Pokémon Legends: Court of Kings

[Marsuru]

The Foot of the Tower

Zack couldn't deny that it felt good saving people, and receiving gratitude for a change. Almost worth the bruised ribs and severe mental trauma he'd suffered from the Dark Pulse and Night Shade. He cracked his neck, giving the pirate the impression that he couldn't give a s**t about the old lady while he weighed up his options. His cards were in play, and there was no way to finesse an attack from Fatass, even if the pirate couldn't see him throwing the ball.

'I mean it!' yelled the pirate, clearly rattled. 'Return your pokémon, right now!'
The trainer looked at Seelie and shrugged. 'Not my pokémon.'

Malis snorted a puff of smoke. If the battle didn't continue, his Swords Dance would fade away in a short time and he was pumped for action. Even so, he wasn't fast enough to make a difference here. He slouched to the ground and sat crosslegged, sliding his black sunglasses up his snout with a middle claw aimed at Zack.

Meanwhile, Zack didn't see the brave acolyte with the shovel, but he did notice something else. A strange feeling coming from Seelie's direction that reminded him of when the bond with Salieri influenced his emotions. Something that made him feel calm, that weakened his will to fight. The Sylveon's feelers flowed around him, as if caught on a light breeze, and Zack looked back at the pirate. Maybe it affected him too, and with any luck he wouldn't be sensitive enough to notice. Had to keep him talking.

'But seriously, you came back? Look around, man. You lost this fight, ain't nothing here except a bunch of scared people.' Zack waved his hand towards the group of villagers and acolytes. 'If you're after loot, it ain't even close to here. So why don't you drop the grandma and buzz off?'

The Fishbone - Lower Deck

[Hmmm,] said Hazard at Caboose's suggestion of using Hypnosis as an interrogation technique. [Well, seeing as I've never used that move in that way before and it's never even been tested in a safe environment - never mind a battle situation - kekeke, I'm sure it'll work.]

They explored the ship a little while longer. Hazard indeed wished to check out the locker room, rooting through the pirates' things while she had the chance. The lockers were the real treasure trove, wherein she found a vast cache of junk; girly magazines, spare pokéballs, rations, a plumbus, posters of scantily-clad men and women... She stole some Leftovers, and shoved them into her ghostly stomach, which had the unexpected effect of making her sunglasses fall off.

If Caboose wanted them, he could take them, Hazard wasn't too fussed. When they continued, came across the playing pirates plus pokémon, and Caboose outlined his plan, or at least informed Hazard that he had a plan. She nodded and hmm'd and waited for him to spring into action. Then she sprang into action.

Nidoqueen would, presumably, be shocked by the sudden attack, just not literally. With the ground type distracted, Hazard quickly flew through the steel floor below and took control of Nidoqueen's shadow. The Gengar's laughing face would eat Nidoqueen up while Hazard grabbed her, and phased her through the floor, all the way to the underside of the ship. Freezing wind bit them, clouds swirled around the Fishbone, and the horizon stretched into terrifying infinity. Hazard would hold onto Nidoqueen, the only thing keeping her from falling into the toy town of Shalour City, each push of the wind and shake of the ship threatening to lift her from the ghost's grasp.

[KEKEKEKAHAHAH!] Hazard cackled, her face transfixed with gleeful insanity. [TELL ME WHERE THE CANNON IS!]

In reality, she had just hit Nidoqueen with Hypnosis.

The Fishbone - Above Deck

Seviper was but a dot in the distance so Serene ignored it for now. If it had any sense, it would lie amongst the unconscious pokémon and invent a suitably heroic defeat. She shook her head, emptying it of creeping thoughts. Zack's cynicism was contagious. A choice lay before them, and it was hers to make. Using her Telepathy, she could sense where Salieri was, and whereabouts Caboose and Hazard were, though without several Calm Minds she wouldn't be able to speak to them Manny-style.

The trainer or the cannon. Zack had understood Salieri's need to rescue Prou, no matter the cost. He had been bonded to her, read the scrapbook of her life. Serene had been a part of that bond as well, at the end. Though merely an echo of Salieri's feelings, the Emotion Pokémon held them as well, and this choice was no choice.

Besides, she doubted Dune would ever forgive her if she pointed him away from his master.

[That way,] she said, deliberating only for a moment. [I think we can catch her if we hurry.]

They weren't that far behind Salieri. At this point in time she would still be fighting her way through the ship. As long as the deck trio didn't dawdle, they might arrive in time to help.  

[Spinne Biss]

Chateau Nostrad - Fourteen Years Ago

Ira's mouth consumed the world. In this case, it was not literal. Ira's mouth could suck everything inside, as if it was a miniature black hole. The motion of this, of simply opening her mouth, though temporarily, would be enough to off-set the speed at which Ratio intended to pull Nostrad, allowing for the following exchange.

With a flick of his wrist as he moved into action, the knife would leave its holtster on his left forearm, aimed to split the ribbon near where it held Nostrad, so that Ancile couldn't change the position of the ribbon to prevent Nostrad from being freed. Unless they had another way to avoid it, the ribbon would split and the court noble would be freed. To further ensure this, the blade flared with a pink psychic aura of Psycho Cut.

Jean moved into action at the same time. Ira, who was still at his side, and from her came a spray of Infestation, which split around Jean and Nostrad and aimed for Ratio and Ancille.

Auto-Cannibalisme

To Ratio, who was the primary target, the spray wouldn't be its original form, it would be like a spray of his loved ones, as well as tiny versions of himself, flying toward him, and if they hit the illusion would force Ratio to see images of them eating him as the infestation tore away at his life.

Jean would swing his blade, flaring like before, for the ribbon if it had managed to avoid the knife somehow, to split it in one motion as he would aim to catch Nostrad around the waist with his free arm. As for Ratio's swing, it would have to be abandoned if he wished to avoid Infestation, and if he moved to take it, and swing, it would allow Jean the split second to match the blade. Without Sword Dance, Ancile wouldn't have the upper hand in strength to simply split Jean's sword, reinforced as it was.

If Ratio paid attention, he would be able to feel the aura of Mesperyian, the Malamar, who watched all of this from the hall, creating the psychic blades that helped ensure Jean would be able to face the ghost type Pokemon.

As for Jean, with the distance closed, he would release Nostrad to run for the door - which was now no longer blocked.

Tower Vault

With two floors to go, Loki would begin to move, preserving his remaining teleports.

Up above, the battle raged.

"Come on, we're out-" she wanted to tell them to just give up, Nowell's Pokemon sprang into action. As its fangs dug into her neck, she'd grab its wings to prevent the Pokemon from getting away.

Several things happened at this point. Pan would lunge at Tyrant, only ot be ignored as Tyrant turned toward Poliwhirl, getting slammed by the Dragon's tail and knocked away a few feet. The Pokemon growled, and would have been restrained, but Helena was busy.

Instead the Water type would have to face down the dinosaur, who wasn't just openly salivating, that saliva was starting to create a puddle on the ground.

Écarlate jumped into action as Feather did, the two of them trading positions. Feather would use a vine whip to grab Muk's ball before Nowell could take it. She'd do this to any remaining Pokeballs on Nowell and then turn to do the same for Stunky's trainer.

The two other trainers still had Pokemon by them, so she saved that for later.

Écarlate, meanwhile, would lunge at Golbat, aiming to catch it with a Bullet Punch pinsir clamp and rip it away from Helena to pull it back into another Bullet Punch from his other claw.

Tyrant lunged at the water type, aiming to grab it in a Crunch with half of its body. If it hit, it would use one of its legs to press against the lower, exposed half of Poliwhirl's body and, with some effort, it would rip the Pokemon in half and consume the upper half.

If Poliwhirl dodged, his trainer would make a decent meal instead.  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Tower Canteen

"Sounds like things are going well." Ben said aloud, grin on his face. "Lucky day." He would answer his xtransceiver without a second thought, eyes on his pokemon who now seemed to be creating a scene that wasn't going particularly well in his favor, but it was keeping Ska busy.

"Go for Ben." He answered, tone light-hearted as his eyes searched for a weak point in Ska's plans.

Smoke exploded from one of the trap cards, and suddenly Ska was fleeing.

Mentally, he cursed himself, but put the thought out of his head. He couldn't focus on just one guy, no matter how big a brain he might happen to be.

"s**t. Ska's getting away."

The psychic link let him know which way they were going, but the question remained on whether or not he should bother, which meant listening to whatever Mia had to say.

Meanwhile, his team would regroup, and while they listened to Mia, they would get out of the smoke and Manny would meditate, Essence would use Growth, and Francis would arrive with a final agility.  

[Jump Einatz]

Foot Of The Tower

The soothing pulse emanating from Seelie’s ribbon feelers reached the pirate as well, amplifying his hesitation. For a moment, his willingness to go through with his threat was quelled, and his Crawdaunt was similarly pacified. They listened to what Zack had to say.

“…Phenac City was nothin’ but scared people.” The pirate’s anger was welling up again. His fists were shaking at his sides. “I’ve got Kalos to thank for that! You think we just came for the loot?! We came for blood!”

The shovel wielding acolyte was out of range from Seelie’s feelers. Unaffected by the pulse, he was undeterred in sneaking up on the pirate. When he was within range, he swung the shovel at the pirate’s legs, dropping the pirate to the floor by surprise. The pirate’s grip on Crawdaunt’s Pokéball slipped, flinging it up in the air.

Before the Crawdaunt could act, the acolyte caught the ball, returned Crawdaunt, and gave the pirate one final smack with the shovel’s spade.

“You’ve come for blood?” the Shovel Acolyte said, spinning the shovel at his side before embedding it into the earth. “You’ve found it now.”

The pirate’s eyes were swirls and his tongue was lolled out to the side. Shovel Acolyte gave the pirate an honorable bow, then checked on the Elder Woman. The Elder waved him off respectfully, an insistence that she was okay.

She faced Zack and gave him an identical bow. Her perpetually squinted eyes wrinkled with gratitude. “Are you alright, child?”

Tower Vault

Poliwhirl stood fast at his trainer’s side. They had been together how many years now? Nine? Ten? Poliwhirl wasn’t good at counting. He wasn’t good at holding on to things with his slippery hands either. He wasn’t good at a lot of things, but Jedah never held it against him. He loved him all the same. If this was this last thing he could do for his trainer-

Poliwhirl was eaten, gone while his trainer was unconscious. His last act wasn’t witnessed by the one it was meant for, but Nowell saw it all.

Golbat flapped harder, his wings not deterred by the grips of the teen. He sucked that sweet Helena blood like a vampire, until Écarlate ripped him off and pummeled him in the face. The bat spit up all the blood he drained, ejecting a torrent as he was sent out the window and out of the fight.

Stunky’s trainer, unconscious, had her Pokéballs taken. Nowell wasn’t passed out, but he was too stunned to struggle as Muk and Golbat’s balls were taken as well. All he could do was look at Helena defiantly. “Savage.”

Gotengo

There had been interference on the line. One second she was trying to persuade Salieri to act, and the next she was cut out. Sal had gone rogue, and Mia couldn’t regain control of Ivan. The Porygon Z’s code forced them to follow Sal’s commands above everyone else’s.

So Mia moved on to someone else. Every now and then, when the PC took time to load, she glanced over her shoulder and saw the Gotengo kids watching the news. They didn’t understand the gravity of Skarada’s ultimatum. The news covered the evacuation of Shalour, but they didn’t know the specifics of why. Mia felt alone in the treehouse.

She hadn’t upgraded Zack’s Holocaster, but she had upgraded Benedict’s. Part of that deal was putting tracking software on him, because Mia liked to keep tabs on things she didn’t fully understand. Like Ben.

The first impression she had of him was not off to a good start, but she knew he was a good guy. As good as she could get on short notice too. The news showed he was there too, no doubt a part of Salieri’s roundup. Besides, he actually answered the call.

“It’s Mia, from the treehouse. Sal’s held up by airship security.” That was a half lie. Salieri was choosing to prioritize said security. It meant leaving the delicate part up to Pokémon. That was, in Mia’s opinion, the wrong choice.

“That cannon will fire any minute.” She kept her voice level, but her fingers and mind were a flurry at the keys. “Can you get on the ship, Ben?”

The Fishbone – Hangar

The guards and their Pokémon in the hangar all looked at the entrance when they heard the door slide open. “Whose rat is that?” one of them asked when they saw the Pikachu.

Caboose used his Magnetic Discharge. Floatzel, the fastest of the enemies, ran on all fours with his tails spinning like propellers to the corner of the room, out of the electromagnetic energy’s range. The two pirates who were affected found themselves floating in the air, then stuck together in a forced hug.

Floatzel didn’t know how to activate the hangar’s alarm, so instead he activated the one thing he did know how to use: the fire sprinklers. The nozzles on the ceiling opened up, and water rained down on the whole room. Floatzel was now the fastest one in the soaked hangar.

The weasel set his sights on Caboose. As the Pikachu launched the Thundershock to send the guards to the ceiling, Floatzel wreathed himself in water and charged Caboose with an Aqua Jet.

Meanwhile, Nidoqueen was immune to the Magnetic Discharge. Before she could capitalize on that, Hazard snuck up on her and she fell into her own shadow, through the floor and the ship. Now she was upside down, with nothing but the Gengar holding her up. She gulped.

[Whoaaaa geez oh boy oh geez okay I’ll tell you what…zzz.]

Hypnosis took hold, and despite being upside down hundreds of feet in the air, Nidoqueen fell asleep. A snot bubble grew and shrank at her nostril with each snore.  

[Marsuru]

Foot of the Tower

The old woman broke the tension. Once she spoke, the tight huddle of townsfolk deteriorated into a rabble of movement and low chatter. Zack gave the tough old fart a grin. Every inch of his arm ached as if it were black with bruises, his head pounded from the mental abuse of the pirates' attacks, and he still had to find his sister. Still, Zack liked people who could see past their own problems, and he strived to do the same.

'Ask me again later,' Zack said, kneeling down and rolling the shoulder of his broken arm. He didn't like the way he'd collided with that wall, but it didn't feel like anything else had broken.

The townsfolk began to spread out. Without any pirates in sight, they seemed braver. Must've helped that one of their own dealt the final blow. Where was that guy anyway? He seemed too cool to have just vanished. Although, Zack reminded himself, vanishing like that was maybe the coolest thing he could have done. Someone passed Zack a bottle of water, and even helped him undo the cap.

'I'm looking for my sister,' Zack explained while he had their attention. 'She got here a little while ago, stuck around the tower. Anyone?'

Zack took a swig of water, and spat out the blood that'd built up in his mouth from the fight while the townfolk murmured a response. It wasn't a good one, but Zack had expected it. When your home gets attacked by pirates descending from the sky, you don't pay attention to random strangers.

Well, most people don't.

'I saw your sister, Redgrave,' said the familiar, disgruntled croak of the guardsman, Milo. He wore a demoralised mask of humility as he stepped from the crowd. Zack took another swig of water and met Milo's eyes across the end of the bottle. 'She made for the Flame of Meditation.'
'?' said Zack.
'The building that looks like an igloo,' Milo grumbled. 'It is where Master Gurkinn was last seen.'

That was a relief. Zack put the water bottle down and hopped to his feet. Helena was with Gurkinn, safe as houses. No, Zack thought, being that optimistic didn't suit him.

'Guess I know where I'm headed,' Zack said, tossing the empty bottle to a man he'd picked at random. 'Thanks a bunch, Milo.'
'Just put yourself to good use, Redgrave. Prove that you deserve the faith Master Gurkinn has placed in you.'

Zack shook his head as he pushed through the crowd. He caught sight of Malis, who leapt onto the roofs and followed along. Seelie appeared at the trainer's side, and he got the feeling he'd be stuck with the Sylveon for a while. Not that he didn't appreciate the extra firepower, but did it have to be so... visually... lame?

'Thank you,' Zack said without looking at Seelie. The pokémon made no reply, but Zack got the sentiment all the same.  

[Spinne Biss]

Tower Vault

"All you had to do was surrender!" Helena shouted, frustration clear in her tone. She held her neck with one hand as she turned to Tyrant, who had turned to look at her as he smelled blood. His giant maw parted as he was engulfed in the red light of his Pokeball. She returned Pancham after that, the little guy struggling to stand with the poison coursing through his veins. Metric was the last one, the little dragon unconscious.

It was supposed to be under control. Poliwhirl was a pool of blood, the rest of his remains shredded up in Tyrant's digestive tract. The only conscious Pokemon was the little dark type puppy standing near their trainer.

Helena ignored it, but Écarlate kept watch.

"Take any items they have," she said to Feather who began the task of searching the unconscious trainers. Helena stepped over to Nowell.

"You guys have to understand something, I have two settings with this. I defeat you, and then you end up in a prison cell, or you run away, whatever. It's not my problem. I don't have the time to care about that. If you guys waste any more time I won't have that luxury. That-" she pointed at Poliwhirl's puddled remains, too sick of the sight to look at it herself, "is the alternative. I cannot let you murder an entire city for whatever bullshit reason you're here for."

Écarlate kept watch of Nowell too as Helena knelt down to loot the leader herself. If there was a revive, she'd use it on Metric. Any antidotes would go to Pancham and then Feather, and potions would go to Écarlate, then Tyrant, then Metric, then Pancham.

As this began, Loki would arrive on the scene. He'd be greeted by any remaining potions.

If Nowell didn't do anything to stop her, it'd give Helena a minute to adjust herself, taking a piece of cloth and wrapping it tightly around her neck to try and slow the blood that came out of the wound.

"Pan, Feather, Metric(if he was up again), keep guard," she told the three of them, Écarlate and Loki at her side as she looked back at the vault doors. "The rest of you, we have to get to the airship. But first," she turned to Loki, "take me to my brother."

If everything went according to plan, she'd arrive at the base of the Tower, and if Zack was still within earshot she'd call out to him.  

[Jump Einatz]

Tower Township

Skarada slowed his sprint down to a stride when he was out of his smoke cloud. With his men behind him and Benedict even farther away in the cloud, he took the time to mentally regroup. Nowell mentioned one ‘Ellie Jones’ before his transmission was cut off. If that was the sniper that shot at Ska in Shalour, could she be here? Or was this Zack Redgrave? Perhaps another? Nowell's radio silence caused worry to creep into Skarada's thoughts.

The best laid plans often went awry. Ska knew this, and couldn't bank all of his chances on one shot. He would go to the vault himself and assess what they could do. Every minute the cannon was down, they were vulnerable. But after that? It was smooth sailing.

The buildings in front of him obscured the base of the Tower, but it still loomed higher than anything else. Not as cocky as before, he picked up his radio. "Another jump, Erin."

A swirling portal opened up in front of him once more. Tailed by Mega Sergio and Keasbey, Skarada went inside, and the portal closed behind them.

Foot Of The Tower

A random man caught the water bottle. "We should not stay here either," said the elder woman. Her suggestion was met with quick agreement. "Gather yourselves and take shelter. Our fates rest in the hands of our saviors now."

The acolytes in front of the Tower picked themselves up and hurried to cluster in a safer, more removed area of the island. They dragged as many unconscious pirates as they could with them, prisoners for the police to take into custody when this was over. Assuming they were saved.

Tower Vault

Nowell could tell that for someone without much time, Ellie Jones enjoyed giving a speech. He was half listening while Ellie excused herself and Tyrant’s consumption of his ally. He couldn’t keep his eyes off the puddle of Poliwhirl a few feet away, but Ellie couldn’t even look at it. Was that supposed to be guilt? Or squeamishness?

Then again, Nowell didn’t care for her justification. Her Pokémon ate his mate’s Pokémon. She may not have been Kalosian, but she fought for them. She fought like them.

On Stunky’s trainer, Feather would find an Antidote that would go to Pancham. On Poliwhirl’s trainer, she’d find a normal Potion. That trainer began to stir, close to waking up to the carnage of his passed friend.

Helena would find a Super Potion on Nowell’s person, as well as his walkie talkie. The radio had three accessible frequencies: a channel to Skarada, a channel to the Fishbone’s bridge, and a channel to the Fishbone’s security officer. If Helena tried calling the last frequency, she'd get no response, as at this time Eileen had been stalking Salieri through the ship's mess hall.

While she searched him, Nowell, still paralyzed from being shattered into a wall, shook his head at her inches from her face. “Have the guts...” He coughed up some more blood from his internal wounds, his voice getting coarse. “...to own what you do..."

With the last of his strength, while she was searching him, he'd spit at her. Defiance was all he had. That's why he was part of The Fishbone.  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Path to a Cannon

Ben glanced after the way Ska had gone off. Mia's voice was coming through and for a moment her felt a tinge of frustration. He'd left that part to the others because of not reading the file, but he'd managed to keep a pretty tough guy busy for a time. It wouldn't amount to anything if Sal was being stopped, though.

He trusted his pokemon to an extent, but Caboose probably didn't know a thing about finding and disabling cannons. Ben didn't have much idea either, but he did have a phone. With Mia on it. Was it wrong to assume hacker ladies could help with disabling weapons?

"I'll get on it." He replied, pulling himself on to the flying type. Francis would wait long enough for Essence and Manny to climb on as well before taking off. Likely it was a good thing he'd taken that time to speed up with what was going through Ben's head.

Sunny day burned to life as they started their way up, with Francis' keen eye raised to the sky as he pushed off the ground to launch towards the airship. One weakness of those cannon things tended to be that they had to have a place to come out of, and if Ska was threatening, it would probably be open somewhere to show he was serious.

Find that spot and get in it quickly and they'd have a good chance to stop it.

That was the half-baked plan anyway.

The plan was that Francis would Quick Attack skyward, while the other two defended. Solar beam would be brought to a one turn activation for Essence to defend them, and Manny would attack as needed. If no attacks came, he would take the time as they got closer to link with Caboose and, if Hazard was cool with it, them too.

********************************************

Secret Agent Mouse and the Shadow

When his companion's sunglasses fell to the ground, Pikachu would put them on.

It was times like this that Caboose wished he knew Thunder. The Floatzel's attack redirected his own as he was forced to dodge, and the thundershock would shakily fire wildly. If any hangar doors were actually open, there would be a real chance he'd accidentally send the trainers flying outside. They would be pinned to any object they hit, however. Assuming they hit something before the thundershock reached its range.

Despite his attempt to dodge, Floatzel's speed was enough to earn a glancing blow, and a risk of being affected by Static. If the pokemon were crazy enough to hold on or try to physically take the Pikachu somewhere, he would unleash an electro ball at point-blank range, which would be quite dangerous to the now-faster pokemon.

Otherwise, Pikachu would attempt to reset their positions. Speed wasn't on his side, and he had a feeling that a discharge wasn't going to work. So long as the trainers hadn't been tossed out of the airship by total accident, he would Play Nice. [I don't want to fight. I'm here to keep a lot of people from dying down there, people I care about. Let's just stop.]

If the trainers had been tossed out accidentally, well, there wouldn't be any playing nice, and instead he'd prepare for a possibly more enraged Floatzel with an Electro Ball that he would try to slam into the other pokemon's face the next time it came flying at him.  

[Marsuru]

Chateau Nostrad - Fourteen Years Ago

Ancile's ribbon snapped taut and yanked Lord Nostrad towards Ratio. Nostrad screeched like a trapped animal as the veins along his arm ran charcoal black. In a few seconds, Ancile would drain the rest of his life force, and the mission would be complete. Ideally.

Jean's thrown blade sliced Ancile's ribbon in half, freeing the old lord, and lodged into the wall. As Nostrad slumped, Jean caught him and brought his blade up to meet Ratio's downward swing, clashing in a blaze of sparks. Ira's Infestation swarmed past them, and would have attempted to burrow into Ratio, but the aura master was faster. His downwards swing had meant to slice Nostrad from shoulder to hip, an ancient sword technique known as the Turning Swallow Cut. By modern times, the technique had become synonymous with certain pokémon and taken on a new name: Aerial Ace.

This coupled with Ancile's unique ability, Projection, to complete the attack where Jean had blocked it. Though the Aegislash's sword wouldn't move from Jean's, Aerial Ace would project outward as a white crescent shadow, cutting through Jean and into Ira's Infestation, demolishing the attack before it could spread. Ratio doubted that an aura master would be felled from this single blow, but even so, Jean had committed himself to standing before a strike, and would therefore suffer a bleeding line of split flesh that looped diagonally around his torso.

Nostrad peeled away from the two battlers, shoving his way through Ira's Infestation. Unless Lord Nostrad had selective immunity from the attack, Ira would have to kill it completely, lest it harm the man they were attempting to protect. Nostrad staggered through the open door, clutching his diseased arm as it swelled into a heavy purple mess. Ratio couldn't let him escape. Celarsi, Ratio's Ditto, leaped from the assassin's face. With Jean standing almost nose to nose with Ratio, the pokémon didn't have far to go, and if it successfully clung to Jean's face, it would Transform into a sealed metal cube that would prevent Jean from seeing, hearing, and breathing.

Ratio would use this opportunity to break from Jean, hooking his foot around the aura master's ankle and shoving against his blade to trip him. If this worked, Jean would crash to the floor, locked away from the world by Celarsi's terrifying sealed helmet, and the only problem would be Ira. And whatever pokémon Jean had waiting outside.

Given the chance, Ratio would sprint after Nostrad, who had run for the stone corridor that joined two towers of the chateau, as the alarm sounded for the guards.

Foot of the Tower

Zack was almost too far away when he heard her voice. Seelie's ears pricked up and both trainer and pokémon turned at the same time. She looked a little worse for wear, Zack thought as a wave of relief swamped him, but s**t, she was there. Malis watched from the rooftops and Seelie stayed put, but Zack broke into a run and reached his sister in seconds.

'Helena!' he grinned, hoping the Acolyte's water had washed away the blood from his teeth, and brought her into a one-armed hug. Zack broke the hug and looked Helena in the eye. 'We've got pirates, but luckily they're s**t. You good?'

Secret Agent Mouse and the Shadow: Operation Cannon Eater

While Floatzel did battle with Caboose, Hazard had a prisoner to interrogate. Her eyes spinning like spirals, upright only thanks to Hazard holding her shoulders, Nidoqueen divulged the directions to the main cannon, muttering the way in sleepy fragments. Once done, Hazard would let the ground type slump to the floor, where her dreams were hopefully more peaceful than the terrors of falling thousands of feet into the earth.  

[Jump Einatz]

Gotengo

“Hurry,” Mia said to Ben, rushing to pull up the pictures Salieri sent her earlier from Juliet’s dossier. The snapshots of the airship’s schematics were taken off of Sal’s Pokégear, so Mia worked to improve the resolution as best as she could. Somewhere on this schematic, there’d have to be a point for the cannon to fire. Considering the target was below the ship, the cannon was most likely somewhere on the bottom deck.

She relayed as much to Ben, outlining her thought process as she went. “So if they really were going to fire it, it’d have to be on the bottom half on the ship. Somewhere near the front, I think. Do you see anything?”

Below The Fishbone

Essence’s Sunny Day pierced through the Fishbone’s cloud cover with a sphere of hot light imitating the sun. That light would help illuminate the ship for Benedict and company, melting the shadows cast by the clouds.

The pirates that had been guarding the ship with air and deck patrol had been cleared out by Salieri and the other Pokémon, paving a safe way for Ben’s party. From his angle of approach, he’d be able to see the cannon.

Three hangar doors were closed and locked at the front end of the ship, but the one off the portside had a shoddily sliced out hole in it. Poking out of that hole was a cannon barrel the size of an SUV, pointing in the direction of Shalour City. With the barrel taking up so much space, entering through that hole would be impossible for anyone aside from a tiny Pokémon.

The only other readily available entrance to the ship on its bottom half was the emergency window previously opened by Hazard further along its length, now depressurized with time. The entrance was small, but not too small for someone of Benedict’s size to squeeze through.

A few more seconds of quick flying upwards, and Benedict would spy the most apparent entrance: the one on the top deck of the ship, with the defeated bodies of pirates and their Pokémon strewn in front of it.

The Fishbone – Hangar

Floatzel slid past Caboose, jumping and landing with his claws gripped to the inner wall. The two pirates floating in the air suddenly found themselves pinned to the ceiling, too smushed to each other to cry out for help loudly enough. Not that Floatzel needed to hear it.

Playing Nice bought Caboose a few seconds as Floatzel listened to his plea. The plight to reach his conscience lowered his fighting power ever so slightly, but not his fighting spirit. The weasel licked his lips. [Funny. We said the same thing to you Kalosians back in Orre!]

Floatzel, still wired with speed off of his Swift Swim, darted at Caboose with a second Aqua Jet, a wet orange blur screeching across the room. After all, it worked the first time. Assuming it worked again, Floatzel would keep zipping around the room back and forth to score a blitz of tackles until Caboose was down or he was stopped.

On the other side of the room, Nidoqueen rustled in her dream of being held upside down outside the ship, whispering to Hazard what the Ghost wanted to hear.

The cannon was located on the portside of the hangar, behind an airlock door that led to the proper hangar door. Through the airlock’s glass, the base on the SUV sized barrel could be seen, just as massive and wired with a rudimentary computer. The airlock door was, predictably locked, but there was a keypad for access. Something the crew didn’t like, but deemed necessary just in case. Due to their disdain, they kept the three letter password shockingly simple.

“Password…is a name for a pirate…I guess…” Nidoqueen yawned. She rolled onto her back and scratched her stomach, eyes still closed as she completely drifted off.

The Fishbone - Above Deck

Durendal nodded at Serene's directions. Still wreathed in his red dust scarf, hovering inches off the deck, he led the way to where she pointed. Serene and Lethal would find themselves caught up in his wake, a breeze characterized by the red tint of the dust in its airflow. It acted as a makeshift Tailwind, boosting their speed for a short time.

Wherever Salieri was, she could be in trouble. Not only in true danger, but in her mind. He knew she had a tendency to lose stability where family matters were concerned. And Prou was family. For Dune, this was a race to save not only Shalour City, but the tenuous wellbeing Salieri had left.  

[Spinne Biss]

Tower Vault

You're threatening innocent people, you first. Helena said nothing else to Nowell before she left.

Pan and Feather were the only two left behind. The enemies Pokemon were locked away, unconscious, or dead. As for the humans, neither one figured they'd be much trouble.

[She wields him like a weapon.] Pan spoke of Tyrant with bitterness and anger. Feather frowned.

[We need him.]

[Do we? Look at what he did!] Pan gestured to the puddle that had once been Poliwhirl.

[He scares me too, but yes, we do.] Feather looked over at Nowell, the broken man sat up against the vault doors. [If you want to be able to stop him.] Now she looked back at Pan and smiled, [Just get stronger than he is.]

Chateau Nostrad - Fourteen Years Ago

Jean grinned as the slash cut into him, if Ratio had expected it to hurt him, he'd have another thing coming. While the wound was made and the damage was done, Jean could not feel the pain of it. Instead, it was pleasure.

Ratio wasted no time with words, which left Jean quiet as Nostrad fled to his escpae. Jean would move sideways, pulling his sword away from Ancille as he dodged to the side to avoid the Ditto.

Instead, Ditto would head straight for Ira. From her body came an army of hands, a hallucination for all to see. The hands themselves were real - they were the reapers cloth of Ira, moving to grab Ditto.

Chaînes de traumatismes

If caught, Ditto would be pulled into the cloak, to see the images of the dead ripping them apart as the Bind tore away at their health.

As for Jean, his sideways movement put him out of the direct line of Ratio's attack.

Mesperyian would let Nostrad pass and, if he had the time, he'd move to block the doorway.

As for Jean, he'd use his free hand to fling another knife, this one aimed for Ratio's left foot, to force Ratio to move as well - any direction but forwards.

Foot of the Tower

Helena ran as well, embracing Zack when she got close enough to. Her fingers would curl for a moment, to cling to his shirt, balling her hands into fists as she took a deep breath and let it out.

Then she pulled away. "I know, I took care of the ones at the vault. We need to get on that airship."

Loki was at her side. "You ready?"  

[Marsuru]

Chateau Nostrad - Fourteen Years Ago

Ancile had Ratio covered. Once Jean broke the melee, the Aegislash's shield expanded, growing from the watch-sized disc on Ratio's wrist into a man-sized sheet of steel that deflected Jean's knife in a shower of sparks. A little over the top, perhaps, but it meant that Ratio could continue forward without breaking his stride. Ancile's shield detached itself, and walled Jean, preventing his pursuit as Ratio dashed for the door.

Celarsi, meanwhile, fell into Ira's Bind. As a Ditto, it couldn't escape, but Celarsi had been blessed with an eidetic memory, and could recall an armory of transformations. The blob pokémon glowed white, turning itself into a magnificent Rapidash. With Run Away as its new Ability, Celarsi broke Ira's Bind and Flame Charged, aiming to ram through the Ghost type and join its trainer in the hallway.

If Mesperyian attempted to block Ratio, the assassin would ram a glowing Ancile through its stomach, gutting it with Sacred Sword. If this went through, Ratio would catch Celarsi by the neck and mount it as it barreled through Mesperyian on the way to the hall. Nostrad wouldn't be far, and he couldn't outrun death on horseback.

Foot of the Tower

Zack glanced Loki's way and hesitated. He really didn't want Helena going on this trip, but he also couldn't leave her alone, even if she had apparently proved herself already. The relief he felt at seeing her okay told him to stay with her. Besides, attempting to put his foot down would just lead to an argue he didn't have the time for, and she owned the Teleporter.

Whatever. He gave Loki the nod.

'Just don't get distracted. Ska's an expert at misdirection.'  

[Spinne Biss]

Foot of the Tower

Loki took the hands of each trainer. "Don't worry," Helena said, the wound on her neck pulsing pain in time with her heartbeat, reminding her to stay focused. "I won't."

And then they teleported into the air, high above the tower as the Sunny Day broke the cloud cover to give them a perfect view of the airship.

The trio would appear just above the desk, teleporting once more as they began to descend - teleporting on the desk of the airship itself.  

[Spinne Biss]

Chateau Nostrad - Fourteen Years Ago

Mesperyian couldn't let Ratio pass so easily. As Jean jumped away from Ancile to avoid being slammed into the wall, he would allow Ratio to pass by. Landed a few feet away, he'd turn toward Ratio's exposed back.

Arsenal, as was his true name, had no simple end to the amount of weapons he carried upon his person. Some were upon his person in their original form, others were kept in item balls, organized around his body on the interior of his clothing.

The kusarigama that he produced was one such weapon. The hooked sycthe blade attached to the chain would swing out toward Ratio, attempting to catch him in the back. If it hit Jean would pull on the chain to drag Ratio back toward him and to the ground.

Ira would fling herself away from Celarsi as she moved with Run Away. The Reaper's cloth would let the Ditto turned Rapidash go free, and she'd turn toward the escaping assassin, the pressure of her field disappearing for a moment as she melted into the shadows.

Mesperyian brought up both of its fins, hardened like blades with Night Slash and Psycho Cutter to ram themselves into Ratio's shoulders as the assassin drove the blade into his stomach. Ratio would have to abandon his attack to avoid the double blow, otherwise he'd find the tendons of his shoulders sliced, weakening his arms and slowing his swings.

If all of this failed to stop Ratio, he'd likely reach Celarsi, and as he would continue after Nostrad, the shadows cast by the Rapidash's light would give Ira her opportunity to emerge, snuck up behind Ratio again, attaching herself to Celarsi. This time she'd hold the face of Ratio's mother, if he could remember her, and in her voice she'd say "bad boy" before wrapping around the assassin to crush him in her Binding embrace.

If Jean missed or was otherwise stopped obviously he'd give chase.  

[Marsuru]

Chateau Nostrad - Fourteen Years Ago

Pain seared at Ratio's shoulder. He'd managed to trade blows with Mesperyian, but hadn't escaped unscathed. As he plunged Ancile's blade into the Malamar's gut, it struck back with a pair of attacks. Through reflex alone, Ratio angled his body to narrowly avoid the Psycho Cutter, but took the full brunt of the Night Slash through his left shoulder. In the same motion, he twisted Ancile and wrenched the Aegislash outward, cutting a wide line from Mesperyian's insides out.

Jean launched his scythe. Ancile knew it was coming, which meant Ratio knew it was coming. The royal sword pokémon acted on its own, meeting Jean's scythe head on. As it moved, it used its Kings Shield ability to swap its stats between its sword and its shield. Now the sword couldn't cut, but it could block blows with ease, reducing the scythe's cutting power and momentum to nil and dropping it to the floor with a clatter. Meanwhile, the shield's power went through the roof.

If Jean noticed the switch in power in time, he had a chance. Otherwise, he would take a superpowered Iron Head slam from Ancile's shield, which would hit like a truck and send him into the wall.

Celarsi bowed its head as it reached Ratio, scooping the assassin onto its back. His shoulder bled, and his arm was almost useless. He grasped a fistful of heatless flame as he rode the Ditto-Rapidash, Flame Charging along the hallway, blowing closed doors from their hinges in a blaze of charcoal as he held Ancile to his side. Nostrad wasn't far. Ratio could sense his fear, his anger, permeating through the chateau.

The guards were fighting downstairs. Shepard and Fury held them off while Ratio chased his prey. He raced along the stone corridor leading between two towers of the chateau, and this is where Ira emerged from Celarsi's shadow. The pokémon wrapped Ratio in its shadow Bind, crushing his arms into his sides and dragging him from Celarsi's back. The Ditto Transformed again, this time into a Scizor that tore up the carpet as it slid to a halt. It vanished, charging Ira with a Bullet Punch to close the distance before attempting to slice the shadow Bind away with its Night Slash, freeing Ratio.

If Ira refused to let go, then Celarsi would Night Slash again, putting an end to the Dusknoir.

The Fishbone - Top Deck

Zack and Helena reappeared in a flash of light into... not a warzone? More like the aftermath. Zack scanned the metal horizon, and it was full of defeated, unconscious pirates. Good news so far, but what was going on inside? He broke away from his sister and looked for the entrance doors as the cold wind chilled his bones.

'This way,' he called back. Salieri was inside. Maybe she'd lost already. Zack knew how capable she was, but he also knew what kinds of people they were dealing with. If Salieri lost her cool, that might just be the end of her.