Chapter 13 - Fire Pledge
Chapter 13
Fire Pledge
Day 2
A still shocked Rizen took a look at the rider of Banana Beard, whom was still trying to comprehend the fact that it was flying. "Yeah, it kind of does look that way," he replied. The flying sauropod flew into the distance at a steady pace as the psychiatrist had a thought. "Wonder what she's doing."
"But where would she go?" X asked. "I don't think she'd fly around town if she could just walk there. And considering who she's riding, I doubt Banana Beard would fly her to a place she can walk to easily. His demeanor just screams 'I'm lazy.'"
The duo just continued to watch the flying Pokémon sail through uncontested skies. The green creature seemed to blend well with the sunset filled sky and the jungle below.
The jungle Nell and Banana Beard were apparently going into if their crossing of Wall Maria was any indication.
X and Rizen gulped rather loudly. "She just flew towards the jungle..." Rizen noted.
"... The currently Durant infested jungle," X finished.
Silence.
"IS SHE INSANE!?!?!?!?" X shouted. "She already got attacked by Durant once, why is she going back into their backyard!?"
"Don't look at me! I'm a soldier-slash-psychiatrist, not a detective!" Rizen shouted.
"Okay, lets not panic," X told himself. "It's just the Durant... nothing worse than that right?"
"Trust me when I say that her running into the Durant is the best case scenario," Rizen whispered in fear. "Wild lions, tigers, the occasional bear...and the monsters."
"Like....Pokémon?"
Rizen shook his head, the motions slow and echoing with worry. "No, monsters. Real monsters. Like chimeras, manticores, or the dreaded Amphisbaena."
"The What-a-whata?"
"It's like a giant snake, except it has a second head where its tail should be." X suddenly had the thought of a two headed Onix chase a panicked Nell screaming for help as she ran for her life. "And it will not hesitate to kill anything that is in the same area it is."
"Wait a minute..." X though on that for a moment. "Nell found me in that jungle. You're saying that Nell willingly went into a jungle full of these....deadly sounding monsters. Her family was just....okay with that!?"
"The roads are safe. I've traveled them many a time."
"Oh, so those four Changelings me and my team found on the road just so happened to be injured by something that doesn't live in a jungle that your road go directly through?"
"Hey, you Pokémon did that, not our monsters!" Rizen shouted.
"Does that really matter?" X pointed out. He was on the verge of hysterics, the situation he was discussing with Rizen panicking him more and more with each passing moment. "Nell is flying into enemy territory! She could have gotten herself killed then, and she can get herself killed now!" He rose to his full height, trying to calm the thoughts in his head that were racing at the speed of light.
"You're right." Rizen hovered in the air above X, his wings emanating a light buzz. "I'll go after her and try to get her back."
In that moment, X spoke a single word that pierced the silence. "No. I'll go."
"Oh by the hive don't tell me you can fly too."
"No, but that's not going to stop me from chasing after her and Banana Beard." X got up and rushed for the nearest bridge or ladder to the ground floor.
"But I can fly..."
"You're a soldier. You're needed here," X commanded. His voice was now filled with commanding strength, the tone Rizen would respect. "But I'm just a somebody who wants to be a nobody who just watched his first friend in an alien world fly towards the very same creatures that are trying to take her home away from her just because they can. I know it's not my fault, but she is my friend, and to some extent that makes her one of my responsibilities. One that I need to fix, and fix now."
"I understand what you want to do, but I cannot let you do that. She and I can fly and you can’t," Rizen pointed out. "I cannot let you go out there on your own on the verge of night."
"How are you gonna stop me when you're out like a light'?"
Rizen paused for a moment "What does that mean?"
X demonstrate by popping him in the back of the head. Rizen plummeted to the platform he was hovering over, drifting into unconsciousness. "Sorry Rizen, but this is something I need to do."
A few minutes earlier
Nell sat in the backyard. Her mind was racing, the events of today and yesterday overwhelming her.
"Hey kiddo."
Citel trotted towards his daughter, Nell sighing as she replied. "Hi Dad. What a day, huh?"
"Not sure that is a good way to express the scale of what we- no, all of Equus is going through," Citel sighed. "I mean, creatures from another world being moved here by their god? Sounds like something out of a novel."
I’m just not sure about a lot of stuff right now,” Nell sighed. “What if we lose? What if we have to leave our home and go to another city because of this?”
“We’ll think of something. The changelings are not one to surrender so easily.”
“... Dad?”
“Yes honey?”
“... Am I brave?”
“What makes you ask that?”
"It’s just that... well, X got me thinking,” Nell admitted. “When you were my age, did you get pushed into being a merchant?”
“Well, my family expected me to at least try it.”
“And do you regret it?”
“Not in the least. Without that, I wouldn’t have had you and your sisters and brothers,” Citel grinned. “Maybe I did go down a path that wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but in the end it was worth it. I was brave enough to see where my choice took me.”
Nell sighed. “That’s a good way to put it.”
“Well I am your dad. We tend to know these things.”
Silence reigned for a few precious moment's before Banana Beard walked up to them, ruining the moment. “Stupid Fairy types...think they’re so pretty and can ruin my nap just because they can…”
“Something bothering you buddy?”
“Fairy Types. They like to bug me for some reason. No matter what I do or where I go, they like to mess with me when I try to just relax, and I do that all the time so they bug me all the time.”
"Banana Beard, these Types all the Pokémon keep mentioning…”
“Yes?”
“I have to ask… what's the whole… deal with these Types?"
Banana Beard scoffed. "What, you don't know about Types?"
Nell shook her head. "Until yesterday I didn't know anything about Pokémon, so no.
"Great..." Banana Beard sighed. "I gotta do the explanation. This is simple stuff, why do I have to explain it?"
"Well if you don't want to..."
"Nah. I'm only talking about it, so its not that much of a hassle." Banana Beard moved his head closer so Nell did not have to strain her neck to look up at him. "Okay, so where we come from, there are Types, and there are eighteen of them. And these eighteen types are Normal, Fire, Water, Grass, Electric, Ice, Fighting, Poison, Ground, Flying, Psychic, Bug, Rock, Ghost, Dragon, Dark, Steel, and Fairy.
"Now Pokémon can have either one or two types. And these types help decide what moves they can learn. And how they react to different types of attacks when they get hit by them."
"So what else to these types do?" Citel asked. "What you said doesn't explain everything."
"I'm getting to that part..." Banana Beard moaned. "Okay, so each Type has pros and cons. That's where Moves come in."
"You mean like the biting and the lightning?” Nell asked. "Honestly surprised Inti could do that."
"Really? Creatures here can't do that?" Banana Beard mused. Nell shook her head no. "Uh, moving on… Each move has a Type. Lava Plume is a Fire type attack, while Dark Pulse is a Dark type attack.
"This is where what Type you are comes in: each type has pros and cons like I mentioned and you can take less damage from attacks your type resists. You see that Dragon over there?" Banana Beard pointed his head at a small Pokémon sitting on a passing Changeling. The creature was a snake of sorts, blue with a white underbelly.
"Aw...that's a cute one." Nell remarked.
"They don't stay cute. That's a Dratini, a Dragon Type Pokémon," Banana Beard explained. "As a Dragon type Pokémon, they resist Fire, Water, Grass, and Electric Type attacks, and take less damage than they normally would from those types of attacks."
"I'm guessing there is a flipside to that," Nell asked. "If there are Types of attacks that do less damage your Type, then I guess there are Types that do more damage to your Type as well."
"Bingo," Banana Beard stated. "That Dratini I showed you? Dragons like them are weak to Ice, Fairy, and Dragon Type attacks."
"So… it's weak to itself..." Nell mused. "Odd."
"EH, Not really."
"So big guy, what type are you?" Citel asked the new family pet.
"I have two types, actually: Grass and Flying," Banana Beard explained. He flexed his leaves in pride. "That means I have both weaknesses and resistances of both types. Normally, Flying types are weak to Electric type attacks, but since my Grass typing resists that type I take normal damage from them."
"So what if you get hit by an attack that both of your types are weak to?" Nell asked.
"Lots of pain." Banana Beard Snarked.
Nell sighed. "So… know anything about those Durant things?"
"Oh damn, you're serious? Durant are here?" Banana Beard seemed to exert some effort at dramatically gasping. "Oh… Bug and Steel types... what a combination. Steel types already resist just about everything; add in the Bug typing, and that it actually does make them resist pretty much everything. Well, except for fire. In fact, the only thing that can hurt them reliably is a good Fire attack."
"Good thing Naruto can breath fire," Nell mused.
"Wait, I let a Fire-breather in my house?" Citel moaned as he reached for something on the tray of drinks he brought. "That can only end badly."
Banana Beard shared his sentiments. "Hey, I'm Grass. I got a Fire weakness as well. I'm not too thrilled about that either."
"So I'm guessing Naruto is a Fire type?" Nell asked. The only thing that seems to be flaming is his mane."
The Tropius shook his head again. "Nah, Zoroarks like him are Dark types. Honestly, I'm surprised a Pokémon like him can even use Fire attacks in the first place."
"So you're saying that you can use attacks that are not your own type.”
"Yeah. It happens all the time," Banana Beard elaborated. "But a Fire type will be better at it. Especially if a Fire Type is the one who goes up against a Durant, since Steel and Bug attacks are not very effective against Fire types."
"If we can find one. I have no idea what any Fire Type Pokémon look like," Nell mused.
"Well, most Fire types are obviously fire. They tend to look like they’re on fire or actually are on fire,” explained the Tropius. “There’s Pokémon like Chimchar, Charizard, Pyroar, Magcargo, Rapidash, Talonflame-"
"Wait… hold up..." Nell held a contemplative expression. "Pyroar… that sounds familiar.
"I saw one of those once; a Trainer had it back in Hoenn," Banana Beard shuttered. "I am very thankful that my home was a very rainy one, otherwise I would’ve needed to exert actual effort."
"But what does it look like?"
"... Fine." Using his mouth, Banana Beard grabbed a stick and with it drew a very crude picture of a cat with a very long name of hair that looked like a red tube of hair.
Nell gasped. "I saw that one! In the jungle yesterday! You said they could use fire, right?"
"Uh, yeah?"
"Then I need to find Litleo Litleo and get his pride to help us out!" Nell exclaimed as she rose from her seat. "Be back soon Dad."
Citel had to replay what his daughter was suggesting in his mind twice before he started to chase her. "Nell, what are you-?!"
"Dad, I need to find Litleo Litleo and his friends! If Banana Beard is right, they can breathe fire! And fire seems to be the only thing that can actually hurt these ants! And I know where these fire breathing lions are!"
"But aren’t the lions in the jungle?” Citel asked. “The same jungle where those ants are? What if they find you?”
"Dad, I feel like I can do something to help, something more than just sitting on my hooves,” Nell replied. “Nall and Nalel are doing what they can do to help and so can I.”
“They’re looking for a lizard in town, and you want to go back into the jungle which is filled with… more beasts than before thank to that… Arceus… thing!”
“Which is doing something!” Nell shouted in turn. “Dad, you love me, I know that, but the reason why I even wanted to go on my merchant trip was to have a chance to find myself! And while I was on that trip I found myself in danger. But when I got to town I found myself in more danger, only that time I helped fight back.
“Let’s face it, thanks to the arrival of the Pokémon, no matter where anyone goes anymore, there is going to be danger. Things are no longer what they used to be. I need to be the me that fights for what is important.”
“Nell, I…” Citel sighed. “... You’re right. But that doesn’t stop me from worrying. I refuse to let you go back into the jungle alone. If there are three Pokémon things inside the jungle as well….I would feel safer if someone went with you for protection.“
Both heads turned to face Banana Beard. “... Feed me and you got a deal.”
The Tropius walked slowly through the streets of Eintel, changelings and Pokémon moving out of the large creature’s way. Nell was on his back, a strange pendant on her neck, and was clinging on to him somewhat tightly. “Thanks for coming with me, Banana Beard.”
“Trust me, you better deliver on that that promise of food,” Banana Beard snarked. “I don’t do dangerous thing for just anyone you know.”
“If we manage to pull this off we could be heroes of the town,” Nell joked.
“The only problem is how we’re going to find them.” Nell mused. “I mean...the jungle is really thick. I was lost in there for several hours.”
“Hey, if we can find them in a safe way that would be excellent,” Nell mused.
“You mean, like… in the air?”
“Yeah, but I don’t think any of the birds would… well, help me.”
Banana Beard sighed as he ruffled his leaves. “... This had better be worth it…”
“Trust me, it will be.”
“Not that. The extra effort to do this.” With a sigh, the Tropius began to run, causing more citizens to get out of the way. “Hang on!”
“Uh...okay?”
Banana Beard surprised her when he leapt into the air.
He did not fall back down.
It took Nell a few minutes to realize that Banana Beard was, for some unexplainable reason, flying. Actually flying.
“Wait… you can fly?!” Nell shouted.
Banana Beard nodded as the two rose into the air. “Well yeah. I’m a Flying type. Flying types fly. It’s something we just do.”
“Really?” The sound of leaves flapping quick got Nell’s attention. “Honestly, on any other day, I would say that sounds… ridiculous, but an entire species of… uh, what’s the term? Aliens, right?”
“Yep.”
“Aliens just got moved here by their god, so I’m going to be a little open minded about the whole situation,” Nell concluded. “Okay, fly straight. We’ll try to find them from above and hope for the best.”
“You owe me!”
Nell lost track of time as she and Banana Beard flew above the jungle. She peered down into the jungle below, hoping to catch a glimpse of anything. The flying alien sighed as he asked (again) “Can we go home now?”
“No Banana Beard. We cannot go home.”
“... How ‘bout now?”
“No.”
“Can we at least stop doing stuff now?”
“Banana Beard, you can lounge about later. If I don’t find those fire lions, then we may not have a home to lounge at.”
Banana Beard said nothing for a moment, as if he was thinking about something. “... So how about now?”
Nell groaned. “Banana Beard, I have the very real chance to become homeless in a matter of hours and the only thing you can think of is taking a break?”
“You try flying for two hours straight,” rose the complaint. “We haven’t seen anything yet and it’s getting dark.”
“The moon is providing enough light. Trust me on this.”
This obviously did not convince Banana Beard. “My point is that I’m overworking for nothing. There is nothing to prove there even is a pride of Pyroar here.”
“Hey, you’re the one who wanted to help.”
“And boy do I regret that.”
Nell groaned loudly again, frustration rising. “I don’t want to… hey, wait a minute...” Nell leaned over her ride, looking down.
“What?”
“I think I see something. Can you fly down closer to the trees?”
Banana Beard didn’t say a word as he did what Nell requested of him, descending towards the tree line. “So, what did ya find?”
“Scorch marks.”
After taking a closer look, Banana Beard did indeed see scorch marks decorating several pieces of the tree. The marks covered the trees in varying locations, ranging from the trunk to the highest reaches of the tree’s branches.
"Well, here is a good spot to start looking."
As a dense jungle in the dark heart of the Hoofrican Jungle, it tended to get really dark at night there. A level of darkness rarely matched by any other. Hornlight however, served to be a very useful way to alleviate the darkness. Nell peered over Banana Beard head, the Tropius lowering it so it wouldn't be in the trick of the branches above.
"You sure this is the right way?" he asked.
"Honestly? I hope so. Scorch marks aren't much to go by, even if we are following a trail of them."
Indeed, several of the trees they passed had a scorch mark on the bark of the tree, a veritable line of them pointing them to who knows where.
As the duo marched through the jungle, eyes peered from the depths of the jungle, watching the two walk through the unforgiving jungle.
“Ah, that feels good.”
Nell moaned, resting on the back of her ride. After another fifteen minutes or so, the complaining of Banana Beard, and the fact that the trail had gone cold convinced Nell to finally agree to taking a break. The duo sat beside a cliff face, about seven feet tall in a clearing of the jungle, the break in the canopy ceiling providing beautiful moonlight “You know, my sisters are really hyperactive. And you… are very… lazy.”
“Your point?”
“Well…” Nell put a hoof on her chin to contemplate for a moment. “They’re definitely not going to let you just sleep all day.”
“Hey, they seem like good people. I’m gonna stick with them.”
Nell then asked the Tropius. "...what was your old world like?"
"Honestly?" Banana Beard asked. "Not bad. I lived on route 120 in Hoenn."
"I have no idea where that is."
"Well the route was near a long river with waterfalls, kinda like a jungle but not as jungle-y. More like a forest."
At that Nell gripped the bridge of her muzzle with her hoof, quickly morphed into a hand to serve the purpose of gripping her muzzle. "... they're the same thing."
"You know what I mean. Less jungle-y trees, more forest-y trees," Banana Beard scoffed. "And tall grass that goes up to the chest. And it rained. All the time."
"I guess the weather teams there really like to make it rain," Nell sighed. "Not a lot of pegasi live her in the Empire so our weather is pretty random, so rain is...not always on time. Not like Equestria, which is why we don't get a lot ponies living here; they tend to not like random things happening.."
"... Weather teams?"
"You know, weather team," Nell replied. "Groups of Pegasi who move clouds and make it rain or snow or really windy and stuff like that."
"... Yeah, that's not a thing."
"Wait… you mean… back where you came from... no-one manages the weather?"
"Nope. Weather just does happens by itself. I mean, I can make it really hot with Sunny Day, but only where I am at the moment, and it takes a lot of work to crank up the sun's temperature." Banana Beard's reply just made Nell stare wide eyed.
"... That is weird," was the only thing Nell could say at such a statement. "I mean, there isn't a lot of ponies working the weather here, but everyone here, or in Equestria, or well anywhere knows how pegasi can work the weather. It's something that everyone knows about."
Banana Beard just gave a lazy huff. "... Right. Alien. Forgot about that. But it just seems so....weird that such a place with no weather management just...exists at all."
"Hey, don't expect me to help with that. I like just lounging around."
"....You really are lazy aren't you?" Nell sighed.
"I like my freedom," Banana Beard barked. "No-one bosses me around unless I wanna. No trainer for me, no way."
At that Nell scootched closer to the neck of the Tropius, whom just sighed as he started to explain. "I take it you know about Pokémon trainers? Humans who travel around the world and catch Pokémon for various reasons?"
"Kinda."
"Well a few years ago some hotshot found me and caught me. That really ruined my day. He didn't let me out of the pokeball for days, and when he did, I found out he was a Pokémon salesman. Someone who travels the world looking for Pokémon to sell to exotic regions. Turned out I was being sold to some chick in the Sinnoh Region. I didn't like that."
"So, first chance I got I said ‘screw it’ and flew away. It took me a few weeks to get back home, on the account of me… getting lost."
"So wait, these humans like X just… catch creatures against their will? Because they can?" Nell wasn't feeling so great about X, the image of a gangly, heinous creature with an equally gangly, heinous, and unbelievably long tongue whipping Naruto and Azisa with a fiery whip suddenly assaulted her mind. "But X seems so nice."
Ruffling wing-leaves somehow soothed the changeling mare. "Nah, don't let it get to ya. Not all of them are bad. The Pokémon that salesman caught? They were well taken care off, fed, watered, the whole deal. They actually kinda liked it there. Some never wanted to leave."
"So why did you?"
"I liked my home. I like it when it rains," Banana Beard sighed. "And....I wasn't sure if the trainer who bought me was gonna be a nice person or not a nice person, and I didn't want to find out."
"Yet you decided to stay with my sisters after you magically appeared in our backyard."
"Hey, I was planning on running away before Lord Arceus told us what was going on," barked the Tropius. "But I was too lazy to think of a plan before then."
"Liar."
"Eh, too lazy to argue with that."
"Banana Beard… I gotta ask… what's a Pokeball?"
Suddenly bursts of flame shot at the duo, Nell just barely leaping out of the way. Unfortunately for Banana Beard, the fire struck him, causing the Tropius to yell in pain. Nell quickly landed, bracing herself as several of the lions she recognize from yesterday leapt out of the jungle and into the clearing, quickly surrounding the two. The leader, the male with the impressive mane, stepped forward, and growled.
”This….isn’t going the way I thought it would.”
Many of the changelings gasped as they moved out of the way of the advancing group. A small seven-man team that consisted of six guards, and more importantly, the Emperor of the Changelings.
In silence they walked, until they reached Town Hall. Two guards standing there as still as statues noticed their leader and opened the building's doors, welcoming him and his men into the building.
Inside the building, several changelings buzzed to and fro, trying to maintain order. Groups of changelings conversed, plans forming before quickly being rejected in favor of another plan. Carapace eyed each and every one of them as he walked deeper into the building, before ending up at the office in the deepest depths of the Town Hall.
The mayor's office.
As a consequence of the chaos, the mayor had temporarily surrendered his power over Eintel to The Emperor and had granted Carapace the use of his office as Carapace’s personal HQ until a solution was reached. Opening the door, Carapace slowly entered, spying Silver Heart and Naruto. The Zoroark held a sour expression as Silver trotted to their leader. "Emperor, welcome back," Silver replied.
"And believe me I would rather be here on the front lines that back at the castle handling paperwork," Carapace moaned. "You'd think I would have at least built up a tolerance to it after a thousand years or so of doing the damn things. What's the situation here?"
"Well, the city is still intact. That's good, right?" Silver replied.
"Indeed. Any actual reports you like to give me?"
"Well, we managed to get the situation as a general whole under control."
"... A general whole?"
"Let’s be honest, your Highness… there are going to be conflicts between Pokémon and the changelings. We just don't have enough troops to keep watch of everything and keep to the town's normal schedule. We do need someone on the wall patrol."
"...Fair point," Carapace replied. "Naruto, what say you?"
"..."
"...Naruto?"
"What was that?" Naruto quickly spoke. Rizen sighed as Naruto shook his head. "... Sorry, had a bad evening."
"Would you like to talk about it?" Carapace offered. Naruto shook his head before replying.
"No, I think I'm good. This is between me and him."
"....Naruto..."
"Don't worry about me, I’ll be fine. A job is a job, and you don't stop until the job is done." Naruto then got up from his seat and approached his boss. "In any case… I have been thinking over the challenge we are going to partake in tomorrow. I honestly don't think we can win."
"Well that's reassuring." Silver spat out.
"What I mean to say is that the Durant specialize in swarm tactics," Naruto spat out in turn. "Even though they’ll have the same number of troops as us, they are going to systematically take out each one of our own troops one by one. And let’s be honest here, a fifteen on one fight is not going to be fair odds. For us, that is."
Carapace was about to respond, when his eyes lit up light a lightbulb of inspiration. “... I think I see where you're going with that.”
"I see that you are thinking about what I had in mind," Naruto grinned. "Let us hope they see it our way."
The door creaked open, revealing Rizen walking inside in a guarded manner. "Oh, Emperor, you're back."
"Yes I am," replied the Emperor. "You look a little… beat up. What happened?"
"Well you see, X-" Rizen began to explain, but stopped when he saw Naruto in this sour state "... the reason why I look beat up is that I fell down some stairs."
"Fair enough. Silver, mind taking me to our troops? I need to choose the roster so to speak."
Silver nodded as he and the Emperor left the room, closing the door behind Rizen and Naruto. "... I doubt you fell down some stairs, Rizen."
"What makes you say that Naruto?"
"Call it a hunch." Naruto yawned as he approached the door. "Not that I care anyway. Everything just seems to be catching up to me, and I need a rest because of that. See you in the morning."
"And to you as well." The door closed, leaving the soldier alone in the room. He sighed. "...I can't tell Naruto. Not yet. The X I saw was the X he knows. I am sure of it. But he won't believe me if I told him that. He needs to see it for himself. Maybe then his faith in X will be restored.”
The Pyroar surrounded the Tropius and the Changeling, growling as the two shivered in fear. The pride’s leader stepped forward, his star like mane practically glowing in the light of the moon. He narrowed his eyes as he took one final step towards Nell and Banana Beard. “Who are you who seek us?”
“I’m Nell… and this is Banana Beard,” she replied. “We came looking for you.”
“So you may hunt us?”
“So you can help us,” Nell replied. “See…”
“No more. We are wasting enough time. If you are not here to kill us then we must continue on.” He roared, turning his head to face his pride. “To me, my pride!”
The Pyroar and Litleo behind him however did not move. Many of them seemed tired, and several of the Pyroar bore scars and burn marks across their bodies. The Litleo were no better, but in comparison to the Pyroar their wounds were rather light. One female walked up to the pride’s leader, barely able to stand. “Pride leader, we cannot stand. Can you not see that?”
“I see that, but what choice do we have? If we do not keep moving then we will die to that thing when it finds us. Is that what you want? To see our children become a meal for something no Pokémon has ever seen before, something our fire cannot burn?”
“Well… no… but…”
“We move. Now.”
“Wonder what happened to them?” Banana Beard whispered to Nell.
“Let’s find out.” Nell then started to walk towards the Pyroar leader, who immediately noticed her. He growled, a warning that Nell immediately heeded, stopping just as she started to walk. “Uh...excuse me?”
“This does not concern you.”
“Well, it might. See… I live here,” Nell explained. “In fact, yesterday I helped a lion cub find his, or maybe her, pride and I was hoping that pride could help us."
"I knew it! It is you!" Before Nell could think twice, a Litleo rushed from the safety of his pride and jumped onto Nell's back, laughing as he did so. "You’re the one who saved me from the scary jungle when I was alone! I was hoping you would come back, and you did!"
"Litleo Litleo!" Nell smiled. "I missed you as well."
"So it is you. The one who returned our cub to us," the pride leader noted. "... Fine, I will trust you. For now. But this still does not concern you."
Nell took the opportunity to take a closer look at the approaching pride. Many of them looked like they were on their last legs, struggling to stand. As if they had fought a battle, and lost. "...What happened to you?"
The pride leader refused to speak again, choosing to check on his pride.
"I apologize for my mate. He takes his duty as our alpha and pride leader quite seriously." The female Pyroar answered in the pride leaders steed. "It has been a rather hectic time recently."
"Tell me about it. My home is trying to keep itself together because of you Pokémon." The Pyroar narrowed her eyes, seemingly in a threatening manner. Nell gulped before backpedaling. "I mean… well… we kinda didn't expect an entire species to just… appear out of thin air."
"Well when you put it that way, I cannot be offended then," Came the reply. Nell sighed a sigh of relief before hearing the rest of the Pyroar's words. "After you returned the cub on your back to us, all was right. We explored our new home in earnest, seeking its wonders....and it's dangers.
"As wild Pokémon we are no strangers to the trails of living in the wild. But what has been hunting us… we have never seen anything like it. It found us this afternoon, and quickly waged battle against us. It hunted us, seeking to eat us all, a fate we fought our hardest to avoid. Our fire could not pierce it's scales, and we had to retreat, and quickly. It had been hunting us ever since, never stopping for a moment."
"And that is why we must not stop either!" The pride leader shouted. "We cannot rest until we cannot be found by it!"
"You all look pretty tired." Nell noted the obvious statement, quickly receiving one of those disdainful looks from a few of the Pyroar and Litleo. "...hey I got an idea. See...the short story is that my home needs Pokémon who can breathe fire to help protect it from some nasty ant Pokémon who kinda want to steal my home from us. And well...I was hoping you could help us."
"...You speak of Durant."
"I guess I do." Nell tried to smile, but it didn't calm the Pyroar down. "....are Durant really that bad?"
"Well they aren't nice, that’s for sure," she answered.
"Well, you think you can come with me? I mean… my kind, the Changelings, well, we have a city not to far from here. And it's walled. You'll be safe there. Uh… relatively safe, I think."
"I will try and convince the pack leader to agree to that."
"Thanks." Nell then put a hoof to her chin, an act she found herself doing far more often than before, and thought. "So… what was hunting you… um… what's your name?"
"I do not have one," she answered. "For most Pokémon personal names are not needed. We are able to identify another by sight and smell."
"Well, do you mind if I name you?"
"I do not."
A few seconds of thinking passed, and Nell's hoof morphed into a claw, snapping it before shifting it back. "I got it. Do you mind if I call you Pyre? It kinda sound like Pyroar."
"Pyre… I like that," The now christen Pyre relied.
"So… about that creature."
Pyre looked dour as she recalled what she could. "I… do not know exactly what it is. It stayed mostly in the trees, shooting bolts of Thunder at us. And when it did emerge… it was… indescribable. And it seemed to be unbeatable. We shot our flames at it, unleashed our Hyper Voices, but it shrugged our attacks of like it was nothing. Like it resisted our attacks due to it's type. But..it did not look like it was a Rock."
"Anything else?"
"it had wings, twice as wide as itself, and it… had three heads. "
Banana Beard decided to but in, his head dangling over Nell and Pyre. "Eh, I never did like Dodrio in the first place"
"You think a Dodrio did this Tropius?" Pyre barked. "Dodrio cannot shoot lightning bolts out their mouths!"
"Uh, Hi. I'm not sure if you noticed, but of all of us here, I'm the only one who didn't come from an alien planet," deadpanned Nell. "What's a Dodrio?"
"It's a three headed Normal-Flying type Pokémon," Pyre explained. "But the creature hunting us was not a Dodrio. The reason why is that Dodrio lack wings, and cannot use Thunder or any form of it. The creature hunting us had both Thunder and wings."
At that, Nell began to wonder aloud. "That almost sounds like..." she stopped, eyes widening as the only logical solution to this conundrum surfaced in her mind. "... No way. It can't be!"
"'What it is?" Banana Beard asked.
Oblivious to Banana Beard, Nell continued to muse. "...No way. It can’t be. Dad said they lived deep in the jungle. There is no way they would live anywhere near here."
"You know what hunts us?" Pyre asked, urgency in her tone. "Speak. Now!"
"Pyre… I need to ask… did that creature look like a bunch of other animals smushed together into one body? Like someling mixed and matched them?"
It seemed like an eternity before Pyre answered. "I believe so, speaking from a foreigner's point of view."
One could practically hear Nell gulping. Her wings started to flutter at an alarming pace, rising into the air "We need to go. Now. Before it finds us. "
The cracking of thunder echoed, and a bolt of lighting soon shot from the trees. Before anyone could react, the bolt struck into Nell, her scream echoing in the night. She fell to the ground with a heavy thud, struggling to get up. All heads turned to the source of the attack, not eager to fight knowing their limits had been reached.
"Nell, speak to me!" Banana Beard shouted as he tried to pick her up with a wing leaf. "You okay!?"
"... Think… so."
The Pride Leader had other concerns. “YOU FOOLS! WE LET IT FIND US!” the pack leader shouted. "I WARNED YOU ABOUT RESTING, ABOUT HOW IT WOULD DOOM US! YOU DID NOT LISTEN TO ME!"
Nell struggled to hold on to Banana Beard's leaf, but it was in vain as she slipped off of it, landing on the ground again. The force of the many impacts that had occurred in the past minute were continuously felt, the pain rebounding within her small body endlessly. When everything stopped being blurry, she saw the attacker.
Fear was a well-justified response.
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Oh yea the Chimera is a pretty dangerous foe to face especially for a pokemon.
dun dun DUUUUN
..i wonder if the Pyroar can eat the chimera when they kill it?
5647775
I......don't know how to respond to that.
Wow, Nell's plan is actually a pretty good one. Risky, but smart.
This thing is immune to both fire and normal. It's not a Pokemon, and they're generally more powerful than natives to Equis, so what kind of creature could that possibly be? Oh well, X is probably gonna come and hit or something, wonder how effective that'll be considering Hyper Voice couldn't hurt it.
5647894
Pyroar's are predominantly a carnivorous species, right? since they are, ya know...flaming lions (isnt it said that fire types have to eat more?)
and if they don't manage to somehow miraculously scare away the chimera (it's tracked them this far, its unlikely to give up when its finally caught them)
they would probably need to knock it out or kill it.
and since the Pyroars are wild as well as a large pride, and probably very hungry and in need of a food source, they would benefit more by killing it (doing so would also mean there would be one less giant Changeling eating monster in the area near the hive, so doing so would also get them some appreciation from the changelings) then letting it live and possibly have a grudge against them to attack them later on and leaving them weak and hungry without anything to eat... besides the rather large grass type and small pony...
We had to go there...
oh well
Since when do Chimeras shoot lightning?
5647918
That's the thing....Equis natives don't have types. That means his skin is just that tough
Until Nell mentioned it being a mash-up of different animals, I was picturing King Ghidora chasing them through the jungle.
As it stands, a D&D-style Chimera is plenty dangerous.
and by the way:
This was before Rizen arrived.
Arceus' announcement was on day 3. Why is it still day 2?