For the longest time, Honnoji had visions related to this group. Visions, intermingled with nightmares, that slowly but surely eroded her peace of mind, not helped in the slightest by what humans had done to her. And at the middle of all of those visions, was the emaciated, unnatural figure of the Pokemon floating ahead of her.
A part of her wished she was wrong all along. Wished she overestimated the danger posed by this sole Gardevoir. Wished the visions were nothing but fruits of her frayed, deeply damaged imagination. Yet, for all the presence Hiei had in those visions, she was even more foreboding in the flesh.
Nagashino had this aura of monstrous pragmatism, as if she would've murdered anyone and everyone if she had to. Okehazama felt like he was always in the right, and was so deeply disturbed he thought nothing of killing those who wronged him. This dragon, Inabayama, looked like someone who loved to fight, and did not care how much she harmed her opponents. Hiei…
Hiei was someone, to whom others were little more than ants. Oh, she was perfectly willing to humour them, but if a fight broke out? She would've mercilessly crushed the opposition without even giving it the first thought, let alone a second.
It… It must be very lonely, living like this.
They reached the sealed off room, and the Gardevoir raised her hand towards the massive door.
"Uh… Ple-please don't break it?" Absol tried, earning a flat, if questioning look from Hiei, "I-it's a security sy-system. To keep- to keep Anegawa inside. If we ha-have to retreat, we'll n-need it in place"
"Isn't he the last part of our group?" the Goodra looked at her, "Either we punch him into submission, or your visions don't work"
"I-I don't know how- know how we'll recruit him. If this d-doesn't work out, we might n-need to find another ap-aproach"
"…" the Gardevoir looked at her, then to Inabayama, then lowered her arm, "How long will it take?"
"H-half a hour"
Hiei shortly nodded, floating into the corner of the room, sitting there, and closing her eyes. The dragon sat next to her, and cozied up, keeping an eye on the rest of the room. Trainer initiated the entrance procedure, and sat on the sofa, sometimes throwing short glances at the newcomers.
She did not look forward to getting back into that overwhelming darkness, to meeting Anegawa again. If she slept outside of the Pokeball, the Mimikyu would've probably visited her nightmares already. Still, this was something she had to see through, so she watched the clock, and tried to calm herself down in the process. The latter did not work out very well.
A short eternity later, the clock reached zero, and the heavy doors opened, disturbing deep darkness on the other side once more. Once more, Trainer carried a lantern with her, only this time it was joined by the glow of Hiei's crystal - soft at first, but soon amplified to shed bright, red light that illuminated about as strongly as the lantern. Roughly five minutes in, Gardevoir gestured them to stop, floated a dozen meters ahead of the group, and slowly, deeply inhaled.
Then.
She.
SHRIEKED.
The aberrant sound punctured through Honnoji's entire being, causing her to stumble, her body to tremble uncontrollably, and her vision to float. At the edge of the oozing vertigo, she instinctually felt the meaning, the CONCEPT behind this all.
Challenge.
Moments later, a second, distant shriek - this one more overworldly, like someone drew a thousand needles across a pane of glass. Then, Honnoji blinked - and he was here.
A dozen of long, shadowy claws clattered across the floor, as the small figure covered in human skin emerged from the darkness, quickly heading straight towards the Gardevoir. Too quickly. Three of the claws rose, to then strike against his opponent - only to draw sparks against an invisible barrier, causing cracks to appear.
In return, Hiei gestured, and the horrible figure rapidly crashed into the ceiling, and then into the floor, its coverings tearing and spitting their macabre fillings onto the floor. Next moment, he was already in Gardevoir's face, shrieking, every single arm striking at her.
"Creepy little bugger," Hiei sneered, catching a couple of arms. She let the others strike against her barrier, as she planted one foot into the ghost's body, and PULLED, tearing out both appendages, and throwing them onto the ground. Both dissipated, only for two more to appear from beneath the coverings.
At Anegawa's next strike, the barrier shattered, causing Gardevoir to pause for a moment, looking quizzically at him, before quickly jumping to the side to dodge the next few attacks. With a wave of her hand, another barrier appeared, instantly cracking at a clawed strike, earning him another quizzical look. This time, she WAITED for him to break through the shield, only to create another, and wait for him to break this one as well.
"I see… This answers some questions," she noted, creating yet another barrier, and then catching, and ripping out another couple of clawed arms, "Now, SUBMIT"
These two dissipated, yet were not replaced. The ghost shrieked once again, attacking with even more ferocity and shattering yet another barrier, claw nicking Gardevoir's shoulder before she restored her defences
"I…" another couple of ripped out appendages, "SAID…" another two, "SUBMIT…" yet another.
By this point, Anegawa was down to just two of his clawed shadowy arms, yet attacking with an unmatched speed and fury. Even as she restored a barrier after barrier, some attacks causing her to dodge, and some even reaching her, Hiei took a deep breath, looked directly at her opponent - and slammed into him, instantly pinning the tiny body to the wall twenty meters from where they just were. Then-
SHRIEK.
Dominance, this one. Honnoji nearly passed out, her body pinned in place by the sheer emanated presence, and stomach churning in a bout of deep nausea. She could only imagine what it was like for the ghost who took the brunt of it.
Anegawa went limp in Gardevoir's grasp, arms falling to the ground, even as that red eye bore into her from underneath the coverings. Hiei released him from the hold, and then floated back to the group, none worse for wear, save for a few shallow cuts. The ghost followed her closely.
"This better be worth it," the Gardevoir stated, looking at Honnoji, "The bugger was harder to subdue than to kill"
"You looked like it was worth it though," Inabayama smiled, seemingly unaffected by those shrieks, even as Absol and Trainer were still visibly reeling
"Got an answer I've been struggling to find"
"By the by, you were breathtaking out there~"
"You don't say," Hiei smiled somehow, then turning to the rest of the group, "We're going back, and then you're explaining what I'm supposed to do with you lot"
Honnoji nodded weakly, then slowly rose to her feet, following the Gardevoir, as her brain tried to catch up to what just happened.
There was a metaphorical chasm between Okehazama and Anegawa in terms of their strength. Then, there was an even larger chasm between Anegawa and Hiei. What… What was the point in Honnoji even being there, if this was the case? Sure, she could try to direct the group, but… Wasn't she just dead weight in a fight, compared to the rest?.. What if SHE was the weak link causing the visions to come true in the first place?
It always was in the back of her mind, but seeing just mere specks of Gardevoir's strength made her realise, how… How unprepared she was for this all.