Man, it's been a long while huh? I'd have to make a massive update on my current life situation, but to give a brief overview: got a job, finished my studies, looking into moving, and things are looking up but also looking real busy. Though to be fair, I was sitting on this chapter unsure of how to finish it and unsure if I should rewrite the whole thing, but thanks to some friends I managed to find the willpower to pull through, and I think it came out alright!
With that said, I apologize for the long wait. I am very much alive and healthy, and if anyone out there cares, yes, looking to write a lot more.
With that out of the way, and another thank you, enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 18
Collision
A fateful clash with unforeseen ripples
"Wow this stuff is good." Zed's surprise was palpable upon tasting the soup Ayame had given him the recipe to… though it was borderline boiling, and also spicy as all hell, which just made Nox's presence in the kitchen more stressful, attempting and failing to get a taste himself, much to the pure dark type's explosive annoyance. "Will you back off Nox!" The Houndour sulked back to the living room area where almost everyone was sitting, besides a pair of large sliding windows which led to a beautifully kept garden on the terrace.
"Holy shit he's fuckin' feisty in the kitchen ain't 'e." Sam's observation was corroborated by everyone else who knew the Zorua.
"He's very… possessive when it comes to the kitchen. If only he displayed that amount of activity in the bedroom." Lucy's teasing didn't go unnoticed by her mate, who muttered something along the lines of making her pay later, which only made her coo excitedly.
"And you're just playing off of that ain't ya kitty?" Vincent sat back on his reclining chair after changing into an extremely comfy looking dark vermillion house robe. "To be fair, he does seem like the kind of guy that bottles up his emotions quite a bit, so when they come out it must be… quite explosive."
"Could you please stop speaking about such matters openly? It's discomforting, and crass." Ayame was sitting the furthest away from everyone, near the exit to the terrace, looking out the window at the overcast sky, making Serge roll his eyes.
"If we have to, then I guess we could talk about this house: God damn dude you said you got this out of Ferrus?"
"Indeed. After our excursion up north and a few more oddjobs regarding a certain trial, which by the way, you can thank me for it later… No? Alright then, I'll ask Elly about it later. Anyways, yes, this was my due compensation since it was an extremely dangerous situation that, as even he said, I had no business being involved in. But my ability proved essential to your survival, and ever since he'd been keeping me on his good side. Have to say, so far it has been terribly profitable. Oh don't look at me like that, as much as it may sound like it was NOT a one-sided arrangement, more of a, I scratch your back, and you scratch mine."
"...With a golden back scratcher I assume."
"Ooooh, a golden back scratcher? Where is it? Where!" Nox's jab at the expensive look of Vincent's home got Cherry to suddenly spring to life from her spot besides Jake, after which she began to float and rummage through bookshelves and cabinets, even some in the kitchen, much to Zed's chagrin and insults, who was dealing with boiling rice noodles.
"Not particularly… He has put me to work. He knows what I am capable of, and I do appreciate a good challenge from time to time."
"And what has he had you investigating?" Ayame leaned forward, intrigued, specially because of his uncanny physical similarities with a certainly deceased Roselia.
"Well, that is not for you to ask, now is it? I wouldn't want to divulge trade secrets, unless he permits it that is. Confidentiality of the clients and all that… I will say though, I did eventually have to take a small break, and even that he was quite permissive about, so needless to say, you've a very good boss you lot." The members of Team Star could only agree: despite the difficulty of their latest assignments, and his rather terrible health habits and stress manager, the Lucario was as reliable as he could be. "But enough about that, I should probably ask why the heir of the Shimizu clan and this… bruiser are now included in your merry band. Albeit in an extra official way, no doubt."
"Oi watch what yer sayin' ya overgrown weed." Sam rose a fist threateningly, but Vincent waved him off with a smile and a chuckle.
"Oh why thank you, but flattery won't get you anywhere with me my friend… though you may sleep in my room tonight if you please~" Sam looked just about ready to tear into the guy, whilst Ayame and Nox, who had unknowingly to the Frogadier snuck up to her side, both sighed. The movement made her realize where he was, looking at him in confusion, and him staring back with a deep blush as he backed away.
"Just wanted to uh… well, he made it sound like you're a noble, I guess?"
"I am the owner of the bathhouse around which the entirety of a village has been built, so I thought the fact that I had quite high social status was already apparent. If I must enlighten you, and you will hold your tongue Vincent, and allow me to speak about my own family's affairs."
"My lips are sealed, missy." The shit-eating grin on his face meant that he knew all that she was about to say, and then some, like the smug pain in the ass that he was.
"Yes, I am the heir to the Shimizu Clan, an ancient family line that has close ties with the Johtonian royal family. We live mostly secluded in Johto's western peninsula, and have mostly kept to ourselves until recently. We have begun to expand our influence and spread our own unique culture to other areas of the world, and Sinnoh's lack of infrastructure proved to be the perfect grounds where we could test our strategies for expansion."
"...Spoken like a true business woman! You are quite dependable considering your age then. Your bath house is quite the sight too." His words got her to tense up even further. "Though last time I was there, a day or two ago, I heard that a terrible incident had occurred, and that a section of the building had been cordoned off for safety reasons. Something about a fire provoked by a mentally unstable Roselia…" Now everyone except Sam was tense, as the smile on his face kept growing. "The body of which hasn't been found yet, has it?"
"...no." The tension rose further and further, whilst he merely sat there, and seemed to be deep in thought, and looking at his guests, before standing up and walking over to the kitchen, everyone following him with his gaze as he opened a cupboard… and pulled out a glass and a bottle of liquor and pouring himself one.
"Then, a toast. To the death of my bitch of a sister." He drank from the glass nonchalantly, and everyone else in the room looked at him, dumbfounded. "What, you expected me to reveal that I was Indomatia, or, as she was actually called, Victoria? Please, I have a great deal of powers and control over my biology, but gender bending is, quite sadly, not one of those abilities." He began to pull out more glasses and handed them out to everyone except Cherry. "Do you want something?"
"An apple!" Her peppy voice robbed a smile from his lips as he used a vine to grab one and handed it to her, at which moment she ravenously began to eat away at the fruit, as he turned around to face the others, he would raise his glass again, only for the others to not drink from their glasses.
"I promise you it is not poisoned, trust me, I've nothing to gain from doing it. In fact, I am actually quite grateful… if a little pissed off that you stepped in and took care of her once and for all. Have to say, I'd been chasing her down for years, and I took every measure to destroy any evidence on her, so that I could silently put her down and let that be the end of it… so the fact you lot made a big show of it is quite infuriating, but she had at least the decency of not using her real identity."
"So Indomatia…"
"Victoria." He corrected Nox, as he took a sip of his glass. "Yes, she was my sister. Indomatia's such a shit name for an assassin too. Indomitable my ass."
"That's not the kind of response I'd expect from someone after learning that we'd just killed their sister honestly." Serge had already downed half of his glass in one go, showing just how well he could hold his liquor.
"To be fair, we weren't exactly on the best of terms. I will spare you the details, but let's just say that overtime her character grew to be more rotten than my own. While I am certainly no saint, I've avoided seriously harming and outright killing any targets I was sent after, be it as a mercenary or an investigator. Given her reputation in the criminal underworld… Victoria decided to compensate for what I didn't do. Nasty piece of work she was."
"So she was your sister… and she had powers too, like your own." He looked at Jake, puzzled.
"Did she really?" He sat still, pondering. "Did she ever look concerned about her safety, ask about me, or even mention my name?"
"Far as I remember, no. She only goaded and wanted to get her revenge for killing her "pet". It was this big fuck off monster in the Giant's Forest. Completely destroyed a village there, killed a bunch of pokémon. Had-"
"Big tentacles and scythes at the end of them?" Vincent suddenly spoke up, shaking her head. "Sorry, that mental image just… popped into my mind. Needless to say, it's about what Victoria would've made in order to get back at the world." There was the slightest hint of remorse and sadness in his voice, before he recovered. "But I suppose it was for the better. Though as far as I've been able to gather, it wasn't your first time that you met her."
"It was for everyone but I." Jake corrected him, reminding the others of that special assignment he had undertaken: going to Unova, and protecting that silk magnate.
"Yeah, I thought it might've been you. The moment I heard your name I thought I might be on track, only to hear that you'd apparently dispatched or, at the very least foiled her plans. After she failed in assassinating Varsha." He winced. "Not that it mattered in the end…" Jake's face went grim, as the memories of that mission flooded back, and found himself feeling more and more discomfort. He stood up and excused himself as Vincent was telling them that a good friend of said Varsha, Yulia, was representing Unova at the meeting that very day, and going over some of the politics that they might possibly be discussing.
Jake couldn't care less. He would have normally stayed and provided his own insights, but the mention of Varsha's name had stirred his stomach and killed any appetite he might've had for Zed's delicious dish, which according to him, was nearly done. He shut the window and caught Ayame glancing in his direction before he disappeared behind the curtains, out of sight, and leaned onto the railing, overlooking a large part of the city. The building wasn't too tall, but most of the buildings in Cunabula were one story tall, so the view was rather impressive, so much so he could spy the forests beyond the gaping void upon which the city had been built.
He groaned, and shivered, the air was bitterly cold, even for someone like him. He chalked it up to being used to Sinnoh's less extreme temperatures, and pondered about all that had happened, the things he'd seen and done, and the pokémon he'd met. Rarely did Varsha and Jiho leave his memories: the abuse, the kindness, and the relationship the two had had was far too similar to how he and Dusknoir had lived most of his life. Was he a good pokémon? Did his own biases veil his judgement, and was he no better than the slavers and plantation owners of Unova? He found himself giving those questions less and less thought in favour of more immediate problems, and feared that distancing himself from those issues was in turn turning him into a colder pokémon emotionally. He had problems talking and connecting with the others already, the last thing he needed was -
"Jake."
He froze. The voice sent chills down his spine as he straightened, his grip on the railing tightening and pupils shrinking down to pins. He knew that voice. He knew it all too well. It was a voice he would've rather never heard again.
"Jake. My love." A hand, cold as the night, hovered over and gently rested upon his own, the presence behind him moving closer, and wrapping her other hand around his chest. "It's been far too long, hasn't it?" Her name was on his lips. He stuttered to pronounce it, as fear gripped his heart: fear of his failures and mistakes.
"J-Jiho…" He turned around to face the shiny Froslass. She looked similar, yet different: her eyes were the same, those intense emeralds gazing into his soul, violently judging him, the passion in that gaze was irreplaceable, the hint of madness unmistakeable, and the gentle, yet demented smile on her face, unnerving to his very core. Beyond her face, the changes began, a layer of frost and flakes weaved a thin, yet protective vest all over her figure, glinting in what little sunlight slipped through the clouds upon her figure.
"My love." He caressed his face, the cold touch snapping him out of his stupor and breaking away from her hold, slipping and falling to his back as he backed away from her. "Why do you panic, it's me, Jiho, I am finally here, as I promised. You never came for me, and I thought that the letter must've been misplaced, or your companions held you up…"
"What are you doing here? You… After all this time, I thought you'd been apprehended and executed for what you did to Varsha." The mention of her former owner's name twisted the Froslass' grin into a manic one.
"It seems that justice really was on my side on that day… After I robbed her of her life, I escaped into the night, slipping away unseen. And soon after, found by him. He had followed her as well. Not my mistress no. Our mutual friend." His look of confusion, made her realize that she was meandering and wasting time. "But nevermind them. My love, I have come for you, to take you somewhere safe… Somewhere you will not be harmed by the coming calamity. Soon, once his daughter falls into our hands, the world as we know it shall change… and we will all be free." She spread her arms, and began to approach him, his breath quickening.
In an instant, he knew who she was and what she was doing here, and that something terrible was about to happen. He quickly reacted and would use the cold around them to his advantage, flash freezing the moisture in the air and throwing icicles right at her with his ice control. She saw quickly however, that for every step he'd taken to improve his abilities, she'd taken ten, and his icicles made nary a dent on her ice mail, whilst she smashed one aimed at her forehead with her hand, coated in a shell of ice that scattered the shards everywhere. They stared each other down, Jake's mouth dry and unable to keep his cool.
"...why, my love? Have you forgotten our oath? Who you are to me? The words that we spoke, the night that we spent, the things we did together? You showed me the truth, you showed me the light, the way forward, and freedom above else… so why do you shackle yourself down now? Why do you wish to remain here, by their side!" Before he had a chance to answer and told her that he'd never wanted all of this to happen, the window slid open, and Cherry popped her head out.
"Jakeyyyy, lunch is served!" She called him, before looking at Jiho. "Ooooh, a neighbour! Hey guuurl, do you want s-"
"Cherry get inside! Now!" His close proximity to Jiho warned him earlier than Cherry was that something was coming. And it was. The air around them cooled down to deep sub-zero before a massive of ice blasted right at where Cherry was at speeds that would've killed her hadn't she teleported away at the last possible moment. The area where the projectile of seemingly liquid ice would spread and instantly freeze, becoming more solid over the span of half a second, before deadly spikes surged outward and covered half of the terrace, whilst whatever had leaked inside of the house did the same, cracking and breaking the windows and the sounds of furniture snapping and screaming inside could be heard. He turned to face Jiho and rushed her down with his claw, only to be stopped by that ice coated hand again, struggling and pushing against her, before she shoved him back.
"Very well… If that is your decision, then…" She sounded pained, on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry, I tried to save you…" With that, she flew away and down to the street, leaving a trail of ice flakes to fly out from her eyes: frozen tears of regret and anguish. Jake had nearly impaled himself on the spikes when he'd been shoved back, but his new position saved him from being crushed as Sam barreled out of the house over the broken glass and torn curtains, looking around and spotting the Sneasel.
"He's fine! Bloody fuckin' hell what the hell was that! Zed got impaled and Nox lost a bloody arm! They're bein' treated by that Vincent guy b-" The sound of an explosion echoed across the city, and they saw a massive fireball engulfing one of the bridges and then half a dozen more spread across the city, pillars of smoke rising up into the sky soon after. "What the bloody fuck is that?!"
"Serge!" He slipped back up on his feet and stepped on glass, cutting himself but slipping into the house, calling the Pidgeot, who was trying to calm Nox down as he was holding his now stump leg, and his actual leg laying right besides him, Ayame treating the wound whilst Vincent was busy outright saving Zed's life, a hole torn through his stomach and blood everywhere. "Get where Eric and Elly are! Now!"
"Wha… Jake, Nox's fucking bleeding out! Shut the fuck up and tell me what the hell happened!"
"Jiho did. She…" He shook his head, and Serge's face of shock was enough to tell him that they were only going to waste time if they asked questions. "Nevermind that, we need to act now! You must fly to the castle! I must…" He would try to use his collar to communicate with Elly, but found the Eevee's presence to be missing. He only knew of two times when this had happened: when she'd been knocked unconscious and when someone had been intentionally blocking the psychic links. "Damn it I can't…" Lucy's cries and Nox's wailing were far too chaotic, and decided to instead opt for the more direct solution. "Serge!"
"What?! Fucking what, I'm not flying anywhere else, Nox is… He's…"
"It's Elly! They're after her, the same bastards that we've been fighting, the same that hired Indomatia! We can't call her, someone's jamming it, so you need to get over there now and tell them!" The Pidgeot was torn now, hearing this. "Now!"
"Quit your yelling! You and you, stop freaking the fuck out and help me get bandages! If you have to go warn them do it, they'll be up and joining you soon!" Vincent had quickly taken to healing and dropped the smartass attitude, Zed's wound almost closed by now, and soon to be treating Nox's. "Go!" Without a second's delay and knowing Nox was in good hands, Serge beat his wings and flew off into the sky, speeding off towards the castle.
10 minutes ago…
"What is wrong with that guy! Seriously!"
"Elly, keep it down, they're staring at us. He's gotten under my skin too… How can someone be this vengeful that they're unwilling to cooperate with other nations even when the fate of the world is at stake?" Eric was honestly shocked, and while he was trying to get Elly to calm down, it was woefully ineffective. The conversation in the room had slowed down considerably after Kakolo's statement, and not much more besides agreements and compromises to spread the word and awareness among law enforcement, and closer ties between the ETF and said governments. Ferrus was considerably more stressed, but admitted that this was overall a victory for them.
"Some of their responses were… understandable. Kakolo has seen Hoenn ravaged and exploited through far worse conditions and for years on end, he has no reason to believe help will arrive now when they're at their weakest, just as the other nations have no reason to believe they'll play along. And he was right about food shortages, especially here in Kanto. This winter has left many farmers without crops, and it's likely the famine will affect Cunabula for the first time. If anything, it'll move them to action finally."
"I pray that what you are saying is true. Kakolo's words were filled with hatred, but… he is correct, and I am ashamed of it." Maria seemed to be the most affected out of the four of them, and Elly tried to reassure her, but it was difficult when she knew that at the end of the day, there was a lot of truth to his words: from her perspective, Maria too did appear as a pampered and well brought up girl who was way in over her head. "If only father had been here he would've been able to… to…" The Absol sat down, sighing. "Sorry, but… I think I'll have to miss out on that lunch, I've lost my appetite."
"Are you sure? The proposal's still on the table, and I'm sure that Zed's cooked up something delicious. You haven't had his food yet have you?" The Absol shook her head. "Then I'll go as far as saying that it'll give those cooks down in Yanicelum a run for their money!" She giggled at the Riolu's comment. "Am I wrong?"
"No no, I think you're right, honestly. The food usually arrives cold for starters, since it has to go up so high… Father used to go down and eat among his peers and followers, but has been unable to due to his illness."
"Is it really so severe?" Ferrus finally spoke up about Maria's father, the Absol shaking her head, and bit her lower lip.
"Well… not precisely. It's… well you are a close friend of his, correct? Or used to, at least. He mentions you sometimes, and your upbringing." The Lucario closed his eyes, sighing, and nodded. "Well, I feel I can tell you then that his illness rather than being physical is…" She trailed off, knowing that this was a loaded statement, the fighting type caught the gist of it and rose his paw.
"Don't worry, I understand. Perhaps in a way I am to be blamed too… He and I have not seen each other since we were teens, and from what I heard, things were quite difficult for him." He paused, eyes filled with regret. "I'm bound to lose my appetite at this rate as well."
"Then let's stop here!" Elly stomped the ground as they neared the exit of the castle and to the main plaza and fountain. "Frankly, I'm fed up with talking about that asshole, and the mopey attitudes you two have. You are coming with us, and we're going to eat lunch together. It won't solve anything, but it'll at least help to make you think about something else!"
"Besides, we know of a certain flying type who'll be really eager to see you!" Eric chimed in, which surprised Maria.
"W-wait seriously? He's… Oh, you meant Serge? Oh! Oh yes!" She appeared downright filled with dread at first, only to quickly change her tune and blush slightly. "Apologies, I thought you were talking about someone else. Yes, of course, it'll be great to see him again!" Though her reaction was strange, chances were she was thinking about someone completely different who she'd rather not see. One way or the other though, it was settled, and so they completely left the castle's perimeter and to the main plaza, where they found a large group of pokémon standing around the fountain, some of which immediately swarmed them with quill and paper, ready to question them about the matters discussed within.
Whilst Eric, Elly and Maria were no strangers to being the center of attention, not one of them held a candle to how efficiently and effectively Ferrus dismissed, defused and shut down questions and outrageous statements thrown his way. Some of them were legitimate reporters hoping to get the latest scoop, others were very clearly attempting to rile him up to get a reaction, and neither side could push through his defenses. They managed to break away from the large mob once other figures of interest stormed out as well, becoming their target and starting the cycle again.
The Lucario sat down by the edge of the fountain, sighing whilst the others just paced around and Elly tried to get a hold of the others through their crystals, only to frown as she came up empty pawed. "Something up?"
"Yeah, it's… Hey can you hear me?" The Riolu nodded to her question, delivered through their psychic bond, but it only served to confuse the Eevee further. "Ok so I'm not going crazy then and I haven't lost my psychic. That's weird though, because I certainly can't talk with the others."
"Think they took off their crystals?"
"All of them? At the same time?" Elly's question was going to prompt the Riolu to shrug, but the more he thought about it the less sense he made. Maria noticed their confusion and would suddenly shudder, fur standing on end.
"Something's off…" She barely got a few seconds to say those words, Eric and Elly both on edge too, confusing Ferrus for a split second. The split second that it took for a large fireball to engulf a building not far away from where they stood. The explosion shattered windows and blew away debris and civilians alike as several more rang out across the city in sequence. And before pandaemonium could fully settle in, as they were facing across the fountain where the explosions were occurring, Eric spied something in the water, a mere flash of rainbow colours far above their heads. With blinding speeds, Ferrus leapt from his seat and blurred to stand up just in the nick of time so that the psychic blades hurled at the Riolu pierced and ripped through his gut and left leg, the tips of the swords brushing Eric's fur.
"Ferrus!" Screaming and chaos befell them and the area immediately around them, bodyguards, soldiers and knights scrambling to protect the high priority politicians and hurrying them back inside of the castle as what was by now very clearly a terrorist attack unfolded around them. To make matters worse however, those responsible were quickly closing in, a Magmortar, Bastiodon, Drapion and Victebreel running across the plaza towards the wounded Lucario and his companions, whilst from the left an Electabuzz and several Voltorbs rushed in, some of the latter causing the explosions and creating even more chaos. Yet it was obvious by now that their objective was them…
That was, until Ferrus stood up again. Eric and Elly barely had a second to see the aura spreading through his arm before Maria threw them to the ground. To safety. Because the Lucario created a large aura blade the likes of which Eric had never seen before, rippling with the blue force that could barely contain itself within the construct and swung with all his might, cleaving through the fountain with a wave of aura and the Victebreel's vines and body, whilst the Drapion's tail was cut and the Bastiodon and Magmortar were spared because of the latter's shield like head. It didn't save them from the rapid-fire aura spheres that followed closely from his free paw, blasting them away in a cloud of smoke and debris, and a lightning bolt fired from their backs was blocked by his blade, quickly stabbing forward with it and making an aura spear that skewered the Electabuzz to the opposite wall with a crash, causing it to crumble on top of him. With the immediate threats taken care of, the Lucario turned to face the trio again, pointing them to the castle to take cover again.
"...Go! Go! G-!" Only for three more blades to skewer him from the side, this time puncturing the other side of his gut, right arm and chest, the last one cutting his shouting short and robbing the air from his lungs, pupils shrinking and lower lip trembling as blood surged out from his maw, stumbling to keep his balance and eventually losing it, falling into the broken fountain as his blood spread and fizzled into the water. Eric spared no time to quickly dive in and fish him out, calling his name repeatedly and shouting at him to stay awake whilst Elly told Maria to get behind her.
"I can defend myself too, we need to get him to cover!" She was talking about the Lucario, who as Eric checked quickly, was miraculously alive, his pulse fading rapidly though, along with his blood, meaning the blade hadn't pierced his heart. After two barrages from the exact same projectiles, the semi-translucent rainbow coloured blades embedded in his body, however, he knew the direction they'd been thrown from, and a quick glance upward confirmed it: atop the castle's garrison stood a lone figure, cloak waving in the wind, hiding its features beyond the fact that it was a bipedal creature.
"That's him!" The call-out made Elly and Maria turn to look up at them, and sure enough, the Eevee recognized the figure from their encounter deep under Crimsand Desert. "Elly!" He managed to get Ferrus out of the fountain, unconscious and deadweight, the Eevee quickly using her powers to grab him, and the Riolu quickly taking off running towards the wall.
"Where are you going?! Eric!" Her mate was obviously going to chase after the cloaked figure before they escaped, hellbent on ending this here and now, and though it frustrated Elly to no end, he could at least keep them busy whilst she and Maria helped at the plaza: as it quickly turned out, Ferrus wasn't the only one in critical condition. "Just be safe, and save some for me!" The Riolu looked back at him and gave her a thumbs up, then used his aura rope to grapple up and pull himself over the wall and to the roof of the garrison and chase him through the upper levels of the castle and the towers.
Without skipping a beat he swung, jumped and vaulted over the towers and eventually landed in an inner garden. The fountain in the middle sprouted water, and the garden inof itself was quite beautiful… but he'd seen this before, and he didn't need his aura senses to tell him to immediately summon his staff and spin it above and behind him. The blades were parried, but the knockback still almost sent him into the shallow fountain water, stumbling and almost losing his balance and smashing a final sword into see through fragments of psychic energy.
(Ultra Violet - Devil May Cry)
He glared up at his opponent, who stood near the very top of the castle with the cloudy sky behind them parting to reveal some sun rays. "After all this time…" Eric muttered under his breath, preparing himself for the battle ahead, as the cloaked figure stared down at him, this time with a psychic greatsword he held with both his hands. Eric beckoned him closer with his paw, his staff crossed behind his back. "It's payback time!"
The cloaked figure teleported and instantly tried to swing at his head from in front, the Riolu quickly flipping and rolling away as he fired an aura sphere, which they feinted and then clashed with the fighting type's staff, sparks flying off as the impact made water splash and glass shatter. Eric pressed forward and continued on the offensive, swinging downward and over his opponent, and changed his staff into a blade, clashing and crossing blows and keeping up swift and relentless pressure, putting nicks and cracks into the psychic blade, which held its ground but was being outmatched by the aura weapon.
The cloaked figure however, seemed aware of this, intentionally dismissing their weapon and teleporting just enough to dodge Eric's cleave, and nick his cheek and draw blood with a psychic dagger attached to what looked like the bottom of his foot, changing styles radically from a composed swordsman to a roguish attacker, swinging and spinning as he sliced away with tiny daggers, forcing Eric to begin stepping backwards, making sure he wasn't losing his footing as he returned to his staff and managed to push back and gain some ground. He teleported once again, and pushed Eric into the fountain and water, knocking his staff away and ready to stab him in the jugular.
The fighting type reacted quickly, grabbing his arm and holding it in place. In terms of raw strength, he had the upper hand, but he knew better than to keep holding onto a psychic for too long, and it showed, feeling his presence crawling up his arms, and closing his eyes to prevent him from going any further. He would have to use his aura if he wanted to look at him directly from now on, grabbing that arm and shoving him back, then blasting the area in between them with a fire sphere, fire spreading out in a cone in front of them and incinerating grass and bursting into the rooms nearby. The resulting smoke and fire forced the by now obvious psychic to reposition behind the Riolu, a chance he took to jump off the fountain and smash his fist into his face, sending him onto his back and sliding away… then bizarrely stopping to a grinding halt and propping themselves back up without their hands, coughing up some blood onto their cloak.
"Nice punch… would be a shame if I just!" Eric howled out, just touching his face had been enough to give him enough presence over his paw to crush joints. He could swing his arm and paw around, but it hurt like hell. The fire was spreading quickly, and being forced to swat the growing flames of his cloak, the figure teleported to the higher levels. "Come on up, unless you want to join daddy in the infirmary by looking like cheese!" A barrage of knives from behind forced Eric to relocate, using his water sphere to swing and grapple up to the balcony, panting in relief and quickly reacting to another teleport in front of him, the cloaked figure holding out their hand and using a psychic shield to block the aura spheres he sent their way, now looking composed and firm, once again.
"I'll make you pay for doing that!" In response to his previous taunt, Eric summoned another light staff, and would infuse it with the fire element. It weaved and bent out of shape as it became red, becoming an incandescent whip that he swung through the wooden pillars holding up the balcony, blocked by a psychic longsword in his right hand, then a swing of the other saw three more hurling at him. Eric quickly used a shadow sphere to shoot them down, psychic force clearing the dust and rubble quickly enough to allow him to deflect another aura sphere.
"Predictable." Yet another taunt, this one boorish and with a completely different tone of voice. Eric wasn't about to dismiss and sacrifice another weapon, feeling its effects already draining on him, the moment he felt the grip on that sword loosen he guessed he was teleporting again, quickly swinging that whip around him and forcing the psychic to back off as he'd teleported in front of him instead of behind, to throw him off, leaving himself open to a gut punch and a smack from that fire whip, searing and burning part of the cloak's right side. For a split second he saw something yellow and brown underneath, the figure becoming slightly smaller… then returning to an indistinguishable bipedal shape.
The attack seemed to anger them however, as they roared and focused psychic force on the ground Eric was standing on. If it'd been the floor this would've proved impossible, but with just a foot of floor between them and the lower floor, the entire balcony creaked and bent as psychic force lunged at it from underneath, blasting Eric upward, through and onto the roof with a painful crash, as he began to slide and roll down to the side. He reacted quickly, throwing his fire whip upward and wrapping it around a water drain, managing to quickly pull himself up and keep himself from falling off the edge. Looking down, the yawning maw of the valley below awaited him, they'd completely crossed over the castle and was hanging off the other side!
To make matters worse, he would hear a smash from his left, and spot the psychic type walking sideways on the wall, forcing him to quickly plant his feet on the wall and yank himself upward to avoid a barrage of swords. One of them however, was aimed at the point his whip was trapped around, and he felt himself falling again! Desperate, he used a water sphere and attacked it the underside of another balcony, swinging and pulling the whip back, dismissing the weapon into aura as it was obvious he was at a disadvantage. He and the psychic traded projectiles over the abyss as he swung away and tried to get up on semi solid ground.
He felt his water string being cut short by a psychic blade as he swung under another balcony, falling off again and facing upward, finally spotting a curve on the underside that he could stick his water sphere to, letting it stretch further and further as he swung his body backwards… the tension reached its peak, and then snapped forward, catapulting him upward and snapping the water rope again, flying past the psychic and swinging at him with a freshly made staff. The clash shattered their weaponry, a flash of energy and then a resounding explosion following as Eric flew even higher still and a section of the castle collapsed and fell into the void, the cloud of smoke and debris concealing the psychic from view as he immediately took aim at the tower nearby and pulled himself toward the roof and safety, panting and gasping for air.
(Stop the music)
He barely had a few seconds to rest on his knees, and in the blink of an eye saw a pair of yellow feet in front of him, before psychic force grabbed and began to choke his neck, cutting his air and making him gag and struggle. Slowly he was dragged up by that force, until his feet could no longer touch the tiles. "You've run around and swung for the last time, Eric…" Without the cloak's spell now active, he could easily hear… and recognize the voice. A voice he could easily remember despite it having been nearly five years since their last meeting. "Though the circumstances that brought us here are mostly unrelated…" He finally found himself eye to eye with the pokémon he least expected to see as the head of these psychopaths.
The very first criminal that he and Elly apprehended when they were barely teenagers. Alakazam. He remembered their real name being Jonathan, or Johnny, but he was far easier to remember by the nickname he'd been given: the Collector. Their face was wizened and older, a scar running down the left side of their face, and a composed, yet delightfully maniacal glint in his eyes. "So you DO remember me, hm~? I didn't even have to read your mind to figure that out, your face tells me everything we need to know."
We?
"Oh that's right. On a few levels at least. I am Alakazam. The Collector…" A twitch in their neck and a blink of his eyes later, they changed from emerald to purple, smirking. "And once upon a time yes, our name was Johnny… Not anymore though. You took care of whatever screws I had left up here, and boy oh boy it's been a rollercoaster ever since." He reached forward and gripped his neck with his own hand, its grasp strong and nearly crushing his windpipe in the process. "You know, I really should thank you in a way. If it wasn't for what you and Elizabeth did to me back in that cave, I would've remained just a peon. But my… unique mental state drew the attention of masters Blake and Clades it seems." The Riolu's eyes widened like plates, mocking laughter ringing in his ears as he gripped his arm, trying to pull himself free.
"They showed us all that we know: our powers, how this world really works, and who we were always meant to be." He began to step towards the edge. "And we are no longer the crook you once knew, we are no longer just a small pest… We are Dementia, leader of the Neo Dark Eons, and we shall expose this world's festering underbelly!" He roared and tossed Eric over the edge, plunging down and toward the valley below, the Riolu's arms numb from his psychic, his body slowly recovering as he got further and further away from Dementia… but soon knew that he was too far away for even his water sphere or whip to save him.
His mind raced, piecing together all that Dementia had said, and came upon a horrifying realization, one he earnestly thought he wouldn't be able to share and warn his friends about… Until the shadow of a bird appeared at the corner of his vision, and a brutal gale blew past him, claws gripping his fur and body and yanking him upward and away from certain doom! He spied Dementia's irate glare as he glanced upward, senses returning to him and recognizing Serge frantically calling for him.
"I'm here… I'm… Fuck! I'm here!" He gripped his talon, and the Pidgeot dropped him and spun around to dodge a psychic blade, then letting Eric land on his back and flying further away from Dementia as Eric grabbed onto his neck feathers. "We need to head back!"
"Who the fuck was that?!"
"That's their leader! The guys under the desert, and the ones that were trying to control the Parasite! That's him! But we need to head back to the city and meet up with Elly right now!"
"Everything's on fire up there dude, it's a fucking warz- Shit!" Dementia wasn't letting up, teleporting on top of them and attempting to cleave the two of them in half, relentlessly teleporting and chasing after them and throwing many psychic knives as Serge tried to curve around and fly back to the castle, as per Eric's orders… only for another barrage to bar their way. Eric attempted to deflect as many as he could, but the number defied reason, and once the Alakazam used its teleportation, Serge's left wing was clipped, earning a howl from the bird and sending him spinning and tumbling down towards a burning building. Eric tried his best to help and look for anything that he could grapple onto, as Serge desperately tried to straighten and line himself up with the building, trying to glide down safely, but having too much speed, the last thing he and Eric saw before they blacked out was a burning building crumbling in front of them.
"Fuckin' 'ell was that…"
"Serge!" Nox cried out as if the Pidgeot could hear him, and took off running towards the area where he and Eric had crashed, which seemed to be halfway across the city.
"You lot get going and get those two to the main plaza! Jake and… Sam!" Vincent was taking them to get to the plaza, and fast. They weren't the only ones though, as Cherry invited herself essentially, tagging along with the trio and floating after them, concerned about Elly and Eric.
"Oi squirt, get back! Ya ain't tagging along into a fuckin' war!"
"Nuh uh! Eric and Elly have been super duper nice with me and I won't let anyone hurt them!"
"Then teleport us over there Cherry!"
"I can't! Something's…" She would attempt to teleport everyone to the castle gates again, but just like when she'd tried to at Vincent's apartment, it was pointless.
"Then the sooner we start running the sooner we'll get there!" The grass type took point, dashing into the city and running past panicked civilians. The closer they got to the center, the more and more chaotic things became, soon coming across a pile of debris that cut off their quickest path to the plaza. To their left they could see the path curving around, but screaming coming from the right had them doubting themselves. Sam took the decision to head left and began running, before Vincent called him out on it. "Wrong path muscle brain!"
"Wot?! 'ey wait a minute I can see the bloody path there!"
"It leads somewhere else! Right's the way to go, I've been living here longer than you have, so follow me!" Sam didn't argue beyond that, acknowledging Vincent's leadership through the city whilst Jake lagged behind for a bit, clearly confused by what Vincent had just said.
"What's wrong?"
"...Sam was correct, that path is faster. Why is he…?" If they didn't take off running they were going to miss the others, and Cherry essentially yanked Jake away and down the right road. Sure enough, they came across the source of the screaming and crying before they did an actual path toward the plaza: a collapsing and burning building, waves of heat rolling off and crashing into the group as they ran by it. The perpetrators of course, were just a little further down the road, torching another building were a Magmortar and a Scolipede, the latter spitting venom that the former ignited and spread fire like napalm. A guard rushed them down and was promptly struck down and cut across his chest by an Unfeazant, chuckling as he swooped down and landed.
His confidence disappeared the moment he saw the icicle flying at his skull, narrowly avoiding it, but skewering the Magmortar's flame throwing arm. The fire was already spreading though, so they had to move quickly. As they turned around, Vincent was dashing at them, root rapier readied on his right hand whilst the left was sheathed in its bouquet, trading swipes with the Unfeazant and stabbing quickly forward, getting his rapier stomped on and almost thrown to the ground, before he shoved his left bouquet in the unfeazant's face and fired off a spread of seed that blew out their left eye, the screaming following suit.
Whilst Jake and Vincent were taking the offensive, Sam was torn between helping them out and charging into the building. Just a glance inside could tell him it was hell in there, but all that wailing and screaming… a chill ran down their spine, and he made his decision: stomping into the hellish building with his scales hardened around his neck, head and sides, and just moved through as quickly as he could. The smoke made it hard to breathe, constantly coughing as he looked around and eventually found the source: a Buizel crying besides a Floatzel that looked to have been crushed by burning debris.
In the chaos he couldn't even tell if they were alive or not, but with his strength it hardly mattered, grabbing and slinging the kid on his shoulder whilst he lifted and threw off the wood. They'd been stabbed through with a small beam, but otherwise could feel their breathing, grabbing them both and once he made the only screaming and wailing came from the Buizel, dashed out of the house… only to see that his only path out was collapsing in front of him! In a fit of rage, he charged forward head first, protecting the civilians with his arms and burst out of the building, his reckless charging making it collapse into a heap of burning rubble behind him, rolling as he landed outside, scales slightly charred, but otherwise unharmed.
He coughed out some smoke, beating his chest overdramatically, groaning and standing up slowly, soon looking around to see that the bastards starting the fires were taken care of. Though there was blood, their wounds were somewhat minor or otherwise non-lethal… even if they'd lost limbs or eyes, Vincent had made sure they wouldn't bleed out. He carried the wounded Floatzel over, and it only took a few checks for her pulse, as the Buizel soon revealed amidst sobbing and stressed out whining, that she was barely alive. "Bring me the Magmortar, quickly." Vincent stated drily, the Krokorok complying, grabbing them by the back of their neck and dragging them as they screamed and howled out, earning them a swift punch to the face and breaking their teeth in.
He was going to go further before Vincent the larger pokémon. "Don't kill him, I need him alive y'know?!"
"Yeah well, hope he don't get to live past this… fuckin' piece of shit."
"I didn't consider you the caring type, considering you were willing to ignore the crying earlier and take the shorter path." Vincent commented as he buried his fingers into the Magmortar's skin, and then into the Floatzel's. The Magmortar grunted, moaned and eventually out in growing pain and anxiety as he felt his energy leaving his body, growing more and more tired, his body progressively drying out, the flames on his body dying, and looking more and more malnourished, whilst the Floatzel's wounds rapidly healed, and ended up opening her eyes, right as rain, and a weeping, sobbing Buizel jumping into her arms. Of course, the sight of the nearly dried up husk of a Magmortar was horrendous to look at for both their foes and his friends alike, as Vincent stood up, scoffing at the fire type. "There, gave back a bit of what you took from these people, asshole."
"...Fuck me, remind me not to fuckin' piss you off."
"Then we better keep it honest amongst ourselves." Jake interceded. "You took this path because of the screaming, you needn't lie to convince us to save innocent lives."
"...Haven't the faintest what you're talking about there, Jake old boy. I personally don't give a damn about them. Just passing by an-"
"The other path was the quickest to get to the plaza, where my friends and team leaders are likely fighting and struggling against our foes, and you would rather waste time playing tough? Own up to it, the situation does not call for your acting, not now." Vincent bit his lower lip, and scoffed, then turned his head down the road.
"...more buildings are on fire down there. Plus it's the best way to get to the plaza." Even Sam knew that the grass type was full of shit by this point, and though he was mad, he would rather they keep going. Jake just looked at them, with Cherry mostly focusing on playing with the Buizel to try and cheer them up.
"Then let's head there, but let's make one thing clear: while we want to reach Eric and Elly as expediently as possible, our priority as explorers is to help civilians. Even if you two are not officially a part of the team, I implore you to help, and promise to reward you if need be." At this both Vincent and Sam both fell silent and thought for a bit… before Sam cracked his knuckles, smirking.
"This suits me fine I'll be honest yea? My ears are fucked, didn't hear that cryin' 'till we were close, and I ain't no hero, same as cabbage over here… but if we 'appen to run into folks who're wailin' for help I ain't one to turn a blind eye." Vincent looked at the Krokorok, and smirked. "Wot?"
"You and I will get along just fine I feel, Sammy boy~"
"It's fuckin' Samuel, ya fuckin' dickweed!" They started running again, this time taking more intentional detours to help those in need.
"Is that the last of them?!" Zed called out into the burning building, transformed into an Infernape like the one that had been burning these buildings down earlier, now tied up and knocked out like the rest of its ilk, whilst Nox went into the fire and carried out a badly wounded and burnt Mightyena, nodding and letting the Zorua transform back to his normal form. The wounded pokémon joined the other victims, either sitting or walking around and helping if they were healthy enough, or laying down on bedsheets and curtains laid on the road for those that were wounded or being treated. Soon after the other group had split up, the very street they'd been in had been attacked. Lucy ran by and slid to a stop whilst Ayame returned, swiping blood off of her katana and returning it to water and absorbing it.
"That is the last of them. I made sure that they will answer for what they have done today, worry not."
"I didn't see anything else going down behind us, it seems like the guards have things mostly out of control in the outer districts."
"So it is as we suspected, their main target was to attack the castle and those within. We need to get a move on and meet up with the others."
"We gotta find Serge and Eric first though, they fell over in that direction, and they could be in some serious shit!" Serge wasn't one to get shot down with ease, so Nox's concerns were justified. With things under control and the Cunabulan Guard slowly approaching and taking control of the situation, they would continue onward. Those capable of fighting readied just in case as they moved forward deeper into the city towards the area where Serge and Eric had crashed.
"Talk about a first day at the job, eh Ayame?" Lucy's question caught Ayame off guard as they started running down the road. "I mean, ya were going to join the team, weren't you?"
"That I was, but some other matters kept me from essentially confirming my decision to Elizabeth last time we met… I certainly do hope that the offer is still on the table?"
"Beats, me you can ask her when we save her fat ass!"
"Wait, Ayame's joining the team? When'd this happen?!" Nox sounded awfully excited about it.
"That celebration dinner she hosted as thanks for saving her village I believe…"
"It isn't my village, so to say. An extension of it would be more appropriate, but yes, during said night, while most of you were sleeping off both exhaustion and alcohol, Lucy, Elly and I discussed some matters, one of which involved me joining the team in order to aid in your pursuit of these monsters… and with what is transpiring today, my resolve is doubly justified, this cannot be allowed to continue.
"Agreed… But hey, that means you're gonna move in to live with us, right? Can I show you my room then?" Nox's question was so sudden and strange that Ayame nearly stumbled. "Just thought that I have some cool stuff and all, like a sword I got off of a bandit for quadrupeds or..."
"Oh that thing you nearly chipped your fang on when you tried to swing it around with your mouth?" Zed was nearly tackled in order to keep him quiet about such an event.
"This isn't the time for such childish things, now is it?!" Ayame cut in, and straightened out the two of them, whilst Lucy was scouting ahead.
"Two more to the right!" She dashed again and met up with the pokémon in question, being a Blastoise whose jets of water were destroying walls and buildings, and a Hitmonlee beating a completely defenseless and bloodied Kirlia whilst a Ralts watched on crying. Lucy dashed by the Hitmonlee, slicing open his tendons and prompting him to topple to the floor whilst Ayame ran around the corner, summoning her blade with a swing of her arm whilst Nox offered support with fireballs. The Blastoise focused on blocking Ayame with his shell, only for Nox's fireballs to singe and burn his chest, the flames giving her the opportunity to slide off to the side and cut off his arm, followed by two cuts at the back of his right and then left leg, a single flowing motion that incapacitated him. The Ralts carried the Kirlia away with a plethora of thanks, meeting up with a group of survivors coming back to meet them and carry them to safety.
They encountered similar situations as they moved closer to the site where Eric and Serge had crash landed, and as the building was finally in direct sight… a gust of wind kicked up, throwing them to the floor whilst Zed howled out in pain, a deep gash appearing on his side. Lucy looked back, catching something black running right past them, and following those movements: the only way she stood a chance was by trying to speed herself up, seeing that blur move slower as she moved faster, and tried to match its speed… then both she and the Luxray stopped dead in their tracks, emerald eyes meeting.
"You…" The Luxio could barely breathe out, too shocked about what she was seeing, whilst Zed huffed and whined behind her, blood surging out of the open gash on his side, and the blood on the Luxray's claw made him the obvious culprit. Those emerald eyes, identical to her own, belonged to a larger Luxray, his black mane with streaks of yellow, a deeper shade of blue wherever it spread, and a large, muscular frame with a four pointed tail end. "Alastor?!" The name made Zed's eyes go wide open, though Ayame wasted no time readying for battle and charging for the Luxray… only to swipe at nothing, the Luxray having moved to the side and kicking her away and into a pile of debris with his rear legs.
"Ayame!" Nox focused on the Frogadier and getting her out of that rubble whilst Lucy stood in between him Zed and her brother, panicking and distressed, and trying to find the words… he wasn't faring any better, opening his mouth to speak, his thoughts dying in his throat.
"So, after all this time, and after all I'd heard, it really was you. I was really hoping, holding out that it wouldn't be you that it was just a coincidence." He sighed, shaking his head. "No dice I suppose. I told you that I'd be waiting ahead Lucy, and yet I never thought you'd catch up to me this quickly."
"...Catch up? This is what you call that?! You've been gone for the last ten years and this is…" She looked around, horrified at what her brother was helping to accomplish. "Why?! How can you do this!"
"There's a lot to explain, Lucy, and there's many things you don't know. But I won't stand for all the injustice and oppression that these people have forced upon the world." She bit her lower lip, but shook her head, clearly conflicted. "I can't fight you, there's too much that we need to talk about and…"
"We don't have anything to talk about!" She howled out, fur crackling with fury and electricity. "These people have done nothing to you, they're just living their lives! Why are you going to such lengths?!"
"...To send a message." He replied after a short pause, glaring at her. "You've no idea how the world works sis, have you forgotten how when those in power are corrupt and decadent, it's the innocent that get hurt and are harmed in the process of trying to reform said system? Just look at this city." He glanced around him. "Tall buildings, luxurious clothing and decadent cooking… And yet just further south there's nothing but famine and the ravaged lives that the war these pokémon have perpetuated." Shifting from the rubble besides him alerted him of the water kunai thrown his way, blinking out of the way, but only a short distance, growling as a fireball tried to blast him from the other in reaction, Nox offering Ayame some support whilst slowly recovering from his wound. "If they're so innocent then why can I still smell blood upon their silks and wines!?" He groaned, composing himself and smirking. "But I've no time to spare, sister. Soon, we will meet again, I am sure of it, and when we do we can have a more in-depth discussion." Before she could respond, he blinked out of view again, then again and seemingly moving in extremely fast bursts of speed and jumping from building to building.
"A little help here, Lucy! Lucy!" Nox's cries for help eventually got her out of her stupor, and ran over to help lift the debris pinning Ayame down, who looked battered and bruised, but none the worse. "You alright?"
"I'll be fine, but… You have much to explain, if that Luxray really was your brother, Lucy." She stood up slowly, heaving, same as Zed, who was dead quiet. The Luxio took some time to answer, looking in the direction where Alastor had gone, and now biting her lower lip.
"Is this really where you were waiting for me?" She asked no one in particular, but it was obvious from the tone of her voice that she was pained and torn. Things had just taken a terrible turn for all of them.
"C'mon c'mon, out ya go!" The closer Jake and the others got to the castle, the more wrecked things were, and the more survivors they found. By now they fully expected areas behind them to be under control, having already spotted some members of the guard fighting and bringing some of the attackers under control. "That's the last of 'em!" Sam called out, having been supporting a collapsing roof and tiles falling all over him, the tiles collapsing and kniking and drawing blood, yet his broad shoulders served as an Umbrella for Jake and Cherry to help carry out wounded, whilst Vincent focused on healing and getting everyone that might be in mortal danger out of peril. A loud bang followed by crumbling was heard, and Sam stepped out from the rubble, shaking it off. "This shit's never gonna end at this rate. What's their deal?!"
"Terror, most likely. If these really are the same pokémon behind the recent attacks, then we've no reason to doubt they simply want to cause as much damage to the populace to send some kind of message." Jake's response got a shudder out of Vincent as he finished healing a sobbing child, huffing and panting from exhaustion. "You seem pale."
"I'm fine, nothing a good hot shower can't fix after we're all done kicking their asses back to wherever they're from." He looked around. "Sick bastards, shit's already bad enough in the world, what are they even going to gain from further destabilization? We've enough misery as is."
"We still gotta get to Elly in the plaza, she could be hurt!" Cherry was still hyper focused on Elly, trusting the others to actually get to Eric and Serge safely. Thus, the group would keep up their quick pace running through the city and heading ever closer to the plaza… only to hear a building crumble down in front of them out of nowhere. Nothing seemed wrong with the outside structurally, until the whole thing collapsed like a house of cards and part of the front was blown off as if by an explosion. From the cloud of dust walked out a bipedal figure, fins adorning the back of his arms and head, imposing and even larger than Sam was… The Krokorok looking at them apprehensively, before finally hardening his scales, quickly recognizing the figure.
"You!" Venom dripped from his voice, though Jake and Cherry didn't recognize them, Vincent did as well, though instead of angered by their presence his face showed a mixture of shock and fear as he took a step back. The Garchomp glanced up from the rubble littered streets and dusting his shoulders, glancing and looking at Sam, holding the stare before a smile crept up on his face.
"Well well… Look who it is!" He laughed, spreading his arms and walking towards Sam. "My, you really have grown, little Sammy." He barely got to say anything else before Sam lunged and rushed him down and decked him in the face insanely hard, sending a shockwave through the street that shattered glass and sent the Garchomp sliding back on his feet… before he simply buried his talons, slowing down and recomposing himself slowly, not even a scratch on his face. "Hah… I see your signature move is strong as ever."
"Can't believe the rumors were true." Vincent was clearly standing behind Sam, wanting nothing to do with this exchange.
"You know him?" Jake took a step forward instead, preparing icicles for throwing and supporting the Krokorok, only for Vincent to lower his arm.
"Save them, they'll do nothing except tickle him. That's Maximilian Blackscale. I would imagine some of your companions might not know about him, but someone such as you surely knows."
Once he said that name Jake's face contorted to one of horror. "The Underworld Kaiser?! He's working alongside them!?"
"Been looking for you Max! For a long, long ass time!" Sam cracked his knuckles. "This how you spend your time now, asshole?! Killing civilians and wrecking homes and cities?!"
"Not precisely. You know well that I'm a businessman above everything Sam. And business, let me assure you, is booming." The crackling of the fire behind him seemed to clarify what that meant. "With that in mind, and while I would love to know why you've been looking for me all this time, I cannot spare a single moment Sam. Time is money, and me and my men are just about done here." Sam roared, grabbing a chunk of debris and hurling it at him like a cannonball. The Garchomp's arm lunged forward for a punch, seemingly missed entirely… only for a flick of the wrist to stab one of the fins on the back of his arms, slicing the boulder cleanly in half.
"What, already turning tail?! I'll beat you to an inch of your life you backstabbing asshole!" He took off running towards him, much to the other's dismay.
"Rich, coming from you!" They were rushing each other down as they screamed, clashing with their fists and quickly grappling each other and trading slugs and punches before Sam managed to sweep his foot with his tail, and quickly get him off balance to throw him straight into a building to his left, opening the way for the rest. He seemed to at least still be aware of where he was, as he glanced at the others.
"I've this fucker locked down, get your asses to the plaza alread-" He lunged out like a demon as the others ran over to move past Sam, punching and slicing at his chest with those elbow fins, laughing.
"Do you now?!" Sam managed to grab his arms, and tried to headbutt him off, only for him to slam his feet into his upper abdomen and boost off the crocodile, landing right in front of him and rapidly punching his chest twice, hitting hard scales but actually making the Krokorok recoil. "Still such a CHILD!" His roundhouse kick was intercepted by Sam's left arm, which barely blocked it, huffing and straining to keep it from snapping through his hardened scales, as he looked at Jake, Vincent and Cherry again.
"Just fucking go!"
"Alright, we got it, but once we get Elly back we're coming to help you!" Cherry cried out as she flew after Jake and Vincent.
"I ain't gonna share this guy with you lot, so get fucking lost!" He turned to face Maximilian, who was just laughing and obviously enjoying this. "What's so fucking funny, huh?!"
"And here I thought you'd at least grown more experienced with time Sam. You've made a grave mistake once more. Then again… If memory serves right, everything about you was wrong since day one." That ticked Sam off further, who just roared and rushed him down, determined to turn him into a bloody pulp whilst Maximillian merely shrugged and cracked his knuckles.
Elly groaned and struggled against Malamar, Golisopod and a Nidoking that all pressed down on her psychic barrier, howling out as she would quickly blast back with a burst that although shattered her barrier, lunged a fist at the Nidoking's gut, sending him flying and then quickly jumped over a coil of tentacles grabbing at her paws, spinning in midair, a wave of psychic energy and dark matter coalescing on her tail and smashing it against the Golisopod's chin and then smashing that extended tail against the Malamar, before the dark matter separated, grabbed them and hurled them away and towards a building wall, adding to the pile of barely conscious pokémon that she and Maria were making, with the Absol just dodging and countering blows and attacks with her psychic. "They just won't… stop coming…"
"Do not lose heart, Elly! Y- look out!" A Scyther was stopped by Maria's own psychic from gashing into the Eevee's side, and a quick dark matter jab stopped him in his tracks before uppercutting him and sending him flying as well. Ferrus had already been taken to the castle to have his wounds treated, grievous as they were, with Elly unsure if he'd survive that earlier attack. Her thoughts didn't have much time to wander though, already another wave of attackers were collapsing into the plaza and brandishing torches or fire types among them, with every intention of burning down the castle they were protecting. "More still. Very well if I must then I-" Before she had a chance to finish that sentence however, Maria spotted a blue blur rushing in from behind and swinging and punching away at the pokémon. They jumped and punched with white aura coating their fist, and before long took care of the mob, leaving Eric standing there, huffing and a bit beaten and bloodied, but otherwise alive. Elly let out a sigh of relief, and rushed to him.
"What the hell were you thinking with a stunt like that?! You had me worried sick!"
"Sorry, I had to go take care of him after what he did to Ferrus. Once you actually hear who was under that cloak you're going to collapse from shock."
"Try me." She chuckled, then stumbled as she felt she was going to throw up from nausea, dizziness overwhelming her and senses numbing as the Riolu's face showed a sly smirk.
"Or you can just collapse now… works out one way or the ot-" A roar echoed around her before sleep took her. Maria, who had been standing back watching the exchange with her eyes closed threw a psychic blade at seemingly nothing, opposite side to where the Riolu was standing, and there, flickering into existence, or rather becoming visible, a Zoroark stood, normal coloration and a scar over his left eye with longer fur around his elbows and legs, draping down like a cloak. "How the f-" She was gone, and he narrowly avoided her horn from stabbing into his chin as he rolled back, though was cut across his left leg, stumbling and flopping on the floor, quickly reaching for and grabbing the unconscious Eevee by her tail and yanking her up and into his arm, before trying to take off. He sensed murder in the Absol's eyes, a far cry of her seemingly passive form just a few seconds ago!
"Drop her, you villain!" Her voice was imposing and filled with venom, and he was tempted to stop, striking fear into his heart as she seemingly caught up with him again despite not even hearing her break into a sprint, another gash across his right side, seemingly materializing in his peripheral vision. She was somehow outrunning him, be it with teleportation or psychic illusions, but neither case seemed likely in his mind, trying desperately to get away with the Eevee in tow. Another psychic cut spun from his left, prompting him to reactively dodge straight into the Absol's horn as it sliced into his right leg, leaving a gash and throwing him to the ground, losing the unconscious Eevee in the process.
"Damn it you bitch!" Maria didn't seem to skip a beat and had every intention of finishing him off… but was forced to roll and jump away as psychic blades and icicles rained down on her position, swinging her horn and smacking them out of the air with her own projectiles and dodging, eventually placing her further away from the duo than she'd originally been, and taking cover behind the fountain. The projectiles were being hailed down by both Dementia and Jiho, who assisted the fallen and wounded Zoroark. "Boss!"
"You've done well in capturing her… that completes our objectives here."
"We should make a retreat then bef-" She was silenced as she saw something blitzing out of the corner of her eye, that being a Luxio dashing down the street at incredibly high speeds, and attempting to run by her and slice her arm clean off with high speed and electrified claws. A quick ice barrier she summoned protected her but left a gash in the ice, which shattered into electrified chunks and steam when Nox's fireball smacked into it, followed by Ayame rushing through the Steam and slashing away, landing a few hits on the ice ghost type, but having her blades frozen immediately, then shattered into chunks when Dementia swung his own psychic greatsword, sending her flying and arms covered in gashes and cuts from the ice. "We must leave… now!"
"Not yet… Alastor and Max aren't here…" Right on cue, Lucy's follow up attack was interrupted by her own brother tackling her to the side and out of the way, stumbling and sliding on her side. "Finally!"
"Sorry I'm late, got a little sidetracked. By the way, Alois, you said your little brother was a shiny Zorua right?"
"Yea, the little bastard's here somewhere." The Luxray pointed in the direction he'd come running from, to show the battered and tired Zorua that was limping after Lucy now, with Cherry close by to try and protect him and glaring at Dementia, with the Alakazam simply glaring back. "Well well… would you look at that~" His voice made the smaller dark type turn his head, and stop in place when he saw the normal Zoroark slowly standing up.
"Y-you?! But I…"
"Left me to die on that ship? Well… looks like your little plan for payback didn't pan out all that well, eh? Well… I'd catch up and kill you for what you did to me…" Even though he wasn't wounded there, he placed a paw on his left side, where that scar still badly hurt. "But I don't have the time to waste on you today." He gave him a sickening grin however, as he let out a chuckle. "Though I'd recommend you sleep with the lights on tonight~"
A loud explosion, followed by the sheer size of Sam being hurled through a building and crashing into the middle stone fountain where Maria was hiding was enough to snap everyone's attention away from the two brothers, as the Absol took off the moment she saw Sam burst through like that, the Krokorok battered and bruised, but still capable of fighting, whilst Max came through the debris, panting and with the smallest trickle of blood running down the left side of his jaw. "Hah… I'll give you something, you've definitely grown since I last saw you… But it's not good enough, Sammy~" He turned to his allies, walking towards them and swiftly shattering the icicles Jake fired and outright ignoring Nox's fireballs, seeing his scales glisten and harden, before shattering and falling away to reveal identical scales.
"I'd say that's everyone then? Boss, if you would?"
"Indeed… While I am sure most of you have quite a deal to discuss here…" Jake and Jiho exchanged a cursory look, Zed was shaking in place whilst looking at Alois, Lucy and Alastor were glaring at each other, betrayal written all over her face, and Sam was sticking her fists up to try and continue her fight with Max, much to his amusement. "I believe that it is high time we leave." As he got ready to teleport himself and his lackeys, the entirety of Team Star would collapse on them and try to take them out, as well as the allies they'd found in this city… only for a wall of fire to rise up in betweeen the two, and a Blaziken to jump out and down on top of Dementia and his cronies, forcing him to teleport on emergency and get them out of the way as a wave of flames erupted from the point they were just standing it… and from it, rose Alakard, the hero and captain of the Cunabulan Guard!
"Alakard!" Eric's voice called off as he came into the plaza carrying a wounded and bloodied Serge on his back. He looked quite mauled too, splinters and gashes on his now bloodied fur whilst Serge was outright unconscious. Their appearance made even Vincent grow concerned and approach them, as Eric looked at the rest of his team mates and their allies… and then came to a horrifying realization. "Where's Elly?!"
"They got her! They're trying to take her away!" Maria shouted as she sprinted around the flames, and Eric, despite his limp and Vincent telling him to back off, did so too, running and summoning an aura sword to try and back her and Alakard up. The Blaziken made sure to cut off their direct route towards the team, before raising his fists and lunging forward, leaving a trail of flames as he met Max's fist, matching it and quickly overpowering him with the rush of flames that followed, which Jiho managed to put out and then get seared by a fire blast following one of the Blaziken's kicks. The amount of fire he was strewing about was so bad that part of the nearby buildings were already catching on fire, and chaos was once again beginning to erupt and break out across the area. His and Maria's efforts were undermined as Max blocked their swords, scales slightly seared and burnt, and sent them hurling away, Eric landing on his bloodied leg and letting out a scream from the impact.
"Boss, things are looking bleak!"
"We'd be fools to confront them whilst they've got the Blazing Fist on their side… then I am afraid we must really depart."
"What, gonna chicken out?!" Alakard wasn't planning on letting them get away so easily… his plans didn't line up with the Alakazam's, whose concentration was never broken thanks to his allies shielding him, and before his cloak could even catch fire in the hell the Blaziken had made, they were gone, a flicker of the flames and he and his companions vanished like they'd never been there. The sight of them missing alongside Elly was too much for the Riolu, who stood up and called out her name, screaming for them to come back… before the toll his wounds took on him was too great, falling to the ground with tears of frustration welling up in his eyes and panting from the agony his wounds were giving him.
In a forest, far away from Cunabula, an Umbreon stopped watering his crops, ears perked up, and a shiver ran down his spine, cyan rings flickering and glowing before fading as he rested his watering can with his psychic, and looking to the setting sun. Something was wrong, once again. He shook his head, trying to ignore it, as he always had done. Blake was dead, he told himself, nothing and no one could hurt her again in the same way that he had… And yet… opening the door to his modest wooden lodge, he walked inside, grabbing a bag as a stream of darkness and mass gathered on his back, forming a cloak, that shut the door on his way out. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.
And he'd spent long enough waiting for death to come.