//------------------------------// // 257. Rampage Rebuff. // Story: Baa-Ram-Ewe! // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Equus, Canterlot, Tianhuo- “So you will still have a job.” Of the many things that was hard to do, one of the easiest for me was keeping Pom calm. “Dragon Lord Ember assures it when you are fit for duty from your journey... also you can maintain just a desk job if you so wish.” “Oh thank good…” Our ten minutes were up and Pom has told me of her worries, her advancements in her fluffmancer abilities and a huge battle she was going to take place in. Reassuring Pom was hard when I couldn’t make physical contact with her, yet my voice seemed to be her much needed balm upon her nervousness. She would not lose her nervousness, of that I was certain of just about any lambkin. Still, her personal potential was shining through. It was what Velvet, Arizona and Paprika saw in Pom, even I had seen it too even if she never wanted to fully realize it personally. It was quite upsetting that she was being forced into realizing it fully anyway. -Ransei, Helper’s Hamlet, the next day, Pom- “So… that’s everyone?” The staff for the guild weren’t going to involve themselves in the fighting up north, they’d stay here to defend the place. This meant Honedge, Torchic, the Rockruff Brothers, Quetal, Shine, Favela and Dazzle were all going to be in attendance for the battle to the north. Torchic, Honedge and the Rockruff were counted as militia unit. The Rockruff specifically wouldn’t last very long against fighting type Pokémon and they were still going through with this. “Yeah, looks like it. Also, can I just say that the atmosphere around here is… eh…” Ocellus’s expression was matched by Foffo and Fiffi who were trying to keep up the good cheer around here. Indeedee weren’t the only empathic Pokémon around apparently, we might run into some of the others that have been mentioned like a Ralts if we ever went to the Psychic Kingdom. My anxiety issues being able to be felt for miles around me was nice to be told about. “Finish eating breakfast Shanty, we need to set out!” We all needed the energy a good breakfast would provide and Shanty was filling up. I was going to make sure I had some insurance before we went onto the battlefield. To that end I went down the street to the Kecleon merchants. “Do you have powerful healing berries?” Felt like I needed something with an extreme amount of healing properties, something much stronger than the Oran Berries, not leaving anything to chance today. “Why of course we do!” Kec-red stated with a nod. “You’ll be wanting some sitrus berries if we’re talking instantaneous potency. If a being is near death or has a hole in them, a sitrus berry can immediately stave off mortal wounds.” “All we need to discuss is the price and how many you’ll need!” Kec-blue followed with a greedy lilt. “They aren’t easy to grow and we have been keeping up with the fruit trees the Bidoof planted. Convenience and the rarity of the item makes it one of the more expensive fruits.” -South of Ignis Aurora Bridge- All of King Evan’s forces were here… not that they were great in number, anywhere near max capacity or even competency. Also many of them had a serious disadvantage to the Pokémon we’d be facing, at least Shine and Honedge were the ones we didn’t have to worry about as much. Dazzle and Shine would be the most helpful against the Lucario, I guess this would even be my first day to see one in person. “Can I try to talk to them before the fighting starts?” There’s only one question I wanted to ask really. “Sure!” Evan seemed ready and raring to go, the King's Rock still stuck on his wagging tail. Looking to the other side of the bridge, I saw a lot of Riolu. There were also larger jackal Pokémon twice the size of the Riolu with spikes sticking out of them, said spikes were coming from the back of their paws and chest. “Seven units of Riolu, two and a half units of Lucario!” Called out Rauco the Pidgey hovering overhead with his five unit members. The small brown birds were ready to hold the bridge. So that was fifty seven Pokémon, forty two Riolu, fifteen Lucario and one of them was the leader. Some of the Riolu were the ones we fought on the way to Arbora Town. We had Jiri’s unit, Teeth’s unit and Rauco’s unit as full units. The less than full units were Geoff’s, The Rockruff Brothers with Torchic and Honedge, The Skitty Squad and then our four traveling companions. The smallest unit was Evan, Maiden Jig and Happiny at the back of the battlefield. There’s also my group. Shanty, Smolder and Dolly would be at the front with me and Ocellus would be in the air directing clouds for a lightning attack or two. Basically it was forty four of us with large weakness to our opponents, so we were basically at half strength compared to them and very little in the way of advantages. We'd hopefully even the field before the real battle started. “I’m going out, stay here. I’ll be right back.” I walked forward onto the bridge and crossed it slowly until I reached the side where the Riolu were stretching and getting ready for a fight. They all looked at me with intrigue as I first stepped hoof onto the soil of Ignis territory, the one Lucario at the back had to be the leader of these forces. I can easily tell who Cu Chulainn is, as he was slightly larger than the rest of them. He seemed to take interest in me as he cross his arms and stared me down, I noted he was wearing a colorful looking marble around his neck. So was that Z-move or Mega Stone? If Z-moves were from crystals, then Mega Stones were marbles. Given that Dynamic Maximizing could only happen in specific locations... It was a mega stone. -Captain Skeeball- “Hey, you’re not defending Aurora without me!” I slowly sauntered up and took up formation with my boys. “Captain Skeeball on deck, woo!” “Mom, should you really be fighting?” Nuzzling the Skitty Squad member that talked, I sat down. “I’m a hero of Aurora, I can’t afford to take another sick day with these raiders about to pummel my home again!” Yeah, my body was still messed up, but I wasn’t going to sit this fight out. What would be the point of liberating Fontaine and getting my husband back if there wasn’t a home to come back to? Sure Fontaine might take us in, but I grew up and lived here in Aurora and I would make sure this kingdom never fell! “Mom, this is going to be a slaughter.” One of my poor Skitty stated with worry. “Most of the Pokémon on our side are weak to fighting types.” “Type advantage isn’t everything, but you’re not wrong…” I would never lie to my kitties. “This is going to hurt, but did you see me back down from a raging Gyardos? No? Well we spent a whole week fighting after facing a few! I’m not a hero of Aurora for nothing, for I’m Captain Skeeball!” Fighting types couldn’t scare me one bit! “Ugh, they’re right… this is going to be such a mess.” Happiny groaned while dragging her flipper limbs down her face, her fluffy ponytail drooping. “I’m also surrounded by idiots.” “I know that feeling.” Maiden Jig stated a second later patting Happiny on the back. “Aw, come on, cheer up Happiny!” I said with cheer. “You love your job!” “If you’re certain of this Skeeball, I won’t stop you from joining this fight.” Evan stated to me with worry. I just kept a patented grin on my face as I looked to him. -Pom- Evan’s military was basically full of random animals, just about all of them weak to these guys. If only Shine could cover everyone... “I would like to ask a question of your leader before the fighting starts.” One of the Lucario looked ready to make a move to attack me, but the one that had to be Cu Chulainn stopped him by holding out an arm in front of him. The Lucario took a step back as the leader himself approached me. “Speak.” He looked strong and tough, but the way he looked at me… there was something disconcerting about me to him. -Cu Chulainn- That energy… it was like a noble phantasm, it could just be a strange aura maybe. It was the pure spiritual power of a powerful wolf? I looked closer. No… a whole pack all at once hiding in one being?! How the…?! I’ve never quite seen the likes of her before, but still… all that in something so innocent and 'soft' looking. Hm… if it came down to it, I know who my opponent would be at the end of this battle and the one that I wanted to fight the most. She doesn’t look dangerous or like much, but I would recognize a fighting spirit when I saw one and this outsider was not to be underestimated. I would know being an outsider myself, but she wasn’t a heroic spirit… which is odd considering what I’m seeing. I liked her accent at least, sounded quite familiar to me given where I come from. Again, she didn’t seem like much, but something tells me I shouldn’t underestimate her by appearance alone… not with an entire wolf pack being a part of her spirit. Is she… perhaps… a fresh living legend in the making? -Pom- “Why?” The leader calmly quirked his left eye at me. “Why are you attacking Aurora specifically? Why are you raiding the farmlands, hurting the civilians and trying to harm so many innocent people? I want to know if you are just being a bully or if there is more to this. Just why all of this?” “Why not? Those who fight hardest are usually the ones with their back to the walls.” Well Cu Chulainn wasn’t entirely wrong, but I’m not getting the full picture here. “I’m a fighting type, we fight. Also if you were ‘fated’ to live a short life, wouldn’t you try to find fun and challenges wherever you can?” “Wouldn’t fighting in the civil war of Ignis be more you’re speed then? They are strong targets of which to test your mettle against… or are you a coward that only picking fights you know you will always have an advantage in?” Something about calling him a coward made him frown at me. “You've cross an entire warzone to come here multiple times to raid Aurora. A kingdom that is mostly peaceful. If you were here for a fight, then you certainly passed up a lot of chances.” “I don’t need to answer to you.” He said gruffly. “… You’re right, you don’t. I now just want to understand 'their' reasoning for following ‘you’ into all of this and I wanted to hear if you have any justified reasons for attacking the kingdom of Aurora like you are. I heard that Lucario were supposedly noble and revered Pokémon, yet you guys appear to be just coming off as thugs to me.” I turned around and started to trot away. The Lucario looked slightly angry, but Cu Chulainn didn’t deny what I said. “You don’t seem like much of a true leader to me… a leader would know when to ask for help from people who would have gladly given aid if you were having problems. If you were hungry Aurora has plenty of food and far likely enough for half the civil war going on in Ignis on top of enough for you and themselves. This is the kingdom of those whose king is always one with heart, even if their mind or strength fails them. It makes one wonder if you chose this kingdom because you don’t like the ideals by which it is governed on principle, maybe you don’t like the peace, maybe you are the world’s biggest coward dragging these others down with you, maybe you’re trying to be a warlord by taking over a kingdom that would be the easiest of low hanging fruit on a tree or there’s a hang up you have going on in your heart that makes you want to prove you have what it takes to beat the currently weakest kingdom into a puddle of mush. I simply don’t know the truth, but whatever the heart of this matter is… I think I’ve heard and seen enough of your character to know that you’re not a hero at least! I’m not a hero either, but at least I won’t fully give up a chance for things to change by believing that they can’t for the better or worse because of something like fate.” I looked back and saw that my words made him flinch, the Riolu and Lucario around him gave him strange looks. -Cu Chulainn- I clenched my paw, fury roiling throughout my form. I would save this strength for the transformation. By my action, I would have to kill her to make her understand how futile a fight this is. It would also end her rather obvious suffering permanently. “Cu Chulainn…” One of Lucario started to say, but trailed off. “We will fight.” I cared not for words, I’d rather speak with my fists. “Of course.” The Lucario stated, despite the unease in his voice. The other Riolu and Lucario simply nodded and began preparations to charge across the bridge. -Pom- I calmly crossed the bridge uncontested, glancing at the shadows in the water off the west side of the stone bridge without turning my head. Once I got back to my side of this battle, I silently considered the fact that Cu Chulainn had at least some sense of actually being noble. He certainly didn’t take advantage to attack me when I turned my back on him. I formed up with Shanty, Dolly and Smolder. Ocellus was setting up in the air above the area. Evan’s units spread out and covered a large swath of the field to the south of the bridge. The Pidgey were forward and flapping their wings in a coordinated matter to signal those that were watching and waiting for the battle to begin. “Ready everyone?” Evan was nervous, about as much as I was probably. He wasn’t leaving any of his people in the lurch and was staying positive. “No… but we’re going to have to be.” I stated solemnly, because I think Cu Culainn thinks this was all ordained by fate to be his victory. I would prefer destiny, because with destiny you get to choose your own path and reach a destination you chose. I’m still wondering what he meant by fated to live a short life. If this is what he was doing with a short lifespan, then he needed to be stopped. “You okay Pom?” Dolly asked as she hopped in place on her board and did a kick flip, she was getting a bit antsy. “No.” I hardly ever ended up okay after or even during things like this. “Then we’ll make it okay!” Dolly said cheerfully as she prepped for what we were about to do. “Here they come!” Teeth announced as he and Talia, as well as the various other units, spread out in a semicircle. “Hold…” Evan stated calmly despite the rush of Riolu and a single unit Lucario coming across the bridge. The Riolu charging us at a breakneck pace and the Lucario unit taking their time. Once the Riolu were basically upon us, Geoff’s Militia, Skitty Squad and Teeth’s Rattata brigands all moved forward. “Units command, Powered Protect!” Evan announced, a semicircular wall of barriers sprung up as the Riolu had spread out and launched fighting type attacks. The protects held up to the assault. -A Riolu- “Protect what’s that going to do, they’ll have to drop it eventually!” Were they going to be cowards and try to hold up the protect wall and not fight us? Well let them… “What’s that noise?” A riolu next to me stated after launching a fighting type attack into the conjoined barrier and suddenly we looked up and it didn’t take me long to realize what was about to happen. They had seen us coming and had time to prepare… and we just let them set the battlefield. -Motochika- “Units command, Powered Protect!” Evan could be heard shouting. “That’s the signal, all Clawitzer and Clauncher fire!” I shouted to my men from below the bridge, a lot of claws aimed upwards and let loose. The Clauncher were able to fire twice, but two shots from them was barely half the strength of a single Clawitzer shot. “Bartholomew, hold for a second then try and knock that Lucario unit into the trap!” “Hmph…” The Blastoise responded with a grin as the twin bone cannons sticking out of his shell started taking aim, preparing not a hydro pump… but two hydro cannon shots. -Pom- I stared sadly at the Riolu as the Clawitzer and Clauncher rained down blasts of water onto them from the river, knocking a majority of them down and splashing them with water. Only a single unit of Riolu managed to back up from the barrage keeping the other units in the center of the semicircle. Motochika had told me that where there’s water, there’s likely to be water Pokémon. It also helped that many water Pokémon were known for ranged attacks. “Rauco your up!” Evan called out to the Pidgey team he brought into his military not too long ago. “Unit command, Great Gust!” Rauco followed up the constant barrage by having his unit spread out and started to created circular gusts of powered wind that let them hover in the air and attack at the same time. The water and Riolu started to swirld around in a circle. The brown birds were only good for taking down the Riolu, the Lucario having the steel typing makes them less effective. One powerful blast of water struck the Lucario unit that had stopped and two of the Lucario’s barely leapt back as four of them were launched forward. A second blast of water threatened to push the remaining Riolu unit that escaped into the swirling mass of water that Rauco’s unit was kicking up. That one Riolu unit barely escaped the second blast of water, but still got hit by the edges of the effect that sent them sprawling. This was going to be quite painful for the ones that entered the trap zone. “Dolly…” I said quietly. -Dolly- I spun into standing on my hind legs, left paw on my hip and right paw raised to the sky with a single digit. I took a moment to pay attention to the way the brown pigeons were spinning the air. “Oh yeah, Aero!” The winds picked up massively and doubled in strength to start sucking in all the water and a small waterspout built upwards and even got a few Riolu from the last unit and those four Lucario. I could feel how upset Pom was about all of this, but these jerks have been attacking Aurora for quite a while now. They came to attack Aurora after all and having been raiding the farms and places around here unimpeded, it was about time that was stopped. -Ocellus- I was taking on a pegasus form and waiting for my chance. Jumping up, I slapped all four hooves against the cloud. A lightning bolt struck down into the waterspout and I could see a number of struggling shadows still as the spout blasted apart. -Cu Chulainn- … So they were actually ready for us and their allies from Fontaine came to help and were now retreating to the east. I fired off an Aura Sphere after the smiling otter that was obviously from Fontaine, his grin widened and he dove into the water. My blast of energy struck the top of the water and exploded harmlessly. Even down most of our Riolu, we can still win this. “Charge.” I charge forwards with the remaining eight Lucario and would go to reinforce the two Lucario. The few Riolu still standing were likely to be a waste. -Pom- The last team of Riolu had only been slightly hampered by the electrified water that blasted in their direction before the barriers fell. Six complete units of Riolu and change, alongside four Lucario, were totally decimated. It was unfortunate that our forces could no longer hold up their protective barriers. I can already see Cu Chulainn advancing on us with a wild fury in his eyes and eight Lucario. We had to fight eleven Lucario and whatever of the remaining Riolu can still put up in a fight, despite looking to be mostly paralyzed. “Geoff, secure and detain the downed units, get them off the battlefield, assist anyone in need while doing so!” Evan barked and moved forward to begin the fighting. “Rauco, help them!” Rauco threw a quick salute as he and his Pidgey pals swooped down and started to move the Riolu one at a time. “Everyone else, good luck!” Evan stated with worry as Teeths unit moved forward to meet the Lucario with Quetal and Favela supporting. The rattata were all almost wiped out immediately in a single attack each, only Teeth and Talia managed to stay standing through the barrage of fighting type attacks of thrusting the palms of their paws at them. Despite being injured by the attacks Quetal and Favela grabbed the rattata and pulled back with Teeth and Talia biting and scratching furiously to give them time to retreat before they too were sent flying. Good enough, those eight were only meant to stall them long enough for… “Jiri’s unit is ready!” Shine announced from near Jiri’s unit, all the bears and Jiri were equipped with shields and spears. Jiri’s unit prepared to charge forward as Evan, Jig and Happiny dealt with the remainder of the last Riolu unit and were actually holding their own against them with Happiny keeping Maiden Jig and King Evan healed. “That’s us.” I said as we moved up to the side of Jiri’s unit and prepared to charge forward. “For Aurora!” Jiri charged the Lucario as they battered the Skitty Squad, still Captain Skeeball’s unit was proving to be amazing despite Skeeball herself not being at full strength. “Shanty, Dolly, Smolder protect my back, I’m going to be fighting Cu Chulainn. He’s not going to target anyone else on the battlefield.” I knew this because the Lucario in quest was coming right for me. -Jiri- “Hmph… your team is made of Pokémon weak to fighting types, what can your team hope to… do…?!” The Lucario struck out with a Force Palm, that’s when he found out that my unit has gone cold as his attack passed through me entirely. Ghost type cold. “Bounce.” I kicked off the ground leading with my blunted spear into his gut, I couldn’t possibly miss at a point blank range. Any further than that and I probably would have, my bounces tended to never go right unless I knew I would immediately hit something. The Lucario I hit went flying across the entire bridge back onto Ignis soil. Around me Stufful, Teddiursa, Pancham, Kubfu and Cubchoo all started laying into the Lucario who missed the fact that we had a friendly Ghourgeist on our side. “Ice type bear thinks this is scary.” Stated Cubchoo as he started lashing out with the move Fury Swipes. Shine could only have so many Pokémon under the effects of Trick-or-Treat at once, our entire unit was even a bit of a stretch for Shine, but she was managing it. The problem was Shine couldn’t move at all while she was concentrating on keeping the six of us safe. One Lucario down, nine more to go. We had to make this fast, Shine couldn’t keep us protected forever! All of Pom’s other Pokémon companions were also taking a beating, but at least Dazzle was ensuring the Lucario wouldn’t get too far as she was carefully poisoning each one while we were embroiled in combat. -Pom- “I’m still wondering why.” I stated as I trotted forward. Dolly, Smolder and Shanty met a Lucario that just took out a Wooloo and they intercepted them. Shanty blocked the attack, Smolder tripped them with her ribbon and Dolly smashed the back of her skateboard across the Lucario’s skull. They’d be fine, I had much worse to focus on. “Maybe I just want to fight you!” Cu Chulainn charged me. “You just met me for the first time today!” Going up onto my hind legs, I brought my front legs up into a block while using my wool to brace and stick to the ground. His left paw slammed into my right leg and it rocked my entire body and the ground underneath me threatened to break entirely to send me toppling over, however since he didn’t knock me over… Wobbling back with the force my left leg stretched back, I also lifted my left hind leg slightly. Cu Chulainn was already moving to block my left strike, as my eyes were centered on his chest. Instead, I kicked straight up under his guard into his chin returning the full force of his blow to make him flip backwards. He barely caught himself as he landed on all fours and stood up while bringing his paws together “Hmph!” He brought his paws forward and unleashed a sphere of energy at me. Possibly using far less energy than he did on his attack, I fired a quick bark blast that made his attack implode on itself. I didn’t stay still though and ducked as he swung his right leg over my head. I hardened the wool on my forehead and then sprung forward by unleashing the contortioned wool wrapping my hind legs. He went skidding backwards as my blow slammed into the left side of his chest, avoiding the spike sticking out of it, with the force of a bucking earth pony. He was smiling as he managed to dig his paws into the ground to stop and begin charging back at me again. “Well you quite clearly earned my attention!” Cu Chulainn shouted as both his paws glowed, he slung his right forward first. I side stepped out of the path of the shockwave making it flash past me and ducked to put my right hoof under his left paw and angle his second thrust upwards into the air to hit nothing. Slapping him across the right side of the face with my left hoof, he barely staggered before kicking me with his left leg. I let the blow knock me away so I could get some breathing room. So far he hadn’t hurt me and my wool was taking the blows fairly well. Cu Chulainn leapt at me with an overheard swinging left arm swing, I shifted forward barely raising my rear hooves from the ground so that his arm came down on my left shoulder. I immediately rammed my left hoof up into his stomach and then slapped him across the face with my right while stepping forward. As I stepped I ducked as he tried to retaliate with a right hook. Loosening the wool on my rear legs again as I crouched, I sprung up leading with my left hoof into his chin, forcing him into the air and back quite a few feet away. He managed to land upright and rubbed at his chin with his left paw and looked at the bid of blood covering it from where I split his chin with my uppercut. “Hmph… I think we’re done with the warmup then.” While Cu Chulainn said this, I took a moment to glance at how the others were doing. Though the Lucario were outnumbered, they were still beating quite a few of the Pokémon down. Jiri’s unit was still going strong, even if the Lucario switched to attacks that would work on ghost types. Shanty, Smolder and Dolly were trying to protect the Geoff and Rauco led units. Geoff was down three wooloo and Rauco was down four pidgey. Even two members of the Skitty Squad were down, yet Captain Skeeball was still standing. King Evan was personally helping retreat the wounded with Jig and Happiny wasn’t smiling any longer as her moves were apparently stressing her body to keep healing Aurora’s leaders. The Rockruff, Honedge and Torchic were toughing it out and had managed to take down two Lucario between them… they weren’t the two that were Cu Chulainn’s personal entourage. Those two specifically were tearing into everyone. Shanty, Dolly and Smolder had to move to assist our volunteer team when one Rockruff was sent flying with a painful looking kick and the still active Pidgey managed to make sure the landing wasn’t as painful. Well at least that answers whether my good boys and god puppies were stronger or not, then again they didn’t have a typing thing they were weak against. I hopped back and avoided the spike and backhand aimed for my face. “You’re fight is not with them, it’s with me.” Cu Chulainn hopped back twice and crouched down on one knee while crossing his arms over his chest leaning forward. “At the true height of my strength!” The marble on his necklace started glowing and a rainbow of energy surged around Cu Chulainn and his form started glowing brightly. The glowing silohouette grew slightly, spikes started to erupt in various places throughout his body and the muscles were increasing in density. The hair dreadlock things grew in some places. Where all Lucario were twice the height of a Riolu, Cu Chulainn had grown more than a head taller. His tail became covered in a layer of fur and more like a billowing cape. “That’s a mega evolution, be careful Pom!” Shine called out from where she was stuck standing. With a roaring howl, Cu Chulainn spread his arms out and stood straight up more than a head taller, more muscular and with more spikes along his body concentrating at the top of his feet and back of his fists like spears. I quickly tossed something into my mouth and held it there, there would be no more time for talking. His ability to use puncturing attacks on me, which would actually go through my wool, had gone up immensely. Any kick inward, any thrusting or hooking punch, they all had to be avoided now. Once he was done howling, Cu Chulainn opened his eyes and stared me down. -Jiri- I could feel the power their leader was putting out, but I had to finish dealing with the other Lucario first. I hopped to the side deflected the Lucario’s outstretched paw and then rammed my blunted spear forward into their face staggering them. These Lucario were as tough as their steel typing would imply, at least I wasn’t in front of the one that just mega-evolved. The raw power he was putting out was killing our morale quite quickly. I hoped Pom would be okay, at least survive the fight with that monster! It might even take all of us together to bring down Cu Chulainn.