Music for the scene:Maid: "Freedom to travel or not, we must decipher your intentions. By their sound, you seem to be opposed to the Crown-Princess and her decrees. We do have orders regarding such a thing. Unfortunately, those orders do mean that we will come to blows. I'm terribly sorry."
Radegast lowered his stance. If there was one thing he disliked more than the concept of fate, it was a monarchy. So-called "high and mighty" figures imposing their will on free beings who just want to live their own lives. This oppressive weather alone was something he'd oppose on principle alone. "No you're not," Radegast called her bluff, "You ain't sorry at all."
"I was afraid that it would have to come to this. Radegast, time to see what you've learned since we last met. Let's take these turkeys. Multi Battle style, or do you want to pair off?" Touko sighed and released herself from the wall after all that awkward posing.
Not enjoying being ignored, Sandra decided to repeat herself to the girl, "Hi, I'm Sandra. What's your name?"
As Sandra introduced herself again, she heard the armoured person speak. She was confused considering she thinks the man as a Pokemon. Maybe he wasn't? After listening though, she somewhat understood that this was a bit more than a regular fight. The moniker, Crown-Princess was tossed in as well and that greatly confused her.
"Hey, wait a minute miss maid. There isn't a Crown Princess last I checked the news a day or so ago."
"Looks like this place went and got boring in a hurry." Diamond crossed his arms, relaxing his stance as he listened to the maid speak, leaning back slightly. At Sandra's insistence, he looked to her and gestured for her to join them on the battle-line that was forming. "Name's Diamond. I sense this is gonna get ugly here pretty soon, so... if you want to battle against what appears to be an evil dictator Diancie and her goons by all means hang around?"
"Can we focus, Diamond?" Lucy growled, looking over her shoulder.
"Maybe. We did just get here after all." Diamond resumed his more ready stance. smirking.
Swiftly brandishing two daggers into her hands, the maid bowed. Each dagger was a glimmering faint purple, and looked to be fashioned out of diamonds and metal.
Maid: "Very well. A fight it is. I shall clean you up like stains off a table. A single wipe."
Vs. Crown-Guard BelindaAt this, the maid tossed a dagger into the air and swiftly threw a Poke Ball forward, releasing a Cinccino, which bore a rather aggressive expression and looked ready to pick a fight already. She then caught the dagger once more, adopting a formal stance that nonetheless held menace.
Radegast's probe didn't find much of value beyond surface thoughts of him and his allies, mostly of disdain, as well as a praise of the Crown-Princess about her defeating them easily. Also, a shadowy, but burning, backlash of energy struck him when he tried to probe the minds of the girls.
The two girls with her both grabbed their own Poke Balls, one releasing a Sunflora, and the other releasing a Floatzel. Both Pokemon held similarly aggressive stances, and didn't look too friendly. The girls also took the opportunity to make sure they kept a short distance as they nocked arrows, preparing to fire when the time was right.
"Woah woah woah woah! DAGGERS!? Are you trying to kill us?" Sandra spoke, obviously surprised at the maid's weaponry.
Reflexively, after seeing the other Pokemon taken out, she grabbed her own pokeball and tossed out a Magnezone.
"Come on Maggy! These people seem to mean some business."
Underneath his mask, Radegast frowned at the nocked arrows. He focused energy into his legs, ready to spring out and block the first blow they dish out. If there was one thing he had learned from previous fights, he'd do better as a protector, rather than an attacker.
"It looks that way. Come on out, Nike! We're going to overwhelm them with how hot our spirit burns!" If Touko had failed to introduce herself to Sandra previously, perhaps that would do as Victini hit the field, a one foot high ball of energy with a V-shaped crest on its head. "News can change fast in a couple of days, kid. Get ready to rumble! Have your Magnezone hang back and attack from a distance, I'll take the fight to them!"
"That was the plan anyway. And I'm not some kid, girl." spat Sandra.
Diamond narrowed his eyes as he watched the Pokemon that the maid and the archers sent out. Something was Definitely off about them, and he grit his teeth. "Lucy, you seeing this?" he asked. At her nod, he gripped his hands into fists and blinked slowly, taking a breath. "Okay then. Get ready." Lucy responded by getting an Aura Sphere ready, charging it between her paws.
"I'm not sure how much you guys are aware of this... but their Aura is totally messed up. Corrupted, even!" Diamond stated to the others around him. "I suggest we finish this quickly, and try and lift the corruption if we can. Lucy! Go!"
"On it!" Lucy growled before launching her Aura Sphere at the Floatzel with a growl. Aura Sphere wasn't a move that missed, but there was always a first for everything, and with how differently these Pokemon and their trainers were acting, Diamond was expecting just about everything.
"Maggy, target the Floatzel with a Zap Cannon!"
A series of beeps and metallic sounds follow as a large ball of lightning charged between the magnets on either side of the Magnezone. It quickly fired it at the selected target.
"So, girl. Might I ask what that pipsqueak is?"
Marksman 1: "Floatzel, Shadow Blitz! Any target"
The Floatzel began dashing forward only to rush straight into the Aura Sphere, its power sending the Floatzel flying backwards before it slid on the ground, swirls in its eyes as the Trainer returned it. She then released her arrow.
Marksman 1: "You'll pay for that! Take this! Shadow Bullseye!"
The projectile flew with the unnatural shadowy aura as the diamond tipped arrow barreled down on Diamond. The arrow was flying true at the moment, and would probably hurt a lot if it managed to land.
Radegast, however, had sprung out to deflect the arrow with the Aegislash shield. With a light ping, the arrow shattered into splinters and shards, and scattered harmlessly against the southern wall, only to bother the future janitor at-best. Fortunately, they dissolved into the purple aura moments later, and were thus gone entirely in seconds. Diamond's eyes widened as he saw the Arrow released at him, and was half-way through rolling out of the way when Radegast blocked it with his shield. Rolling to his feet, Diamond looked to the Trainer after nodding in thanks to Radegast.
"So now we're attacking each other and our Pokemon, eh?!" he shouted out.
"Don't worry, guys," Radegast inhaled and exhaled as he calmed his mind. His eyes did not leave the opposing force that blocked their forward motion. "I'll cover you from those arrows."
Shortly thereafter, the Trainer raised her arms to shield herself as the Zap Cannon struck her with a large explosion of electrical energy that left her on the floor unconscious, her helmet having been blown off.
"Nice shot, Maggy! A bit sorry hitting a person but they are trying to kill us. And here I thought it was going to be a regular Pokemon battle. Things got messy. Maggy, be ready for the usual."
The Pokemon stayed silent but twirled its magnet hands in response as it slid to be in front of Sandra, ready to defend her.
Marksman 2: "Wake up, losers! Shadow Shot!"
The second arrow flew with incredible speed that couldn't be avoided as it flew directly for Lucy, the arrow itself not quite as strong as a normal attack would be. That did not mean it hurt any less, though a Pokemon of her caliber wasn't going to be affected much.
Radegast moved to intercept once more, but this time around he narrowly missed. "Crap!"
"Heads up Lucy!" Diamond shouted.
Lucy was in a good stance, seeing the arrow coming, and moved to dodge it, but was hit in the ribs, causing her to buckle briefly before regaining her stance with a growl."These guys want to play rough, let's play rough." She growled. Diamond nodded in agreement.
"Bone Rush!" Diamond shouted, his own eyes glowing blue as he used a human version of Detect to try and predict the next move of their opponents. "And once you're done with her Sunflora, move on to her, too! Finish this quick!"
Touko finally found time to look back at Sandra with a bad case of bitch face. "Do you live in a cave?! I'm the reason we're in this crazy situation! You've literally never heard the name Emiko Touko? Then know it by my power! Nike, use Fusion Flare on Sunflora!" At the prompt, the little pipsqueak did a nimble wall kick move to get into position in the cramped quarters of the gate house, then the next moment the Sunflora was facing a huge ball of fiery energy coming its way!
"Oh so you're the girl Lori was talking about. And as for living in a cave, I don't bother myself with the news and who the big wigs are in life or anything like that. I stick with what matters, which is food and family, anything else on the news doesn't concern me that much. I'll be treating you the same as any other girl, regardless of your opinions or status. So as long as we're in the same place, get used to being treated like a normal girl."
Marksman 2: "Sunflora, protect yourself! Then use Shadow Wave!"
The Sunflora used Protect quickly to block the obviously lethal attack before jumping back to prepare to fire off several wispy waves of shadowy energy.
"Great power, Emiko. You couldn't kill a flower."
Seeing this, Belinda stood in place for a moment as the Sunflora's shield went down after the attack. She chose to accompany them at this time, preparing her next order and move.
Belinda: "Cinccino, look at all the dust gathered here. Put that tail to use! Shadow Slap!"
The Cinccino rushed forward for the Victini, preparing to use what seemed to be a dark and shadowy version of Tail Slap, one of its more notable and powerful techniques. This one was backed by its own Technician and Skill Link as it looked to put an actual hurt on the fiery ball of energy.
Belinda herself then dashed forward with intensive speed as she leapt towards the Magnezone, her whole body almost turning into a sort of helicopter blade of an attack as she attempted to strike the magnet based Pokemon with her shadowy daggers extended for a significant amount of damage. Whether she hit or missed, she'd land and spin around on her heel to ready her next move.
Starting what seemed to be the next round of fighting, Sunflora's preparations worked out in that it fired off several wispy waves of shadowy energy that targeted for everyone opposing it.
Radegast took the brunt of the wave. With a growl through grit teeth, Radegast shook himself loose and rose his shield once more. With his sword still on his back, Radegast quickly reached into his leg satchel and produced an Oran Berry, which he quickly popped into his mouth.
Diamond, seeing the Waves coming from what felt like a mile away, was easily able to avoid them. "Get ready, Lucy!" he called out, Lucy nodded, likewise able to see the Shadow Waves approaching, doing her best to dodge them, the waves grazing her, and not doing too much in terms of damage.
All this was getting too crazy. Was...that attack coming for her?! Touko let out a meek yelp and withdrew, running back towards the bridge so she could hopefully get some cover against the Shadow Wave. But in closing to melee, Cinccino had made a fatal error, and opened itself up to Nike's most powerful technique. "V-Create! Let's make this kitchen too hot for them to stay in!"
Again the crest on Victini's head glowed, hotter than before, heating up the entire gatehouse to uncomfortable levels before charging forward, ramming into the Cinccino with an almighty headbutt and a tremendous explosion of power! Maybe the previous attack hadn't worked. That's okay. These things happened--but maybe THAT would show everyone who they were dealing with!
The Magnezone took both hits and stayed up, twirling its magnets in defiance and letting out something of a screech. Sandra wasn't too happy about the attack coming towards her. She simply puts up her arms to cover her face and takes the blow. While it certainly stung, she wasn't hurt too too badly.
"Tch, hurts less than that bite. Maggy, stand strong, dear. Ready a Signal Beam for that Cinccino!! And are we running away Miss powerful trainer? Just take your lumps and keep going. Youngsters these days, running at the first sign of hardship."
With that, the Magnezone let loose a stream from its left magnet that heads for the appointed Pokemon, bypassing the maid entirely.
At this moment, a staff of blue, bone-shaped Aura appeared in Lucy's paws and she rushed forward with a flourish, aiming first for the Second Marksman's Sunflora with a devastating array of strikes, hopping back after her combination, resting a bit to refocus, setting her eyes next on the Second Marksman herself. Despite the resistance Sunflora had against the Ground-type nature of the move, the power difference between the two was too large to stop the Bone Rush from knocking out the Sunflora, who was returned to its Poke Ball as its Trainer let out a sound of discontent at the result before readying herself to take a hit, though not without focusing herself to steady another shot. The Cinccino took the Signal Beam clean, but following the V-Create's effect, the Cinccino fainted and was returned to its Poke Ball.
Belinda grimaced before she gave Touko a dark gaze. Dashing forward, she lept toward the Victini as she performed what seemed to be several acrobatic maneuvers that culminated in her taking several swings at the Pokemon with her daggers. The attack was clearly some version of Acrobatics, but judging by the dagger's shadowy auras as she performed the attack, it wasn't the usual move.
Touko was looking around the corner, and at seeing Belinda leap at Victini, had one thought. "Aw. Hell no." A red beam would rob Belinda of her prize, only to be replaced by a big blue blob of floating tissue. "You're in charge, Drifter!"
Belinda averted her attack as the switch occurred, eventually turning around to attempt the blow on the newly released Jellicent.
Oh no, not on my watch. Seeing the maid moving to strike directly at Jellicent, Radegast bared his teeth as he darted forward to intercept Belinda. Radegast aimed to knock the maid out with a single Slam with the Aegislash shield.
Belinda would take her daggers and parry the shield with surprising skill, though her attack was interrupted. "Fighting dirty are we?"
Now with a good foothold, Lucy rushed forward towards the second Marksman, her staff glowing strong in her paws as she charged the human. "Don't Hesitate! They wouldn't!" Diamond reminded her. Hearing this, she sped up, and readied herself to strike. The flurry of attacks with her staff and with her own paws would happen extremely quickly, and, assuming they hit, would land on the head, sides, belly, legs, and chest of the desired target. Bones would probably be broken, and from the strike to the head, at least a minor concussion would be suffered.
Unfortunately, the Trainer seemed to suffer none of the afflictions described, rather falling onto her back unconscious as a small shadowy diamond emerged from her chest. With its emergence, the girl's armor and weapon vanished, leaving the Trainer no longer corrupted, but wholly unharmed, if fainted. The shadowy diamond then flew out of the room through a wall, passing through it like a ghost. The other unconscious Trainer likewise also reverted to normal as a shadowy diamond emerged and exited the scene. With a quick look out the window, it was plain to see that they were heading for the castle in Castelia.
Diamond likewise kept his eyes on Belinda, and grit his teeth. Radegast seemed to be trying to keep her busy, but at the same time she was darting around quickly, attacking the Pokemon of the people gathered here. Clapping his hands together, he focused his Aura, beginning to form an Aura Sphere of his own between his palms while Lucy made her way back to his side, assuming a defensive stance to protect him while he charged up the Aura Sphere, and then released it at Belinda.
"Maggy, give it everything you got! Hyper Beam that maid!!"
The Magnezone let out it's usual cry as it charged its attack. It turned to face the maid and fired an all powerful beam directly at Belinda. Determined to wipe her out.
"Whoa! Holy shit dude!" Radegast tackled Belinda out of the way of the rippling rainbow-coloured hyper beam, as well as the other attacks that were launched her way, where he then let go of her and rolled back into a stance. "You trying to kill them? These are people, man!"
Belinda would get herself back up, merely glancing at Radegast once before she spun her daggers in a complex fashion as she vanished into a puff of shadowy smoke, leaving no trace of herself in the gatehouse.
"Hey! She was trying to kill us! Of course I'm going to shoot at her!"
Radegast stared at where Belinda had vanished. He used his psychic probe to try to track her, or detect any other threat. After a quick moment, the armoured Gallade finally relaxed.
"It's true. There wasn't any semblance of hesitation in any of her movements. if you hold back, they'll kill you." Diamond said, scanning around for further threats, Lucy padding up to him, stopping just inside arms reach. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay, Lucy? You took some hits."
Radegast replied to Diamond's and Sandra's reasoning, "So we stoop to their level, is that what you're saying? I don't buy it."
"So what, you wanted me to stand around and do nothing while she attacks you? You didn't have a complaint when the other two were attacked."
"I'll be fine, Diamond. Thank you..." she lowered her head softly, as if blushing, as a paw gently rested on his hand before she nodded, looking at him intensely. "Your Aura is wavering~ You okay?" she asked, seeming to smirk.
Diamond blushed softly and frowned. "C-could you not?" he sputtered, causing the Lucario to giggle, stepping closer and bumping him with a hip, which he only smirked and reciprocated. "Keep that up and I'll put you in your ball~" he teased right back, smirking. Lucario giggled again and nodded, eyes glowing blue as she looked around again to double-check for more threats.
"We're okay for now... but who knows when they'll attack again." Diamond said.
Radegast looked to the Lucario and human. With his face unreadable and his aura stable, Radegast viewed their actions between each other as somewhat odd, but nothing worth getting anyone's knickers in a twist. Radegast then looked to the girl with the Magnezone, then to Touko. "They're still people," he repeated.
"I know they are still people. But would you hesitate to defend yourself if a person attacks you? She could just as easily turned to me with that attack or even to Emiko back there. Unlike you, we don't have armour. It wouldn't have killed her anyway. Remember that just a marksman took a Zap Cannon to the face and only got knocked out. She is obviously sturdier and so Hyper Beam was my best shot at getting her off your back. The point was to hit her with it and scare her off."
A Zap Cannon is no Hyper Beam. Radegast shook his head. The marksmen wore armour, and humans have been recorded to survive electrical strikes of such magnitude hundreds of times. Belinda looked like all she wore was the maid uniform.
Diamond took that opportunity to walk over to the second Marksman that he'd had Lucy knock out, and examined her as well as her aura. "Well, they're perfectly healthy.... If anything, we beat the Corruption out of them.... This one by all means should have at least a broken rib from Lucy's Bone-Rush. But no.. she's just sleeping. The Corruption is gone from her Aura, too." he said, running a gloved hand through the air over her body, a blue glow emanating from his hand to her body as he scanned her.
"So it's more like we're doing them a favor." Lucy commented, causing Diamond to nod slightly.
"We beat the Corruption, yes," Radegast agreed on that, as indicated by a slow, yet firm nod, "But corruption or not, no killing. I'm not about to let people become murderers in front of me." The Galladite flickered very slightly. However, in the lighting of the gatehouse, it was impossible to notice.
Diamond nodded, standing. "Understandable... I'm not sure I'd want blood on my hands, anyway."
"You mean on my paws?" Lucy smirked, crossing her arms.
"Hush, you." he barked back.
"Still," Sandra continued, "They didn't seem to have that thought. If I get attacked by them again, I'm not holding back. I like living." Sandra then turned to look at Emiko and called out to her, "Hey, you alright back there?"
"Is...is it over? To be frank, I kinda got scared as soon as she pulled those knives, but when I saw that thing coming at me...I ran. After seeing what their boss did to her trainer..." Touko could do nothing but shudder and gesture to the latest issue of the Castelia Times, which had the picture of her on all fours in front of Melanie on the front page. "D-Drifter...return..." The Jellicent let out a low cry as it vanished back into its ball.
Radegast's gaze snapped to Touko. It didn't take a genius to understand the implications of what happened to the Diancie's trainer... the scientist...
That doesn't bode well for the intel team... Under the visor, Radegast grimaced as he slipped the shield onto his back.
I gotta meet them under this bridge soon. he reminded himself.
"In all fairness, so was I. But I wouldn't have run away. Though from that issue, I imagine you're recovering from a supposed Ego Drop, so I'll forgive you for running away. You're a little spooked. Anyway, that was an eventful fight."
Sandra stretched herself out without a care, as if the past event meant nothing to her anymore. She checked her pokeballs to make sure everything was set before walking on over to Emiko.
"So, because I'm curious... What was that pipsqueak you called Nike? Obviously a fire type but I haven't seen one like that before."
"It's called Victini. It used to live under the statue in the Liberty Garden. Rumor has it that it's the very spirit of victory itself...that whoever has it on their side will never lose." Maybe Touko was finding her voice, or maybe she was just getting stronger now that the fighting was over. "It supposedly has an unlimited energy supply that it shares with teammates to help secure victory. That, plus the cramped space in the gatehouse, was why I chose to fight with it. Hence why I nicknamed it Nike, after the ancient goddess of victory."
"Fancy. I named my Magnezone Maggy because it's in its name. Your hair looks pretty good actually, I like the floof it has, mine's a bit too straight. Though as for the other parts of your fashion sense... Those shorts kind of...hurt to see on somebody so young. Showing off a bit more of the goods than kids used to when I was younger. Well, that aside, you're alright so that's good. Dying ain't much of a living after all. Also, you can come out of hiding now, it is all clear, Emiko."