A Krookodile grabbed Ampharos by the tail and threw him into a building. The glass shattered violently as Ampharos burst through office cubicle after cubicle. Sceptile then swung towards the Krookodile, but the croc was prepared. Chomping onto Sceptile's arm, he slammed the grass type onto the floor before dragging him through the city. Pain rocketing through his very core, Sceptile gritted his teeth, wrapping his legs around Krookodile's neck and pulling him face first into the dirt. He then moved his arms around Krookodile's throat and attempted to choke him.
With the air rapidly draining from his throat, Krookodile fought against the hold and clawed at Sceptile's arms. Sceptile bit through the pain of having his skin ripped open. This is ending now. Just then, Krookodile punched the ground beneath him. Under Sceptile, the ground began to glow bright orange, but the grass type was unable to dodge the attack in time.
A flaming fist made out of stone jabbed right into Sceptile's stomach. A sickening gasp for air wheezed out of the grass type's throat. The searing burn of the flames rapidly engulfed Sceptile. He was catapulted off of Krookodile, absolutely covered in flames. Krookodile then slowly stood up and jumped into the air, hoping to follow up that vicious attack, when Blastoise jumped up to join him. Confident in his abilities, Krookodile changed targets and punched Blastoise.
Krookodile's fist landed squarely on the water type's cheek To his horror, no damage was done. Blastoise then glowered, his fist becoming coated in a yellow energy as he sprayed water to put out Sceptile. Upon impact, the Mega Punch sent Krookodile into an abandoned building. Continuing his onslaught, Blastoise shot both of his water cannons into the dust as he ran in. Krookodile dodged the two cannons, barely able to keep up, and then went behind Blastoise to strike as the water type entered the building. Blastoise, without looking back, slammed his fist into Krookodile. Krookodile stumbled back but managed to dodge the next burst of water. Seeing he was outgunned, the croc jumped through the ceiling onto the fifth flor and then began to control the dust made from the concrete to create a makeshift sand storm. Dust swirled around the decrepit office, limiting the visibility. At this point Ampharos had returned to the battle and shined the light on his tail to see. This backfired as Krookodile tackled him and tried to stab him with a piece of a desk. Ampharos struggled to hold the weapon back, he was completely incapable to counter attack because of the type advantage.
Broken glass shattering echoed through the room. The silhouette of Blastoise became visible as the sunlight glowed from behind him. The dust storm that swirled around then began to clear as it went outside. Blastoise glared at Krookodile with fury and he revealed a Mega stone. His fists closed around the sphere and changed. He gained two cannons on his arms, the two cannons on his shell fuse into one bigger cannon. Krookodile then ran off of the electric type and tried to stab Blastoise. Blastoise grabbed the wooden spike and threw it away. He grabbed Krookodile by the throat and threw him out of the building. Blastoise jumped out as well and the two brawled in the air. Krookodile slashed at the water type who effortlessly blocked it. Blastoise slammed one of his arm cannons into Krookodile's chin and pointed him into the ground.
"One Million PSI Ensign!"
A massive burst of water emerged from his arm cannon, sending Krookodile plummeting into the ground. A nearby ground type Senshi thought quickly and turned the ground where Krookodile would land into soft soil. The pressure of the blast sent Blastoise skyrocketing into the air. He turned off the water and skillfully landed back onto the 5th floor. He turned back into the others and grinned, Ampharos smiled back in inspired awe. He truly was one of the greatest Senshi of all time. Sceptile then remembered the volcano and yelled to the others,
"We have to hurry and help the others!" They three left the office building, hoping that the larger group was okay.
Bisharp now believed that he had riled up Groudon enough, he turned back towards the group,
"Alright, now let's make our leave and summon Darkrai while the Senshi deal with the chaos. We don't wanna be caught in the crossfire." The group nodded, although Druddigon was slightly disappointed,
"It's a shame I couldn't fight any of them."
With borderline comedic timing, Aggron burst through the volcano, surprising the Darkrai cult. The others followed shortly after. Bisharp looked back and grinned,
"You're too late, Groudon is already ready to rampage throughout the world!" The group didn't respond and prepared to fight. Druddigon grinned excitedly,
"EEEEEEE!" he squealed, he looked like a child seeing his presents on Christmas Day.
Aggron was caught off guard by Druddigon trying to punch him. Catching the dragon's fists, Aggron threw him over his head. Druddigon flew towards the wall but he caught himself and jumped back towards Aggron. The force of the impact sent them into the caldera with Groudon. Thinking on his feet, the steel type grabbed onto a chunk to the wall and pulled it down, creating a safe platform for them to fight. Both began to exchange blows, before Aggron shot a hyper beam into Druddigon. Druddigon was almost thrown off of the platform but he quickly regained his footing. His claws were then coated in a blue and yellow energy and he slashed at Aggron. Aggron dodged the first attack but took one to his arm. He backed off and jumped, slamming into Druddigon and repeatedly striking him in his head. Druddigon kicked Aggron off of him, sending him careening into a wall. Aggron latched onto the wall and began to quickly climb up, deliberately throwing debris down at Druddigon. Druddigon tried to give chase but was pummeled by the rocks. Aggron began to make his way back up to the group, worried about what he would find.
Gengar was fighting Umbreon, who had a knife in her mouth. He had been told about her mind control abilities and to play it safe. With the kind of arrogance only Gengar could have, he ruffled some of his fur to create a blindfold, resembling a llama. Umbreon was shaken by the gesture, was he seriously about to fight without sight? This had to be a ploy. But if he was that confident then she didn't stand a chance unless he was bluffing. This anxiety began to break Umbreon's resolve, something that Gengar quickly picked up on,
"Oh, someone's scared? Tell you what, you drop that knife and cower in a corner somewhere, I won't kill ya."
It was so tempting to run as he requested. Being called a criminal is infinitely better than being called dead. However, Bisharp's warnings echoed in her head. The Senshi wouldn't kill her. No, they'd do so much more than kill her. They'd make her wish for death, all in some twisted idea of preventing her from committing another crime. With that, she planted her feet in defiance. Gengar's smirk rose a bit, clearly impressed, but it was more of a pity grin. At least he offered the olive branch.
Umbreon desperately lunged at Gengar, slashing at him with the knife. The ghost blocked the attack with almost supernatural precision. Her fears confirmed, Umbreon dropped the weapon as Gengar laughed,
"Years. Literal. Years."
Gardevoir and Garchomp were assaulted by Bisharp and Sableye. Bisharp was slashing at Garchomp. Thinking on her feet, she jumped back and blasted the ceiling with a dragons breath. She kicked the resulting debris into Bisharp, some of it turned into shotgun like pebbles. Bisharp sliced through two large boulders but was caught off guard by the smaller pellets and a few large rocks. Garchomp capitalized and crashed into Bisharp with a head butt. Bisharp flew towards the caldera but used his blades to stop himself from going over. Hearing Garchomp coming closer, he pulled himself and kicked her, throwing her back.
Gardevoir and Sableye were in a standoff. Sableye had unleashed his gem barrier and Gardevoir was trying to figure out how to break through it. Sableye was mocking her,
"Can't beat my impenetrable barrier?" Gardevoir ignored these insults,
"Blessed Guardian!" she yelled as the stone construct charged into the gems. The construct was torn into pebbles by the gems which started to fly towards Gardevoir. She tried to stop the gems with her telekinesis but she couldn't. The gems sliced at Gardevoirs skin with ease, she put her arms up to protect her face to moderate success. Sableye smirked, his gem's were covered in a thin layer of dark type energy, negating her psychic powers.
Gardevoir attempted to reason with Sableye,
"You don't want to do this! Who knows how much destruction Groudon is capable of?" Sableye visibly reacted but remained determined,
"I'm not falling for your tricks!" before sending even more gems her way. Flying up into the air, Gardevoir was barely able to avoid the crystals before they slammed into the wall. She grabbed the rubble and threw it at Sableye, alongside several fairy blasts. Sableye pulled out a diamond prism, increased its size, and used it as a shield against the beams, reflecting them across the volcano.
Whilst the battle against the cult raged on, Infernape and Lopunny were given the task of fending off Groudon. They leaped down into the volcano, hoping to calm Groudon before engaging in combat,
"GROUDON, LISTEN TO ME! JUST CALM DOWN AND GO BACK TO SLEEP!" Infernape yelled at the god of land.
"DON'T YOU CONDESCEND TO ME, MORTALS!" Groudon yelled as he swiped at Infernape at shocking speed. Infernape looked over at Lopunny and nodded, they had no other choice.
Infernape flew straight at Groudon as flames enveloped his fist. He struck Groudon but quickly realized that he barely did anything to the legendary Pokémon. He quickly flew back as Groudon swatted at him. Groudon then swiped at Lopunny, who wasn't able to dodge in time.
"LOPUNNY!" Infernape yelled in horror as she watched her fly towards the wall. Lopunny focused and flipped to land feet first, except she didn't land on the wall.
A mountain of ice formed along the wall, melting but that didn't matter to Lopunny. She slipped into a small hole in the mountain of ice. Traveling down the tunnel it began to expand, allowing her to stand and eventually skate. She burst out of the bottom of the mountain, creating a path with her ice and using her momentum to travel at incredible speeds. She skated towards Groudon and kicked him. Groudon stumbled back from the impact, Lopunny leapt up to Infernape who caught her.
"Right. What's the plan?" she asked. Infernape quickly answered,
"Hit and run tactics. He's too big. It'll be like swatting at mosquitoes."
"So rat tactics." Lopunny sarcastically answered. Infernape shrugged with a slight grin on his face,
"Essentially, yes. But be careful. It's probably just going to piss him off if anything. I don't want you to get hurt." The rabbit rolled her eyes, to Infernape's chagrin, "I'm serious, he's a god. He can kill you with ease." Lopunny countered with,
"That's the fun part!" before gesturing for Infernape to throw her.
Infernape spun around and threw Lopunny towards the land god. She again kicked Groudon and flew towards the volcano wall. She landed and started to bounce around the volcano. Infernape threw a fireball at Groudon before flying into him, punching the ground type before flying off. Groudon looked around, trying to keep up with the two but unable to properly track them. He charged a beam inside of his mouth, a powerful orange glow piercing through his teeth. The droning sound of the change echoed throughout the volcano. Lopunny looked in terror as Infernape flew in front of Groudon. She landed and jumped as best as she could and soared through the air. She grabbed him and jumped out of the way just in time for a God's hyper beam to be unleashed upon the world.
Groudon fired the beam into the side of the volcano, the normally orange beam had a red aura as it soared through the air. It burst through the volcano with ease and flew over Hydroton. The beam crashed into an empty field and exploded. The resulting blast was almost nuclear in its size and power. The shockwave alone tore through Hydroton, glass shattered, several buildings collapsed, and Pokémon were thrown across the city. The land bridge shattered, causing mercenaries and Senshi to fall into the water. Despite being kilometers from the explosion, the group in the volcano might as well have been right next to it with how loud it was.
Lopunny screamed in pain, the noise blasting in her more sensitive ears was deafening. Infernape, noticing this, covered her ears as best he could. As the sound dissipated, the group now fully understood the danger that Groudon was capable of. Infernape and Lopunny were frozen in terror, realizing what would've happened if they hadn't moved. They weren't the only ones, everyone in the volcano stopped in awe at the display of raw, destructive power.
Sableye, Umbreon and Druddigon in particular were struck by the horror of what was happening. What had they done? They unleashed an unstoppable god upon the world, and for what? They had no clue that the explosion thankfully missed. As far as they knew, hundreds, if not thousands were dead. This…This was a mistake. It had violently escalated to an unreachable degree
Bisharp noticed. He grabbed the gremlin by the neck and roared,
"See what these monsters do."
"We….We did this," Sableye gasped against Bisharp's tight grip, "We summoned him. We killed-" A steel clang echoed through the volcano. Sableye scraped the ground and landed in a heap. Bisharp caught up with him, screaming with the fury of a tiger,
"SHUT YOUR GODDAMN MOUTH!" before stomping into Sableye's chest. The only sound that left Sabelye's mouth was a chilling gasp of life. Gardevoir rushed towards Sableye and fired a blast at Bisharp. He turned around, blocking the attack. At that point, Bisharp had finally decided to use his dark type powers, with a black whip surrounding his hand. He quickly reacted, ensnaring Gardevoir and Garchomp.
Gardevoir and Garchomp fought against their binding's, but were unable to free themselves. Bisharp then grabbed Sableye by the top of his head and dragged him over to the two. He snapped,
"Make a prism." Sableye looked up in horror at Bisharp. He shook his head and stood up to Bisharp,
"What?! No, no, no, that'll kill them!"
"And?" said Bisharp coldly.
"I…I won't-" The gremlin was grabbed by the head and slammed head-first into the ground. His hostages, Gardevoir and Garchomp cringed in horror, boosting Gardevoir's resolve to free herself. She yelled at Bisharp,
"Stop!" Bisharp then stomped over to her and slashed her across the chest. Gardevoir screamed in pain, incensing Garchomp who was now about to break free from her dark restraints, violently pushing towards him. Gardevoir watched as her chest bled out. Furthering his emotional torment, Bisharp forced Sableye to watch,
"This is what happens when you don't do your fucking job! Now, MAKE THE DAMN PRISM!" he roared again.
Bisharp began charging up his beam. Silently, Gardevoir pleaded with Sableye to fight against Bisharp. Alas, his fear of misplacing his trust was too much. He couldn't bring himself to look Gardevoir in the eyes as he revealed a diamond, which grew in a large hexagon to multiply Bisharp's power. Garchomp stomped the ground, sending a pillar of rock from the ground to disrupt the steel type. He deftly dodged it before firing his blast,
"OBSIDIAN RAZOR!" A black beam flew towards the two at blistering speeds. The large prism magnified its power. Gengar saw this and disengaged to try and save the two, but he couldn't get there in time. Gardevoir and Garchomp closed their eyes, bracing for the inevitable.
Yet nothing came.
No searing pain, no burning sensation, no stinging, nothing. They opened their eyes and what they saw scared them more than the attack itself.
Aggron was in front of them, taking the beam for them. He was screaming in pain as he was very slowly pushed back. Gardevoir yelled out,
"AGGRON!"
"I'M FINE! THIS- THIS IS NOTHING!" Aggron yelled back. Bisharp rolled his eyes and turned to Sableye,
"Crank it up!" he demanded. Sableye hesitated but out of fear, he sent more prisim, which flew over behind the giant ruby and amplified the beam's power even more. Aggron's screams were now bloodcurdling, every anguish filled yell tore apart his vocal cords. Life flicked in and out of his eyes. As the blast ended, Aggron stood still, blood spilled through the gaps in his armor. He slowly and painfully looked back,
"I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough," He apologized before the life left his eyes and he fell over onto the ground.
Gardevoir and Garchomp watched on, horrified,
"AGGRON, PLEASE WAKE UP!" Gardevoir yelled. Garchomp was furious, she let someone die in front of her. Her irises glowed red for a moment and she broke free of her restraints. She charged towards Bisharp and Sableye and tried to crush them under her feet. Bisharp slashed at Garchomp's shins, sending her tumbling into the ground. Gengar looked at Aggron's body then back to Sableye,
"You shouldn't have done that," said before lunging at Sableye. He then yelled in pain as Umbreon stabbed him in the back Enraged, Gengar turned around and struck Umbreon. She was catapulted across the volcano and slammed into the other side. Rocks began to collapse around her. Sableye was horrified. His fear quickly turned into a rage and he screamed out,
"I knew you Senshi were evil!"
A ghost beam shot clean through him. Sableye gasped in pain. He fell to the ground, only to be caught by Gengar.
"Call me that again, and even Giratina won't look at the body," hissed Gengar with a primal rage. Just then, Bisharp slashed at Gengar in the back. He gasped in agony before he was kicked away. With the ghost type dealt with, Bisharp then walked towards Gardevoir and raised his blades to execute her.
Infernape and Lopunny were still occupied with Groudon but they heard Aggron's screams and looked over.
"AGGRON!" Infernape yelled in complete terror, he wanted to go help but was completely frozen. His mind was racing. Lopunny bounced over to him and shook his shoulder, hoping to snap him out of his trance. They were too distracted, however and weren't able to avoid Groudon's next attack. They were thrown down into a rock platform just above the lava. Groudon then raised his foot to stomp on the two. Lopunny and Infernape raised their hands to try to stop the attack. As Groudon's foot landed on them, they screamed in pain, trying to hold him up until help arrived. Infernape shot as much fire as he could out of his elbows to add to his strength while Lopunny created a layer of ice between her arms and the platform, providing extra support.
The ice layer wasn't anywhere near as effective as Lopunny had hoped, it was more a waste of energy if anything. As for Infernape, he was already struggling to keep up the the land god's strength, but now the flames on his elbows became weaker and weaker. His body couldn't keep up.
"No no no no no!" He panicked loudly. The weight was too much for them. However, something in his gut told him that Aggron needed help. Not on the battlefield,though that would be apt, but in his mind. That was when it clicked for Infernape. Aggron's last words. With a determined roar, he fought through the pain and screamed out,
"GET UP! I KNOW YOU'RE STRONGER THAN THAT! I KNOW YOU CAN!"
Suddenly, a faint glow shone in the corner of Infernape's eyes and he turned to see what it was. The glow vanished but the sound of an impact burst through the area and Groudon's foot lifted off of them. With this new freedom, Infernape looked to see who his savior was, he couldn't recognize them but he noticed one thing:
They were shrouded in rainbow energy.
(A/N) Slight update. As you can probably tell, this chapter is a little early. For the first week or two, the new chapters of Pyrophant will be publish late Friday night rather than literally the first couple minutes of Saturday. Not a huge difference but I want to call attention to it regardless. As for the why, that's a secret for me and me alone to know ;)