Chapter Forty One – Nidoqueen
"What was...?!" Hayden suddenly looked down at Lily as she took deep breaths to calm her nerves. "Lily, are you all right?"
"Y-Yes, I think so," she replied shakily. "But what was that...?" As soon as she liberated herself from Hayden's gentle hold, she and Hayden hurried over to the opposite side of the bridge and looked down at the river below; they saw an extremely infuriated Nidoqueen glaring coldly at a pale and dull orange Crawdaunt as it dove from the water and grabbed the Nidoqueen's neck with its pincer – Lily flinched as the pincer began to squeeze Nidoqueen's throat. "Oh, gosh...!" Hayden looked around both sides of the river and even at the small island near the middle of the water.
"I don't see any Trainers nearby; they might be wild," he said quietly. Nidoqueen gritted her teeth as she slammed her fist, glowing in a bright cyan aura, into Crawdaunt's star-shaped growth. As the Crawdaunt was pushed away from her, the spiked edges of its pincers scratched her neck, leaving a shallow bleeding laceration on either side of her throat. Nidoqueen roared in agony.
"Oh, that poor Nidoqueen...!" To Hayden's confusion, Nidoqueen raised on arm in the air while holding her other hand over her throat. The elevated arm gathered a small amount of static electricity as dark clouds formed overhead; a tremendous lightning bolt soon fell from the cloud with a loud crash of thunder that caused Lily to scream in fright again as she clung to Hayden for safety. Hayden held onto her gently as he watched the Crawdaunt dodging the intense electric attack.
"So Nidoqueen was behind that first lightning bolt..." Hayden looked over at Lily worriedly. "You okay?"
"Y-Yeah...it-it just took me by surprise...again..." Lily watched as the Nidoqueen attempted to sink her fang-like teeth, oozing in a devious purple glow, into the Crawdaunt's shell; Crawdaunt, however, spun around as it avoided the attack, sending the Nidoqueen into the water. "We need to do something!"
"Do you really think we should?" Hayden asked sceptically.
"You just said you don't see any Trainers nearby, didn't you?"
"It's not our fight," Hayden argued.
"Maybe not, but who's to say that battle won't escalate and cause collateral damage?" Lily asked hypothetically. "It could put the bridge and anyone walking across it at risk!"
"Like us?" Hayden asked as Crawdaunt dove into the water in pursuit of the Nidoqueen.
"I'd think so, yes," Lily nodded. Hayden looked at her seriously.
"We'd better do something about it, then." Lily smiled with relief and nodded as she followed Hayden as he ran along the bridge to find a way down to the battle.
Crawdaunt slammed its pincer in Nidoqueen's stomach to launch her out of the water, leapt up after her and slammed her in the shoulder to knock her towards the wire fence of the nearby basketball court. The Crawdaunt then tried to charge towards the wounded Nidoqueen while yellow-orange energy began to veil its entire being.
"REOW!" Out of the blue, a Liepard with three whiskers darted onto the scene and slapped both paws together and releasing a translucent shock wave that ended up crashing into the attacking Crawdaunt. "REOW!"
"Hrrrf!" The collared Houndoom grunted in response to the Liepard's cue and leapt at the flinched Rouge Pokémon and chomped into its pincer; Houndoom then swung the Crawdaunt around him and tossed her to the riverbed on the opposite side of the river as he and Liepard touched the ground. Nidoqueen blinked in bewilderment.
"Well done, Tiffany!" Liepard's ears twitched as she heard Hayden's voice and grinned.
"Good job, Theo!" The Houndoom smirked and huffed proudly upon hearing Lily's praise. Nidoqueen drew her attention to Hayden and Lily as they ran over to their Dark type companions.
"Thanks, Tiff." Tiffany purred lovingly as Hayden gently petted her head. Theo raised his paw as he instigated a handshake with Lily.
"You, too, Theo; thank you."
"Hrrf," Theo nodded.
"N-NIDO!" Nidoqueen roared angrily at Hayden and Lily as the two Dark types were returned to their Poké Balls. "NIDO!" Hayden was less than impressed.
"Oh, you're welcome, my Liepard and my wife's Houndoom only just saved you from a Giga Impact attack," he said sarcastically. Nidoqueen blinked in confusion as Lily laughed nervously.
"Sorry; it's been a hard afternoon for us." She and Hayden suddenly looked towards the river as they heard a splash; Crawdaunt had dived in.
"Great. Just great," Hayden sighed as he took another Poké Ball from his belt bag. "Poppy, this is you, hun!" he called as the white sea lion Pokémon emerged from her Poké Ball and dove into the river. Lily took a pink Poké Ball with a paler pink heart on it from her own belt bag.
"Julia, help Nidoqueen!" she pleaded as her Milk Cow Pokémon happily jumped out of the Love Ball. After giving Lily a quick thumbs up, Julia ran over to the wounded Nidoqueen and lightly touched her shoulder as the black sphere on her tail shone in a soothing blue glow. Crawdaunt jumped out of the river as it slammed its pincer against Poppy's underbelly in an uppercut style punch.
"Poppy! Signal Beam!" Hayden cried. Getting her breath back, Poppy lowered her horn slightly as a rainbow beam fired from its tip. Crawdaunt cried out as the beam struck her tail and crashed into the water. Poppy regained her composure and dived into the water in pursuit. Hayden watched the river anxiously as Lily hurried over to Nidoqueen and Julia.
"Is she all right?" Lily asked.
"Mil," Julia nodded, lightly tapping Nidoqueen's shoulder. She pointed to the very slightly healed cuts on her throat. "Mil-mil."
"Oh, that's good," Lily smiled with relief. Nidoqueen glared at Lily angrily.
"Nido...!"
"We know you didn't ask for our help, but, to be honest, you and that Crawdaunt have the potential to put anyone on the bridge at risk," Lily said seriously. Nidoqueen huffed as she looked away from her. Lily spotted the puncture wounds on Nidoqueen's upper arm, which were still bleeding slightly. "Julia, did you treat those?" Julia looked at the wounded arm in puzzlement.
"M-Mil-mil-mil," she said nervously.
"Then maybe the wounds were too deep...?" Lily speculated as she took hold of her skirt. Hayden looked back at her in confusion when he heard the sound of ripping fabric as Lily tore a thin length of her skirt off. Nidoqueen showed no concern until Lily began wrapping the ripped black fabric around her forearm.
"Nido?!"
"You need to get proper medical attention as soon as possible; for now, this should stop the bleeding..." Hayden smiled warmly at his wife's display of kindness. Nidoqueen appeared reluctant to receive the help Lily was giving her, but the cloth was wrapped around her arm before she could protest. Nidoqueen touched the improvised bandaging lightly.
"...n-nido..." she grumbled quickly. Lily chuckled.
"We all need a little help every now and then." Through the corner of his eye, Hayden saw Poppy leaping out of the water, hoping to avoid the lunging Crawdaunt. Nidoqueen raised her left arm into the air as the static electricity gathering around her claw brought forth dark clouds that hovered over the Crawdaunt; the crustacean Pokémon cried out in pain and agony as the thick burst of electricity crashed on top of her. Lily yelped a little as the electricity made contact with its target while Poppy was lucky she wasn't underneath that bolt.
"Now, Poppy! Signal Beam one more time!" Hayden instructed as he faced the battle in its entirety. Poppy was only too happy to comply as she fired another rainbow beam at the Crawdaunt, but Crawdaunt spun around as it avoided the Dewgong's attack.
"Gong?!"
"She's using Dragon Dance!" Hayden cried in horror. "No wonder she's so nimble! Poppy, watch-" Before Hayden could warn her, Crawdaunt tackled into Poppy with her body surrounded by water. Poppy cried out as she flew towards and into a tree on the opposite side of the river; she fell to the ground unconscious. "Poppy!" To his chagrin, Hayden recalled his defeated Dewgong back into her Poké Ball. Hayden scowled at the Crawdaunt as she fell back into the water. "Stupid Crawdaunt...!"
"Hayden?" Hayden took out a third Poké Ball from his belt bag.
"It's Dragon Dance, Lily; that Crawdaunt is faster and far stronger than she naturally is. This is going to be pretty damn difficult...especially with that Aqua Jet..." Lily stood up and approached her agitated husband.
"We can do this, Hayden."
"I'm not doubting that, of course not; I'm just saying this is going to be a challenge." Nidoqueen watched Hayden and Lily with perplexity before she spotted the Crawdaunt's shadow zooming towards her. She snarled as she forced herself onto her feet and dived towards the shadow, clasping her hands together over her head as she spun around rapidly. Hayden and Lily were caught off guard by Nidoqueen's sudden dive into the water and were gravely alarmed.
"Oh, no, Nidoqueen!" Lily cried. Julia hurried over to the river's edge, but staggered back as Crawdaunt, surrounded by water, knocked Nidoqueen out of the water and effectively tossed her on top of the startled Miltank. While in mid-air, Crawdaunt glared violently at Hayden and Lily and directed her Aqua Jet attack towards Lily, being the one directly in her line of sight.
"LILY!" Hayden dropped his Poké Ball and suddenly grabbed Lily as he dove at her; Crawdaunt very barely missed Hayden's shoulder. Hayden swerved in mid air to ensure he landed on his back, but he yelled in anguish as he not only crashed heavily into the ground, but the gravel scraped his back as he slid along it. Lily lifted herself from his chest and faced him in devastation.
"Hayden!"
"Nnngh...!" Hayden flinched as he tried to sit up. "I'm-I'm okay...! ...agh...!" Lily shook her head in disbelief. Nidoqueen and Julia finally returned to their feet, only to find Hayden and Lily on the ground; Julia in particular was alarmed.
"I-I..." Her frown grew. "That was a bit reckless, don't you think?" Hayden chuckled, particularly at Lily's choice of adjective.
"Heh; I guess today really IS a fine day for hypocrisy." Lily was stunned by Hayden's remark, but she soon gave him a warm smile for his gallantry.
"...but...thank you." Hayden smiled lovingly at his wife.
"You're welcome." Julia managed to carefully pull Lily off of Hayden's chest while Nidoqueen gently pulled Hayden onto his feet, despite having done so by clasping the back of his neck. "Ow...thanks," he said as he rubbed the back of his neck. Nidoqueen merely huffed and nodded in response.
"Thank you, Nidoqueen," Lily said gratefully. Nidoqueen nodded at Lily before looking in Crawdaunt's direction; the Rouge Pokémon stood up on her feet and attempted to attack Hayden and Lily again with her pincer. Nidoqueen charged towards the crabby lobster-like Pokémon with her fists gleaming in a pale cyan light. Julia stepped in front of Lily protectively while Hayden reclaimed his dropped Poké Ball. Watching the scuffle between Nidoqueen and Crawdaunt as he returned to Lily's side, Hayden became even more frustrated as he swapped Poké Balls and took another one at the same time.
"This is getting ridiculous...Tidus, Tiffany, you're up!" he yelled as he opened both Poké Balls. The Liepard and fine-furred Typhlosion emerged side by side, looking fairly keen to battle the antagonistic Crawdaunt. Lily took a Poké Ball in hand herself.
"Chelsea, we need you!" she called as her red-eyed Meganium leapt forth from the capsule.
"Tiffany, Fake Out! Tidus, Swift attack!"
"Chelsea, use Vine Whip to get Nidoqueen away from Crawdaunt, and hurry!"
"Ganium!" Chelsea shot out two thick vines from either side of her neck, which wrapped around Nidoqueen's waist and hoisted her into the air as Tiffany sprinted over to the Crawdaunt and clapped her paws together to release her flinching shock wave. At the same time, Tidus unleashed a wave of white stars from his gaping mouth that all collided with Crawdaunt a millisecond after Tiffany turned around and darted back to Hayden's side. Frustrated with Crawdaunt's persistence, Nidoqueen clapped both hands above her head and began to spin around as she tried to dive towards Crawdaunt; to Chelsea's surprise, Nidoqueen literally slipped out of her grip.
"Oh, dear...!" Lily sighed.
"This is getting nowhere," Hayden complained as Crawdaunt slammed her pincer directly on the back of Nidoqueen's neck, halting her attack. "So long as they're both in the same vicinity, this battle may as well be to the death..."
"But what can we do about it?" Lily asked in confusion. Hayden pulled a Dusk Ball from his belt bag and held it in front of her. "Huh?"
"You have to catch Nidoqueen," Hayden explained.
"What?! W-Why me?" Lily asked in a mild panic.
"Because I have six Pokémon on hand already; you only have five – that means Nidoqueen will be in your party, which will let us take her straight to the Pokémon Centre," Hayden explained as Tidus and Julia both rolled into the Crawdaunt. Chelsea used her Vine Whip to whisk them away from Crawdaunt before she could drench the pair of them with steaming hot water.
"But...are you sure we can't defeat Crawdaunt straight away?"
"Lily, Crawdaunt has Dragon Dance, and it looks like she's used as many as she can use; heck, I'm surprised Tiffany was able to get away from her since this whole mess started! Why, are you not wanting to catch Nidoqueen or something?"
"I-I...I don't know, Hayden, capturing a Pokémon shouldn't be something that's done on a whim!" Lily panicked. "Especially if it's not what the Pokémon wants!"
"Man, it's tough being a bilingual sometimes," Hayden sighed. Lily nodded in complete agreement. "But I'm sure Nidoqueen would rather that than...whatever's going on between her and Crawdaunt," he presumed as he watched as Crawdaunt crossed her arms across Nidoqueen's face, leaving a large and deep X-shaped scar squarely between her eyes.
"Nidoqueen!" Lily feared for the Drill Pokémon, particularly as she collapsed onto one knee. After quickly repelling Julia, Tidus, Tiffany and Chelsea with a rainfall of boulders that fell from the numerous ripples of energy hanging above their heads, Crawdaunt smirked as she aimed her gaping pincer, brimming in a bright blue glow, at Nidoqueen.
"HURRY!" Hayden shouted anxiously. In an instant, Lily threw the Dusk Ball at the near-submissive Nidoqueen.
"Craw?!" Much to Crawdaunt's horror, the Dusk Ball tapped Nidoqueen and absorbed her into its sanctuary before her pincer could clasp her target's throat. Crawdaunt watched the Dusk Ball as it flew back into Lily's hand; the central button shone red to confirm the capture. Hayden and Lily sighed with relief.
"Good arm, Petal."
"Craw...! CRAWDAUNT!" Livid, Crawdaunt vented her frustration on Chelsea, crossing her arms against the distracted Meganium's body and knocking her out in a single attack.
"Chelsea! R-Return!" Lily took Chelsea's Poké Ball and recalled her fallen Herb Pokémon. Crawdaunt began to stare daggers at Lily; Hayden stepped in front of her protectively and matched Crawdaunt's glare perfectly.
"Lily, get back to the bridge," Hayden said quietly.
"What?"
"The fact that you've just caught Nidoqueen is why Crawdaunt's angrier than before; she wants to hurt YOU now, and I'll be damned if I let my wife get hurt on my watch as well!"
"As well-" Lily suddenly gasped in horror; Hayden still blamed himself for Alexa's agitated emotional pain! "Oh, Hayden-"
"Please, don't argue with me; just GO!" Lily looked flummoxed; she wasn't even trying to argue! "GO!" Hayden yelled again.
"Julia, come on!" Lily called. Julia hurried after Lily as she fled towards the bridge. Crawdaunt, however, had Lily in her crosshairs and charged towards her with her pincer surrounded by a spiralling stream of water. Hayden hastily took another Poké Ball from his bag and opened it instantly; the emitted light, fortunately, landed between Crawdaunt and Lily as the emerging Electivire grabbed the slamming pincer effortlessly and stared violently at the bewildered crustacean. Before she could retry her attack with her opposite pincer, the Electivire slammed his electrified fist directly onto the star growth and pushed her back, almost towards the water. Hayden glared at the recovering Crawdaunt as he joined his Electivire's side.
"Now, you listen to me, you petty little princess... Nobody – and I MEAN nobody – tries to hurt MY wife and gets away with it!" he roared furiously. Crawdaunt merely growled violently at him. "Time to end your onslaught RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW! Clyde, Thunder Punch again! Tidus, Overheat! Tiffany, Psych Up!"
Complying gladly, Clyde sprinted towards the exhausted Crawdaunt with his electrified fist while Tiffany's eyes briefly shone silver as she stared at the shining Rogue Pokémon and a red aura began to consume Tidus. Lily and Julia looked down at the battle from the bridge just in time to see Tidus releasing a huge pillar of brilliant white flames with blue-white fire spiralling around them at Crawdaunt. Crawdaunt roared in agony, despite being resistant to Fire type attacks. After the attack ended, Tidus began to pant.
"Now, Tiffany, finish it! Aerial Ace!" Hayden bellowed.
"REOW!" Tiffany felt even lighter on her feet as she darted towards the singed Crawdaunt as streams of white light flowed down her body. Crawdaunt had no time to retaliate as Tiffany collided with her underbelly, leaving a small crack in her shell upon impact. Crawdaunt flew backwards and crashed into the ground behind her; she then lay there, completely unconscious.
Hayden silently returned all three of his Pokémon back into their Poké Balls, keeping a nasty glare focused on the fallen Crawdaunt the entire time. Lily and Julia began to hurry over to Hayden as soon as he began to slowly make his way towards the bridge. On his way, however, he suddenly recoiled and collapsed onto one knee, terrifying Lily.
"HAYDEN!" Lily almost slid along the ground as she knelt in front of the injured Hayden. "Hayden, are you okay?!"
"It-it's done, Lily; it's over...thank Arceus for that," Hayden chuckled breathlessly. "...aagh...! ...my back...!" Lily scurried behind Hayden and ever so carefully lifted up his now mildly damaged T-shirt to inspect the full extent of his back injury; there were numerous grazes on his back and a fairly large bruise in the middle of the collection. However, Lily sighed with relief.
"Thank Arceus you're not bleeding..." Hayden huffed a small chuckle.
"I'd know if I was. But...thanks for making sure." Lily lowered his T-shirt delicately before moving in front of him again. "There isn't a Pokémon Centre around here...the nearest is Opelucid, I think..."
"Cheryl can take us anywhere, though," Lily said gently.
"Your call, Petal; going out was your idea, after all," Hayden said, giving her a slightly cheeky smirk. Lily sighed as she gave him a nervous smile.
"Yeah; good idea that turned out to be, huh? You get your woes off of your chest and end up with wounds on your back."
"I've had worse," Hayden said confidently. "...to be honest, Lily...I'm beat."
"Me, too... How about we drop off Nidoqueen at Castelia Pokémon Centre and get back to the hotel and take advantage of room service?"
"Sounds good to me. ...I just hope Keenan isn't too lonely," Hayden said with a fading smile.
"He has his Pokémon, don't worry," Lily smiled. "I'll do something about your back when we're at the hotel, okay?"
"You don't have to, but thanks for the thought," Hayden smiled kindly.
"Absolutely." Lily felt herself blushing slightly. "...Hayden?"
"Hm?" Before Hayden knew it, Lily quickly, yet gently, pressed her lips against his. Though initially startled, Hayden soon relaxed as he stroked her honey blonde hair, even after she softly released the kiss.
"You were amazing. Thank you, Tiger," she said lovingly. Hayden gently touched foreheads with her.
"At least I did something right by my family today. Thanks, Petal." Lily snuck another kiss on his lips before she took a Poké Ball from her belt bag.
"You're welcome. Right, the sooner we get Nidoqueen the help she needs, the sooner I can help my hero." Hayden chuckled as Lily released Cheryl from her Poké Ball.
"Hero, huh?" He smiled yearningly. "I wonder if Lexie still sees me as such after today..."
"Ask her when she's back," Lily winked. Hayden admired her confidence in their daughter's return and smiled more cheerfully at her. Lily looked up at her confused and concerned Gardevoir. "Castelia Pokémon Centre, please."
"Gardevoir," Cheryl nodded obediently as she relaxed her stance. With a quick flash of white light, Cheryl disappeared from the bottom of the bridge with Julia, Hayden and Lily.
To be continued...