Chapter 10
The Circle Starts Shrinking
"Gathor!"
Tetheron blinked. He glanced at his sister, asking, "What is it?"
Her eyes were fixated on something to their left. He turned towards that direction, eyes widening as he spotted Gathor surrounded by three Weaviles.
"Idiot! What is he doing‽" He grumbled, almost without thinking. He dashed to aid him, till Freya grabbed his arm and jerked him back to his spot. In the blink of an eye, an orange sphere flew past his head, eventually slamming into the forest past the house.
He turned his dumbfounded expression towards his savior. "T-thanks."
Her serious stare eased a little as she let go of his arm. "Focus. Now help Gathor."
He nodded and started jogging towards Gathor. As he closed in, his eyes darted to each of the Weaviles as he tried to determine their attack pattern against Gathor. His eyes narrowed as he readied to break into a sprint. Okay, so the one at his back goes for the slash attacks while the others fire Ice Shards if Gathor tries to retaliate.
He surged synergy into his claws, feeling the heat from the small fire orbs in his claws. Seeing his chance, he broke into a sprint, heading for the nearest Weavile, whose turn it was to go for Gathor's prone back with a Night Slash.
"Hey!" He shouted, startling the Weavile. "Gathor, Slam the one behind you!" He exclaimed, rushing past the startled Weavile and pulling back to slide on the ground, in case Gathor would swing in his direction. Once the other two were in view, he picked out a target for each claw, the flame spheres in his claws building into beams of Flamethrower.
The Weaviles leaped away from the flames as Tetheron stood back up, raising his fists for combat once his Flamethrowers had been spent. He pressed his back against Gathor's side and asked with slight annoyance in his tone, "Mind explaining why you broke the formation like tha-?"
Gathor snarled as he glanced back at his brother-in-law. "Dere afteh dah house."
Instantly, Tetheron looked at the house, his mouth dropping at the sight of several large plants growing around it like a tine yet dense forest. "What the- Dya‽"
He felt a hard, cold object strike his shoulder, knocking him down on his knee. Shifting his gaze towards his attacker, he tensed up upon seeing one of the Weavile's charging at him, its eyes showing its desire to tear him apart and its Night Slash claws ready to do so.
It lunged for his face and he fell back on instinct, managing to avoid a nasty scrape across his face as well as a swing from Gathor's tail, which knocked the Weavile back.
Tetheron stared upwards and yelped as Gathor stepped over him, forcing the Weaviles back with a Hydro Pump from his arm. He also was firing at the opposite side with his other claw, keeping all three of the Weaviles at bay.
Once he gathered himself, Tetheron rubbed his shoulder as he scooted out from under Gathor. "Sorry about that. I got a little distracted."
Gathor looked at him, grumbled, and said, "Focus. We gotta beat dese guys fast."
Right. Tetheron stood up, his arms relaxing for a second as he recuperated his nerve. He raised his fists and tightened as he stared down the single Weavile. "What's your plan?"
Gathor whispered, "Dey're speedy, so aim near dem to startle dem. Den go fo' lethal."
"Noted." Tetheron locked gazes with his opponent as it walked over from one side to the other as if it was sizing up prey. The Blaziken tensed up, waiting for it to make the first move.
Eventually, it lunged at him from impatience, materializing a Night Slash for a slash.
Tetheron thrusts his arms right at it, the flames building in his claws. He twisted his wrist, forming a smaller fireball that fired a much smaller Flamethrower at it. The Weavile darted around it. Gotcha! Tetheron grinned and unleashed the original Flamethrower in its new direction, forcing the Weavile to halt to avoid being burned.
Breaking into a dash, Tetheron charged the prone Weavile. He surged a Jump Kick into his leg and once he was close enough, pulled back his leg and kicked the Weavile like it was a ball.
With a gleeful smile, he watched the Weavile soar in an arc, landing with a harsh thud on one of the plants covering the house. He slid down and landed on the ground, struggling to get up before falling on its stomach either fainted or too injured to get back up. Before he could finish it off, one of the Weavile's rushed around and got between Tetheron and the house.
Okay, just like clockwork then. Tetheron raised his fists towards his new opponent, surging fire into them as he readied to repeat the winning strategy. However, their stare-off was interrupted by the sound of crackling coming from the house.
Tetheron and the Weavile looked towards the house, the Blaziken's eyes widening at seeing the vines wiggle around as if in pain and starting to sink back into the ground. Some even began to dematerialize, fading into the air as small green lights that vanished without a trace. Shit, I've got to get there now. Throwing caution to the wind he charged for the Weavile, planning to hook kick the feral with a Jump Kick.
It charged towards him as well, forcing him to pull back into an upwards swing with his Jump Kick leg. It evaded and the two went into a close melee, with various strikes and blocks against each other.
Realizing he wasn't getting anywhere, Tetheron hopped back and went for a back Blaze Kick. It was caught between the Weavile's claws, which were covered in Night Slash to avoid the burns of the fire move.
Uh oh. The mon pulled Tetheron into a split and raised its claw to slice at the leg.
The Blaziken leaned back and spinning on his back, forcing it away with a kick from his other leg. He rolled back onto his hands and pushed up, throwing a kick from his upside position for the Weavile's face. The surprise counter landed, knocking his opponent back a few steps, dazed.
He sprang back to his feet and thrust his hands forwards. Flamethrower burst from his palms, engulfing the mon as it hissed in pain. Tetheron gasped as it suddenly lunged through his flames at him, slicing for his face with a Night Slash. He pulled back and hand sprung away.
Damnit, of course I had to get the stubborn one. He complained as he watched his weary but aggressive opponent snarl at him. His eyes trailed over its entire body, seeing the spots where the fur had been burned off. Get it together buddy, he urged himself as he looked past the Weavile, watching the last trace of vines sink beneath the ground. Just end the poor thing already. There's no time for mercy.
He leaned on his front leg, ready to charge headstrong into the weakened mon, but right when he pushed off he went off balance due to a loud scream nearby. He caught himself with his other leg and looked in the direction of the scream.
From the far side of the home, the ranger was running as fast and as frantically as he could, while five feral Weaviles chased him.
Hrm? Looking back at the Weavile out of the corner of his eye, he noticed it was distracted by the running, screaming ranger. Immediately, he rushed it, kneeing it in the chest before it could look at him let alone put up a defense. It stuttered backwards as Tetheron leaped over it, latching his hands onto its head and twisting as hard as he could. There was a loud snap as the mon's muscles instantly gave way and it fell forwards to the ground without a sound.
Immediately, he sprinted after the group while shouting at Gathor, "Could use a hand!"
Gathor nodded, dropping the Weavile he'd just finished killing. He took a deep breath, a watery sphere forming in his gaping mouth.
Tetheron then shouted to the ranger, "Get down and cover!"
Obeying, the ranger dove onto the ground, covering his head with his hands as four of the Weaviles latched onto his back, slicing at his shell while the last circled around for another spot to strike.
Blowing a loud whistle, Tetheron charged at them. "Get off him!" That's right, take the bait.
They were about to charge their new adversary when a powerful beam of water sprayed all four of them off the Chesnaught's back and into the forest. The last one just stood there stupefied, perfect for Tetheron to Jump Kick into the forest with the others.
The Blaziken leaned down and grabbed the ranger's arm with a gentle squeeze. "Come on, get up."
The ranger looked up and took a second to calm down. He got on his knee, getting some help from Tetheron as he got back up to his feet. "T-t-thanks. I-"
Cutting him off, Tetheron inquired, his head tilting with curiosity, "were those vines around the house you?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, they were trying to get into the hou-"
"Did any get in?" He asked further, his eyes narrowing as he braced for bad news.
"I don't believe so. They all sort of charged me after I broke through the back door."
Breathing out a sigh of relief, the Blaziken about hugged the poor, scared mon, but refrained himself. Then a thought crossed his mind as he stared at the ranger with anticipation. "Do you have it?"
Nodding, the ranger reached back and opened the back pouch on his belt. He reached in and took out the fake key, showing it to Tetheron with a happy but modest smile. "It's not a perfect copy, but I hope it's close enough."
The Blaziken didn't answer, completely amazed at how much it resembled the real one. He took it in his hands and eyed it all over, giving a loud whistle. "Damn. Gotta say you did a really good job. Thanks."
"Heh heh, well." The ranger blushed and rubbed his nose. "The kids helped me out."
Tetheron nodded as he clenched the key in his fist. "Alright, just hurry to the house. We'll handle things from-" He stopped upon hearing some rustling behind them. He moved his hand in front of the ranger as he saw the Weavile's hopping out of the forest.
Shit. He glanced over at Freya's battle with the Rhyperiors as his face started to worry.
"What is it?"
The Blaziken sighed and looked into the ranger's eyes. "Sir-"
"Roweilo."
"Right, Roweilo. I'm sorry, but you need to get behind me." He moved in front of the ranger and started nudging him back with his arm."
"Huh?"
Tetheron pointed over to the Weaviles, making the ranger squeal.
"Just stay behind me and back up."
"What?"
Tetheron moved in front of the ranger and pushed his back up to the Chesnaught and whispered, "I can't keep all of them off of you by myself. We'll get you back to the house, don't worry."
The ranger started shaking but obeyed and backed up.
The Blaziken followed at the same pace, making sure not one of the Weaviles could get close without him knowing. "Gathor! Some support ove- Dyaaa!" Tetheron screamed as he was suddenly grabbed by the stomach and shoved down hard. He felt a large body fall on top of him, though stopped just short of crushing him.
What followed was the sound of an explosion and shrieks. Tetheron looked up to see two of the Weaviles staring back with distraught looks, while the three others were lying in the grass. He felt the body get off of him and looked back to see it was Gathor. The Feraligatr held his hand out for him while eyeing at something behind them.
"Thanks for the save," The Blaziken said with a smile as he grabbed it.
"Don' thank me yet," Gathor answered, pulling the Blaziken to his feet with relative ease. He turned his gaze back to the Weaviles, prompting Tetheron to look as well.
His smile faded to shock and then slight sympathy. One of the three downed Weaviles was rolling in the grass, holding its leg or rather what was left of it.
"Oh darn," A voice whined from behind them.
They both spun around, seeing the Heliolisk walking towards them. He crossed his arms and shook his head with a disappointed frown. "And I was right on the mark too. Shame."
Fuck me, it's the puny punk. Fire surged in Tetheron's hands as he walked in front of Gathor. He turned his head and whispered, "Can you get the ranger back to the house on your own?"
Almost as if the Blaziken was shouting this question, there was another strange whistling in their heads closely followed by two Electivire's rushed from the other side of the house, cutting them off.
"Oh come on." Tetheron's arms sagged as he looked at the ranger. "Sorry, but I-"
"Don't!"
The Blaziken shut his beak tight at seeing the ranger stare at him with a shaky scowl that tried to hold some façade of courage. "I…I'll…I'll be fine. Just tell me what…to do."
Tetheron straightened his posture and narrowed his eyes. His strong stare looked back at the ranger, reading the poor mons fear, anxiety, and dread as if it was a book. Giving an encouraging nod, Tetheron took position at the front. His hands tightened around the fake key as he took a breath.
"So, you said you had a plan?" The ranger asked, completely dropping the tough guy masking he was doing a few seconds ago.
Please don't hate me for this. He raised his hand high in the air. "Hey, bitch!" He shouted with a defiant scowl on his face, eyeing Rosa specifically. She perked up her attention at the insult, but before she could reply, Tetheron opened his claw enough to reveal the key. "This what you're after?"
For a brief period, the battle went silent. Even the ferals paused as all eyes focused on Tetheron.
"Oh?" The Heliolisk tilted his head and raised his brow out of interest. "Is it what we're after, Rosa?" He twisted his head a little, smiling at her nefariously.
She ignored him, focused on identifying the object in Tetheron's hands. After a few seconds of silence, she nodded. "Yes, that's the key to wherever she has the formula."
"'Wherever she has formula'?" The Heliolisk repeated.
She rolled her eyes. "That was all I could get from the brat." A loud thud of a Rhyperior fell smack in front of her, making her eyes shoot wide and her body freeze in an instant.
Taking his eyes off of the Gardevoir, Tetheron saw Freya dive towards the trio of leaders. Her eyes filled with that ferocity he knew all too well.
She surged a Dragon Claw and used it to slice apart a Focus Blast sent her way by the Heliolisk.
"Hrm?" He said, almost in awe at how easily she ripped it. However, he didn't remain idle. Quickly leaping on startled Rosa's shoulder and pulled her down, just in time to save her a quick beheading by a slice from Freya's Air Slash infused wings.
Freya arced up in the sky and twisted around, about to fire the Air Slash right at them.
However, the Heliolisk was faster. Crossing his arms as a dark line formed in front of them. Right as she sent down another cross of Air Slash's, he uncrossed his arms and fired a crescent of some kind of dark energy at her that expanded around him.
Their moves met with a furious clash, exploding in a matter of seconds. The repulse emitted struck her like its own move, sending her spiraling to the side.
"Sis!" Tetheron thrust his arms forwards and shot a Flamethrower, just in time to intercept a Shadow Ball heading towards her, while she was mid-recovery.
Freya watched the Shadow Ball fly past her and land somewhere into the forest. She glanced at the group below, as Gathor signaled her to group up.
She nodded and started heading towards them, landing on the ground with a firm thud.
Tetheron gulped as his big sister's glare fell on him. He recoiled back as she stepped up to him, but thankfully she turned towards Gathor instead.
They both shared a strong stare, almost as if they were talking or rather arguing with their eyes. Eventually, she sighed and joined Tetheron at the front, while Gathor turned around and faced the back with the scared ranger.
"Why did you bring the key out here?" She whispered.
"To buy us some time. The ranger contacted the nearby town." He looked over his shoulder and shouted, "Right?"
After a predictable yelp, the ranger answered, "Right what?"
Tetheron wanted to scream but chose to simply walk up and whisper. "You contacted help, right?"
"Um…yes?"
"Good," Tetheron walked back to Freya and nodded.
She sighed as she dragged a hand over her face.
"And you say we're the dysfunctional ones," Rosa jabbed, rolling her neck.
Tetheron brushed his beak and looked around the field for a second. "Sorry to disappoint you, miss peep, but nobody's perfect. Then again, I think that just makes your little band all the move imperfect, don't you think?" He gave her a wink with a smug grin.
She sighed and moved an arm forwards. "I'm tired. Let's just end thi-"
"Hold, Rosa."
"You can't be serious." She glared at the Heliolisk, who was staring at the group with a rather strange scowl. Her scowl faded to surprise at how suddenly serious the Heliolisk was. A few seconds later, she regained her nerve and demanded, "Why are we holding off when we have them surrounded?"
He crossed his arms, thinking.
Growling, Rosa shouted at him. "Fine, stay put!" She turned around and thrust her arms forwards, lifting them upwards as two trees in the distance started to be pulled up from the ground; her muscles straining from their weight like she was lifting them herself.
Freya fired a Flamethrower at the prone psychic, but to her frustration the Rhyperior's got in the way, blocking the flames with a dual powered Protect.
"Damnit," She mumbled under her breath. All they could do is watch her lift the trees into the air and start moving them across the battlefield.
Rosa glared once more at the Heliolisk, saying, "If you're not going to do our mission right, then fine! But I'm not going to let you drag me down with you." She took a few steps from him, turned around, and proceeded to levitate in the air. Pink energy surrounded her as her eyes lit up with a solid pink light. The trees turned in the air, their peaks pointing towards the party like spears. "Try and stop this!" Rosa shouted as she swung her right hand forwards. The tree to her right spiraled towards them at great speed.
"Move aside! I got dis one!" Gathor yelled, rushing to the front of the group. Ice formed over his two arms as he raised his claws in front and braced for impact. He grunted as the force of catching the tree drug him back, past the others. He roared, planting his back leg and leaning to the side as she swung the tree around to help kill its momentum and strike at the ferals surrounding them.
One unsuspecting feral was whacked in the head by it, but the others managed to back off in time.
Nice. Tetheron suddenly remembered she had two trees. He spun around and sure enough, Rosa was readying to throw the second one at them.
"Quick, launch me at her!" Tetheron shouted to the ranger, who just stood there and blinked a few times.
Tetheron pointed to the ground and tapped his leg. "With Stone Edge idiot!"
"Oh!" The ranger stretched his arms towards the ground beneath Tetheron, causing a circle of brown light to glow.
Turning his focus on Rosa and the now incoming tree, Tetheron asked Freya, "Can you handle the tree if I knock it down?"
"Yes."
"Good!" And with that, he was sent flying by a flat, angled version of Stone Edge. He pulled his legs forwards, surging a Jump Kick into his legs. Thankfully, the ranger was on point with the launch despite the short notice, allowing Tetheron to push off the tree and head straight for Rosa. Twisting around, he spun into a side ax kick, his foot claw surging fire.
Rosa rolled her eyes as she stretched her arm, firing a Shadow Ball right at him.
His leg clash with the dark object, but the resulting blast pushed him away. Tck, figures, He grumbled in his head as he did a few backflips and landed on the ground with ease.
Turning around, he spotted Freya staring down at the tree, which was currently dug into the dirt and split open at the front likely from her Air Slash.
The Chesnaught was also staring at the tree, but with his mouth hung and eyes glued to its remains. "Woah."
Smiling, Tetheron walked over and patted the mon on his shoulder. "Yep, glad she's on our team." He looked at Freya, who was eyeing Rosa as cyan light formed in her wings once more.
With a snarl, she flung a pair of Air Slash's towards Rosa, who twisted her body in the air at an angle for them to miss. "Psychic types," Freya scoffed.
"Better than having dumb wings," Rosa replied, twisting back to her previous position in a showy manner.
"Tck," Freya spread her wings and a second later zoomed into the air, matching Rosa's elevation. She took a deep breath and fired a powerful Flamethrower at Rosa, who stared at the incoming danger with a disinterested look.
The Gardevoir merely thrust her left arm forwards, her levitation stopping on command. She spun around in her free fall as the move flew above her and formed two Shadow Balls at the tips of her extended arms. She resumed her levitation and immediately fired them at Freya.
While the two started engaging in a ranged air battle, Tetheron looked at their rear and shouted, "Hey Gathor! Can you cover us for a second?"
Gathor responded with a simple roar as he swung the giant tree around, blocking back any attempts at an offensive from the ferals.
"Great." Tetheron patted the ranger on the shoulder, startling him for a second. "Hey, can you launch me again?"
"Huh?"
Tetheron pointed over towards Rosa. "Send me right at her." He stepped back and stretched his legs.
The Chesnaught nodded, and once more readied a Stone Edge at Tetheron's feet. He looked at the air fight going on, carefully tracking Rosa's movements. About a minute later, the ranger said, "Okay, are you ready?"
"Yep!" Tetheron tensed up as he felt the ground beneath him rise slowly increasing in speed. Half a second later he was airborne and flying right towards Rosa. He pulled his legs forwards and extended into a Jump Kick version of a hook kick.
Rosa noticed him too late, only managing to get a surprised look before being struck straight in the torso.
Winking at her like an idiot, Tetheron pushed off, sending Rosa went spiraling away. His smugness disappeared the instant he saw her stop herself in the air with her psychic powers. He crossed his arms to shield his face. "Oh, shi-" was all he could utter before a Shadow Ball slammed into his arms, sending him down into the ground with a hard thud.
The Blaziken groaned as his arms fell to his sides.
"You alright?" The ranger asked, helping Tetheron up.
"Yep," the Blaziken rasped, looking up at Rosa, who stared down at them, looking completely unaffected and forming a Shadow Ball to retaliate.
"Dang, and you landed a direct hit too."
"Heh," Tetheron looked at the Chesnaught with a weak smile. "Tragedy of us Fighting Types."
Suddenly, the ranger moved him aside rather roughly. Before Tetheron could protest, the ranger shoved his arms together as a green circle formed in front. Tetheron saw the Shadow Balls heading towards for a split second before the green metallic-looking Spikey Shield finished formed in front of them.
The ranger was knocked back a little from the impact, grunting as he pushed back on the ground to stabilize. "You okay?" He asked Tetheron, who nodded.
"Thanks for the sav-"
"Watch dis boys!"
The two looked back to see Gathor running at them, holding the tree like some large spear.
"Get down!"
The Chesnaught dropped down, his shield disintegrating in the process, while Tetheron stepped aside.
With a roar, Gathor threw it at Rosa, pushing it for extra momentum with Hydro Pump from his claws.
Her eyes fell halfway. "Really," she blandly muttered, swinging her arm upwards. The tree was struck underneath with a psychic force, sending it somersaulting above her and eventually landing on the far end of the clearing with a loud crash.
Oh, come on! Tetheron moaned. Suddenly, he heard Gathor chuckling, prompting him to look at him. "What?"
Gathor glanced at him for a second and then back at Rosa. "Dumb brawd," Gathor whispered with a sardonic smile.
The Blaziken shot his gaze back, watching Rosa aiming at them with a Shadow Ball. A second later, she was tackled from the side by Freya, and the two of them flying into the woods on the left, vanishing beneath the tree line.
"Fuck 'er up good, honey!" Gathor shouted, grinning.
"Will she be alright by herself?" The ranger inquired, getting back to his feet.
"She can handle some dumb bitch."
Their talk was interrupted by the sound of clapping. "I must say, good defense from the home team once again." The Heliolisk praised, walking over to them.
"Hrm?" Tetheron noticed the group of Weaviles surrounding them, while the Rhyperior's took positions next to their leader.
The three huddled together, covering each other's backs. Tetheron's felt a chill as he felt the warmth surge into his fists, preparing to fire Flamethrower if they dared come closer. He kept a firm gaze on the Weavile in front, watching it pace left and right.
Bring it, ferals. Wait… He raised a brow as he broke his gaze to look around. He noticed the ranger staring down an Electivire, while Gathor was focusing on the three at the front.
"Eyes front." Gathor harshly whispered, prompting Tetheron to focus back on the Weavile.
He stared straight into the Weavile's solid, vicious red eyes and felt a dreadful feeling in his throat. He gulped as he thought, Where are the other three? And where are the other Electivire and that PorygonZ guy? He took a deep breath as his body began to shake. Stay safe, sis.
