Lopunny giggled as the blades remained lodged in her chest. A sick combination of choking and laughing mixed together into some surreal orchestra. However, there seemed to be something off, like a marionette doll. Part of the voice sounded like Lopunny, part of it was this gleeful sound. A coarse voice, very slightly scratchy and a slightly lower pitch than its host. The voice joined Lopunny in this terrifying duet.
Malamar's beak quivered as he tried to pull his tentacles out of him. However, the ice type hybrid grabbed onto his appendages. Lopunny leaned back, dragging out one more 'ha' before shooting forwards and opening her eyes. They were almost entirely red, only cat-like pupils remained, staring past Malamar's eyes and into his soul,
"WHAT'CHA WAITING FOR, CALAMARI?! STAB ME! WHAT ARE YOU, SCARED?! TRUST ME," Lopunny then started pulling Malamar's tentacles out of her chest. She then smiled a wide smile at him, far too many teeth showing. The second voice took over as HE finished the sentence,
"There's so much more to be afraid of!"
Lopunny then snapped her fingers with a flick of her wrist. Suddenly, two stab wounds appeared on Malamar, leaving the squid gasping in pain as he released the rabbit. Lopunny's wound then healed slightly. Something purple then leaped out of Lopunny, the rabbit gasped as she fell to the floor. The purple shape flipped around in the air for show. Infernape, Gardevoir, Aggron, and Ampharos all recognized the figure, eyes now wide. Infernape then simply said,
"Gengar?"
The ghost type looked back and smiled. Infernape grinned back before smacking the wall and demanding,
"Where have you been?"
"Busy." Gengar then tilted his head, getting a view of the bleeding Umbreon. A pool of blood had started to form around her. Gengar looked towards the others and said,
"You go deal with her. I'll handle him."
Bisharp then focused his energy on Gengar. His smirk seemed to waiver slightly. He pushed Malamar forward,
"Get him out of my face," said Bisharp. The squid glared at Bisharp as Gengar stared him up. Gengar smiled. Yeah, I win here, he thought. He then mocked Bisharp,
"What's the matter, Sgt, Slaughter? Too lazy to fight for yourself?!" Bisharp then took a step towards the ghost type, furious. However, he remained resolute. He wouldn't give in to Gengar's taunts.
Malamar yelled as he slashed at Gengar from behind. His tentacles whipped through the air. The makeshift blades, however, missed their intended target. Gengar sunk into the floor, disappearing into the shadows. Gengar then emerged from behind Bisharp. The dark type reacted immediately, slashing at Gengar, his arm transformed into a blur. Gengar stepped back. He then spun on the spot and fell face first into the earth, vanishing into the ground.
Gengar emerged behind Bisharp and slammed his forehead into Bisharp's neck. The steel type gasped. Pain rocketed through his body. Malamar panicked as he stabbed at the ghost type.
His tentacle was snatched and crushed. Malamar yelled in pain before he looked to see. His weapons had been crushed by Lopunny. Her eyes glared into his, unyielding, incensed, almost homicidal. Malamar yelled as he fell on his back,
"GARCHOMP! KILL HER!" almost begging. The dragon type took a step towards Lopunny before being frozen in place. A huge wall of ice imprisoned Garchomp, leaving her roaring against her prison, like a rabid dog. Malamar then raised his hands in surrender as Lopunny slowly stepped towards him.
The squid fell onto his rear and rapidly started backing away, flailing his tentacles around,
"Wait, wait, wait! I know that we may have gotten off on the wrong foot but-"
"SHUT IT!" Lopunny snapped. Malamar however, did not shut it. He whimpered,
"Wait, I can give you anything you want! 10 million ! No, 20 million!" Lopunny began to freeze the ground beneath her. Malamar continued, "I, uh, was, shit, beat by my alcoholic dad and my, uh, mom is dead and my disabled sister is gonna die of, fucking, arthritis! Please spare me! You'll never see my face again!"
All Lopunny did was stare at him. She scoffed,
"You're pathetic." Malamar saw his chance. He stood up quickly and slashed at her eyes, just barely cutting those icy lenses before happily declaring,
"HYPNOSIS, FULL-"
A psychic blast hit Malamar squarely in the back of the head. This disorientated him. In the half second he had, Malamar looked back in horror to see a wounded Gardevoir glaring at him. Her eyes held a determination that defied her grievous injury.
Lopunny's knee slammed into Malamar's face. The sound of a gunshot rang out from the impact. Malamar gasped. The ice type roared as she pulled her leg back and began to barrage him, repeatedly kicking him on every inch of his body. Every single kick had the force of a bomb behind it. Every hit crushed Malamar like an insect.
Bisharp, Gengar and everyone else stood still. It was like they were transformed into statues, frozen in place. They all watched. Like some freak car accident, they could not look away from the violence in front of them. Infernape's jaw dropped. Was this what she had done for him during the Hauntasia attack? A cathartic little smile etched across his face.
With a powerful roundhouse kick, Lopunny sent Malamar flying. Blood zigzagged from the squid like a hose. Malamar slammed into a wall. A crater formed. All that came out were choking gargles. Shooting towards him at the speed of a bullet, Lopunny jumped over the concrete and slammed her foot into Malamar's stomach, an explosion of force being centralized into the squid. All Malamar could do was gasp. The force of the impact sent the two bursting through the wall.
When the people of Normstall woke up that morning, Not one of them expected to see a Malamar and a Lopunny explode from the hills. Malamar landed on the ground with a thud. The ice type did not let up, still kicking him as she formed a path of ice so they could slide across the town. She then kicked him into a wall. Lopunny jumped after him. Planting her foot into her stomach and freezing her foot and Malamar's abdomen together. She jumped with Malamar forcibly taken alongside her. She flipped in the air and, with the force of a rocket, kicked him down onto the ground.
Lopunny landed like a superhero. She stood up as a small crowd formed around her. Then her eyes explored. Dozens of eyes all looked at her, staring at her. She glared back, not wanting anyone to get involved. It was then that Tabitha saw the Jigamasa's, Sableye, and Ampharos in town. Lopunny looked soberly at Sableye. How was she going to tell him?
Garchomp gasped for air as she was released from Malamar's control. She looked around and her eyes immediately locked onto Umbreon. She had barely a clue what had happened. While she did hold some pity towards the dark type, it wasn't too much. Umbreon had stayed too close for too long. It was a sentiment that she had heard from her mother, who had heard it first-hand from criminals in court.
She was a criminal, and no one gets out of that life alive.
"UMBREON!" yelled Sableye as he ran towards her. He fell to his knees next to her and held her in his hands. Druddigon rushed over and yelled,
"Someone help! Please!" he looked towards Gengar, "You! Do that Pain Split thing!" Gengar shook his head before pointing to his chest wounds,
"I already did Frosty. If I Pain Split with her, we'd both be bleeding out on the floor," he said cynically before trying to focus on combating Bisharp.. Liligant rushed over and tried her hand at healing the dark type. Stabbing her healing roots into Umbreon, Liligant tried desperately to heal the dark type, using everything she had. Alas, she could feel that it wasn't going to be enough. The damage was too much, and she lost so much blood already. Somberly, Liligant looked towards Druddigon and Sableye,
"I fear that mine efforts are for naught. I am but delaying the inevitable." Sableye looked down into Umbreon's terrified eyes, watching helplessly as life drained from them.
"I…I…I'm so sorry! I should've listened to you!" he said, clutching onto Umbreon tightly. He started to openly sob. Druddigon clearly tried to hide his emotions, lowering his head down. You could hear him whisper apologies to Umbreon.
The group, now reunited, stared at the scene before them quietly. There was an undercurrent growing. All of them had the same thoughts. The situation was far more complicated than they expected. It was obvious now that Bisharp was the true villain here. However, Garchomp couldn't bring herself to be too sympathetic. They couldn't just apologize their crimes away. They needed justice. Gardevoir overheard all of these thoughts thanks to her telepathy, and frowned at her. Gardevoir then stepped towards Umbreon, her hands glowed with a gentle pink aura. Sableye and Druddigon turned and glared at the psychic type, but Gardevoir pushed on regardless. Telepathically, she told the duo, "Trust me," and they reluctantly did so, remembering Ampharos, Aggron, and Liligant's kindness. She fell to her knees and rested Umbreon's head on her thighs. Umbreon looked up apologetically at Gardevoir, unable to say a word. Gardevoir then shut her eyes before starting to speak, or rather, speak for Umbreon.
"Sableye, Druddigon. I'm sorry. I…I'm sorry I put you through all this. Just…stop him. Stop Bisharp from summoning Darkrai…I…I want…I want to die…knowing my life…meant something…even if it was just…a sacrifice." With that, Gardevoir placed her hands on Umbreon's temples. A soft, pulsing noise echoed throughout the sewers as Umbreon's eyes slowly shut. It was a technique that Gardevoir used to send her sisters to sleep after a nightmare. Now, she used it to allow Umbreon to die peacefully.
Gardevoir stood up and walked back towards the group. Sableye and Druddigon stayed by Umbreon's side. Sableye fully broke down into a sobbing fit, screaming in anguish over his lost friend. Druddigon was dead quiet, just staring at Umbreon's unconscious body. They had lost a dear member of their little found family. Someone was…better than the both of them. Who realized the kind of person Bisharp was and tried to get them to leave with her. That was the crushing part. If they had just listened to her, either leave for defeat Bisharp…maybe she'd still be alive.
Bisharp managed to send Gengar flying with a well-timed dark pule. He then raised the gem into the air as began to incantation,
"Darkrai, lord of nightmares, king of fear. I summon thee so I may accomplish my goal! Come forth and recognize your new master!" The tunnels around them began to collapse. Garchomp and Tyrant acted quickly, both created a dome of rock to protect their friends. The entire group could only listen as the tunnels imploded around them.
Gengar groaned in pain as emerged from the ground to regroup,
"Alright, Lee. What's the plan?" Infernape nodded as he asked Liligant to help Gardevoir. He stood up and began to speak,
"Alright, no dilly dallying! We need to prioritize taking the Eclipse Gem as fast as possible. We aren't going to be able to defeat Darkrai so there's no point wasting the energy." Ampharos then said,
"But, Bisharp managed to take it from the Senshi. Who's to say we won't have to do this again another few months down the road!" Garchomp agreed with him, "Indeed, so long as that gem exists, the world will be in danger! Someone will find it eventually, and who knows what kind of carnage that can bring about." Gardevoir heard all of this and shook her head. She knew something that no one else here did,
"I learned something!" She then told everyone what happened between her and Umbreon, when she tried talking to her, which led her to revealing, "When I dropped the Eclipse Gem, it cracked. It can be broken!"
That was it. That was what they were looking for. They can end this once and for all. Gengar smiled at Gardevoir,
"Goddamn, look at you! You fucking genius! I'll tell the rabbit!" he said before sinking into the floor. The other had similarly proud responses, praising her attention to detail. Infernape grinned at her. There was something…different about Gardevoir, in a good way this time. Her smile seemed free, for lack of a better term, unburdened by a desire to be the hero for attention for praise. However, Infernape was still cautious. He had been burned before.
"What about Lopunny?" asked Ampharos worriedly.
"I trust her. I know she can hold her own, at least until we get out of here." Infernape insisted. He looked back at the wall of stone behind him. Lopunny was alone out there. He knew that it would at most take a minute to get back out there to help her, but he still frowned at the wall in front of him. What if Bisharp had another accomplice? What if he had figured out how to become the first of his species to mega evolve? What if this was finally it, the universe's final trump card to put him back in his place?
"No." Infernape muttered out loud. Gengar glanced up at the fire type, questioning if he actually heard something. This was not the time for self-doubt. Blastoise's words echoed through his head. Those words of unyielding love and support. The fire type listened to those words intently. This wasn't like before. This wasn't like before. He had a family by his side,
One that he didn't push away.