Pokemon Adventures: Where Legends Cross
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon Adventures/Special.
Moving on, moving on... but excited anyways! This chapter has a lot to feature :)
Began writing on June 1st, 2011. Finished drafting chapter 31. Wonder when I'll get to move onto the second arc? ... *dies*
Chapter 16. Vs. Haxorus (Part 1): Twisted Alliances
- Opelucid Gym -
"Poka, push on with Flame Charge!" Black yelled as the Haxorus skidded across the wide floor hissing, having just been hit by Poka's Flare Blitz head-on. The Emboar immediately rushed at the Axe Jaw Pokemon with his legs wreathed in flame, smashing into its side with unbelievable speed for the normally-slow Mega Fire Pig Pokemon. Not that it would've hurt the Haxorus much, the the speed-boost was bound to help.
"You'll never bring'em down like that, Black! Haxorus, use Slash!" Iris countered. Having withstood the Fire-type attack, Jaxorus immediately swung its bladed tusk at Poka, landing a solid blow that almost made Black flinch with his Pokemon; though he and Poka had trained hard to oversome the Emboar's mediocre defense, the Axe Jaw Pokemon's attacks were so stupidly strong that even a small scratch hurt.
"Try to attack from the side, Poka!" Black adviced quickly. Using the speed he had gained from all the Flame Charges, Poka swiftly swung out of the Haxorus's head's way, snaking his way to the side of the massive dragon, ready to land a powerful Brick Break upon it.
"Dragon Tail!" Iris shouted gleefully. Before Poka or Black could react properly to the countercommand the Axe Jaw Pokemon's bladed tail came swinging out of nowhere, striking Poka squarely in the face and sending him tumbling across the floor; thankfully, he was heavy enough to resist being thrown entirely out of the platform, which would have resulted in his loss.
"You're good at this, Black, really good." Iris commented happily as the Emboar struggled to his feet; both Pokemon were down to panting at this point. "I've never fought this hard ever since I became a Gym Leader. But at this rate you're still gonna lose, Black."
"So all I need to do is win," replied Black nonchalantly. Of course he knew that this style of battling wouldn't grant him victory; he still had some cards left to play. "And I will. I didn't have Poka keep using Fire-type attacks to damage your Pokemon, Iris."
Black smiled as a look of confiusion passed by the girl's face, which soon changed into shock as she saw what he had been planning all along; the floor of the platform was covered in glowing ember, discharged by Poka's furious attacks. Haxorus had apparantly noticed the change as well, looking at the red-dotted floor in wariness. Too late for that.
"Let's open purgatory, Poka! Flamethrower!" Black yelled. Letting out a powerful bellow, the Emboar quickly spewed a thick column of flame onto the floor, at once igniting all the embers and turning the entire platform - except where Black and Iris were standing - into a raging hellhole.
"Haxorus!" Iris cried from somewhere beyond the fire, unable to locate her partner among the crimson inferno. Black could hear Haxorus shrieking somewhere as well, no doubt searching for its hidden opponent. Then Poka walked out of the flames to stand beside him, to hear out his plan with the opponent out of earshot.
"You can hear where Haxorus is, right?" Black quietly asked his partner, who nodded confidently. "Good. Use Substitute and confuse it, then finish with Superpower. Okay?"
Grunting in understanding, Poka quickly raised a column of flame in front of him, out of which his copy-doll swiftly walked out. Allowing the fake clone to enter first, the Emboar gave an assuring nod at Black before following in.
"Put it out, Haxorus! Dragon Dance!" Iris's shout drifted over from the opposite side. Two seconds later the flames swung wildly and waved away, revealing the Haxorus lost in a frenzied battle-dance, the red-black cloud of energy created from the fervor chasing the fire away. (#1) Ending the dance with a furious war-cry, the Axe Jaw Pokemon swung its head around to face the fake Poka charging at it, the real Poka still hidden within the unsmothered flames.
"Poka, Hammer Arm!" Black issued the fake command, feeling the victory mere inches away from his grasp.
"Haxorus, use Dual Chop!" Iris cried triumphantly - by now the flames had relented enough for Black to see her smug expression. Before his shocked eyes the Haxorus rushed forward with its enhanced speed, swiftly slashing through the Substitute with a single chop with one fang, then in the same speed diving into the fire and dealing a second slash at Poka in a quick counterswing, catching the Emboar's Superpower with its tail and throwing him back several feet.
"But how..." Black muttered, realizing that Iris had seen through his plan completely, a feat that very few Trainers could boast of (like his master).
"You need to be a bit more creative than that, Black," Iris chided teasingly as Haxorus and the much-worn Poka faced off again in the charred platform. "The plan was a really good one, I'll admit, but one that's already known to me."
Black blinked in surprise. That would mean -
"Two years ago I watched your master win the Legend Badge from Gramps," explained Iris with a reminiscing smile. "I watched him beay Granpa's own Haxorus with the same strategy with his Simisear. It came as a nasty shock to me, seeing him lose against a Pokemon he had advantage against. Don't you think I'd have devised a counter for that plan during the last two years?"
Maroon had beaten Drayden with this?
"So come on, Black," said Iris, giggling at the young Trainer's dumbfounded expression. "Show me something I don't already know. I'll show you how hard that will be!"
- Mistralton City -
"Blue-san!" White cried out in desperation, coughing and sputtering as filthy smoke assaulted her from all sides, choking her lungs and watering her eyes so that she could barely see her Samurott in front of her as it guided her through the Smog and Haze attack; for some reason, though, its sight appeared to be even worse off than her own.
A feral roar from her side made her turn to see Jupiter's Skuntank launching itself out from the Haze, about to floor the half-blind Samurott with a deadly Night Slash attack. "Samurott! Look ou - "
"Hydro Cannon!"
Two fierce jets of water came shooting out of nowhere, colliding fully with the Skuntank and sending it flying, also managing to dissipate the disgusting Smog temporarily. Quickly wiping her eyes White saw Blue and Blasty rushing over to her, both looking worn. Just before the Haze closed over them again she managed to see that they've been driven to the edge of the city, with the fighting people and Pokemon yelling and screeching a little further away.
"You've done enough, Blasty. Return!" Blue gasped, recalling the poisoned Blastoise back to his Poke Ball. "Nidory, take over!"
"We have to get back and help them!" White cried, trying not to breathe in the polluted air. She couldn't even dare send out her Unfezant to clear it away, as the Proud Pokemon had already been intoxicated before she hurriedly returned her.
"I know, but we need to get out of this Smog first!" Blue exclaimed, leaning onto her Nidoqueen for support as they rushed through the unending field of grey haze without any sense of direction. "Gah, this will never work. Nidory, use Dragon Pulse!" (#2)
Nidory opened her jaws with a worried cry for her Trainer, a turqoise orb of energy pulsing in her mouth. She quickly launched in into a fierce hurricane of energy at the thick miasma surrounding them, blasting the Smog away to create a narrow path of clean air. Without further instruction the two Trainers ran into it for dear life, not even bothering to see what was at the end of it until they burst out of it into open air with their Pokemon following behind.
"Finally!" White and Blue cried simultaneously as they plopped down onto the floor along with Samurott - Nidory, being a Poison-type, was unaffected. Recovering before the older girl, White quickly got to her feet to see that they had actually exited the city, stumbling into somewhere near the southern entrance: the very place where they had rode through a few hours ago.
"Well!" said Blue as she came up from behind White, her face furrowing as she noticed as well. "We've landed ourselves in a fix. We'll have to fight our way through the Teams all over again if we want to move on."
"Which is not about to happen, I am afraid."
Whirling around at the rasping voice, White's eyes almost rolled back against her skull as she spotted Team Plasma grunts walking out of the woods around them, two Sages waving them forward with their hands. One of them wore a yellow emblem in front of his robe with a Stunfisk flopping by his feet, and the other - one with a red emblem - stood beside a hulking Darmanitan.
"It was foolish of Gorm to drag the other two in pursuing you," commented Sage Giallo dryly as Samurott dashed out to stand in front of White, quickly unsheathing his blades with a warning snarl. "I would say he was impatient to have someone who insulted our ideals as... conspiracies... punished, but his recklessness proved ill for all of us; our small alliance is now uncovered, and it has become neccessary for you to be... permanently silenced."
"So you are allied with Team Rocket and Team Galactic," Blue hissed, slowly retreating behind a growling Nidory. "What a shame. I though you actually might have been better people than those scumbags."
"You can judge us however you would prefer," said Sage Rood harshly. "But what does it matter to us, as long as it reaches no other ears?"
As if his words were a signal, the grunts released their Pokemon as one.
"We regret it," said Giallo as they all began walking slowly toward the two girls like an army of the dead, their eyes burning with killing intent.
"Blue-san..." White whispered, a cold knot forming in her stomach. Most of their Pokemon - in fact, all of hers - were exhausted during their previous fights, and were not at all in a condition to fight a whole gang of bloodthirsty criminals.
"I know," Blue gulped beside her. Glancing at the older Dex Holder, White noticed that she was stealthily hiding a second Poke Ball behind her back, and wisely pretended not to notice; no doubt another one of her brilliant escape plans. In that aspect, if nothing else, she could trust Blue completely.
"Stunfisk, use Thunder Wave!"
"Darmanitan, Fire Punch!"
"Nidory, defend with Earth Power!"
"Samurott, use Razor Sh - "
"Golbats, Crobats, use Air Cutter!"
An unfamiliar voice suddenly cut through the string of commands, causing White and Blue to flinch in surprise. The next moment a multitude of air blades came hurtling out of the trees, slamming into the Team Plasma grunts and their Pokemon and throwing them all over the place.
"Look!" Blue cried as she pointed beyond the woods, where a swarm of Golbats - led by several Crobats - glided down and swooped over the surprised grunts' heads before gathering in front of the two Dex Holders to form a living barrier between them and Team Plasma.
"Phew! Looks like we weren't late after all," said the voce again, this time coming from beneath White's feet. With a yelp of surprise she leaped back in time to see a large patch of ground in front of her suddenly collapse to reveal a person-sized hole, out of which several people wearing horrifyingly familiar black uniforms leaped out as if they were ninja squads.
"Team Rocket!" Blue exclaimed in shock as the black men (and several women) swiftly appeared in front of them. However, one more surprise awaited Blue and White when they turned their back on them as one, instead facing off against the aghast Team Plasma along with their squad of Bat Pokemon.
"What do you think you are doing here?" Sage Rood exclaimed in fury at the Team Rocket grunts. "Are you backing out of your deal, or just backstabbing? you are supposed to be joining Archer - "
"Archer can go to hell, the naive fool!" Snapped the apparant leader of the squad, a tall-lean man with a red veil covering the lower half of his face. White quickly noticed that all the Team Rocket grunts 'protecting' them hid their mouths under a piece of cloth - mostly red or violet. "We're here by orders from Koga himself, and he makes no deals with hypocrites like you!"
"Did you just say Koga?" Blue gasped at a grunt standing in front of her, the only one wearing a grey-blue veil. After tensing shortly at her voice the grunt nodded curtly, returning his attention to the front.
"What is the meaning of all this?" White could swear that Giallo's confused words were meant to be hers. Really, what on earth was going on in here? Why was Team Rocket suddenly protecting them?
"It means, old geezer, that we're not your friends," sneered the grunt leader. "We serve no one but the True Boss, and under his and Koga's orders we're here to put an end to your hypocrisy!"
"Blue-san, what's going on - " said White in utter confusion as she turned to the older girl, only to see a new light in Blue's eyes; now she was smiling.
"Now's our chance, White." She whispered as the two Teams prepared to face off. From behind her back the senior Dex Holder quickly put her hidden Poke Ball back, replacing it with a round, purple object filled with thick smoke.
"Take this!" Blue yelled out suddenly as she chucked the Smoke Ball at the ground, causing a mini-explosion followed by a cloud of thick grey smog that quickly filled the area. Surprised by the sudden assault both Teams went rushing blindly into each other, resulting in a chaotic melee as Blue and White hastily drew back from the scene after returning their Pokemon.
"Clefy, add some more mayhem. Metronome!" Cried Blue as they quickly fled, sending out her Clefable. The Fairy Pokemon quickly wriggled her stubby fingers several times before her Trainer withdrew her again. A moment later, White could hear the sound of a Sandstorm raging behind them.
- Mistralton Southern Gate, three minutes later -
"Ha!" laughed Blue as she and White finally reached the gate panting. "That was a close call, wasn't it? Good thing those guys had a fallout right there."
"Yes," White gasped, her breath caught up from running so hard. "But what if they decide to chase us again?"
"Oh, they won't," Blue assured her smugly. "Team Plasma won't stand a chance against an elite force like that, and as for Team Rocket, well..." Looking back into the woods where they had just escaped from she called out: "Why don't you come out and join us?"
After a short pause a black shape walked out onto the road, and White recognized the Team Rocket grunt wearing a blue veil. Upon a closer inspection she saw that he was a tall and slender figure, wearing his cap down to cover his upper face and wearing black gloves lined with red stripes.
"Koga's orders had also included your safety," White noticed a slightly cold edge in the grunt's voice, despite it being muffled by the vizard. "It is my duty to accompany you through whatever journey you may have taken upon yourself."
"Well, that's great!" To White's surprise there was a pleased grin on Blue's face as she walked toward the grunt, who took a careful step back. Even more mysterious. "Well then, since it looks like we're gonna be accquainted, why don't you take off that hat so I can say thank-you to your face?"
"Why should I do that?" The grunt retorted, as if trying to sound bresque, but White didn't miss the way his head was slightly turned from Blue.
"I don't know... because I'll ask?" Blue spoke mischievously, snaking closer to him with a sly smile and a knowing glint. The grunt gulped in what was obviously nervousness, taking another step back.
"Um, Blue-san...?" White couldn't help bue ask. Why was she suddenly up to seducing him? It was obvious from her flaunting pose (though it was probably involuntary) and the grunt's disarrayed reaction that he was finding her actions extremely -
"Shh," Blue turned to silence her with the same evil look, turning back to the now-thoroughly terrified grunt. "Come on, why won't you take off that hat? You'll be taking it off soon enough anyway."
"You are being unreasonable," replied the grunt stiffly, though his voice coudn't have been less certain.
"Oh, am I?" said Blue, her words slithering out like honey as she finally came to stand in front of him, who turned out to be just a little bit shorter than her. "Then what are you gonna say about this?" Sha said as she took out a flat, black object out of her bag, showing it teasingly in frony of the surprised grunt.
A Team Rocket cap.
The grunt's hands shot up instictively to his own 'cap', which to White's shock suddenly turned pink in color as it began to squirm on his head like a huge blob of slime.
"Ditty, return." Blue grinned as she withdrew her Ditto to its Poke Ball. Without the headgear the grunt's hair spilled over the back of his head in a wave of crimson, revealing a pair of steel-gray eyes as they stared at Blue with a slight blush on his cheeks.
"You're so good at this, I wouldn't be surprised if you've forgotten," said Blue as she easily peeled off the grunt's veil with a wide smile, giggling slightly at the resigned expression on his handsome face.
"You can fool anyone but your older sister... Silver."
OMG, a world of apologies for the late update. I've been loaded down for the whole week. Plus I'm in a little block right now with my drafting, so my uploading speed would be slowed as well for who-knows-how-long. Wish I can recover soon.
#1. This is the visual effect of Dragon Dance in the games. In the manga, when Cyrus's Gyarados used it, it just... sorta... danced.
#2. Oh yes, Nidoqueen can learn Dragon Pulse. These bulky fellows have a ridiculous variety of movesets, as I discovered the hard way in the Battle Factory...
And HELLO, Silver! Was wondering when you'd show up XD. Hmm, looks like I've dropped quite a few Chosen hints here. Well, who knows what will happen in the next chapter? :) Oh, and also hello to you, Giallo and Rood. Be grateful that I'm giving ya Sages some Pokemon to actually battle with :P And Black, good luck with your battle with Iris, which is to be finished in the next chapter. Got another trick up in your sleeve? XD
I've noticed that most of you are expecting the new character that appeared last chapter to be Green... will you be proven correct? You'll know when chapter 17 comes up! Until then (which will probably next weekend), this is another farewell. R&R!
Writing completed on June 6th, 2011. This is Yowl of Time, out.