//------------------------------// // Chapter 18 // Story: A New World, a New Ranger // by ed2481 //------------------------------// “I want a fight... I want a fight... I want a fight,” Axel grumbled as he and Abby walked down the street together. “I’m sure something will turn up sooner or later,” Abby told him, glancing up at the large Haxorus. “But please, stop saying that out loud, you’re getting us worried glances.” It was true, the ponies in the crowd, who’d been giving them a wide berth in the first place, were gazing worriedly up at Axel. “If they’re not doing anything wrong then there’s no reason for them to be so cowardly,” Axel replied, he really was getting antsy for some kind of action. “He’s not the kind of guy who likes relaxing, is he?” Tenderhoof asked from Abby’s other side, looking up at the Haxorus with a raised eyebrow. “There’s no such thing as relaxing outside of battle to me,” Axel retorted flatly. “It was never this bad at home where there were Pokemon Centers around to heal me if I got hurt, but because there aren’t Abby won’t let me fight Sven!” Abby let out a sigh. “For the last time, you can’t fight Sven. He’s a Tyranitar and not only do I not know who’d win between you two, but you’d probably flatten a city block at least in the process!” “Bah, he’s already repairing a city block, what’s another?” Axle demanded indignantly. “A few hundred thousand bits,” Tenderhoof answered blandly. “And a trip to the Dragon Cell.” Axle rolled his eyes but relented with a huff as they arrived back at the station. To their surprise however, the station was abuzz with activity. “What’s going on?” Tenderhoof asked one of the scurrying officers. “We had a breakthrough on the EPB Case!” the officer answered, enthusiasm coursing through his voice. “We found their base of operations and the Captain is down there right now!” Tenderhoof’s eyes widened. “The Earth Pony Brigade? We found them!” “Yeah!” the officer replied, a grin on his face. “They’re hold up in one of the warehouses downtown! The Captain’s got the place surrounded but they’re really well fortified!” “This... this sounds exciting!” Axle exclaimed, a grin on his face as he looked down at Tenderhoof. “Take us there at once!” “Sorry, this isn’t the kind of thing that untrained officers get involved in,” Tenderhoof replied, glancing between the two of them. “We’re not untrained,” Abby corrected before looking up at Axle who was literally shivering with excitement at the prospect. “Please Abby! I need this!” Axle begged, his draconic eyes narrowing as his clawed feet began to move up and down very rapidly. “Arceus...” Abby let out a small sigh and then glanced at Tenderhoof. “If I say no he’s going to be like this all month. Come on, let’s go see if Ace needs something.” Tenderhoof frowned but shook his head. “Fine...” he took a second to ascertain the warehouse’s location from the other officer and the three set off, Axle almost skipping with excitement. “He like this often?” “Always,” Abby answered blandly. “So, who are we up against?” “The Earth Pony Brigade,” Tenderhoof answered with a small shake of his head. “They’re the type of pony who like to make a living off of extortion, drug smuggling, and occasionally animal fighting.” Abby let out a low whistle. “So, we’re walking into a gang’s headquarters aren’t we?” “Yep,” Tenderhoof said, shaking his head. “They’re an all earth pony gang and they’ve been plaguing Las Pegasus for a while now and the fact that we have their headquarters is a strike of gold.” “I can see that,” Abby agreed, nodding her head as the Guard Line came into sight. The Guard were arrayed around a relatively small warehouse and a large group of ponies were standing around a dozen feet away, looking on in interest. With her keen eyes, Abby spotted Ace talking with several other ponies and her ears picked up the conversation as they moved closer. “Gah, they’re far too well fortified in there for us to take the place,” Ace said angrily, her eyes narrowed. “And they’ve bespelled the walls, somehow to repel magic.” “It would take us way too long via conventional means to get into there,” another of the officers said. “The doors are locked up tight. We’re not getting in that way Boss.” “We could always gas them out,” another suggested. “We do have a large supply of the stuff.” “That’s on the board of consideration,” Ace said with a nod before she noticed Abby and Axle approaching. “... and things just got more complicated.’ “Or less,” Abby said with a small smile as she stepped forwards. “Captain Ace, you sound like a mare in need of a new hole.” Ace stared at her flatly. “Did you do that on purpose?” Abby blinked twice and then shook her head. “Sorry, I didn’t mean too, but anyways, it sounds like you need a hole punched through that building right?” Abby asked, gesturing with her tails towards the warehouse. “That’s right...” Ace said, glancing up at Axle who looked more like an excited puppy then a mighty dragon at the moment. “But it would take something around dragon like to punch through that.” “I am a dragon!” Axle explained with a big grin. “And making doors is what I do best!” “It’s true,” Abby agreed with a small chuckle. “Axle here has never met a wall he can’t handle.” Ace looked between the other officers who shrugged. “Worst that can happen is that he hurts himself running into the wall,” a mare said with a small frown. The dark haired unicorn looked at Axle and then let out a small sigh. “Alright, why don’t you give it a try on the western wall? It’s where we’ve got the most of our ponies.” “YES!” Axle let out a roar to the sky and with Abby close behind, moved towards the western wall of the warehouse. “So... boss... how are we getting out of this?” Hard Edge asked as he and several other earth ponies looked to their leader, Jagged Stone, a grey coated earth pony. “We wait until they bust in somehow and then we release our little surprise to keep them busy while we escape,” Jagged Stone answered with a slim smile as he glanced at the eight foot tall cage that was stationed beneath the balcony they were standing on top of. “Oh, I just love it when a plan comes together.” Beneath them, the Pokemon roared out its rage at its long entrapment. Axle sized up the wall in front of him, a big smile on his face as he looked over his canvas of destruction. “Think you can take it down?” Abby asked him, glancing up at the Haxorus. “Hahahahaha, it will be child’s play!” Axle replied as he took a few steps back and lowered his axe head, preparing to charge. “GIGA IMPACT!” The Haxorus’s form blurred, the move launching him forwards and into the solid steel wall. “HAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!” He roared as his head-axe crashed through the wall, the rest of his body following a moment later, tearing a four foot wide hole through the surface. “FACE ME AND FALL ALL COWARDS WHO HIDE BEHIND WALLS!” Ace stared at what she just saw before shaking her head. “Everypony! Move!” Within the warehouse, Axle found only a single thing in front of him, a large iron cage with a cover over it. He glanced up and saw a group of ponies standing on a balcony, staring down at him in absolute surprise. Then, he heard the lever of the cage opening up and a colossal roar of challenge and rage filled the warehouse. Axle’s eyes snapped back to the cage just in time to see a giant red shape crashing towards him. “GIVE ME BACK ALEX!” the beast roared loudly before it slammed into Axle and sent the Haxorus skidding back a foot before he realized what was happening. Of course, the fact that there was a Tyrantrum currently attacking him wasn’t exactly a bad thing to Axle’s mind. “FINALLY A REAL FIGHT!” Axle roared back, arching his neck and back and heaving the Tyrantrum aside and making it stumble into a stack of boxes, cracking them open in a shower of splinters. “GET UP AND FACE ME!” “DIE! CRUNCH!” the Tyrantrum roared in return as it rose back to its feet and charged at Axle, it’s mouth open, giant jaws ready to crush the Haxorus’ neck. The teeth skittered across Axle’s armored neck and Axle’s head axe came down in a brutal slash. “ARGH!” Tyrantrum roared angrily as Axle’s keen blade dug into his scales, blood wetting the floor from the neck wound. “DRAGON CLAW!” Axle shouted and charged at the dinosaur with his claws glowing a dark blue. “DRAGON TAIL!” the Tyrantrum replied in kind and swept its now glowing tail in an ark for Axle’s face. The Haxorus barely had time to lift his hands up to catch the foul tail and it still arced across his chest, smashing several dozen large scales and causing Axle to roar out in pain. Still, he had its tail. That was important. “STRENGTH!” Axle snarled, his chest heaving as he wrestled with the the Tyrantrum and yanked it into the air by its tail, his large shoulders heaving as the dinosaur raged in anger. Axle brought the beast down head first into the solid steel wall of the building and the other Pokemon’s skull broke right through it as if it was paper. “HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Axle roared out a victory over his apparently defeated opponent. “GIVE ME BACK ALEX!” The Tyrantrum screamed in rage as it pushed itself back to its feet, the steel bending around its skin like tissue paper. Axle grinned, it wasn’t over yet! “THRASH!” The mighty Tyrantrum crashed into Axle, sending him skirting back a foot or two through a pile of boxes which shattered with the impact. “IS THAT ALL YOU’VE GOT?!” Axle replied angrily as he brushed a splinter off of his shoulder. “OUUUTRAGGGEEE!” Flames burst into existence around Axle’s body and he charged into the Tyrantrum, sending it flying into the air with a single swing of his massive axe-head, sending it into the balcony. The massive red dragon crashed through it, scattering ponies in all directions as they fled the two titans of battle. To Axle’s surprise, the enemy Tyrantrum picked itself up again, growling with anger and frustration, its breath coming in and out in rapid gasps. “GIVE! ME! ALEX!” Then, it charged at him. “HEAD SMASH!” Even in his enraged state, that was enough to make Axle’s eyes widen. The Tyrantrum’s giant skull slammed into his jaw and Axle let out a bellow of pain as his feet left the ground and was was thrown straight through the ceiling. The Haxorus’s vision swam for a moment before he crashed back through the ceiling and hit the ground hard. “GIVE... ME... ALEX!” the Tyrantrum growled woozily down at Axle, the world spinning around him. Axle blinked back stars as he glared up at the Tyrantrum. He’d been expecting the Outrage to take it down but it was clearly still going... barely. The Haxorus gritted his teeth and struggled back to his claws, glaring at the other pokemon. Then, he began to laugh as he cracked his neck. “I DON’T HAVE HIM BUT YOU ARE ABOUT TO HAVE A WORLD OF HURT TO KEEP YOU BUSY!” Axle roared and flames wrapped around him again. “OUTRAGE!” His axe-head slammed into the Tyrantrum’s shoulder and this time cut deep. The giant red dinosaur let out a roar of pain and collapsed on the ground as blood began to run down its shoulder. “HAHAHAHAH!” Axle roared. “I AM VICTORIOUS!” The Tyrantrum tried to get back to its feet but Axle’s claw slammed into its good shoulder. “STAY DOWN!” the Tyrantrum let out a defeated whimper, or perhaps it was a sob, and stopped its attempts to escape. Axle smiled at that and then glanced around the inside of the warehouse. It was... well... destroyed would be putting it mildly. Oh well. That wasn’t his concern. His concern was making a hole and he’d done that quite well.