Record 6: The Blitz

With only Shinx and the female Luxray remaining in the den, the remaining Luxio keep watch outside. One particular Shinx, though, lets out a wail in his boredom. Sight being kept on the grass-covered hills and trees outside, he paces around the den in circular motions, only pausing momentarily to stretch out his front paws before continuing. It hadn't been long since his two-legged friend – 'human' , he reminds himself – left alongside the rest of his older brothers and sisters. Now, the young feline is finding himself left with utterly nothing to do. He would've snuck out like usual by now, but with the constant gaze from his female elder and the Luxio outside, there's little chance of that happening.

Usually, the Shinx would have tried anyway, dashing out from the den whenever his elder kept her attention off of him if even for a split second. But, considering the human's current absence, and hence inability to supervise his younger siblings, the Shinx knew his female elder's attention was the least lax it's been since when he'd first snuck out in the first place. After all, the last time he'd done that was the very same as when he'd brought the human to the den. The blue quadruped admits he'd gotten into rather precarious situations before, but it never amounted to more than getting his fur ruffled up; it was nothing like bringing home the exact sort of 'dangers' his elders had warned about.

Plus, the elders had already made clear he wasn't to interfere with the mission the human was sent on. While not understanding why he isn't allowed to come with, he still knew it was important. After all, missions were given to newly-evolved Luxio, his older brothers, when they're first allowed out of the home (usually for some expedition they were sent on)! So, while he could've continued wailing over having to stay inside, the Shinx decides he'll just have to wait it out. It had taken the remaining trust between him and his elders for them to even allow the human to accompany them back with the pride in the first place, and the Shinx wasn't about to force his newfound friend away because he decided to push his luck. (That isn't to say he isn't bummed out about not being able to discover what the mission is, however.)

Though, despite what his siblings would've said about his situation, the Shinx still finds he doesn't regret bringing the human along. His elders may find him more annoying than ever before, but it's worth it when the feline knows how interesting the human is. It isn't only because the human risked being attacked by Beedrill that one time for him. Rather, it's from everything else the human had shown him so far; the reactions to all the berries he gave him, the clothing, the mystical 'phone' he's yet to understand, and best of all, the fuzzy warm feeling whenever the human scratches him on the head. It felt like whenever he played with his siblings. He hadn't even snuck out once since the human arrived! Honestly, the Shinx isn't seeing why his elders thought of the human as 'danger'.

Whatever the case, the Shinx knows the human's outside, probably proving himself on the mission or something. The quadruped abruptly stops walking around in the cave as his mind wanders back to it. He wonders if the human's going to the berry grove (the one he'd found once when sneaking out), and the thought makes his star-tipped tail shine. It's not until the hum from behind him brings the Shinx out of his thoughts. He turns to see another of his kind looking at him, puzzled.

Having been ignoring the presence of his siblings, most of them tussling around as usual, he lets out a series of happy meows to express his thoughts about the human's mission. The only response the Shinx gets is another hum before they dash off, having heard a grunt from across the den calling for them. For a moment, the electric-type nearly growls in offense – none of them quite appreciate the human as he does – but yet another grunt, in a much more amused fashion, interrupts him. The female Luxray approaches the young Shinx, purring and glancing towards the outside for a mere moment as to indicate she's about to ask for something about the human.

The electric feline was no sooner to reply with a cute grunt of his own when the female Luxray freezes near-instantaneously and stares straight outside of the den. The action, as sudden as it was, causes the Shinx to completely turn stiff alongside her, and his fur nearly glows as an instinct against danger. The female Luxray's eyes begin to glow, seemingly focusing on some distant figure in front of her. A barrage of growls rings out from the Luxio outside and a familiar faint smell of burning reaches the young Shinx's nose. As seconds pass, the burning scent slowly becomes more distinct, the smell no longer as 'familiar' as it should be.

Then, the Shinx finally hears it: a small pitter on the grass outside becoming (two. Two becomes four, four becomes ten, and more and more splatters follow until the sound of a squeal mixed between a cry sounds out. Not having been able to see the sight outside as he'd been staring at his elder, he takes a brave turn of his head to look. From what once was simply a field of grass and hills is instead abound with cream-colored equines looking defiantly towards the Luxio with their red eyes. Flamed manes glow and follow what little draft was present. Those at the front of the herd had their horns held up high, but all of them had stances as if they were ready to bolt. Yet their expressions show their stances weren't to run away from the pride.

The young feline simply stares silently at the sight, his fur finally beginning to shine as he starts to become aware of the situation. Standing immobile, mind still not allowing him to look away, he realizes the prior hundreds of pitters were truthfully the galloping of the large herd in front of his pride's home. He doesn't know why they were there nor their names; he'd only seen a few of the smaller ones running about in the times he'd snuck out, and he'd never bothered to ask his elders about their name. The ensuing neighs that came from the Pokémon in the front of the herd could be heard from all the way in the back of the den.

It was hearing the voices of the equines that startled the rest of the Shinx's siblings to speak out with their own grunts of confusion and surprise. It only seems to momentarily break the female Luxray's focus on the sight in front of her, quickly realizing her children are still very much present. Only a near second later, her legs finally spring into action as they bend down. Her red eyes match the central equine's own as she glares fiercely. She roars, both indicating an order for the herd to leave and the Shinx to move back. Hearing the roar from nearly right beside his elder, the force of the sound requires him to keep their claws tight into the ground so as to at least try not falling over.

The witnessing Shinx had only then barely succeeded in doing so and he could feel the heat begin to radiate from outside, even from within the den. His nose scrunches up at the burnt smell of the air. He sees one of the flamed equines at the front raise their leg up high before slamming it back on the ground. As their mouth opens wide, the Shinx barely notices his elder dash forward, a veil of yellow energy surrounding her. In mere seconds, a torrent of flame bursts forth from within the equine's mouth. A spear of erratic light bursts down from the sky.

All at once, Luxio and flaming equines alike dash forward to one another. The home of the pride becomes a battlefield.

If Damien had been any slower, he swore he would've been left behind by the group of Luxio and its sole Luxray, never to be returned to the pride's home again. For a moment, after seeing the thunder that struck down from the sky, he wondered where it came from. As for the Shinx evolutionary-lined members in front of him? They needed no such thought, and before Damien realized, they'd already begun dashing back towards their home.

Without even getting a chance to say goodbye to the bug-types from within the Berry Grove, Damien had to force his legs to move as he tried to catch back up with the tail end of the Luxio. As used to dashing off as Damien was, both his body and mind had already been put through far too much work since earlier in the morning. His legs had been sore enough when he ran towards the Berry Grove, and that was with the Luxio being slow so Damien could catch up in the first place.

'Another sign of how powerful Pokémon are huh?'

It wasn't long until Damien's leg had begun cramping to a degree he could barely handle. Grimacing as his chest began rapidly heaving from a slowly degenerating pace, it was with the worst luck fate had for him that his foot caught onto a stray rock. Due only to pure instinct, he managed to push his arms forward and bend his legs before embracing the descent towards the grass below him – a perfect dive. Having luckily not landed on his face, Damien was surprised to admit the impact hadn't hurt as much as he'd expected. Though, considering it was grass and not, say, concrete, it really shouldn't have. What instead hurt worse was his duffle bag full of books unexpectedly landing on his back that subsequently caused Damien to let out an embarrassingly loud moan of pain.

As he proceeded to glance up through his luckily undamaged glasses, he could only curse himself internally over the faint figure of a Luxio's backside in the distance. With both his duffle bag and sore legs disabling his movement, Damien could only let out a sigh. Albeit, said sigh was then swiftly mixed between a wheeze; his requirement of air had decided it was, for some reason, the perfectly best time to catch back up with him.

'And gravity strikes me again… at least I still have my volleyball skills up to par…'

Before Damien could additionally wallow in the panic over returning to the pride's home, it was a sudden wail that made him glance back upwards. There, he realized the previous sight of the distant Luxio had actually grown larger rather than disappear completely. In a matter of seconds, the once distant Luxio stood before him. With a distinctive scar over the- no, her eye (as shown with her shorter black fur), she growled at Damien, seemingly ordering him to do something. Her eyes pierced into Damien's own, nearly as intensely as that of the Luxray's he'd so gotten 'used' to. With that, Damien both internally grimaced at the stare but also wanted to hug the Luxio for not leaving him stranded.

He had initially wondered why the feline was willing to run back to Damien - perhaps because of his moan in pain earlier - when the pride was clearly in a rush, but a following and much louder growl made him quickly shake away his pondering. Despite his feet essentially yelling at Damien to stop, he still forced his arms to push away his duffle bag off his back and get himself up onto his feet. Unsteady and lengthy as it may have been to do so, he managed nonetheless with his labored breath. Quickly having realized something, however, Damien could only glance at his duffle bag left onto the ground and then to the Luxio.

'I'm not going to be able to run much further with my bag… stupid textbook…'

Damien had bit his lip at the thought before wincing as a twinge of pain quickly reminds him of the soreness in his legs. In the end, he simply nodded towards the Luxio, understanding that he'd probably have to leave his bag behind. Yet to Damien's surprise, the Luxio gave an irritated grunt instead of simply running off. Without Damien asking her to at all, she walked over to his bag, bit a portion of its handle into her mouth, and then finally started running off, seemingly unwilling to deal with any further distractions. This time, with his duffle bag barely suspended above the grass while the Luxio ran, Damien wasted no time (or, at least, as little as he could with his sore legs) to catch up.

. . .

All too similar to the Shinx within the den, Damien stays static at the sight before him, being quite literally, in both senses of the word, breathless. Sitting down atop the hill that rests near the pride's home, he clutches his hand onto his lap as his chest continually rises and falls, gasping for air. His orange duffel bag was left on the grass beside him, resting on its side after having slipped from his hands and dropped onto the floor. Damien's mind keeps rattling at him to take off his coat, but he simply rejects the thought – there was something much more important to focus on. In Damien's peripheral, the kind Luxio that had 'accompanied' him on the way back dashes desperately forward.

Distracted from following the Luxio back from the Berry Grove, Damien hadn't had the time to actually think about what the thunder had meant for the pride as a whole. He understood it needed to be dealt with quickly, but he certainly hadn't expected the pride's home to be amidst what was essentially a war between Pokémon. The scene Damien saw all around him pales in comparison to the dispute he had settled earlier in the morning.

Damien was struggling to breathe, not only from his lengthy marathon across the grassland, but also from the first thing he'd felt without even seeing the ongoing brawl when he'd run up the hill. The immense heat and the scent of burning was far heavier than what he'd ever encountered from the pride before. It was only when Damien had finally looked down from the relative safety that was on the hill that he'd recognized why.

Down below, a herd of Ponyta and Rapidash, which were clearly intruding the pride's home, galloped below. Rapidash were charging forward with flames covering their entire bodies, while Ponyta supported them, mouths open with successive balls of fire shooting out. Though Damien couldn't see their bodies, others were encased in wheels of fire as they similarly spun forward. A torrent of flame bursts forth every so often, bright and dangerous as fireworks.

The pride themselves weren't leaving their home unprotected as Luxio ran to charge the attackers with yellow energy surrounding them, sparks akin to white lightning appearing here and there. Farther back, Luxio with balls of energy in their opened jaws launch similarly bright rings of electricity that pulsed out from it. A few were even up-close, biting in retaliation against enemy Ponyta and Rapidash that had dared to charge through. Their fangs, covered in either electrical or dark energy, stuck into the flamed horses.

Damien's lips were sealed shut by the presence of the brawl occurring before him but his mind erratically refers back to the sight of each spew and movement of energy he'd seen barely seconds ago. They're all so eerily familiar yet differ in the simple intensity, the liveliness in how each move was executed. In a state akin to a daze, Damien could see the move playing out on a DS screen before being rapidly replaced by the real one from the battlefield below. Flame Charge. Ember. Flame Wheel. Wild Charge. Thunder Fang. Crunch. With every Pokémon move displayed before his eyes, Damien felt as if he was back on the volleyball court – ignoring any sound but the ones he needed to hear and focusing so desperately in front of him.

Nonetheless, tucked behind the blur of motion and memories, Damien couldn't help but think of how he was truly in the Pokémon world more and more as well. It was redundant, true, but what else is one supposed to think when faced with the barrage of fire and electricity that was coming out from the very same living creatures you'd grown so familiar with? This world was as alive as it could ever be.

Perhaps that was why Damien had unintentionally deigned to ignore the other aspect of the sense of life in the battle before him: the brutality .

The trees he knew Luxio played with were knocked down onto the grass, chipped and burnt. The grass itself was stained gray and black from soot and imprints. The faces of every Luxio, Ponyta, and Rapidash aren't remotely the same as the playful joy from when Luxio play-fought with one another. The barrage of roars, neighs, and growls from nearly every corner of the pride's home continues to ring. Bodies - whether possibly dead, unconscious, or otherwise - were either trampled over or dragged back, away from harm.

The battle between the Pride and the Herd was for a reason Damien still doesn't know, but he doesn't waste a second to think over it. Not when he can see the clash between the clear leader of the herd – a Rapidash, marked with clear scars across their chest – and the male Luxray of the pride he's been a part of for the past week. The Leader Rapidash charges forward with a Flame Charge, pure heat enveloped around them; the fire rises and Damien can see the air warping from it. The Luxray returns in kind, an electric energy rapidly surrounding the black feline, nearly turning white.

The clash between the two results in a loud BOOM as both creatures are pushed back and a large plume of smoke materializes into the air. Barely avoiding being knocked back himself to the ground from atop the hill, Damien would describe the resulting heat as almost negligible – so hot it felt like nothing at all . He could only be glad it was temporary. His hairs had stood on end, singed, much alike the site of the ground below when the smoke began to clear. It turned what was once dirt and rock to something akin to mud; it became an area both sides of the battle quickly learned to stray far from.

Comparatively, the Luxray lands gracefully on his paws while the Rapidash merely shuffles their hooves backward, far different than the experience of anyone around them. The following Roar and Growl between the two of them are loud enough to make Damien finally flinch through his move-enticed daze, and yet he nearly slips back into it because the moves do little to one another . Despite his shock, it was for this brief moment Damien allowed his eyes off of the two leaders as he was broken out of his focus. In the corner of his vision and at the opening of the den he's far too familiar with, he meets the golden eyes of the Shinx he knew as the first one he'd met.

A flash of the Shinx's smile when Damien had eaten the Pecha Berry he was handed flutters into Damien's head. He remembers the soft sound of the Shinx's purr and the feeling of his hand drifting through the little feline's tuft atop his head. A shining glow he's grown to take comfort in, the sight of a pile of far too many Shinx atop one another, the sting on his arm when he had dared tried to separate them apart - all of it finally registers. Damien's hands clutch each other on his lap as he truly observes the battlefield for both its magnificent scale and utter brutality.

Damien bites his lip as he massages his finally alleviating legs. He flinches at the barrage of sound around him, particularly when a Roar or Growl comes about, though despite his attempts at covering up his ears, Damien quickly realizes the futility of it and simply decides to deal with it. He turns away from the intense light of electricity and fire once a large torrent of flame was sent upwards, nearly reaching to the top of the hill. Feeling the immense sweat through his coat, Damien finally rushes to take it off, though it did little to combat the heat radiating from the battlefield below. He shifts back slightly with his hands whenever a move hits a little too close towards the hill to his comfort. (Damien ignores the chill at seeing the fallen Pokémon on the not-so grassy battlefield below.)

Before Damien could even allow himself to calm down, he hears a high-pitched wail among the cascade of noise. It is distinctly too high for it to be either a Luxio, Luxray, or Rapidash. Quickly allowing himself to scan back down towards the brawl between the pride and the herd, he finds himself relieved there hadn't been a Ponyta that noticed him – all were too focused on the battle in front of them. Instead, Damien gets to panic as he notices a small blue figure sneaking out past the den's cave entrance. A Shinx is stumbling throughout the battlefield, seemingly focusing on reaching somewhere.

While Damien hasn't perfected the Shinx Identification Index, on an instinctual level, he knew which Shinx that was - none of the other Shinx was that fearless to go out into a field of fire and electricity they are aware of. It was the very same one that had met his eyes and brought him out from his stupor earlier. Damien's eyes widen as he quickly realizes the implications.

'What the hell is that Shinx thinking?!'

Damien panics internally as his eyes became laser focused on the Shinx, still stumbling towards him. While he could see some Luxio becoming quickly concerned at the sight of one of their young siblings out on the field, their focus were all quickly shifted back towards the battle as either Ponyta, Rapidash, or a blast of fire came towards them.

'Should I be saving him right now?'

It was an abrupt thought, nearly instinctual considering how much he had to separate Shinx from fighting each other for the past four days. Regardless, as he continues to follow the sight of the Shinx running towards him, his internal panic rises, causing him to silently chuckle in his state of discomfort. Damien's breath, while having rested towards only needing to breathe heavily, quickens. His eyes meet the Shinx's own once more, and the Shinx simply smiles , their eyes becoming even more focused than before.

'He's probably thinking he's somehow saving me doesn't he?'

Damien continues staring at him, shaking his head silently, even pointing his finger back towards the den as to say 'go back'. The Shinx, as expected, doesn't listen and trudges on. He adjusts his glasses from all of his movement earlier and a hand grips tight onto the grass he's sitting on while he considers his thoughts.

'I can't just go down there could I?

I'm the only one not focused on the battle…

And it's essentially my job to take care of their young…'

He winces at the sound of a growl followed by a small strike of electricity being released into the air. Walking out into the battlefield without any of the protections Pokémon have would be the most idiotic thing Damien could do, unless he's willingly allowing himself to get burned or electrocuted for some reason. Even the thought of going down into the conflict would make him as insane as the Shinx in the moment, and yet…

Damien's body decided for him first before his mind could. He ignores the returning ache onto his legs as he dashes down from the hill, leaving his duffle bag behind on the grass. He powers through the rise in temperature and ignores his stumbles from running downhill from pure adrenaline. His eyes continue tracking the Shinx that continues to stumble towards him. He's risked his life once for the blue feline already, it'd be a waste (and undoubtedly heavy on his heart) if he'd done it for nothing in the end.

After what he's dealt with the past four days,

What's so different about doing it again?

A/N:

I had this chapter completed in my doc for 4 months and proceeded to do nothing with it. Sure, I had school and I HAD wanted to edit my previous chapters beforehand but I never got around to that either, so I'll just go ahead and say that I'm sorry for taking this long? I REALLY should've posted this already and gotten another chapter written but procrastination and school says 'no' and I'm a sucker for their whims.

I DID however get to editing Ch. 1 (and part of Ch. 2 before I realized how I abhorrer editing something that isn't just re-writing the entire thing), so go an re-read that since you've (hopefully) finished this chapter by now. There's only really any changes in the 1st half of the chapter but I tried to make it in general more logistical and emotional? Honestly, no idea if I actually made it work out - I think it sounds a little more realistic at least.

But for you new readers, you can ignore that since you probably read through the updated chapter already and saw an end message already mentioning this anyway. So, I hope THIS chapter was exhilarating enough to satiate your taste for the story for a little longer. I also want to ask: did the flashback feel out place or sound wrong? Did you recognize it as a flashback? (Technically, it's less of a flash'back' since it's still chronological but I'm not going to argue over writing terms in a fanfiction right now.)

Whatever the case, I hope to come back by January and if not, DEFINITELY by Spring. But, lastly, as always, many thanks to my beta readers avardiris & ShiroHatzuki!