Somehow I managed to churn this one out too. Anyway, Flame fights dispite it becoming increasingly obvious that he hasn't got a chance. I warn you in advance of the mild gore and the incredibaly nasty cliffhanger.
Episode Twenty-Five: Psychological Warfare
Dispide my yells, I had no plan, no back up and no chance of escape. Needless to say, it did not look good and the Hypno knew it. I heard its gloating laughter echoing through my mind as my friends formed a triangle around me. Pika infront of me, Squirtle to my left and Scout to my right, on my blind side.
"Damnit Pika, don't let this bastard control you!" I gave it one last shot. She laughed and started stepping towards me.
"Would you much rather he controlled you?" She said. The words sent shivers down my spine when I realised that if I did take one of them down, he would simply release his control of them and use it on me instead.
"You cannot win this battle," came Squirtle's voice, mocking me.
"You are usless, you always were," Scout added. I knew Hypno was forcing them to say those things but it still hurt.
"Shut up," I muttered. All three of them laughed and stepped closer, closing the triangle even tighter.
"Why should we? You have no power over us," Squirtle said, voice filled with scorn.
"You never helped your family, why should anyone helped you?" Pika laughed.
I was in shock, I had never mentioned my family to any of them. I realised the Hypno could read my memories. Their words brought painfull memories back into the foreground of my mind. Ones I had locked away, hidden from the world.
"I did help them!" I yelled, trying to reassure myself as much as stop the torture.
The triangle was still slowly shrinking as they all got closer, one step at a time.
"You got them killed!"Scout yelled back. I felt tears running down my face as the vision of my sister screaming in agony as poison slowly killed her from the inside.
"You. Lie!" I finally snapped and was about to give the bird Pokémon the blasting of his life when I felt something slam into me from behind.
I was knocked to the floor and was unable to get up before Scout attacked with tooth and claw. I could feel him tearing at my back, ripping away scales and the soft skin underneath. I had to wave my tail to get him to back off, the movement ripping open the wounds even further.
Slowly managing to get to my feet, I looked at him and felt a sudden jolt course through my body as Pika zapped me from behind. Again I fell to the floor, this time landing on my knees. I could hear Moron and Perfume yelling something, but their voices suddenly seemed very far away.
Squirtle walked over to stand infront of me and inhaled, I could tell that that was going to be the final blow and I was determined not to let the Hypno win.
"Squirtle. I'm sorry," I managed to choke out before leaping fowards and tackling him, literally head on. My headbutt stunned him and knocked him to the ground, with me landing on top of him, but it didn't stop Pika launching a second bolt in my direction.
Both me and Squirtle cried out as the electrisity flowed through us and sent our body is convulsions. I rolled off of Squirtle and slowly managed to climb to my feet, smoke pouring out of my mouth as I breathed. Hypno was determined to take me down and didn't seem to care who he sacrificed to do so. Even Moron wasn't that bad. New determination flowed through me and I pushed the pain to the back of my mind.
"Okay Hypno. You want to play dirty? Fine by me," I muttered to myself as I legged it, on all fours, out of the fighting and towards the bushes that surrounded the clearing. I zigzaged my way across the ground as lightning bolts shot past me, I didn't dare look back. I was only meters away from the bushes when a large blast of water slammed into me from behind and send me tumbling over to the ground. It had also managed to nearly put out my tail flame and in doing so, drained a large amount of my energy. I couldn't even roll over onto my back and closed my eyes to await my downfall.