Little tidbit of information: when I first started writing this fic, I didn't originally have it entirely from the point of view of the Pokemon. Rather, I wrote a few major scenes from Marcus's perspective before I decided to do this fic entirely from the Pokemons' point of view.
This entire chapter was one of those scenes.
Thank goodness for lazy Saturdays, otherwise I might have had to delay this chapter. And I don't want to delay any chapters while I've still got a backlog to get through.
Kriesh flew after Marcus as the Trainer strode down the forest path, keenly aware of Archeops's untrusting eyes aimed at her back. The Fossil Pokemon had made it quite clear that his sole purpose was to make sure Kriesh didn't try to kill Marcus again.
She would have sighed with exasperation if she didn't know she deserved such scrutiny.
Not for the first time, she flashed back to that moment. When she'd found herself in a battle once again, with an uncaring Trainer ordering her to use Hyper Beam on the opposing Pokemon.
For a few seconds, she could have sworn it was Evan's voice coming out of Marcus's mouth.
She forced the memory back. There was no use dwelling on it. Rather, she turned her head back towards Marcus, noting the almost imperceptible shift in Archeops's flight pattern as she did so.
What had changed his mind? Had it been a random, sudden thought that had changed his perception? Had he realized the futility of his own arguments? Had he somehow figured out how to understand Pokemon?
Whatever it was, Kriesh could not help but be relieved that Marcus had changed his mind.
"We're almost there," Marcus called to Kriesh. Indeed, the treetops here looked more familiar. This was an area Kriesh had been before; in fact, she'd been here many times, gently guiding wayward members of the flock away from the cool-looking Trainers that they seemed to always want to investigate.
She stifled a smile at the thought of seeing her flock again. She would smile when she actually saw them.
They rounded a corner and Kriesh saw the clearing. A chill ran through her chest; as soon as she made it back to the flock, she would make it clear that that clearing was now off-limits. It held too many bad memories.
Kriesh soared down from the sky, landing beside Marcus. She looked around, noticing the difficult-to-find path that had served as a trail from this clearing to the house. "There," she said, pointing with her beak.
Marcus smiled. "Let's go find your flock," he said.
Kriesh strode into the woods, Marcus and Archeops at her heels.
Now Kriesh breathed in the scents of home, the natural smell of the plants and the earth. She could smell her flock as well, their scent blown on the wind, musty and-
Kriesh stopped, straining her ears to pick up the sound she had just heard.
Human voices, aggressive. Stomping. The sound of…
Kriesh would never forget the sound of creaking cages.
Alarm sent Kriesh surging forward, ignoring Marcus's cry to wait. Now she could hear more; her flock's voices, raised in fear, mixed with the shouting of humans. She lunged, shooting through the trees, ignoring the branches that tore at her feathers.
Kriesh burst into the clearing with as much speed as she could muster.
Her eyes instantly scanned the area, taking in the four red-jacketed and red-haired male Trainers and the one female. The female had the same red jacket, but her hair was tinted purple. A visor of the same color covered her eyes.
All eighteen members of her flock were trapped in a stack of cages on the edge of the clearing, with the purple-haired Trainer standing right next to them. At Kriesh's arrival, they immediately rushed forwards, reaching their beaks as far out of the cages as they could. "Mama!" they cried. "Help!"
Kriesh rose to her full height and let out a challenging, wordless shriek.
The red-haired Trainers jumped. The purple-haired Trainer, though, curled her lip and threw out one of the two Pokeballs on her belt. The yellow-and-blue visage of a Manectric materialized in the center of the clearing.
The Manectric gazed around the clearing until its eyes settled on Kriesh. "Ah, the mother comes at last," he said. "You know, they were calling for you the entire time we were hunting them down. Where have you been?"
"Why are you doing this?" Kriesh asked furiously.
"Simple," the Manectric drawled. "With no one around to protect them, they're unsafe. So Team Flare is giving them a new home."
Kriesh recognized the 'Team' in their name. Were these some kind of offshoot of Team Rocket? Regardless of whether the two Teams were related or not, it was clear Team Flare had the same aim for her flock as Team Rocket had had for her.
Kriesh glared at the Manectric. "I will not let you take them."
The Manectric shrugged. "You should have said something earlier," he said.
At that point, Marcus charged into the clearing. "Fearow, wait!"
The purple-haired Trainer let out a contemplative grunt. "Well, that explains quite a bit," she said. "This is your Fearow, I presume?"
"Not anymore," said Marcus. "I'm returning it to its home."
"Well, in that case, we'd be glad to take it off your hands," said the purple-haired Trainer. "In fact, why don't we do the same with your other Pokemon? After all, if you don't value this one, why do you deserve to have any?"
At that, the rest of the Trainers sent out their Pokemon. A motley assortment of Houndour, Sneasels, Electrikes, Gulpins, and the odd Slugma or Litwick appeared before Kriesh and Marcus, all snarling and ready for a fight.
Marcus's eyes widened and he took a step back. The purple-haired Trainer grinned. "Now be a good boy and hand them over. Or we'll just have to take them."
Ruefully, Kriesh noted that she'd always wondered what it was really like to be on the receiving end of this. Her heart thudded in her chest as she scanned the swarm. Twenty-four Pokemon plus the Manectric, against just her and Marcus's team. Marcus himself seemed locked in place, hands not even near his Pokeballs.
"Liepard got your tongue?" the woman chuckled. Then her expression twisted. "All right, I've had enough of waiting. Capture that Fearow and that boy's Pokemon."
The Manectric dug his claws into the earth. "Ah, I love this part of the job," he growled. "Thunder Charge."
Kriesh forced all thoughts of hopelessness to the back of her mind. She would never allow these people, these monsters, to take her flock away.
She would die first.
"Earth Impact!" Kriesh summoned Ground energy to her beak as the Manectric lunged, electricity gathered within its jaws and crackling down its mane, and charged forwards. As they struck, the electricity exploded outwards, but Earth Impact did its work and it dissipated harmlessly. The Manectric gritted his teeth and dug its claws into the ground as Kriesh pressed him backwards. Irritatingly, it didn't seem all that injured.
"For Team Flare!" The rest of the enemy Pokemon began to charge to the Manectric's support. Kriesh narrowed her eyes, trying desperately to think of a plan to deal with them all.
But in all the chaos, she had completely forgotten about Archeops.
The Team Flare Pokemon had scarcely made it ten feet when the Fossil Pokemon appeared on the edge of Kriesh's vision, wings drawn back and arcing towards the ground. "Hyperspeed Earth Strike!"
The ground exploded outwards as Archeops hit it, sending five Team Flare Pokemon flying through the air and forcing the rest to stop short. Archeops raised itself and let out a challenging cry of its own.
Marcus recovered from his shock enough to hurl out all three of his Pokemon. Meditite, Skorupi, and Shellder all landed in front of him, clearly confused; then they saw the fighting and tensed, ready for battle.
Archeops now whirled towards the cages holding Kriesh's flock. "Stone Claws!" The earth tore again as three massive stony spikes flew from Archeops's claws, growing larger and larger as they went. Kriesh winced as they tore into the cages with terrifying speed, but Archeops had aimed them well; most of the cages shattered, releasing their occupants, with only two Spearow still unable to escape.
The Manectric growled in irritation. In one fluid motion it slammed a paw down on Kriesh's beak, driving her into the ground, and leaped over her, lunging for Archeops. "Thunder Charge!"
Archeops twisted to face the oncoming Manectric. "Draconic Burst!" A wave of Dragon energy flew at the Manectric. The Manectric skidded to a halt. "Thunder Release!" The Electric energy that had gathered in the Manectric's jaws burst out, slamming into the Draconic Burst and pushing it back.
"For Team Flare!" The remaining Pokemon charged again. Now, though, their numbers were reduced to nineteen, and Kriesh was not alone..
For as she looked up, she saw her flock clustering in the sky. "To me, my flock!" she cried. "Drive these intruders away!"
"Yes, Mama!" The Spearow lunged for the oncoming Team Flare Pokemon. Kriesh hurled herself forward with them, gathering Flying energy around her as she aimed for a wildly barking Houndour. "Sky Impact!"
She collided with the Houndour hard enough to knock the breath from its body, and the battle was joined.
Meditite stared in shock at the sheer chaos that reigned across the clearing. She'd seen worse than this back in the forest, but she hadn't thought Trained Pokemon would be capable of this. Up until now, battles between Trained Pokemon had seemed orderly in comparison to battles between Wild Pokemon. This battle was anything but orderly.
The sight of the destroyed cages, though, told her exactly who she needed to fight.
"What are we supposed to do now?" Shellder asked, eyes wide within his shell.
"We fight," Meditite snarled. "Skorupi, Shellder, with me. Let's get to Kriesh's support, offer her and the flock as much help as we can-"
"Surrender to the style and power of Team Flare!"
Two more red-suited Trainers lunged out of the bushes, with two Pokemon each charging alongside them: a Growlithe, a Gulpin, an Electrike, and a Sneasel.
"Deal with those!" Marcus finally managed to work out a command.
"You heard him!" Meditite lunged for the Growlithe. "Psychic Blast!"
"Pierce!" Skorupi fired a flurry of spikes from his body. The Sneasel staggered under the barrage, hissing in pain.
"Cover your ears!" Shellder cried. Meditite promptly clapped her hands to her ears, recognizing what was coming. Skorupi gulped, having nothing to cover his ears with. "Oh, this is gonna-"
"Sonic Blast!"
The unearthly screech ripped through the four Team Flare Pokemon, sending them all stumbling, two of them with dazed expressions on their faces. Fortunately, though he winced at the sound, Skorupi managed to shrug it off. "Psychic Blast!" Meditite cried again, sending another surge of Psychic energy at the Growlithe. It tumbled to the ground, whining pitifully as it was knocked out cold.
"Time to use my new combination attack!" Shellder withdrew into his shell and lunged forwards. "Defensive Shell…Impact!"
A crack reverberated throughout the clearing as the Electrike crumpled, its jaw clearly broken.
Unfortunately, the two remaining Team Flare Pokemon had shrugged off the Sonic Blast. "For Team Flare!" they both shouted, rushing into the fray. The Gulpin fired off a glob of Poison energy at Meditite, while the Sneasel leaped for Skorupi, claws glinting with Ice energy.
Skorupi grinned at the challenge. "That was a mistake," he growled. "Inject."
His tail swept around, intercepted the Sneasel's clumsy charge, and rammed the Team Flare Pokemon to the ground.
"Psychic Dodge!" Meditite slid around the Gulpin's attack and lunged for it, punching it in the face with a quick blow. The Gulpin gurgled, and something in its voice made Meditite's eyes droop.
She staggered back, feeling her mind cloud over as sleep threatened to overtake her. Then a spike rammed into the small of her back and she cried out in pain, the sleep receding.
Skorupi grinned evilly. "Don't mention it!" he snarled, then resumed tearing into the Sneasel.
At the same time, Shellder twisted towards the Gulpin. "Water Blast!" The Gulpin collapsed.
"Though we may lose, we lose with style!" The two Team Flare Trainers recalled their Pokemon and dashed off into the forest.
Free of immediate threat, Meditite scanned the battle. Archeops and the Manectric were still brawling, with jolts of electricity and errant Rock-type attacks flying every which way. The Spearow flock were battling the rest of the Team Flare Pokemon, a fight which they probably would have easily lost if not for Kriesh. The Fearow was letting fly with attack after attack; she'd already felled three Pokemon, and even now was beating the living daylights out of a Slugma.
A snarl brought Meditite's attention back to Archeops's battle just as the Fossil Pokemon slammed a brutal blow into the Manectric's muzzle. "Stone Strike!"
The Manectric stumbled under the blow, his left cheek bloody from the brutal attack. But even as Archeops landed the strike, a single jolt of electricity flew from the Manectric's body into Archeops.
Archeops didn't notice. "Hyperspeed Wing Strike!" it cried, leaping upwards with wings glowing with Flying energy. It soared in an arc and began to come down, aiming directly for the Manectric.
"Static: Wings," the Manectric snarled. Archeops's wings suddenly seized up. Manectric stepped to one side as Archeops, suddenly unable to control his own path or momentum, plowed into the ground with a painful-sounding crack.
"Like my Ability?" the Manectric snarled. "With Static, I can imbue Electric energy into anyone who makes contact with me. Then I can manipulate it to paralyze a foe anywhere I wish. Arms, legs, wings…" The Manectric grinned nastily. "You get the picture."
The purple-haired Trainer saw that the Manectric had downed its foe. She raised her voice, looking nervously at Kriesh as the Fearow tore through her allies' Pokemon with ease. "Ripper, to me! Volt Switch!"
"Got it," growled the Manectric. "Crusher! Take over!"
With that, Ripper fired off a burst of electricity at the downed Archeops and disappeared, a shaft of light from his position indicating that he was back in his Pokeball. Instantly, in its place emerged a monstrous Ursaring, looming over the downed Archeops with wrath in its eyes.
"Crush…you…" Crusher snarled, energy gathering on both its beefy arms.
The purple-haired woman sent out Ripper again, this time next to her. "Fearow!" the Manectric called. "I believe we were in the middle of something! Care to continue?"
"My name," Kriesh snarled, throwing the Slugma unconscious to the ground and turning towards Ripper, "is Kriesh!"
Ripper snorted. "Don't care."
"Beam Impact!" Ripper's eyes widened and he dove out of the way of the Hyper Beam. An explosion sounded as the errant attack struck a tree.
"Well, well, well," Ripper said. "This'll be interesting, now won't it?"
Kriesh let out a horrifying scream and lunged for Ripper.
"Target the Ursaring!" Marcus ordered. Meditite stirred, realizing she'd been standing mutely and watching the fight for the past minute. "Psychic Blast!" she cried.
"Water Blast!" "Pierce!" All three Pokemon fired attacks at Crusher, but to Meditite's dismay the only effect was that it turned towards them.
"Crush…you…all…" Crusher began lumbering towards them, gathering energy into its palms. "Crush…Blast…"
"Psychic Dodge!" Meditite lunged out of the way as a burst of Fighting energy exploded where she had been a second ago. Skorupi and Shellder darted to either side of Crusher. It bellowed and stomped down, narrowly missing Skorupi, and then kicked out at Shellder.
"Defensive Shell!" Shellder withdrew in time to take the hit, but even through the shell the sheer power of the strike sent him flying into the forest. "Waaaaahhhh!"
Marcus glowered. "Skorupi, take out his ankles! Meditite, Confusion! Try and daze it!"
"Rip." Skorupi lashed out with his claws, digging them into Crusher's foot. Meditite fired off a Psychic Blast, but the Ursaring barely noticed, instead turning its head to face Skorupi. "Crush…you…first…"
Crusher drew back a massive meaty fist and slammed it down, again barely missing Skorupi. It was then that Archeops appeared seemingly out of nowhere. "Defeatist! Hyperspeed Stone Strike!"
He slammed into Crusher's back with claws enhanced with Rock energy, digging them into the Ursaring's back. Crusher howled in pain. "Crush…SMASH!" the Ursaring roared, lashing out with a brutal fist that caught Archeops across the face and sent it flying towards Meditite.
Meditite again had to leap out of the way as Archeops's body tumbled to the ground beside her.
"Are you all right?" Meditite cried.
Archeops rose. "I am fine," he said. "They have triggered my Ability: Defeatist. When I am wounded, others take less notice of me. I appear to be camouflaged in some ways to their senses."
"And that allows you to hit them with strong attacks before they can react," Meditite realized. "Okay, what's your strongest attack?"
"That was my strongest attack," Archeops growled. "You must go help the Fearow."
"Are you sure?" Meditite asked.
"You are not safe," Archeops pointed out. "The Ursaring appears to have the Ability Guts. Its strength increases the more damage we do to it. By now, it could kill you or your friends in just one hit."
As if on cue, a cry of pain sounded as Skorupi flew ungainly away, struck by a brutal swing from Crusher. "Crush…you…next…" the Ursaring rumbled, turning towards Meditite and Archeops.
Meditite looked back to see Skorupi feebly twitching on the ground. She gulped, understanding the truth behind Archeops's words.
"Go now," Archeops ordered.
Meditite turned and rushed towards Kriesh as Archeops lunged for the Ursaring, letting out a loud battle cry.
As she ran, she scanned the battlefield. Skorupi was down, while Shellder was somewhere in the forest and was probably also unconscious. The Spearow flock were still engaged in a brutal fight with the Team Flare Pokemon, and though the Team Flare Pokemon were clearly stronger individually than the Spearow, Kriesh's aid had whittled down their numbers enough that the Spearow were able to double-team a few of the Team Flare Pokemon and as such keep the fight even.
As for Kriesh, the Fearow was still locked in combat with Ripper. She was fighting quite intensely, summoning Ground energy to her beak and Flying energy to her wings, lunging and stabbing and pivoting in an impressive display of speed and power. But Ripper was easily keeping up, avoiding everything Kriesh threw at him and retaliating with bursts of Electric energy that Kriesh only narrowly dodged. And while Kriesh was panting with exhaustion, clearly not having exerted herself like this in some time, Ripper still looked fresh.
"Beak Impact!" Kriesh screeched, thrusting her beak forward.
Ripper pivoted, avoiding the strike. "Thunder Release."
"Sky Impact!" Summoning Flying energy to her wings, Kriesh propelled herself into the air, out of the way of the jolt of Electric energy. Then she arced downwards in much the same way Archeops had, seeking Ripper's vulnerable back.
Ripper suddenly grinned. "This has gotten tiresome. Static: Wings."
Kriesh's wings locked up in much the same way Archeops's had, and just like he had with Archeops, Ripper stepped aside and allowed Kriesh to plow headfirst into the ground.
"You see, I used Static on you when I stepped on your beak back when I engaged that Archeops," Ripper explained. "Looks like I chose a good time to activate it."
Kriesh rose from the small crater she had made in the ground, twisting on her legs to face Ripper. "Beam Im-"
"Static: Beak."
Kriesh's beak locked in place and she was forced to abandon the Beam Impact; a choking sound came from her as she gagged around the wasted energy.
"Static: Legs." Kriesh's last remaining limbs locked up. The Fearow let out a muffled screech of rage as she was rendered nearly immobile.
All this had happened before Meditite made it more than halfway across the clearing. She pushed herself to run faster. "Fighting Trip!" she cried, priming her leg with Fighting energy as she bolted for Ripper's form.
But she wasn't paying attention to her side, where the Spearow flock were still engaged with the main body of Team Flare. A Team Flare Electrike, free of opponents, saw Meditite coming and leaped towards her, slamming into her side and knocking her down. "For Team Flare!"
"Will you all stop saying that!" Meditite punched the Electrike in the face, knocking it aside.
"For Team Flare!" A Litwick rose up in front of her, already firing off a burst of Ghost energy. "Psychic Dodge!" Meditite cried, barely avoiding the Litwick's attack. The two Team Flare Pokemon pressed, forcing Meditite away from Ripper with blasts of Ghost, Fire, and Electric energy.
Completely ignoring the battle just behind him, Ripper grinned at the nearly-helpless Kriesh. "What makes you think you can protect these Spearow?" he asked.
Kriesh mumbled something through her locked beak.
"Whoops, sorry," Ripper chuckled. "Static: Beak Release."
Kriesh let out an enraged snarl as her beak was freed of paralysis. "You don't get it," she growled. "I made a promise to my mother that I would protect her flock. I have no intention of breaking it."
"Well, I'm sure your mother's very impressed with how you ran off with a Trainer and left your flock to be captured," Ripper retorted.
"You think I went with him by choice?" Kriesh's voice was choked with rage.
"Ah," said Ripper. "So you were captured against your will, leaving your flock to their fate. Doesn't that mean you couldn't protect them? That you're too weak to keep your flock safe?"
Kriesh let out an enraged howl and began collecting energy into her beak. "Beam Impact!"
"Static: Neck." Ripper casually loped to the side; without movement in her legs or neck, Kriesh's attack simply flew where he had been and uselessly struck a tree. "Now, now, none of that," the Manectric gloated.
Meditite stepped backwards again, dodging another blast of flames from the Litwick. "Psychic Dodge!" she cried, mustering enough Psychic energy to avoid a leaping strike from the Electrike. But she could feel that familiar sensation of psychic overuse; too much more and pain would cripple her Psychic abilities.
As she gasped with exhaustion, searching vainly for a way to get past these two Team Flare Pokemon, a Spearow suddenly dove in from the side, tearing into the Litwick with a sharp beak surrounded by Flying energy. The Electrike rounded on the Spearow, charging up a bolt of Electric energy. Taking advantage of the distraction, Meditite dove forwards, punching the Electrike in the face and knocking it over. Free of opponents, she lunged for Ripper.
"It was fun, but it's time for you to say goodbye to your flock," said Ripper. "Don't worry, we'll find good homes for them. Thunder Release: Barrage."
Electricity began to gather around the Manectric's body. Kriesh snarled, but her body was locked in place, and she could do nothing but stand and watch as the Manectric charged up.
"No!" Meditite hurled herself forwards. "Psychic Endurance!"
Ripper opened fire.
Meditite screamed.
Kriesh gasped.
Meditite was standing between Kriesh and Ripper, arms spread wide, body coursing with electricity, and screaming as it tore through her entire body. Both Kriesh and Ripper instantly noticed that Meditite's body was glowing bright white.
Kriesh smirked, recognizing the technique. Ripper frowned. "Well, that was certainly admirable," he said. "But useless. Now you - what do you think you're doing?"
The purple-haired woman, unlike Ripper, seemed to recognize the technique. "Ripper, get out of there!"
Meditite locked eyes with the Manectric and allowed a smirk of her own. "Psychic Retribution."
The technique produced an audible explosion that neatly masked Ripper's yelp of pain as Psychic Retribution hurled him halfway across the clearing. The Litwick and Electrike that Meditite had fought were busy subduing the Spearow that had attacked them when Ripper's body sailed straight into them, knocking all three of them down.
Meditite had just enough time to breathe a sigh of relief before pain ripped through her mind and she nearly collapsed. Kriesh staggered reflexively as control of her body returned to her. "Thanks," she muttered.
"Don't mention it." Meditite brought a hand to her forehead, shaking her head to clear it of pain. "It's not over yet."
It wasn't, but it seemed like it soon might be. Most of the Team Flare Pokemon were down by now, and the few that weren't were quickly being finished off by the Spearow flock. Several Spearow were down as well, but the ones still up were clearly enough to deal with the final few Team Flare Pokemon. Ripper was down as well, possibly unconscious.
That left Crusher.
"LET…ME…CRUSH…YOU!" the Ursaring bellowed, wildly flailing one massive arm at Archeops.
Archeops fluttered away from the errant strike. "Draconic Burst!" he cried, firing off a blast of Dragon energy into the Ursaring's face.
And yet, despite all the punishment it had taken, the Ursaring was still going strong. As Meditite watched, it fired off another blast of Fighting energy that looked like it nearly took Archeops' head off.
"Static: Wings."
Meditite and Kriesh twisted as Ripper got to his feet. Kriesh recoiled reflexively, but the Ability usage wasn't aimed at her. Rather, Archeops's wings froze again and he plunged right towards Crusher.
The Ursaring was gleeful to oblige. "CRUSH…BREAK!" A brutally powerful fist slammed into Archeops, piledriving him into the ground.
Ripper turned back towards Meditite and Kriesh. "Gotta say, that hurt," he growled. "Which means I'll take my time with you. Static: Transfer. Full-Body Lock."
Meditite suddenly felt her entire body freeze in place. From the tensing beside her, she could tell that Kriesh was under the same duress.
"Forgot to tell you," the Manectric said, "I can transfer Static from any body that has it to any other body so long as they touch. And I have a hunch that neutralizing you will save me a lot of trouble down the line."
He grinned. "Now, let's just finish off these annoying Spearow, shall we? I'm sure they wouldn't mind having their little wings clipped."
Meditite closed her eyes and retreated into her mind. She preferred to speak, to make gestures, when using her techniques. But when she quite literally couldn't?
Fine by her.
Psychic Blast, she thought, forcing the technique out through the pain that wracked her mind.
Ripper was just turning to lope towards a pair of nearby Spearow when the burst of Psychic energy slammed into him, sending him tumbling to the ground once more.
This time, he didn't get up.
"Damn it!" the purple-haired woman cried, recalling the prone form of her Manectric. "Crusher! Get over here and deal with these annoyances!"
Crusher rose from Archeops's unconscious form, turning to face Meditite, Kriesh, and the Spearow flock. Meditite craned her neck, searching for Marcus, but couldn't see him. "Where's Marcus?" she asked.
"Probably doing what the rest of those Grunts are doing," Kriesh answered, gesturing towards the Team Flare members that were hiding in the trees nearby and watching the ongoing brawl.
Crusher began to stomp towards the flock of Spearow. "Crush…you…ALL!" the Ursaring roared.
"Archeops said that thing has Guts," said Meditite.
Kriesh paled. "To me, my flock!"
The Spearow disengaged from their subdued opponents and fluttered over. "What is it, Mama?"
"Get out of here," Kriesh ordered. "Whatever happens to me, don't come back. If I…if I don't make it, fly far away."
"Are you going to go away again, Mama?" one of the Spearow asked.
Kriesh smiled sadly. "I…I might."
"Please don't go, Mama," the Spearow pleaded.
"I'll come back," said Kriesh. "I promise."
"Kriesh," Meditite warned, eyeing Crusher as he stomped closer, every step sending ripples through the ground as his entire body glowed with energy.
"Go," Kriesh told her flock. "Now."
The Spearow turned and fluttered away, casting worried glances back at Kriesh.
Kriesh twisted to face Crusher. "Meditite. How's your Psychic power?"
"Can't do much more without knocking myself unconscious from the strain," Meditite answered.
"All right," Kriesh said quickly. "Use that 'Fighting Trip' of yours. Trip him up and confuse him. I'll damage, you distract. Got it?"
"Got it." Meditite crouched, ready to lunge at the oncoming form of Crusher.
"CRUSH…BLAST!" Two spheres of Fighting energy began to form, one in each of the Ursaring's paws.
Kriesh opened her beak. "Beam Impact!"
Energy poured from Kriesh's beak, striking the Ursaring in the face. Crusher stumbled but still did not fall; the spheres of Fighting energy flew off into the sky, nowhere near their intended targets. Meditite lunged for the Ursaring, pouring Fighting energy into her leg. "Fighting Trip!"
Unfortunately, the purple-haired Trainer was now entirely focused on commanding her Ursaring. "On your left! Giga Impact!"
"CRUSH…CRUSH YOU!" Crusher turned to face Meditite, legs bent under the Ursaring's massive frame. Meditite was painfully aware that the Ursaring's full attention was now locked on her, and that its body was blazing white in a similar way to Psychic Retribution.
Crusher had to be nearly unconscious, forcing itself to attack by sheer force of will. Meditite would have been impressed if the Ursaring hadn't been trying to brutally murder her.
Then the Ursaring leaped into the air, reaching a shocking height for how heavy it looked, and plummeted right towards Meditite.
"Meditite, get out of there!" Kriesh screamed. But even as Meditite turned, she saw the shadow of the Ursaring growing larger and larger, extending all around her, and she knew there was no way she could get out in time.
"Kriesh, hit it!" Meditite screamed. Crusher bellowed as it descended belly-first, intending to crush Meditite with its sheer bulk.
Meditite squeezed her eyes shut and reached both her hands out towards the falling Ursaring, hoping in some small part of her mind that they might cushion the Ursaring's fall enough that she wasn't immediately squished.
No.
The Ursaring slammed into her hands, and at the exact same time something else did too. Fighting energy, in much the same way as it empowered her legs for Fighting Trip, surged from her body into her palms. An audible boom sounded as Crusher impacted Meditite's outstretched hands; instantly, she felt her arm bones snap under the strain.
Yet somehow, impossibly, Crusher seemed to hang in the air for a moment, his momentum momentarily halted by the sheer influx of Fighting energy that had rushed into Meditite's palms. And that moment was all Kriesh needed.
"Flying…Earth…IMPACT!" The Fearow lunged, pouring as much Ground and Flying energy into her body as she could, and rammed straight into Crusher. The Ursaring bellowed in agony as Kriesh's beak dug into its side, tearing through skin and muscle and scraping against bone. Then, as if in slow motion, both Crusher and Kriesh tumbled to the ground. Meditite flinched as the Ursaring hit the ground inches away from her, hard enough to send up a cloud of dirt that flew into Meditite's face.
It was then that the pain of her broken arms finally reached her, and she let out a choked, pained cry, collapsing under both mental and physical torment.
Kriesh pulled her beak out, wincing at the squelching noise that came with it. She paused for a moment, seeing in that moment that the Ursaring was finally, definitively unconscious, and then heard Meditite suddenly cry out in agony.
"Meditite!" Kriesh hurled herself around the felled Ursaring, remembering in that moment that Meditite had been under it. Had struck it, struck it with something that had somehow stopped its descent for a single second.
But had that second been enough?
Relief flooded Kriesh as she beheld Meditite on the ground, clearly alive but with both her arms definitely broken. "Are you all right?" Kriesh asked.
"Ow…" Meditite muttered. "What was that?"
"No idea." With Meditite's safety assured, Kriesh looked up at the purple-haired Trainer. She was staring mutely at her fallen Ursaring, clearly unable to believe her eyes.
Kriesh spread her wings, reared up, and let out a triumphant shriek that jarred the purple-haired Trainer from her shock.
"Wow. That's lame," the purple-haired Trainer muttered. She raised a Pokeball and recalled Ursaring. "Fine. Spearow are worthless anyway. Team Flare, let's get out of here."
As the purple-haired woman turned and ran into the forest, her flunkies recalling their unconscious Pokemon and rushing after her, Kriesh momentarily thought of pursuing. Then she looked back, and remembered that not all of her flock had escaped the battle without injury.
Half a dozen Spearow were lying on the ground, unconscious and scarred with burns, electrical damage, and claw and tooth marks. Kriesh rushed over, heart hammering, and touched each one with her beak, searching for a pulse.
She found it in each one, though all of the pulses were faint. A fluttering noise came from behind her, and Kriesh turned to see the rest of her flock descending from the sky.
"You won!" cried one Spearow. "I knew you would, Mama!"
"Are they okay?" another Spearow asked.
"They're alive," Kriesh said, "but they need healing immediately. I need all of you to try and…"
"We need to get them to a Pokemon Center."
Kriesh swiveled her head to stare at Marcus. "You are not catching them."
"I'm not going to take them," said Marcus, obviously getting the gist of Kriesh's statement even if he didn't understand them. "But if we don't get them to healing fast, they could die."
The sound of footsteps came from behind Marcus. Both Kriesh and Marcus whirled to see another Trainer; Kriesh momentarily tensed before realizing it wasn't another Team Flare grunt. It was just another teenager, like Marcus, with a Litleo and a Fletchling at his side. All three of their faces were already paling at the carnage.
"What in Distortion happened here?" the Trainer asked.
"No time to explain," said Marcus. "We need to get these dozen or so Spearow and this Archeops to a Pokemon Center. Archeops can't go in a Pokeball, and Fearow here doesn't want any of the Spearow to be caught either."
Kriesh had forgotten about Archeops again; the Fossil Pokemon was splayed out in a crater, chest rising and falling, but one of his wings was broken and he wasn't moving in any other way.
The other Trainer stood there mutely. "I'll - I'll get some help," he said, and dashed back into the forest.
Marcus sighed and turned back to Kriesh. "It's only a short healing session," he said. "And then we can pretend like none of this ever happened."
Kriesh bent her head. She wanted so badly for Marcus to be right. That once her flock were healed, everything would go back to normal.
But it wouldn't.
Ripper was right. She'd failed her flock. And as much as it pained her to admit it, she would never be able to forget that. Grant had gotten through to Marcus in time to save the flock this time, but what if something like this happened again?
If not for events completely outside of Kriesh's control, her flock would have been taken, and she knew exactly what would have happened to them.
Kriesh sat down heavily and watched as Marcus began recalling his injured and unconscious Pokemon, watched as her conscious flock nestled, exhausted, beside the injured members, watched as the two remaining trapped members of her flock were freed from their cages.
And Kriesh, finally, allowed her emotions to come forth, and began to sob.