If you're confused, this is not a new chapter. I finally got around to fixing the chapter that had to be split in two, and reposted it how it was originally supposed to be posted (as one chapter). The next chapter will be up this coming Sunday, at which point I'll gladly explain why it's taken so long.
Kriesh hadn't really understood what it meant to fight atop a train until just now.
Up until this point, she'd been able to keep up with the moving train through raw speed, but now that she was actively clinging onto the train and engaging in a melee duel, Kriesh was having to constantly keep up a surge of Flying energy around her to blunt the sheer amount of wind, otherwise she never would have been able to hold on, much less fight. She had no idea how her Absol adversary was keeping hold on the train herself, but she had no time to think about that in the heat of battle.
Sparks flew as Kriesh's beak intercepted the Absol's horn once more. The Absol reared up and slashed down again; Kriesh ducked and flicked out a quick Steel Wing, forcing the Absol into a Detect to dodge, and then lunged, calling upon Aerial Ace to prevail against the surging winds. "Sniper: Sky Impact!"
The Absol caught Kriesh's attack with her horn-blade and pressed forwards, forcing Kriesh into a stumble. "Electric Horn!" she hissed; Kriesh only barely got off a Mud-Slap to deflect the Thunderbolt in time, and in that moment the Absol lunged, her charge aided by the natural movement of the train propelling her towards Kriesh. One clawed paw lashed out, scoring across Kriesh's cheek and snapping her head to the side. As she reeled, Kriesh gasped out "Beam Impact!" The Absol leaped into the air, allowing the train's forward momentum to carry her over Kriesh's head. She landed about a train-car-length behind Kriesh, her claws scoring furrows in the metal; the Hyper Beam flew off into the sky, having accomplished its purpose.
"Hmm…" The Absol smirked. "You're a tricky one, aren't you? Fearows are normally such blunt objects, the hammer to a Pidgeot's streamlined blade…your techniques are not ones I would normally expect from one of your kind."
"You're one to talk," Kriesh growled. "Since when did Heralds start pulling out elemental blasts?"
"I am no mere Herald," the Absol responded. "I am Arbiter-Of-Fates. I am one of the oldest and most experienced Absols alive. And to be honest, I've never desired to pointlessly restrict myself to the normal techniques learned by an Absol. I have spent years sampling the weapons, items, and techniques of Trainers in order to enhance my fighting capability. My allies are just learning how to augment themselves in such a fashion. They are comparatively inexperienced with their new abilities. I, on the other hand, have no such limitation. It was foolish of you to challenge me on your own, Fearow, for I am by far the strongest Absol here."
Kriesh began to stride forwards one step at a time, moving deliberately so that she didn't accidentally lose her grip on the train car. "I don't care how many tricks you bring to the table," she growled. "I won't let you get anywhere near Marcus again."
"Hmph." Arbiter-Of-Fates's horn lit up with blue light. "Let's see if you can back those words up. Ice Horn."
Kriesh was forced to awkwardly skitter to the side in order to avoid Arbiter-Of-Fates' Ice Beam. As she did so, the Absol broke into a sprint, hurling herself across the top of the train car towards Kriesh. For a moment, Kriesh felt a measure of shock that Arbiter-Of-Fates was moving so swiftly and easily despite the train's movement being against her; then she saw the Normal energy surging around Arbiter-Of-Fates and realized that she was countering the wind with an application of Quick Attack, the move serving to propel her forwards at a much more rapid pace than she otherwise would have been able to manage.
Arbiter-Of-Fates lunged, horn glowing black. "Sniper: Beak Impact!" Kriesh cried, stabbing her beak forwards to counter the Absol's Night Slash. Horn and beak clashed once more with a loud clang; Arbiter-Of-Fates drew back and struck again, and then again; each slice Kriesh met with her beak, Sniper allowing her to skillfully parry the Absol's every strike.
At the third clash, Arbiter-Of-Fates changed tactics; with a grunt of exertion she shoved forwards, and once again the unexpected burst of raw strength forced Kriesh backwards. Arbiter-Of-Fates dove forwards, ducking under Kriesh's stumbling form, and twisted to deliver a spinning swipe to Kriesh's back. But Kriesh wasn't planning on letting the same trick work on her twice. Taking a page out of the Absol's book, she released her grip on the roof of the train car, allowing the train's momentum to carry her away from Arbiter-Of-Fates' attack.
"Electric Horn!" At Arbiter-Of-Fates' cry, Kriesh whirled, forming Ground energy across one of her wings, and swatted the Absol's Thunderbolt away. Now Kriesh spread her wings, grinning; finally, she'd managed to regain her aerial advantage. "Sniper: Beam Impact!" she bellowed.
Kriesh knew Arbiter-Of-Fates would dodge - she had last time, after all - and so even as the Hyper Beam shot towards Arbiter-Of-Fates Kriesh followed up with a barrage of Pursuit rays. Arbiter-Of-Fates' eyes glinted as the Hyper Beam neared her; she smirked as if she'd just thought of a clever joke, and then as the Hyper Beam came at her she flared Aura across her body.
But instead of dodging to the side, Arbiter-Of-Fates leaped forwards.
Kriesh watched as her Hyper Beam angled downwards; in the blink of an eye Arbiter-Of-Fates jerked herself backwards as if pulled by a string. The angle of the Hyper Beam was too sharp and too close to the roof of the train car for its course to properly adjust; the blast collided with the roof with explosive force, punching another hole in the ceiling of the train car.
Before Kriesh's eyes, a large chunk of the metal roof, loosened by the explosion, flipped upwards just in time for Arbiter-Of-Fates to duck behind it. Kriesh's Flurry Impact bounced off the metal; the barrage of impacts loosened the chunk's hold further, and in the next moment, it came off the roof of the train car entirely and flew straight at Kriesh's face.
Holy crap…there's no way that Absol is so naturally lucky.
"Steel Impact!" Kriesh cried, bringing up both wings and enhancing them with Steel energy to try and protect herself; even so, the impact of the flying piece of metal was enough to send her reeling backwards. She just barely managed to maintain enough awareness so that when her talons touched metal she was able to grab on tight and not be blown right off the train. "Ice Horn!" she heard faintly as she landed; she attempted to flare Steel energy across her wings to try and deflect the attack, but the Ice Beam struck her in the right leg instead.
A terrifying chill ripped through Kriesh's leg; spreading her wings once again, Kriesh spotted Arbiter-Of-Fates stalking slowly and methodically towards her, eyes gleaming. Kriesh attempted to shift in preparation to meet the Absol again, but her right leg refused to move. Glancing down, Kriesh realized with a pang of fear that her leg was frozen to the roof of the train car, encased in a thick block of ice.
"Ice Beam's secondary effect," Arbiter-Of-Fates explained, moving closer. "Occasionally, when it hits, Ice Beam has a small chance to freeze whatever it struck, impeding movement. I would have to be extremely lucky to achieve that freeze…just as I would have to be extremely lucky for so many things to go wrong with all your little Hyper Beam tricks."
"I take it that's your Ability?" Kriesh growled.
"Precisely." Arbiter-Of-Fates smirked. "You should know that Absols only develop Abilities in the later stages of their lives. Very few Absols even possess Abilities…but I am one of them. Super Luck allows me to manipulate luck in quite a few different ways. My guesses are always correct. Objects always seem to end up in places that would benefit me most. Moves with normally-rare chances of secondary effects trigger those effects practically on-demand. And, with the aid of this…" Kriesh spotted a small metallic device lower into place in front of one of Arbiter-Of-Fates' eyes. "…I always know exactly where to aim my attacks to achieve maximum effect."
A Scope Lens. Kriesh narrowed her eyes. Used in battles to achieve a minor zooming effect, similar to a beginner's Keen Eye or, in my case, Aspectum. With that in conjunction with her Ability, she could easily scan an opponent's body, identify a weak spot, and ensure that her attacks are always targeted at that weak spot.
But that tells me something else about her Ability.
Kriesh let out a quiet chuckle. "So that's how it works," she murmured. "In order for your luck manipulation to work, you need a concrete possibility for it to work. If you don't know that there's a weak spot for you to target, you can't use Super Luck to automatically know where to aim your attacks in order to strike at that weak spot. So you can talk all you want about always being able to avoid my attacks…but if I can make it so that you have no chance to avoid my attacks, no amount of luck manipulation is going to save you."
Arbiter-Of-Fates responded with a chuckle of her own. "You're smarter than most, Fearow," she said. "I can see why Bringer-Of-Visions chose you and your friends to stop us. But I've seen what sort of attacks you're capable of. You have an Ability that gives you perfect aim with practically every move you can muster, and you still haven't landed a single hit on me. And now here you are, frozen in place. So tell me, Fearow, how exactly do you plan on preventing me from avoiding your attacks?"
"Watch me," Kriesh snarled. "Sniper: Vox Impact!"
Arbiter-Of-Fates staggered, letting out an agonized cry as Kriesh's voice slammed into her inner ear. Kriesh grinned; as she'd predicted, Arbiter-Of-Fates had no way to dodge an attack aimed at the inside of her ear. "Sniper: Beam Impact!" Kriesh growled, trying to take advantage of Arbiter-Of-Fates' stumble.
But Arbiter-Of-Fates managed to dodge courtesy of an instinctual Detect. As she stumbled to the side, the Absol glared up at Kriesh, no longer smiling. "Ice Horn!"
"Flurry Impact!" Kriesh retorted, flinging a barrage of Pursuit rays out to counter and dissipate the Ice Beam. "Sniper: Vox Impact!"
This time, though, Arbiter-Of-Fates was more prepared; even as Kriesh shouted out the words, the Absol flung herself forwards, horn-blade lowered. She winced in pain as Vox Impact assailed her eardrums, but she'd clearly figured out the limitations of the technique; it was disorienting, sure, and fairly painful, but it didn't actually deal any lasting damage.
"Sniper: Beak Impact!" Kriesh cried, moving awkwardly thanks to her still-frozen foot. But even as her beak met Arbiter-Of-Fates' horn, she saw it glow red.
"Fire Horn."
A point-blank Flamethrower exploded in Kriesh's face, sending her reeling and temporarily blinding her. In that moment, Arbiter-Of-Fates lunged, slamming into Kriesh with her full weight and bearing her to the ground. Still frozen in place, Kriesh's leg couldn't bend backwards along with the rest of her; instead it snapped, eliciting a scream of agony from Kriesh as her back slammed into the metallic roof of the train car.
Arbiter-Of-Fates glared down into Kriesh's eyes even as she dug her claws into Kriesh's wings, holding her down. "Congratulations," she snarled. "You have just joined a very short list of humans and Pokemon who have actively managed to piss me off."
Kriesh grunted, trying and failing to throw Arbiter-Of-Fates off. Medicham, she thought. If you're not busy…I could really use some help up here.
No response came. Grimacing, Kriesh opened her beak. "Beam Impact!" she cried, hoping to catch Arbiter-Of-Fates off-guard, but Arbiter-Of-Fates simply bent to the side courtesy of another Detect, allowing the Hyper Beam to fly uselessly into the sky, and then slammed a paw into Kriesh's chin, driving the top of her head against the train car's roof hard enough that Kriesh saw stars.
"My Ability also allows me to predict your attacks, to an extent," Arbiter-Of-Fates growled. "If I have previously seen you use an attack, then when you attempt to use that attack again, I instinctively know it's coming before you even unleash it. How do you think I adapted so quickly to your Vox Impact?"
"Adapt…to…this…" Even as Kriesh forced the words out of her mouth, she gathered all her strength into her still-functional left leg, then in one smooth motion brought it upwards, scoring her talons across Arbiter-Of-Fates' underbelly. Arbiter-Of-Fates shrieked, but unfortunately did not let go of Kriesh's wings. She did, however, rear up, taking the pressure off Kriesh's chin; instantly Kriesh lifted her head, focused on Arbiter-Of-Fates' exposed chest, and drove her beak upwards, gathering as much Energy as she could to the tip.
"Sniper: Giga Impact!"
Giga Impact was the strongest Normal-type move in existence, essentially a melee version of Hyper Beam, an attack that threw aside all speed and skill in favor of simply crushing an opponent with as much raw power as the user could muster. Marcus had taught it to Kriesh two years ago via TM, explaining that it was for emergencies only. Well, Kriesh thought as she slammed the attack straight into the white-furred chest of the staggering Absol above her, I daresay this qualifies.
The attack hit home, driving perfectly into the center of Arbiter-Of-Fates' chest.
And the Absol's Substitute dissipated in a puff of Normal energy, just in time for the real Arbiter-Of-Fates to rear into view, her body surrounded by a brightly glowing gray aura, and slam the full weight of her body into Kriesh's stomach.
Kriesh instantly realized that while she'd been occupied dealing with Arbiter-Of-Fates' Substitute - she must have used the technique while Kriesh was blinded by that Flamethrower - the Absol had been increasing her power with some sort of boosting move, most likely Swords Dance. There was no other possible explanation for how her attack hurt so much. Kriesh doubled over, nearly vomiting from the sheer force of Arbiter-Of-Fates' strike, as her stomach exploded with pain. Arbiter-Of-Fates whirled in an instant and brought her horn-blade, glowing with Oblivion, down upon Kriesh's now-upraised cheek; blood sprayed as Kriesh's head was once again thrust into the top of the train car.
The agony nearly made Kriesh black out; she managed to force her right eye open in time to see Arbiter-Of-Fates standing above her, one paw upraised. She said nothing; her paw slammed down, striking so hard that Kriesh felt her head rip straight through the already weakened roof of the train car with a horrific sound of tearing metal.
Damn it…even after all these years of training, even after I threw everything I had at her…I couldn't even come close to beating this Absol.
Arceus, please let my teammates have had better luck…
The last thing she heard before she descended into unconsciousness was a furious battle cry from a voice Kriesh knew and yet could not place.
"NO!" The word ripped itself from Medicham's throat as she hurled herself across the roof of the train car, Aura blazing blue across her whole body.
The Absol glanced upwards; in one fluid motion she withdrew from Kriesh's unconscious body, dodging out of the way of Medicham's wild punch with a textbook Detect. The Absol's horn flashed black; swiftly, Medicham activated her own Detect, and her Aura yanked her backwards just in time to avoid the Absol's slash.
She heard the hiss of a Pokeball and saw Kriesh's body dematerialize; clearly Marcus had recalled her. At least she's safe…but the fact that this Absol looks practically unwounded and is definitely powered up with Swords Dance doesn't make me feel particularly confident.
"I was wondering when one of the Fearow's teammates would show up," said the Absol. "I've heard quite a bit about you…Spirit, was it?"
"Medicham." Medicham set her stance, continuing to flare Aura around her body to brace herself against the surging winds. "Who are you supposed to be?"
"I am Arbiter-Of-Fates," the Absol said calmly. Medicham stiffened slightly, recalling the name from Bringer-Of-Visions' words. Arbiter-Of-Fates smirked. "And judging by that reaction, you've heard that name before. Well, student of Darkrai, let us see if our Master's teachings allow you to put up a better fight than your friend did."
A burst of Energy flew from Arbiter-Of-Fates' body, forming itself into an exact duplicate of her that crouched, ready to pounce. Substitute, Medicham realized; at the same time, she beheld a small lens flip down over Arbiter-Of-Fates' eye. And that's a Scope Lens. So she's going to use the Substitute to analyze my fighting style and work out counters. Guess I'll have to deal with this duplicate without using my real tricks.
"Pure Power: Aura Wave!" Medicham opened with a spreading blast of Aura that forced the Substitute to leap over it courtesy of Detect. Then she charged, bringing her hand back. "Pure Power: Aura Strike!"
The Substitute twisted in midair, bringing its horn-blade down to slam into Medicham's fist. Medicham spun, trying to swipe it out of the air with a spinning kick, but another Detect enabled the Substitute to twist around Medicham's attack and land back atop the train car. In an instant the Substitute was on Medicham, lashing out with blow after vicious blow, horn and claws swiping in equal measure. Medicham blocked or dodged each one, but the assault was driving her backwards along the train car, and all the while Arbiter-Of-Fates watched, her Scope Lens humming.
Hold on. This isn't a Dark-type - it's an Energy-formed duplicate of one. So that means…
"Psychic Blast!" Medicham cried, lashing out with the full force of her Psychic capabilities. To her relief, her hunch had been correct; the Substitute was picked up and flung away, and the roaring winds did the rest. Arbiter-Of-Fates watched with barely-concealed disdain as her Substitute was sent flailing comically off the train, its body flying a good several feet into the air before beginning to arc back down. The train was moving fast enough that Medicham didn't even see it land.
"Hmph." Arbiter-Of-Fates frowned. "Using a Psychic-type move on my Substitute to ensure my main collection of data came from an ineffective move…I'll admit that was clever. And clearly it would be a waste of time to try another Substitute." She smirked, her horn beginning to glow red. "So let's just get to the real fight. Fire Horn."
Medicham had not expected the Absol to unleash a full-blown Flamethrower at her. "Pure Power: Aura Barrier!" she cried, bringing up her forearm to intercept the blast of Blaze with an Aura-formed shield. She felt heat radiating off the attack as it impacted; through the haze she could see Arbiter-Of-Fates rushing forwards, her horn now glowing yellow.
"Electric Horn."
This time Medicham simply dodged with a Detect, allowing the Thunderbolt to skitter across the top of the train car. In the same moment Arbiter-Of-Fates lunged, clearing the remaining distance between them in an instant. Her horn-blade lashed out, perfectly aimed towards Medicham's right leg as it landed atop the train car. "Pure Power: Aura Bubble!" Medicham called; the technique was a natural extension of Aura Barrier, creating an omnidirectional shield instead of a focused one, and so Medicham had easily been able to learn it after only a few weeks of training. Now she cast Aura out in all directions, disappointing Arbiter-Of-Fates' horn-strike and giving herself enough time to land on her feet.
"Pure Power: Aura Wave!" Medicham expelled the energies of her Aura Bubble outwards in a blast. Irritatingly, Arbiter-Of-Fates was already moving before the attack even went off; leaping backwards, she lashed out with another Thunderbolt from her horn, the technique sufficient to cut through the center of the Aura Wave and allow the renegade Herald to dodge the remainder. Arbiter-Of-Fates followed up with a barrage of Pursuit rays that forced Medicham onto the defensive; Medicham brought her hand up and expelled a flurry of Aura Blasts, tearing the rays of Oblivion out of the air, but the remnants of that attack were swept away by a Flamethrower.
"Ice Horn!" Arbiter-Of-Fates snarled as the Blaze and Aura dissipated; Medicham was forced to form another Aura Barrier to deflect the jagged Ice Beam that shot out from the renegade's horn. Arbiter-Of-Fates glanced down. With a single deft strike she swiped her claws across the roof of the train, cutting loose a piece of metal. Medicham barely had enough time to wonder what she was doing before the metal piece flapped upwards.
And reflected a burst of sunlight right into her eyes.
Damn it, not again!
Medicham staggered, instinctively trying to shield her eyes, but just like with Corviknight she was too late. Yet, just like Corviknight, she knew instinctively to go into a Detect. Instantly her body jerked to the right as some sort of ranged attack flew past her. Medicham heard footfalls clanging on the roof of the train car and grimaced. "Pure Power: Aura Bubble!" she cried.
And then she felt a blast of Mind pummel her suddenly-upraised Aura-formed shields, tearing them apart; a second later she heard a swish, and then agony ripped into her chest. Medicham cried out in pain, striking out with a reflexive Aura Strike that hit only empty air. A paw-swipe slammed into her face and sent her staggering backwards. Immediately, she called upon Detect once more just as Arbiter-Of-Fates growled "Electric Horn." As she dodged the Thunderbolt, she managed to blink back some semblance of vision, enough to see Arbiter-Of-Fates charging once again, her horn stained scarlet with Medicham's blood.
"Pure Power: Aura Beam!" Medicham cried. But again a titanic pulse of Mind thundered down in the exact right place to intercept and disperse the move, and Arbiter-Of-Fates leaped through the remnants of the clashing attacks, claws outstretched and horn-blade at the ready. Through squinted eyes, Medicham glared at the incoming Absol. "Bullet Strike!" she cried, snapping out a fist in a priority move that Arbiter-Of-Fates wasn't ready for. The Iron-enhanced punch slammed into the Absol's face, stopping her lunge cold and sending her stumbling backwards.
Medicham's elation at finally landing a successful hit only lasted a second before a third blast of Mind rammed into her from nowhere, nearly sending her to the ground. She managed to steady herself, barely, but the strike had given Arbiter-Of-Fates time to recover.
"I already told your friend about my Ability, Super Luck," Arbiter-Of-Fates growled. "But I can also use it in conjunction with Future Sight. Thanks to my perfect luck, I know exactly where and when to aim my Future Sight attacks to cause the most disruption and damage. I've already sent out seven more attacks into the future, Medicham. Seven blasts of Mind ready to render you helpless. I have to say, though…I expected more from a student of Darkrai."
Medicham rose, clenching her fist tightly. "You want more?" she snarled. "Well, then…I'll be happy to oblige. Pure Power!"
Aura surged around Medicham in a whirlwind as she narrowed her eyes, focusing on her missing forearm, willing the Aura in her body to gather at the stump. With an exertion of her mind, she forced it out, and it began to form, first twisting to the side, then elongating, stretching out in a thin cylindrical shape. As it reached its end the shape curved outwards, first widening, then splitting into five. Medicham waited until the Aura had finished forming into her desired shape. Instinctively, she tested the Aura-made appendage she'd generated, willing it to move like a normal arm; it did, her fingers closing into a fist as easily as a normal hand would, her elbow bending just like a normal elbow.
Arbiter-Of-Fates shifted, minutely adjusting her stance.
Medicham smirked. It had taken a long time and a lot of effort for her to finally gain a grasp on that technique - she'd spent at least a year and a half fighting without a right forearm, and then it had taken a while to relearn her old fighting technique once she was able to form the limb out of Aura. Even now, she still found the technique difficult; whereas her more basic uses of Aura were practically instinctive at this point, she had to exert quite a bit of effort to form the limb, and yet more to keep it formed in the midst of battle.
But there was no question that with two arms, she was a lot stronger than she was with one.
Medicham glanced down at her chest, making sure the wound Arbiter-Of-Fates had delivered wasn't too major. It was a deep cut, to be sure, but it was by no means debilitating. She set her own stance. "How about that?" she asked. "You still disappointed?"
Arbiter-Of-Fates chuckled softly. "Such misplaced confidence…but very well. Let us see if you can back up such a display with real strength."
"Iron Fist: Devastating Blow!" Pangoro let loose with a vicious Hammer Arm; Wielder-Of-Blades dove backwards, and Pangoro's swipe merely took out a glass window, shattering it into a thousand shards that were at once swept away into the wind.
"Rock Attack!" Kamado fired a barrage of Rock energy at the backpedaling Wielder-Of-Blades. The Absol was quick to respond, lashing out with a sweeping horn-strike that tore the oncoming Rock Slide out of the air. Wielder-Of-Blades retaliated with a barrage of Pursuit Rays aimed at Kamado, but Pangoro leaped in front of his teammate and with a snarl of "Iron Fist: Bullet Blows!" punched the Pursuit rays out of the air one by one. Kamado hurled himself to the side, his claws skidding on the floor of the train car, and snarled "Strong Jaw: Air Gnash!"
Detect served to get Wielder-Of-Blades clear of the flying blade of air, and the Absol swiftly tapped into Double Team, once more separating into seven. Pangoro grimaced as the seven Absols lunged, horn-blades at the ready. With Cloyster gone, we've lost our main defense against that.
But that doesn't mean we're helpless.
"Rending Blast!" "Stealth Rock!" A Dark Pulse blasted out from Pangoro as a flurry of tiny stone projectiles flew from Kamado. The Absols began to blur, both the real one and the duplicates dodging through the storm of sharp stones. Three duplicates were torn to shreds by Pangoro's Dark Pulse, but four remained, and now they were too close for any sort of ranged attack.
Pangoro knew he had to be wary of Sucker Punch - an ordinary punch would just leave him open for the priority move. Instead, he went for one of his strongest melee attacks. "Iron Fist: Bullet Blows!" Pangoro snarled, lashing out in another flurry of flying Iron-wreathed fists.
He caught two Absols, but both were duplicates, and he only barely caught a glimpse of one to his side before Wielder-Of-Blades drove a vicious horn-swipe into Pangoro's hip. The strike was hard enough to send Pangoro staggering sideways; his reeling body slammed into and shattered another window. Now wind was roaring in the train car, the sound of it not quite masking Kamado's cry of pain as his attempted retaliatory Head Smash was cut short by a Sucker Punch. Wielder-Of-Blades followed up with a powerful Night Slash, tossing Kamado backwards into the other side of the train car with explosive force.
As both Pangoro and Kamado dug themselves out of their miniature craters, Wielder-Of-Blades stepped backwards, casting out five more duplicates to replace the ones Kamado and Pangoro had popped. "You should've thought twice before facing me alone," he growled. "There's no way you can break through my Double Team defense."
"You wish," Pangoro snarled in response, and tapped into Quash. "Now, Kamado!"
"Stealth Rock!" Kamado cried; slowed as he was, neither Wielder-Of-Blades nor his Double Team clones were able to dodge, and several of the duplicates dissipated under the impacts of sharp stones, while a thin red line across one Absol's side instantly let Pangoro know which one the real Wielder-Of-Blades was. Instantly he pounced. "Iron Fist: Bullet Blow!" he snarled; Wielder-Of-Blades tried to counter, but couldn't get an attack off in time to deflect Pangoro's Bullet Punch. A nasty crack sounded as Wielder-Of-Blades staggered backwards, the remainder of his clones disappearing as he lost his concentration. Pangoro pressed, lunging forwards again. "Iron Fist: Shattering Blow!"
Considering how injured Wielder-Of-Blades already was, he had no right to recover as quickly as he did. Yet even as Pangoro charged, readying a powerful haymaker, Wielder-Of-Blades skidded to a halt and flung himself forwards, delivering a vicious Choice Band-boosted Sucker Punch to Pangoro's gut. It was Pangoro's turn to stagger backwards, his attack faltering as he tried to keep himself from retching; worse, he felt his grasp of Quash slip from him as he stumbled.
"Stealth Rock!" Kamado cried again. Wielder-Of-Blades managed to maneuver into a Detect, weaving through the flying stone shards despite being slowed down. His response was a flurry of Pursuit rays that Kamado countered with a swift Rock Attack, but as the two ranged attacks coalesced Wielder-Of-Blades charged forwards, leaping through the explosion of energy and slamming horn-first into Kamado before the Tyrantrum could adjust. Kamado was thrown backwards, his claws digging into the metal floor as he skidded to a halt.
Nevertheless, both he and Pangoro rose back up. At this, Wielder-Of-Blades let out a furious snarl. "What is it going to take to keep the two of you down?"
Kamado grinned savagely.
"Stop that!" Wielder-Of-Blades bellowed. "Stop smiling like that! Just one more hit from my horn will knock either of you unconscious! What could you possibly have to smile about?"
"Simple," Kamado growled. "You aren't going to get the chance to deliver that hit. You see, I've been firing Stealth Rocks at you this entire fight. Did you ever stop to wonder where they might be going?"
Wielder-Of-Blades froze, his eyes widening. Slowly, he turned to look over his shoulder at the morass of sharpened stones floating serenely in the air.
Kamado's eyes glowed with Ancient. "Rock Manipulation."
"No!" Wielder-Of-Blades raged as all of the stones suddenly twisted and flung themselves at him. He opened his mouth and expelled a Pursuit, sniping several of the stones out of the air, but there were simply too many. Wielder-Of-Blades lunged backwards, forming a Detect around himself, ducking and dodging the flying stones as they whizzed passed him, embedding themselves in nearby seats or the walls, floor, and ceiling of the train. A few touched him, leaving scrapes behind, but none struck true.
Wielder-Of-Blades breathed a sigh of relief as he dodged away from the last of Kamado's flying Stealth Rocks. "Ha! If that's all you've-"
"Iron Fist: Shattering Blow."
Pangoro would freely admit it was devilishly satisfying to land that vicious punch right to that cocky Absol's ribcage. Bones crunched under Pangoro's blow; Wielder-Of-Blades was lifted half into the air, a gasp escaping his mouth as Pangoro practically carried him upwards. The Absol's body struck the side of the train, right where Pangoro's own body had shattered the window.
"Head Smash!"
And that was when Kamado came in from the side, head lowered, and drove the crown of his skull straight into Wielder-Of-Blades' already near-limp body. The impact was so vicious that it tore through the side of the train itself; Pangoro watched as Wielder-Of-Blades was sent flying straight out the now-open side of the train, his last scream trailing off rapidly as he disappeared from view.
Kamado sagged. "He wasn't lying," the Tyrantrum admitted. "I feel like I'm on my last legs."
"You're not the only one," Pangoro growled, planting a hand on Kamado's shoulder to steady him. "Come on, let's get back to Marcus…"
He trailed off as he heard the door on the other end of the train car fly open. Instantly his eyes flicked over and he crouched, readying for more attackers; then he relaxed as he beheld Hop and Gloria, their eyes already roving around the train car, eyes wide as they took in the devastation.
"Where's Marcus?" Gloria asked.
Pangoro pointed behind him tiredly, then turned and began to lead Kamado back towards the train car Marcus was occupying.
"Skill Link: Wave Blast!"
Cloyster let loose with a titanic burst of Torrent, a wave that swiftly swept down the train car towards Leaper-Of-Realities. The Choice Scarf-equipped Absol was ready, though; a massive crash filled the air as Leaper-Of-Realities dove straight through the center of the wave, protected and propelled by the mingled energies of Bounce and Quick Attack.
"Block!" Drapion growled, raising a Protect barrier in the Absol's path.
Leaper-Of-Realities was quick to twist, landing feet-first on Drapion's Protect and hurling himself off in a fraction of a second. The Absol landed back on his feet where he'd started, but as Drapion and Cloyster watched, they saw his face was a little more haggard, his footing a little more unsteady. Drapion's poison was continuing to do its work and do it well - the Poison/Dark-type doubted that Leaper-Of-Realities had more than a minute of strength remaining before his body would simply give out.
"Skill Link: Spike Flurry!" Cloyster cried, letting loose with a veritable storm of spikes in Leaper-Of-Realities' general direction. A Detect formed around the Absol's body and he lunged forwards again, his body shifting and twisting as he dodged Cloyster's barrage. "Blast!" Drapion snarled, seeking to strike him with an attack with his Detect exhausted, but Leaper-Of-Realities dove out of the way with a Quick Attack, then activated Bounce, rebounding off the side of a nearby seat and hurling himself towards Drapion with a furious roar.
"Impenetrable Shell!" Cloyster called.
This time, though, Leaper-Of-Realities was prepared. Again he boomeranged off the Protect, but instead of simply flying backwards, this time he propelled himself upwards. In a split second he Bounced off the roof of the train and came careening down towards Drapion's unguarded back. Drapion braced himself for the impact, crouching in readiness and trying to send as much of his Battle Armor to that spot as possible.
But something else impacted Leaper-Of-Realities before the Absol could impact him.
Drapion and Cloyster both watched in shock as an Ultra Ball slammed into Leaper-Of-Realities, sucking the Absol inside, his scream echoing as he faded from existence. Marcus was breathing hard, his hand outstretched; clearly he'd thrown the Ultra Ball more on instinct than anything. Drapion was quick to get out of the way of the falling Ultra Ball, moving between Marcus and the device as it landed on the ground and instantly began shaking wildly.
"Get ready," Marcus warned. "I don't think that's going to hold him for-"
He didn't even get to finish his sentence before the Ultra Ball exploded, expelling Leaper-Of-Realities back onto the metal floor of the train. He let out a fearsome, furious shriek. "Get back!" he bellowed, lashing out with a swipe of his horn-blade that forced Cloyster and Drapion into quick Protects; in a flash he recoiled, stepping backwards, eyes flicking madly between his target and his two opponents.
"Give it up," Drapion snarled. "Yer poisoned, yer wounded, ya can barely stand. Get outta here while ya still can."
"You think you've won?" Leaper-Of-Realities snapped. "You think you've beaten me? NEVER! I will drag you kicking and screaming into Oblivion's embrace!" Throwing his head back, Leaper-Of-Realities began to sing the notes of a Perish Song.
Drapion and Cloyster both instantly exploded into motion. Both knew that the Perish Song could easily be countered by Marcus simply recalling them; both also knew that was not an option, since it would leave Marcus defenseless, and against such a fast adversary there was no guarantee Marcus would be able to send them back out fast enough to defend himself. "Pierce!" "Skill Link: Ice Flurry!" A Pin Missile and a duplicated Icicle Spear flew from the two Pokemon, but Leaper-Of-Realities was quick to activate Detect in response. The Choice Scarf-boosed Absol blurred between the flying spikes of energy, none touching him, humming all the while with a crazed triumphant look in his eyes.
"No Escape!" Drapion snarled, hoping the Pursuit would be enough to catch the speedy Absol. Cloyster let loose with another Skill Link-duplicated Wave Blast, but Leaper-Of-Realities was ready for both. A Bounce surged around his body and he burst through the center of the wave; in an instant he twisted, Aura coalescing across his form, and dodged the flying Pursuit rays, allowing them to impact uselessly against the nearby seats. And all the while he kept humming.
There's got to be a way to pin him down…
"Cloyster, ah've got a plan!" Drapion snarled. "Duplicate mah Pursuit!"
"Got it!" Cloyster cried.
"No Escape!"
"Skill Link: Attack Duplication!"
Leaper-Of-Realities' eyes widened as he beheld a veritable storm of Pursuit rays coming at him from all directions. No way could he simply dodge all of these the way he'd done with Drapion's last Pursuit. Instantly the Absol lunged forwards, hurling himself through the middle of the encroaching rays. They all came around, twisting after his hurtling form, but he was moving fast enough to outpace them as he rushed towards Cloyster and Drapion, eyes glinting-
"Skill Link: Impenetrable Shell Wall."
-until he slammed face-first into a suddenly-appearing wall of Protects. Drapion had to stifle a chuckle as he saw Leaper-Of-Realities impact and slowly slide down the wall, clearly momentarily stunned. The Perish Song died on his lips as the Pursuit rays struck true; even resisted, such a torrent could not be withstood in Leaper-Of-Realities' condition. The Absol crumpled, very much unconscious.
Marcus breathed a loud sigh of relief as Drapion and Cloyster shared a grin. "Good job, you two," he said. "Can you drop the wall, Cloyster? I think it would be best to capture this one…hopefully he won't break out of the next Ultra Ball…"
"Will-O-Wisp!" Trevenant hurled a small spurt of Fire energy from the tips of their fingers. Bearer-Of-Darkness was swift to dodge, a Detect enabling her to easily get clear; she whirled in time to see Houndoom and Liepard bearing down at her from opposite sides of the train car, and unleashed yet another of her overpowered Dark Pulses at the pair of them. Houndoom was forced to break off, lashing out with a Flash Fire-boosed Flame Tongue to defend against Bearer-Of-Darkness's attack, but Liepard simply leaped forwards, hurling herself over the Dark Pulse. "Tranche Furieuse!"
Bearer-Of-Darkness met Liepard's Fury Swipes with a flurry of blocks from her horn, but with the Choice Specs decreasing her physical strength, she was forced to backpedal, every clash sending her sliding backwards a couple inches. She attempted to ward Liepard off with a swift Air Slash flicked from her tail, but Liepard was simply faster; the Dark-type swiftly ducked the blade and pressed harder. None of her strikes were landing, but for the moment Bearer-Of-Darkness was occupied. Trevenant locked their eyes on a spot behind Bearer-Of-Darkness, reaching out with their branchlike claws. "Harvest," they whispered, forming a small growth of vines and branches behind the retreating Bearer-Of-Darkness. "Forest's Curse."
Unfortunately, Bearer-Of-Darkness saw Trevenant teleport, and instantly her gaze swiveled to behind her. Before Trevenant could try to take advantage of their newfound position, Bearer-Of-Darkness lashed out with an omnidirectional Dark Pulse that both finally managed to catch Liepard and forced Trevenant to take cover behind a quickly-upraised thick wall of vines. The vines barely held against the Dark Pulse; a second later an Air Slash scythed through the remnants, moving so quickly that Trevenant couldn't dodge it fully. A line of pain ripped across their face as they tried to shift to the side; Bearer-Of-Darkness leaped forwards, landing to Trevenant's right, and twisted towards them.
"Wood Hammer!" Trevenant cried, lashing out with a powerful hammer-like cluster of branches interspersed with Overgrow. But Bearer-Of-Darkness was faster; another vicious Dark Pulse slammed into Trevenant's stomach and sent them flying into the side of the train car hard enough to dent the metal. Trevenant doubled over, coughing in pain; he barely registered Bearer-Of-Darkness sending another Dark Pulse down the length of the train car to blast through Houndoom's upraised Blaze-formed barrier and send both him and Liepard reeling backwards.
Crap…all that and we still couldn't land a single blow. How are we supposed to win this?
Bearer-Of-Darkness smirked. "One down, two to go," she said, and with that she whirled and blasted Trevenant full-force with yet another Dark Pulse.
The force of it nearly sent Trevenant into unconsciousness; they barely managed to hold on through willpower alone, fighting back the agony wracking their body. But worse, and far more pressing, was the horrific creak of stressed metal behind them at the impact, followed by a tearing noise and then a loud rushing sound as the wall of the train completely gave way, pitching Trevenant straight out of the train. Instantly they felt the surging wind beginning to yank them sideways.
I'm not going to be thrown out of the fight like this!
"Harvest: Ingrain!"
Even as gravity began to take hold, arresting Trevenant's sideways momentum and pulling them towards the ground, Trevenant's half-dozen rootlike legs lashed out, grasping metal railings and protrusions and anything else they could find. Trevenant's head slammed into the ground and instantly was flung to the side, but the Grass/Ghost-type's lower body was now anchored tightly to the train, new roots sprouting to tighten their hold even further. Unfortunately, this meant that Trevenant's head was now being dragged across the ground at extremely high speeds; Trevenant felt a searing pain across the left side of their head as the wood began to catch alight from the sheer amount of friction. "Ow!" Trevenant cried, struggling to keep hold of the train car against the force trying to yank them backwards while simultaneously attempting to ignore that half their head was now on fire. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!"
Trevenant could hear the sounds of continued combat from inside the train car; blasts of energy indicated that Bearer-Of-Darkness was continuing to fire off her Choice Specs-boosted Dark Pulses, and growls and howls told Trevenant that Houndoom and Liepard were still fighting back. Trevenant heard a yelp of pain from Houndoom, followed by a crashing noise, and grimaced. I need to help them!
Drawing upon all their strength, Trevenant began to reel himself in by the roots, slowly pulling his head off the ground. Swiftly, Trevenant reached up with one arm and roughly patted down the fire, extinguishing it before it could spread any further. They were now hanging sideways off the side of the train, supported by their roots alone, but they were so many in number that Trevenant was able to keep themselves steady despite the combined forces of inertia and gravity trying to drag them backwards and downwards.
Trevenant twisted, trying to get a look through one of the train's still-intact windows. Their single eye narrowed as they spotted Bearer-Of-Darkness trading blows with Liepard once again; as with their previous engagement, Liepard was faster, but Bearer-Of-Darkness was still keeping control of the fight, blasting away with Dark Pulse after overpowered Dark Pulse to prevent Liepard from going on the offensive while using her horn-blade to swat away any paw-strikes Liepard did get off. Trevenant could also see Houndoom lying amidst a rack of fallen luggage, struggling to stand; alone, Liepard had no chance of defeating Bearer-Of-Darkness, and even as Trevenant watched the Absol managed to get in a lucky slice with her horn that opened a red line across Liepard's right front leg. Liepard staggered, hissing in pain, and in an instant Bearer-Of-Darkness swept her horn upwards, unleashing a point-blank Choice Specs-boosted Air Slash that sent Liepard flying back across the train car. The Absol smirked, her horn-blade flaring with Dark energy as she began to stride towards her two fallen opponents.
She thinks I'm long since out of the fight. Trevenant grinned. Boy, is she in for a shock.
"Harvest," Trevenant growled, lashing out with their branchlike fingers. The window they were suspended in front of shattered; Bearer-Of-Darkness whirled just in time for Trevenant's fingers to reach her. In an instant Trevenant wrapped both hands around Bearer-Of-Darkness, encasing her torso and limbs and even her neck in a tangle of branches. "Get off me!" Bearer-Of-Darkness snarled, readying a Dark Pulse to send into Trevenant's exposed face.
"Nope!" Trevenant said cheerily. "Curse!"
Bearer-Of-Darkness's eyes widened. "Oh, shiEYAARGH!" she screamed as Distortion ripped into her body. The Dark Pulse fizzled as she lost concentration, agony overwhelming her.
"You know, that's really not what I meant when I said Curse!" Trevenant pointed out. "And besides, you hurt me pretty badly too when you threw me off the train!"
Grasping the writhing Absol even tighter, Trevenant yanked with all their strength, pulling Bearer-Of-Darkness out the window. "So I think it's only fair that I return the favor!" Trevenant cried. "Wood Hammer!"
Overgrow blazed across both Trevenant's hands as he lifted Bearer-Of-Darkness up and slammed her into the ground face-first. Grinning, Trevenant held her there, grinding her face against the rapidly moving earth. Her agonized scream was piercing as both Curse and friction tore at her. Trevenant cackled, continuing to hold the Absol in place even as her struggles grew weaker and weaker.
Only when she finally stopped writhing did Trevenant let go, releasing his hold and allowing Bearer-Of-Darkness's very much unconscious body to tumble to the ground. In mere seconds the train had left the Absol behind, her form little more than a shrinking white speck amidst the surrounding greenery.
"Trevenant!" Houndoom cried. Trevenant looked up to see Houndoom, his fur badly ruffled, staring out the hole in the train car at Trevenant's Ingrained body. "You all right?"
"Oh, hi, Houndoom!" said Trevenant with a snaggly grin. "Can you…uh…give me a minute to get back inside? This is actually a really awkward position…"
There were obvious disadvantages to having an arm made out of Aura, the most glaring of them being that it would falter if Medicham lost concentration on said Aura. But there were also several advantages, one of which Medicham had cribbed from, of all Pokemon, Gholdengo.
As horrific and monstrous as Gholdengo had been, Medicham had to admit that he'd been insanely powerful, at least compared to her level of strength back when they'd clashed. And a large part of that had been due to the versatility he'd commanded with regards to his Ability. One of the most impressive uses of his Ability had been his control over his own body - since it was made of metal, his control of metal had enabled him to twist and shape his form into practically anything he desired.
And now that Medicham had an arm made out of Aura, her control over Aura allowed her to do much the same with that arm.
"Pure Power: Aura Blade!" she cried, forming her Aura-made arm into a sort of rapier that she quickly brought up to clash with Arbiter-Of-Fates' horn-blade. She shoved the Absol away through brute strength, then twisted and lashed out with a spinning Aura-infused kick that forced Arbiter-Of-Fates to draw back. She expected a ranged attack, and indeed Arbiter-Of-Fates hissed "Electric Horn!" as she recoiled. Medicham brought her Aura-formed arm up in front of her - "Pure Power: Aura Barrier!" - and watched as Arbiter-Of-Fates' Thunderbolt slammed into it, none of the Lightning touching her body.
After all, there was no flesh beneath the Aura.
"Pure Power: Aura Cannon!" Medicham cried, now forming her Aura-made arm into a one-armed blue-glowing blunderbuss. Arbiter-Of-Fates blurred, her body shifting into a dozen Double Team clones in response. A second later all of the clones charged forwards into the teeth of the barrage of Aura Blasts fired from Medicham's Aura Cannon. They were clumped so close together that Medicham took out two with her first blast, then three more with the second. But as she readied to fire a third, a surge of Mind struck her in the back, sending her stumbling forwards, the Aura Cannon and indeed the entire arm nearly coming apart as she lost concentration.
Damn it…I forgot about her Future Sights! That was one…there should be six more.
The seven Absols closed, horn-blades glowing black. Medicham restored her arm with a guttural grunt, then hauled back. "Pure Power: Aura Strike Flurry!" In an instant she exploded forwards in a Close Combat, meeting the barrage of strikes with her own.
Medicham tapped into Detect, hurling herself forwards; Arbiter-Of-Fates' swipe missed by a hair, and Medicham skidded to a halt, twisting to face Arbiter-Of-Fates.
This would be a good time for a Future Sight…
Instinctively, Medicham lashed out with a Psychic in all directions; a split second later the Future Sight came in, only to meet Medicham's own exertion of Mind. Arbiter-Of-Fates looked legitimately surprised as Medicham rose, completely undamaged.
"You can only pull the same trick so many times before I get wise," Medicham growled.
"Ice Horn!" Arbiter-Of-Fates' response was another attack. Medicham easily dodged out of the way of the downward-angling Ice Beam, not even paying attention to where it struck the roof of the train car; she was more concerned with Arbiter-Of-Fates' follow-up charge. She lunged forwards to meet that. "Pure Power: Aura Blade!"
Once more the two clashed in a flurry of blades, just like Medicham had with Leaper-Of-Realities down below. Unlike Leaper-Of-Realities, Arbiter-Of-Fates mixed it up, throwing in claw-swipes and random Pursuits that forced Medicham to backpedal. Slowly but surely, Medicham realized, Arbiter-Of-Fates was overwhelming her in melee. Medicham tried a Bullet Punch with her off-hand, but this time Arbiter-Of-Fates was ready; she blurred sideways in a Detect so fast that Medicham wondered if she'd known the Bullet Punch was coming, then retaliated with a rapid Fire Horn that Medicham barely evaded in time.
"Pure Power: Aura Wave!" Medicham cried, unleashing an expulsion of Aura that forced Arbiter-Of-Fates to break off her attack. Then she tapped into Detect; just as she'd figured, it promptly tugged her sideways just as a Future Sight came out of nowhere, slamming into the top of the train where she'd been a second ago. Four left - I think I've got this down-
And then a second Future Sight crashed into her right side, sending her staggering sideways. Just as quickly, Arbiter-Of-Fates blurred forwards, propelled by a Quick Attack. Medicham saw the charge coming and instantly threw up an Aura Bubble, while at the same time tossing out a Psychic as fast as she could manage. She only barely got it off in time to deflect the next Future Sight, and Arbiter-Of-Fates' horn slammed into the Aura Bubble with a miniature explosion of mingled energy. Arbiter-Of-Fates used the Aura Bubble as a springboard, leaping off and landing back on her feet.
"Super Luck allows me to take all moves I've seen you use into account," Arbiter-Of-Fates stated. "I cast out those Future Sights knowing full well you had Detect."
Medicham didn't bother with a response, simply crouching in readiness once again. Note to self - no more using Detect to try and dodge these last two Future Sights. I'll have to anticipate them and counter with Psychic.
But that tells me something else - how she was able to dodge my Bullet Punch the second time. It's not that she saw it coming - it's that her Ability told her to use that Detect even though she didn't know it was coming. That's a fiendishly complicated Ability…but I think I've got it figured out.
If I use moves that I haven't used previously, I'll be able to catch her off guard.
Medicham flung herself forwards, drawing her Aura-formed fist back. "Pure Power: Aura Hammer!" she cried, swinging it around in a hammer blow that she would freely admit was inspired by Pangoro. Arbiter-Of-Fates met it with her horn-blade; the force of the impact was enough to send her stumbling slightly. There we go - the logical way to counter that would have been to dodge instead of block, but she didn't know that. Now, though, she will - but I've got more new attacks where that came from.
"Pure Power: Aura Hammer!" she cried, spinning to swing the hammer at Arbiter-Of-Fates' other side. Her eyes narrowed as she saw Arbiter-Of-Fates blur backwards, her body coursing with Aura. She smirked. "Piercing Strike!"
In an instant she changed from a spinning hammer blow into a thrusting, Aura-infused punch. Arbiter-Of-Fates, mid-dodge, didn't see the Feint coming; Medicham's Aura-formed arm cannoned straight into her face, and unlike her earlier Bullet Punch, Arbiter-Of-Fates did not shrug it off. A cry of pain escaped the Absol as she reeled backwards, trailing droplets of blood from her face, droplets of blood that were promptly picked up by the wind.
And one of them promptly flew straight into Medicham's eye.
Oh, you have got to be kidding me! Medicham recoiled, reaching up to try and wipe the blood from her eye. That Super Luck Ability is ridiculous!
The distraction had given Arbiter-Of-Fates time to recover; now she rose, her eyes narrowed in a furious glare. "I see you've figured out how to counter my Ability," she growled. "Now that's more along the lines of what I expected."
Medicham saw her eyes twinkle; that was all the warning she needed. She lashed out with a Psychic; a second later the sixth Future Sight ricocheted off Medicham's blast of Mind.
Arbiter-Of-Fates sighed. "I suppose that was too much to hope for. In that case, I suppose it's time I utilized the full extent of my own power. Trio Horn."
"Pure Power: Aura Beam!" Medicham called in response, raising both hands - one Aura, one normal - and firing out a blistering beam of Aura just as a mingled blast of Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, and Flamethrower emanated from Arbiter-Of-Fates' horn. The two beams slammed into one another, blasting sparks of energy outwards from the impact point. Medicham took a step back, trying to brace herself against the onslaught-
And her foot slipped on a patch of ice.
Everything seemed to go into slow motion as Medicham lost her footing and fell backwards. Dimly she recalled that missed Ice Beam that had struck the roof of the train car - Super Luck again, she realized, putting that impact point in just the right area for me to slip on later. Out of the corner of her eye Medicham spotted Arbiter-Of-Fates' Trio Beam coming at her, spotted Arbiter-Of-Fates herself rushing behind it. Both Medicham and Arbiter-Of-Fates were more towards the left of the train than the right; instinct called upon her to use Detect, to jerk herself to the right and out of the way of the incoming beam.
But that's what she would expect…and it's likely that Future Sight is lying in wait for me to do just that.
Medicham gritted her teeth. I hope this works. And then she rolled off the side of the train.
She heard a thundering boom of Mind as she did so and realized that was the Future Sight, impacting in completely the wrong place as gravity took hold and Medicham fell. Quickly twisting, Medicham crouched. If I don't get this right, I'll be left far behind - and Arbiter-Of-Fates will be free to go down and help her allies.
I can't allow that. I won't allow that.
"Aura Platform!" she cried, hoping against hope she was fast enough.
A rectangle of Aura burst out from the side of the train mere inches from the rapidly-moving ground, just in time for Medicham to land upon it. Medicham took a moment to glance through the windows; she grinned as she saw Drapion, Cloyster, and Marcus standing over the unconscious body of Leaper-Of-Realities. So one of them's finished for good. It's looking like we might make it through this after all.
Medicham shook her head and crouched. Can't think like that now. Not when I've still got a fight to win. Pouring a surge of Aura into her legs, Medicham gathered her strength. The Future Sights were all dealt with, the Trio Beam evaded - now there was nothing left to think about but the fight. Smiling, Medicham hurled herself off the Aura Platform and back onto the top of the train.
Medicham took quite a bit of pleasure in the look of shock on Arbiter-Of-Fates' face as she landed. She rose to her full height. "So that's your full power?" Medicham asked. "I have to say…I expected more from the Herald who had even Bringer-Of-Visions worried."
Arbiter-Of-Fates glared at her; a low growl escaped the renegade Herald's throat. "Die in agony," she snarled viciously. The Herald split herself into a dozen copies once again, and all of them disgorged a flurry of Pursuit rays - four dozen in all, all streaking to the sides, then curving in to come at Medicham from several different directions.
"Pure Power: Aura Wave!" Medicham cried, unleashing her reserves of Aura in another omnidirecitonal burst, blasting all of the Pursuit rays out of the sky. She saw Arbiter-Of-Fates charging again along with her eleven duplicates. "Fire Horn!" the renegade Herald cried; a dozen streams of Blaze shot from the dozen horns, coming together to form an overwhelmingly titanic swirl of fire.
So she can duplicate all her ranged attacks amongst her Double Team clones…not just her Pursuit rays. Good to know.
"Pure Power: Aura Bubble!" she cried. This time she didn't cast it out in all directions, but rather formed a large hemispherical half-bubble in front of her, pumping a burst of Mind into it as well to strengthen the shield. Even so, the dozen Flamethrowers were almost too much for it; Medicham felt the barriers straining and pumped more Aura and Mind into them, doing her best to hold them steady-
And then a Future Sight slammed into her back.
"Argh!" Medicham cried, staggering forwards, her shields fading as she lost concentration completely. In the blink of an eye the remnants of Arbiter-Of-Fates' duplicated Flamethrower washed over her, searing her skin with pain. "Pure Power: Aura Barrier!" Medicham cried; her Aura-formed arm was gone, but she managed to raise her other arm, conjuring up a fluctuating, desperate shield.
It was the only thing that saved her from unconsciousness or worse. For a split second after she raised the shield, Arbiter-Of-Fates and her duplicates lunged through the flames, horn-blades glistening black. Several of the impacts landed on Medicham's shield, but fully five got through; Medicham's entire body exploded with pain, and she couldn't quite bite back a scream as she staggered backwards, bleeding from multiple cuts.
"Pure Power: Aura Wave!" Medicham cried. Too close-in to dodge, the duplicates were dissipated, but Super Luck enabled Arbiter-Of-Fates to utilize a preemptive Detect; the renegade leaped into the air, evading the Aura Wave, and came back down with horn-blade swinging. Medicham tried to dodge with a Detect, but while she evaded the swipe of Arbiter-Of-Fates' blade, the renegade Herald landed and immediately lashed out with a backhand, catching Medicham across the face and sending her tumbling right off the right side of the train.
She barely grabbed onto the top of the train with her single hand before she fell, her fingers digging into the metal as she fought for a grip. Arbiter-Of-Fates' face came into view, dominated by a victorious smirk. "Did you really think I'd tell you how many Future Sights I actually sent out?" she asked; as she did so, she reached out with one paw and stomped down on Medicham's hand, digging her claws in. Medicham cried out in pain, nearly losing her desperate hold on the train roof.
"It's over," Arbiter-Of-Fates growled.
"Not…quite…yet," Medicham snarled back through gritted teeth. "Pure Power: Aura Expulsion!"
Aura Expulsion was perhaps the single most powerful Aura-based attack she knew, an attack she'd learned two years ago and honed for months on end. It was simple in theory - a more powerful blast of Aura, obtained by calling upon Aura from her entire body to propel outwards in a concentrated burst - but such a strong attack inevitably required stronger control lest it strike things Medicham didn't want struck.
But, more importantly, it was an attack that she hadn't yet used in this fight.
It was Arbiter-Of-Fates' turn to scream in pain as she was quite literally flung backwards by the torrent of Aura Medicham unleashed. Medicham didn't see where she landed; all she was concerned about was getting back on the train. Quickly, she conjured an Aura Platform beneath her, then let go, dropping down onto it. She hadn't reckoned inertia into her calculations, and she very nearly missed the platform altogether as she dropped, but thankfully she landed just on the edge. Her heart thumping at the close call, Medicham wasted no time in leaping back up onto the train.
To her disappointment, Arbiter-Of-Fates had not been sent flying off the train entirely. But there was no question the renegade Herald was wounded; Medicham felt a flash of satisfaction as she beheld Arbiter-Of-Fates favoring her right front leg.
"You're right that it's over," Medicham growled. "But not in the way you think. Your allies are either fallen or about to fall, whereas my allies are still standing. I doubt you've got much time before the rest of my team comes to my support." She forced Aura into her stump, forming her Aura-made arm once more. "But I don't need them," she continued. "You see, Arbiter-Of-Fates, I've made you utilize your full strength…whereas I haven't even utilized mine yet."
Medicham crouched, summoning Aura to all parts of her body. "So now it's time I showed you my full power. I may be wounded, exhausted, damn near beaten already…but you won't be able to take advantage of that. Because, when I access my full strength, you won't be able to land a single hit on me."
Arbiter-Of-Fates scowled, fury dancing in her eyes. She took a step forwards, gathering Oblivion across her horn, and then she stopped, the energies fading. She took a deep breath, clearly reining in her emotions. "All right, then," she murmured, her voice back to a strained sort of calm. "Plan B."
And with that, Arbiter-Of-Fates twisted. Her horn-blade erupted in a cataclysmic burst of Oblivion, lengthening to four times its normal size, glowing white in some kind of twisted approximation of Darkrai's own wisp-like horn. It glowed red as Arbiter-Of-Fates poured Blaze into it as well. The renegade gathered her haunches under her and leaped into the air, twirling as she did so, her massive horn-blade swinging downwards.
"Master's Song: Sundering Horn."
Medicham realized too late what the Absol was doing. Arbiter-Of-Fates' gigantic horn, wreathed in Blaze and Oblivion, carved straight through solid metal. Medicham lunged forwards, abandoning her technique in favor of a desperate Aura Blast.
But it was far too late.
"What in Distortion are you two doing here?"
Hop and Gloria looked extremely nervous as they looked around the shattered remnants of the train car, around at the exhausted, wounded members of Marcus's team, all gathered back in Marcus's train car, their battles won. "We…we were worried about you," Hop stammered out, looking a lot less like his usual confident self.
"Never mind, we'll talk later," said Marcus. He glanced up towards the hole in the roof, where the sounds of combat had faded. "Trevenant, get up there and find Medicham. Help her if she needs it."
"Right!" Trevenant began to extend his roots, growing himself as quickly as he could towards the hole in the roof.
Marcus looked around at the rest of his team. "Everyone else-"
He was cut off by a horrific sound of tearing metal. All eyes twisted towards the front of the train car as what looked like a gigantic black flaming sword scythed straight through it, tearing the entire train car practically in two. There was a moment of stillness, and then the front wheels of the train car, almost certainly struck by the blade as well, lost their grip on the train tracks below.
"Cloyster, bubble, now!" Marcus screamed.
Medicham felt a surge of horror as she felt the train car jump the tracks under her. Arbiter-Of-Fates shot one last smirk at her before twisting again and leaping off the side. Everything seemed to go into slow-motion once more. Medicham watched as the shorn-off front few train cars continued on, untouched, as the pull of this train car began to yank others behind off their tracks. She wanted more than anything to get back down to Marcus, to protect him, but she also knew there was no time.
Marcus…everyone…please be safe…
"Pure Power: Aura Bubble!" Medicham howled as the train car she was standing on slammed into the earth with a terrifying metallic crunch.
Flames. Twisted metal. Earth that looked as if a tornado had run through it, ripping up grass and exposing soft dirt beneath. Shards of shattered glass. Objects that were so broken that they were unrecognizable.
Marcus.
Medicham planted her hands on the ground - she'd been lying on her side - and forced herself to a sitting position, then tucked her legs under her and maneuvered just enough to stand up. She let out a quiet gasp as she glanced around, her eyes taking in the full extent of the carnage. All around her lay overturned, burning train cars, the sky above enshrouded in smoke with all the fires.
Which one is Marcus in?
Medicham's entire body ached. She didn't know how long she'd been unconscious. She didn't know if Marcus and the rest of the team were even still alive. She didn't even know where she was. But she put one foot in front of the other anyway and began to move, staggering more than walking, listening for any signs of life amidst the hungry crackling of flames and the screams of tortured metal.
"Electric Horn."
Medicham had no way to anticipate or avoid the sudden Thunderbolt. It struck her in the small of the back, sending her tumbling to the ground. Quickly, Medicham rolled over, a surge of adrenaline beating back her exhaustion, but just as quickly her entire body locked up as paralysis took hold.
Arbiter-Of-Fates stepped through a curtain of flames, her eyes burning with reflected fire as she strode into view. Medicham fought against the paralysis, desperately trying to rise, but her body refused to respond. Arbiter-Of-Fates chuckled darkly. "I'll admit one thing, Medicham," she said, her calm completely restored. "You really did push me to my limit. Sundering Blade is not meant to be a technique known by regular Heralds. It is one only those with the title of Bringer-Of-Visions are meant to have access to. My interpretation is but a meager facsimile of theirs, but it is easily my strongest technique. I would say you have my respect…but I am not one for respect."
"How…" Medicham gasped out; fortunately, her throat and mouth weren't paralyzed, only her limbs. "All those people on that train…how many of them are dead? How can you slaughter so many just to murder Marcus?"
"Do you know why Bringer-Of-Visions hated me?" Arbiter-Of-Fates asked. "It was because even she…even she…refused to accept that compared to the mission, nothing else matters. The lives of the passengers on that train don't matter, Medicham. After all, if Giratina rises and triggers the apocalypse, they'll die anyway, right? Bringer-Of-Visions does not understand…none of them understand…that anything short of total global extinction is an acceptable sacrifice if it means ending the threat Giratina poses to this world. We ascertained that Marcus had a 67.49% chance to interfere with our plans. And if it means forestalling that potential complication…I'd slaughter a thousand trainfuls of passengers without question."
Medicham watched helplessly as Arbiter-Of-Fates began to advance towards her, her horn-blade glistening as she readied it to deliver a killing blow. But while Arbiter-Of-Fates was fixated on Medicham's downed, immobilized body, Medicham's eyes were aimed towards the sky above.
So it was that it was Medicham, and not Arbiter-Of-Fates, who first saw the air ripple above them.
Medicham's eyes widened as something materialized within the clouds of smoke. Her first wild thought was that this was a Pokemon, but no, the gigantic black blocky flying construct she was seeing was far too large to be a Pokemon. Arbiter-Of-Fates clearly saw Medicham react, for she turned her head as well; the Absol paused before taking a single step backwards.
Is that some kind of plane?
Abruptly Medicham spotted something else breaking away from the construct and moving towards them at a much more rapid pace. This was a Pokemon, Medicham was fairly certain, though after seeing the giant black plane (she was going to call it a plane until something changed her mind), she couldn't be completely sure. Both Medicham and Arbiter-Of-Fates squinted, looking towards the incoming Pokemon. Medicham's eyes widened even further as she realized three things at the same time.
Firstly, the incoming Pokemon was a Salamence. Medicham had heard many tales of Salamence - their savagery was well-known across all the UPW, and they were said to be notoriously difficult to train, with only the strongest Dragon-type Trainers even daring to approach the line. Drasna had one - Medicham had heard stories of it, and had even seen the giant Dragon/Flying-type once or twice, but had never dared to talk to it, so intimidating was its presence.
Secondly, this Salamence looked different. Rather than their standard configuration, the Salamence's wings looked like one gigantic red crescent that curved past its face on both sides, and its body looked far more streamlined than a normal Salamence's. Medicham's heart thudded as she realized that this was no ordinary Salamence - this was a Mega Salamence, something Medicham had heard existed but had never seen before. Even Drasna had chosen to catch and evolve an Ampharos - who wasn't even Dragon-type - simply because, due to their natural savagery and constant war with their own rage, it was almost impossible to forge the bond required to achieve Mega Evolution with a Salamence.
And thirdly, there was a human sitting astride the Mega Salamence's back. Medicham couldn't make the human out fully from this distance, but she could see the human was dressed in a similar black color to the giant plane, and her hair was a pale bluish-gray color.
Arbiter-Of-Fates took another step back, crouching down, as Mega Salamence opened its mouth wide, its roaring voice audible even from the distance it was at.
"AERILATE: JETSTREAM CANNON!"
Medicham watched as a thunderous boom emanated from Mega Salamence, and the air around his rapidly incoming body suddenly glowed a similar pale bluish-gray to his rider's hair. Medicham recognized the telltale color of Air as Mega Salamence continued to shoot forwards, trailing Air behind him, a massive fluctuating cylinder of the base form of Flying energy growing in length as he came closer and closer. Then, with one final snarl, he flicked his wings forwards, and the entire cylinder shot forwards like a gigantic Air-formed Hyper Beam, passing around him and surging towards Arbiter-Of-Fates at a terrifyingly fast speed.
Did he just turn the wind generated by his rapid flight into Air? That's a powerful Ability…sort of like Calem's Aurorus' Refrigerate, but with Air instead of Aurora.
Medicham saw Arbiter-Of-Fates leap to the side, her movement augmented by Detect; in her place a Substitute formed, and the energy-formed duplicate was immediately disintegrated as Mega Salamence's Jetstream Cannon blasted into the ground. The sheer force of the energy surge blasted the still-downed Medicham backwards; she bounced off the side of an overturned train car and fell back to the ground, landing on hands and knees, her entire body screaming with pain.
The energy cleared in time for Medicham to see the rider spring off Mega Salamence's back, landing on the ground as the massive Flying/Dragon-type twisted towards Arbiter-Of-Fates. An Ice Beam was already flying from the Absol's horn, but Mega Salamence showed no fear whatsoever. His mouth opened and exuded a stream of Blaze, stopping the Ice Beam in its tracks. As he did so, the rider - who by now Medicham could tell was female - raised one arm towards Arbiter-Of-Fates. Medicham had just enough time to spot some kind of gray oval-shaped object upon the woman's outstretched arm before it erupted in a barrage of energy blasts that narrowly missed the dodging Arbiter-Of-Fates, each miss blasting a spray of dirt upwards from the ground, momentarily obscuring the Absol from view.
A visor flicked down over the woman's eyes. "Front!" she snapped; Mega Salamence instantly lunged through the clouds of dirt, crescent wings slashing forwards. A loud clang sounded, and through the dirt Medicham spotted dimly Mega Salamence's wing-blade clashing with Arbiter-Of-Fates' horn-blade, before the two erupted into a flurry of slashes fast enough that Medicham's eyes could only barely keep up.
"Air Slash!" the woman commanded.
"Aerialate: Jetstream Blade!" As Arbiter-Of-Fates dodged backwards from an attack, the wind generated by the missed swing transformed into Air and promptly flung itself at the Absol. It was a textbook, if extremely powerful-looking, Air Slash, and Arbiter-Of-Fates couldn't quite avoid it fully; the flying blade of Air carved a red line across her cheek as she tried and failed to dodge.
She stumbled, and in that moment the woman raised and fired her arm-cannon once more. Unable to avoid it in time, Arbiter-Of-Fates was caught in the side by the blast.
And exploded into a cloud of Energy, revealing herself to have been yet another Substitute.
The woman touched her visor, which retreated back atop her head. She raised her other hand, revealing a Mega Stone implanted in her glove, and with a clench of her fist Mega Salamence devolved back into normal Salamence. "Ice Beam," the woman was murmuring to herself, "above-average speed, Scope Lens, advanced usage of Substitute…Salamence, sweep the area. There might be others."
"As you wish, Mistress," Salamence growled; spreading his wings, he leaped into the air in a flash, his movement not quite so fast now that he wasn't in his Mega Form but still quite speedy.
"Who are you?" Medicham asked.
The woman's gaze flicked to Medicham. "Telepathy, good, that makes things easier," she said. "Call me J. I'm here for your Trainer, so I'd appreciate it if you helped me find him."
I'm sure you all have some questions. Like 'wasn't this supposed to be a games fic?' 'What is a fairly major anime character doing in a games fic?'
Well, J is here for the same reason as Ilima in the Gym Exam Arc. I could have used another OC to fill this role, but why do that when there's a perfectly good established character that can easily fill it instead?