him. The slight fall jolted the man out of his pokemon induced sleep.
"Hey violent Bartrin boy, get yourself back up there" Nala ordered with a stern face. "And you're welcome." Wes was already up to his feet and moving.
"My pleasure little cat. And thanks, I guess" he responded before rising into the air. Nala was perched up on her back paws but the moment Wes wasn't looking she slid forward exhausted.
"Yay Nala, you saved him, you're so cool" she muttered to herself. "Now be safe guys."
Mort had flung himself back onto the roof only to be greeted by a barrage of orange punches that lit up the night sky. This made Mort very uncomfortable because he knew there was a chance others would be seeing this. And if any other member of Gaigax showed up, his glory would be taken.
"Hey now, do you have to be so flashy, you're going to attract attention" warned Mort.
"Good, let them come" encouraged Zan.
"Not good, we are committing crimes against Gaigax right now. You saw what happened when they made Lady Idiot their target" informed Wes. He had completely rose up to roof now and took a firm step onto solid ground. Mort and Zan were still dancing around though Mort could not dodge the attacks. He was desperately hanging on to using defense curl, it was the only thing not sending him flying off the roof again.
"Well there are two of us, if we use our flashy attacks now we can defeat him fast and bounce out of here. Even though I don't really know what's going on" Zan suggested.
"There actually three of us. Wait no, one of me, and then two of you. I don't want to be lumped with you guys" interrupted the beautiful Lady Moore. She came up from underneath the tower and flipped herself up the roof. Down from where she came was a set of handles alongside the tower made out of ice. "And for the stupid boy to learn, this here is Mort Magus, one of the special security guards of Gaigax." Mort's confidence was reduced instantly now. No longer was he worrying about the underdog snatch up Grave, but now he was worried about getting out of here alive.
"Wait, you two hate Gaigax too" asked a surprised Zan. His acquaintances just nodded which formed the largest smirk on Zan's face. "We have to talk after this then, but first things first." The action between Zan and Mort had come to a halt but the barefoot man was pushed into the middle of the tower with the three allies surrounding him.
"If anyone takes a single step I will tell my HQ that Grave is Wes Bartrin" threatened Mort. Wes chuckled at the empty threat, because Zan's first punch had totally shattered Mort's ear piece. Lady Moore darted forward anyway.
"Oh man you're Grave? You bastard I will kill you" Moore threatened herself. Mort heard her voice and turned around to protect himself to her attack by firing off a Mega Punch. He was so stressed now that his attacks were desperate and poor. Lady Moore agilely pushed a Force Palm under his fore arm which pushed the punch up on out of the way. With her other hand she delivered several icicle spears into his stomach. That attack forced the man back a step and then the cold, blue spears shattered in a rain of beauty, forcing Mort back again. Now he was right in Zan's territory. Brilliant flames shot up Mort's back which sent him right back Lady's way. He was desperately trying to hold his ground so that he had the time to work up a counter attack, but it was futile. A large ball of ice slammed into the hunter's chubby head. He really felt that attack meaning his skeleton's energy was dropping. Mort was now in Wes's side of the field and the Bartrin boy couldn't be happier.
"You can't live, but I won't kill you, whatever should I do?" wondered Wes, mostly to himself. Fear had completely replaced all of Mort's confidence now. A bullet punch was unloaded straight into his jaw. Before the hunter could be pushed into someone else's territory Wes snatched his shoulder and pulled him in. Again a steel fist was unloaded on the man's boy jaw. This attack brought Mort to his pathetic knees. A black boot slide on top of Mort's shaking right hand. No pressure was given though until Wes initiated a Heavy Slam, which made a cracking sound echo in the air. "The answer is to break your jaw and hands, as long as you can keep my identity hidden, then I don't care about you." Zan didn't really care about the event anymore, the battle was over and his allies were safe. The rest was Wes's business. Lady Moore was still very antsy for more fighting but she restrained herself, since beating up a helpless man was just no fun. When Wes was done, Mort laid on his back in extreme pain. He wanted to pass out but he had a boot in his stomach that was jolting him awake. "Do you still think you're the victorious underdog? I wonder if Vraska the Demon will treat you like your victorious after she finds you in this state. And it'll take you several months to recover, how do you think your bank account will look then? I don't think Gaigax will pay worker's comp." Once the speech had finished Wes lifted up his boot and Mort passed out quickly. The blonde felt mightily victorious now, despite giving up his secret identity. "One down."
The battle has begun! But before the campaign can advance there are some things the three protagonists must talk about. They all have different opinions and plans for the Gaigax Company. But they all want the company to fall. But the life of the city stands between the allies and Gaigax falling. Zan has a plan for that though all on the next Iron Fist: Cries of a City