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Ballad of Fire and
Steel
By nightdragon0
Bashaamo spun upwards and hit the ceiling with a loud thud. Despite that, she pulled herself off and dropped to the ground. Lombadra struck while his foe was off balance, knocking the Blaziken flat onto her back.
The agile warrior shot up with a sweeping kick, nearly catching Lombadra off guard. He barely managed to hop over the low attack and somersaulted backwards. Bashaamo sprang to her feet and lunged as Lombadra finished his back flip. The fire dragon was able to respond with a timely two-fist thrust, throwing Bashaamo further away instead.
The Blaziken skidded, but braced herself against the ground with all fours. She suddenly came charging back, slamming Lombadra into the nearest wall.
“Damn, she’s this strong?” The dragon hissed, furiously nursing his aching right shoulder.
“Overheat!” Bashaamo opened her jaws, a fiery glow raging within.
“Fire Blast!” Lombadra put his claws together and threw off his own flaming burst.
The two attacks met in the center of the cavern as both fighters struggled to keep the pressure on. However, it soon became apparent that Lombadra was the one with the upper hand this time.
Upon that realization, Bashaamo cut off her flames and attempted to dive away.
She was too slow and ended up being hurled against the wall by the force of the explosion. There was an ear-splitting crunch as the outer layer of the stone wall shattered, leaving Bashaamo’s impression on it.
The Blaziken finally lay still and didn’t move.
“All right…now that’s she’s taken care of…” Lombadra panted, trying to catch his breath. “Where are you mister elder? Because you’re next!”
“I admire your confidence…” The Charizard’s voice echoed through the darkness of the cavern. “But like I said, you overestimate your chances. I suppose I’ll just have to prove that to you.”
“Bring it on! And I’ll…”
BOMP! Lombadra started as a heavy footstep sounded nearby. Before he could do so much as turn around, the large arm of Regirock swept him off his feet.
Lombadra rolled into a wall and ended up spitting out the dirt and rocks that had gotten into his mouth. A large shadow descended upon him and Lombadra looked up just in time to see the bulky form of Regirock coming down from above.
“Oh son of a….”
STOMP!
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Kris and Nightslice each bounded up opposite walls of the arena. Leaping off once they were close to the top of the dome-shaped building, the two spread their wings and went for the indoor stadium lights.
Unlike their pre-evolutions, Scizors couldn’t really fly well, but they could glide for long enough.
In front of the astonished crowd watching from behind the glass walls of the grandstand, Kris and Nightslice slowly plunged the stadium into darkness.
Nightslice roared once they were done as a signal to Kris, and the pair smashed through the glass walls. That threw the spectators into a blind state of panic.
Those less inclined to confrontations turned and started running, shoving and trampling over each other in the process. Others began firing off random elemental breath attacks, striking their fellows and provoking return fire.
It wasn’t long before any sense of order was forgotten and everything lost in the frenzied, roaring mess.
Kris spotted Nightslice diving into a control room at the rear of the viewing area, and quickly followed suit, ducking between the legs of the larger dragons around.
“Kris!” Nightslice practically jumped into her in a long hug.
“Whoa, hey I missed you too, but I’m all right.” Kris gasped. “At least I will be if you let me breathe!”
“Sorry, it’s just that I’ve been really worried about you.” He replied, relaxing his grip. “I mean, not like it hasn’t happened before, but you know, we’re still stuck in a whole other world here. Not to mention those dreams and the voices I kept hearing in my head.”
“Yes, what happened to Storm and you anyway? You guys never came back after…”
“It’s a long, sad story that I don’t want to talk about right now.” Nightslice sighed, eyeing a control panel. “Hmm, I wonder what this does?”
With a pincer, he smashed the entire panel apart, short-circuiting the system. At the same time, the electronically sealed doors of the arena below opened, allowing the Pokemon there to run freely out, and hopefully cause more chaos in the building before escaping.
“Well, that’s done.” Nightslice nodded.
“Yeah, we should retrieve Bahamut and get out of here.” Kris agreed. “Staying longer will only…hey, hold on!”
Kris had spotted an unpleasantly familiar figure lurking close to the control room.
“It’s Klinge.” She growled. “The creep who brought me here in the first place! Well, now it’s payback time!”
“Hey wait!” Nightslice began.
CRASH! Kris smashed through the control room’s window and planted a two-footed kick neatly on the dragon’s back. Her nemesis let off a startled cry as he fell the flight of stairs and hit the ground nearby.
“Grrr…you…” Klinge growled furiously, drawing his pair of crescent-shaped blade weapons.
“Yes, it’s me.’ Kris returned the snarl. “Now that I’m off your hook, we can have a little rematch.”
“Humph, you always did seem a little smart to be just another Pokemon.”
At the same time, the two drew back and struck, their claws meeting in a fury of blows. The two kept it at a stalemate, forcing each other back and forth. That was until Nightslice approached from the rear.
Klinge spotted the flicker of movement and lifted his arms up as he spun away from Kris. Nightslice blocked, but had his arm knocked downwards. With his body in a lowered position, Nightslice simply rammed the Saber Dragon with his shoulder, causing him to stumble.
The Steel elemental was not easily wavered and lashed out with a hard kick, sending Nightslice spinning away. Kris attacked and pounded on Klinge’s back, which stunned the dragon momentarily.
She moved in for a second strike, but Klinge surprised her by twirling his body out of the way and whipping her back with his tail. What startled Kris the most was that it was a tactic she would’ve used herself if she weren’t so enraged.
Next thing she knew, she’d smashed through the glass walls of the grandstand and plummeted down to the arena below.
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The dust slowly settled down after Regirock brought its massive bulk down on top of Lombadra. The room fell into silence and Dan risked a peek out from his hiding place.
All didn’t seem well though as nothing moved after Regirock took a step back. Then, a raspy coughing came as Lombadra pulled himself to all fours, spitting dirt out of his jaws.
“Ha!” Lombadra grimaced. “Is that the best you can do?”
STOMP!
“RRAARGHH!”
STOMP!
“GGGAAARRRGGHH!”
STOMP!
“Arrogant fool.” Tsung muttered. “This’ll show him to…hmm?”
The Charizard had just noticed that Regirock was stomping on only dirt, stirring up huge clouds of it in the enclosed cavern.
“Wait, stop! He’s not there anymore!” Tsung ordered, glancing around.
Regirock did as it was told and stood motionless, apparently not sensing its opponent’s presence. Tsung reached down to his neck and brought up a brown colored crystal that was fixed to his necklace. Focusing on the Ground Elemental powers within it, he began to probe the area for Lombadra’s presence.
That was when the Fire Dragon burst out of the ground next to him with a Fire Punch, slamming Tsung aside and dislodging the crystal from his necklace. Lombadra immediately followed up by somersaulting and snatching the crystal out of the air.
A stabbing pain suddenly sliced at his wrist and Lombadra screamed, dropping the crystal.
“Air Cutter.” Tsung smirked, lowering his wings. “Makes even thin air hurt, doesn’t it?”
“Well I won’t be stopped that easily!” Lombadra jumped for the crystal, but was blocked by Regirock, and simply bounced off its huge mass. “Gurgh!”
Cracks appeared in the stony walls that Lombadra was thrown into.
“I’ll show you the true power of this thing.” Tsung’s voice rang out.
“No…the Spirit Crystal!” Lombadra looked up just in time to see Tsung tossing the Ground Crystal into the body of Regirock.
The brown gem stuck in its chest and glowed, spreading the brownish light all over Regirock’s body. The golem raised its arms as dozens of huge rock chunks rose with them, levitating above the ground. Lombadra’s eyes widened as he was assaulted by the most massive Rock Slide ability he’d even seen.
There was simply no way to dodge as the rocks smashed into his body, leaving him battered and bruised in too many spots to count. Lombadra was still reeling from the earlier attack when he was blasted by a blinding burst of light, and covered his head with his arms.
What shocked him was that when he uncovered his face, Lombadra realized that his left arm had been turned to stone from the claw-tips to the elbow joint. And the stone curse was rapidly creeping up to the rest of his body.
“No…” He stared, horrified.
(It must be Regirock’s powers combined with the crystal!) Firestorm’s voice told him. (You might need to take out that golem to stop the petrifaction!)
“That’s easy for you to say!” Lombadra hissed. “When you’re not the one about to be turned to stone!”
(Hey, we’ll be stuck inside of
you if that happens.) Jade’s voice spoke up. (And that’s the last thing
any of us want.)
(You’re up awfully fast Jade.) Storm remarked.
(It’s hard to get any rest with you guys banging around outside. Man, everything I see is spinning…I’m so confused.)
“Hm?” Lombadra snapped. “That’s it.”
Even with the numbness spreading through his body, Lombadra sprang off the ground and charged at Regirock. The golem simply punched him in the face and grabbed him while he was stunned.
Lombadra struggled to no avail as Regirock’s grip tightened. Meanwhile, the stone curse had crept all over his torso and stomach area, moving slowly down to his legs.
“You’re out matched!” Tsung snarled.
“Why don’t you put some bite into your bark and come get me!” Lombadra defiantly yelled.
“If you wish for me to smash you to pebbles, then so be it!” Tsung leapt into the air, his tail glowing as his Iron Tail ability charged up.
Lombadra’s eyes then flashed purple as he stared directly into those of his foe.
“Confuse Ray!”
Tsung howled in rage as his movements wavered, but as expected in his enraged state, he kept on coming. Lombadra closed his eyes as the stone curse completely covered his legs, preventing him from moving as the Iron Tail approached.
(What the hell are you doing?) Firestorm screamed.
Next came a loud crunch as Tsung’s tail smashed through stone, shattering it into a thousand pieces.
“Ha…fool…” The Elder Charizard panted, shaking his head to clear his vision. He could just make out a stone body with its head missing and grinned to himself. “That’s what you get for messing with me.”
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Stars and darkness clouded her vision as Kris tasted the blood in her mouth. She slowly rose, shaking away the pain and the dirt off her face.
With a salvage cry, Klinge leapt down to the arena and turned to face her. However, he was forced to move away when Nightslice pelted his position with a Hyper Beam in mid-leapt.
The cloud of dust distracted Klinge for a moment, and the Scizor took that opportunity to knock him away.
Panting and nursing his bruised lower jaw, Nightslice landed beside Kris and gave her a firm nod.
“Hey down there! I think you’re looking for this!” A female voice called from the grandstand above.
All heads turned to see a gleaming sword slicing down through the air and imbedding itself into the sandy flooring.
(Hey watch it!) Bahamut’s voice screamed. (I am inside this thing you know?)
“Ungrateful as always.” The voice laughed. “You still haven’t changed Bahamut.”
The figure moved into view, causing Kris and Nightslice to gasp. Standing above them was the Thunder Dragon, the yellow, bird-like dragon known as Myollnir.
“You…” Kris muttered.
“I said we’d meet again, didn’t I?” Myollnir winked. “Well what are you waiting for? I think you need that thing.”
(That thing? What are you referring to me?)
Klinge’s roar interrupted the conversation as the steel elemental staggered to his feet. Kris and Nightslice both turned their focus towards him, however it was another screech that caught their attention.
Tsubasa came gliding in and fired a bunch of his feather darts at Klinge’s feet. As the dragon stumbled, Kris and Nightslice moved in on opposite sides and simultaneously slashed, breaking apart their opponent’s crescent blade weapons.
Their Garuda ally spun in mid-air and struck, throwing Klinge into a wall.
“Grrr…damn fools…” Klinge hissed, rising to his feet. “Huh?”
A sudden creaking sound instinctively caused him to look up, just in time to see a large crate crashing down on his head.
“Now that did the job.” Gao laughed, dusting his hands off.
Kris looked up towards Myollnir’s former position, and found the Thunder Dragon gone, as expected. Friend or foe, really? There was no way to tell for sure.
“Thanks.” Nightslice panted. “But why’d you two help us out?”
“Have you forgotten? You still owe me something!” Tsubasa practically screamed. “I’m not about to let you be beaten so I that I can die a slow, painful death!”
“Oh yeah.” Nightslice sighed. “About that, I…”
“Hm? Watch out!” Tsubasa shoved Nightslice out of the way as a huge burst of flames rocketed towards them.
The fire elemental attack struck Tsubasa instead, slamming him into the wall and setting his feathers aflame. Tsubasa immediately sprang up, screeching loudly as he ran around, trying to douse the flames.
“A Fire Blast?” Kris stared. “Was that?”
“I still have a few tricks up my sleeve.” Klinge rose out from under the smashed crate with a bloody look in his eyes. “Let’s finish this once and for all!”
“Now I’m really mad.” Nightslice hissed, eyeing Tsubasa, then Kris. “You don’t mess with my family, or my friends without getting on my bad side too! And we’ve got a trick of out own! Kris, let’s go!”
“Always ready!” Kris snatched up Bahamut’s sword in her pincer and held it up.
Their two forms shimmered for a second, and it was a larger and very different dragon that emerged.
Bahamut stood upright and folded his upper arms across his silver armored chest. His wings spread open, revealing their feather-like patterns as his powerful tail whipped about and slammed the ground. The helmet covering his elongated head and snout gleamed in the light, as did the horns on his nose and the back of his head.
“Now you’ve met you match!” Bahamut opened his eyes and took to the air, wings raised. “Steel Wing!”
“Quick Attack!” Klinge broke into a lighting fast sprint, dashing around Bahamut and pounding on the dragon’s back.
Bahamut hit the ground face-first, but rolled over and lashed out with his tail to prevent a counterattack. It did succeed in deterring Klinge for a moment, but it wasn’t long before he came right back. Bahamut folded his wings over himself as he was thrown onto his back, with Klinge standing over him.
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“Nala…Nala!” The soft, but familiar voice called over and over again.
Everything was so blurred and hazy that Nala tried to rub her aching head….only to realize that she couldn’t feel her hands. Thrown into a blind state of panic, Nala lashing out, feeling her forked, serpentine tongue running between her fangs.
Wait, all that couldn’t be right. She couldn’t possibly be herself.
It was then that Nala remembered her current form, as one of the three heads of the Legendary Dragon Erizar. She recalled that they’d come to this healing spring together, hoping to recover from their wounds sustained in the previous battle.
They’d had no problems finding the spring as it was exactly where Erizar remembered it to be. Stepping into the knee deep water gave Erizar enough space to settle down and rest her heads on the shore. The cool waters had been so relaxing and calming that all three of them must’ve dozed off.
There was no telling for how long they’d been asleep, but the sure thing was that they were about to get a rude awakening.
“Nala!” Riot’s voice called out. “Someone’s here! They’re…rrarrghh!”
A large, heavy net was thrown over them. Accompanying that were the roars and shouts of various Pokemon, some of which Nala could make out from standing close by.
“Chew through!” Erizar’s main head ordered. “Hurry before…ugh!”
Dozens of tranquilizer darts abruptly rained down upon the trapped ‘hydra’ dragon, causing her to lash about furiously.
Nala felt her muscles weakening and eventually could no longer hold herself up. Her head dropped down onto the riverbank, followed by the heads controlled by Riot and Erizar. She stayed conscious for long enough to see the silhouettes of various Pokemon scrambling over her dragon body, securing each and every limb.
Then, a heavy gunnysack was tied over her head, and Nala saw nothing but darkness.
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“Impressive lesson, but too bad that you missed.” Lombadra’s voice suddenly rang out.
“What the? Impossible!” As Tsung’s vision cleared, he noticed Lombadra standing several feet away, shaking bits and pieces of stone off his body.
The stone curse had been lifted, but that could only mean that…
“Oh no!” Tsung stared horrified as he realized he’d smashed the head and upper torso of Regirock instead. Without those parts and with the Spirit Crystal thrown off as well, the golem was useless and dropped to the ground where it remained motionless.
(You do realize that there was a fifty percent chance he could’ve hit us instead, do you?) Jade spoke up.
“But he didn’t right?” Lombadra chuckled. “That’s all that matters!”
“Grrr…” Tsung turned and sprinted further into the cavern.
“Get back here coward!” Lombadra roared, giving chase.
However, someone else stopped the treacherous Charizard first.
“You’re not going anywhere!” Shugo jumped into view and rammed his head into Tsung’s chest, knocking the older dragon backwards.
(Shugo?) Jade gasped. (You’re
back to normal too?)
“Guess you guys taking out that golem must’ve broken whatever hold the petrifaction spell had on us.” Diane appeared from the rear, dusting bits of her stone casing off as well.
Dan was by his sister’s side too, nodding in agreement. Further in down the cavern, the shattering of stone could be heard, followed by the moans and groans of the Charizard finally free from their stone forms.
Tsung seemed to step back, glancing around nervously. Then, he suddenly charged and Shugo reacted instinctively, stepping to the side and flipping his former Elder over. The Charizard skidded across the stony floor and hit a wall hard.
Unfortunately for him, that caused a large, sharp stalagmite to fall from the ceiling. Tsung happened to be lying right beneath it and could only look up as the spear-like rock pierced through his throat. He went down with a gurgled roar and blood spraying everywhere.
Dan covered his eyes and looked away, while everyone else simply stared, speechless.
“T…that was an accident.” Shugo stuttered. “I didn’t mean to do that…”
“I know it’s hard Shugo.” Diane walked up and placed a claw on his shoulder. “He may have been your teacher once, but now…”
Shugo took a quick glance at the faces of several other Charizard who’d managed to find the strength to stand, then nodded.
“If that’s you Jade, then I have to say you’re really something.” Shugo tapped Lombadra on his armored chest.
(Well, sort of…) Jade blushed.
“But he’s also with Firestorm!” Dan jumped up. “And that voice in the sword too!”
“Fine, mention me the last.” Lombadra folded his arms and huffed. “I was the one who saved everybody’s butts after all.”
(You?) Firestorm snapped. (You wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for the two of us!)
Lombadra retrieved the Ground Elemental Spirit Crystal and dusted it off before adding it to a stash in his armor. Somehow, he knew that it would be transferred to Jade and Firestorm when they changed forms.
A soft scraping sound suddenly caught everybody’s attention as a shadowy figure sprinted past.
“It’s Bashaamo!” Lombadra realized. “I’m going after her!”
“Hey hang on!” Diane and Shugo leapt after the Fire Dragon as they descended further into the tunnel.
Their quarry was barely visible in the darker sections of the cavern and seemed to be kneeling down. A soft hiss echoed through the cave, as if a fuse had been lit. Lombadra’s eyes widened as a miniature rocket suddenly shot towards him.
Shugo tackled Lombadra, taking them both down and leaving the rocket to fly over their heads. Standing further behind the pair, Diane raised her claws and formed a translucent energy shield around herself. The rocket made contact and did nothing more than send her stumbling.
“A Protect ability?” Lombadra looked up.
“Yeah, sure came in handy.” Diane breathed.
“Here come more!” Shugo warned as the trio dove for cover.
Bashaamo seemed to have a rather large supply of the miniature rockets and kept the bombardment up.
“You smell that?” Lombadra sniffed. “Some strange chemical…”
(Not gunpowder definitely.) Firestorm noted.
(You’re right about that Storm.) Jade added in. (Or else the roof might be coming down on our heads right now. Those rockets are exploding only because they’re hitting the rocks. Or to tell the truth, they’re not really explosives at all. More like a carrier for those chemicals.)
“Chemicals?” Diane wondered.
(My guess is that they were shooting these into the clouds to bring about the rainfall.) Jade continued.
“If so, then it explains the freak weather conditions.” Shugo growled.
(Not bad Jade.) Firestorm laughed.
(I did go to school, unlike you.)
“Hmmm, so that also means that…” Lombadra clenched his fists. “I can do this without worrying about a cave-in! RRRROOOAAARRRR!”
The Fire Dragon sprang up and charged, slamming the rockets away with his claws. Bashaamo looked up just in time to see Lombadra’s Fire Blast attack torching the storage crates, and igniting all the rocket fuses within.
“Jade!” Diane called as rockets flew about wildly.
However Lombadra was not about to stop and ploughed into the disorientated Blaziken, sending the two rolling over in a heap. In the midst of the struggle, the combatants shoved each other into a circle of runes carved into the ground, which begun to glow with a reddish light.
“No, the teleporter!” Bashaamo cried.
(She’s right, it’s activating!) Jade agreed. (Lombadra get out before it…)
Jade never got to complete his sentence as both Legendary Dragon and Blaziken vanished in a flash of light.
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The Legendary Dragon suddenly kicked up, tossing Klinge over him.
Klinge rolled to a kneeling position and slashed, catching Bahamut across his face. Enraged, the latter jumped up and with his claws glowing like flames. He slammed his Dragon Claw attack into the ground, unfortunately missing Klinge each time.
“Too bad you aim is greatly off!” Klinge snarled, landing neatly on his feet.
“Oh, you think so? Then come and get me!” Bahamut taunted.
With a howl, Klinge charged…only to get his foot caught as it dropped into a porthole. It was one of the many created when Bahamut had been slamming the rocky ground earlier, thus weakening it. The next thing he knew, Bahamut was upon him.
As the two locked claws, Klinge twisted, forcing Bahamut to let go in a cry of pain. Klinge took advantage of the situation and used both hands to force his weight against Bahamut’s left wrist, breaking the bones within with a loud snap.
Bahamut roared in pain and attempted to pry Klinge off with his right hand. Klinge simply caught the feeble attempt with one hand and grasped his other hand around Bahamut’s neck.
Even with his wrist broken, Bahamut lifted up his left arm…revealing the laser blaster hidden beneath a panel on his forearm, and jabbed it into Klinge’s chest.
His opponent’s eyes went wide as the blaster glowed.
“Got you.” Bahamut grinned, and then fired.
The point blank range blast sent Klinge flying upwards, smashing through the glass window and landing in the grandstand. Thankfully, the steel elemental didn’t get up this time.
(Whew, finally.) Nightslice
gasped. (Too bad you had to break a wrist to do that!)
“Oh shut up! You’re not the one feeling it hurt here now!”
“OW! OW! OW! OWOWOOWOWO!” Tsubasa had finally gotten the idea to start rolling in the sand to put out his flames.
By this time, Gao had arrived on the lower level too, only to see his friend looking very much like a fried chicken with all his normally brown feathers burnt black. The feathers that remained, however, weren’t very numerous at all, leaving the Minotaur to burst out laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Tsubasa demanded. “I almost died you know?”
“Sorry…” Gao muttered between giggles. “But it’s still…”
“Hysterical.” Bahamut finished, folding his arms.
“Hey, that’s you in there, isn’t it Nightslice?” Tsubasa sat up.
(Yeah, technically so.) Nightslice
replied. (About my end of the deal, well, quite frankly…I lied.)
“W…what?”
(I never did poison you in the first place.)
“WHAT?” Tsubasa waited a full minute before bursting out. “You mean I got myself fried to a crisp, for nothing?”
(It was pretty brave of you though.) Kris spoke up. (That’s always admirable in a person.)
“It’s true, you know bro?” Gao agreed. “I’m proud of you. Plus, we’re out of debt now!”
(You two should probably get
out of town and lie low for a while.) Nightslice suggested. (Though I
don’t think there’s much of a choice in your case Tsubasa.)
“Oh thanks a lot.” The Garuda sighed. “At least my feathers will grow back after a while.”
“If you’ll excuse me, but if everybody’s done talking, we still have somebody to go after.” Bahamut spoke up. “And that’s Myollnir.”
The Steel Dragon could feel Kris and Nightslice ‘nodding’ in agreement to his statement.
“Guess I’m not in the position to ask what’s going on at all.” Gao began. “But I’ll tell you guys, good luck.”
Tsubasa silently nodded as well.
“You can count on it.” Bahamut gave the two a thumbs-up with his good hand before turning and dashing out of the arena. Silently, he knew that he was going to start screaming over his broken wrist once he was out of earshot.
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“This is the port city of
“It’s the same where I come from.” Hazuki nodded. “Although the inhabitants are somewhat different.”
Pokemon species of every kind were simply strolling about the streets, carrying out their own business. None seemed to pay any attention to Gwyen and a rather out-of-place Hazuki, something that made her sigh in relief.
“Nice to be back on my own too feet too, after that long ride Alric and company gave us.” Gwyen remarked. “Being out at sea wasn’t too bad, but I’ll stick to fresh water from now on. What do you say Hazuki?”
“Huh? Oh what was that?” Hazuki blinked.
“Forget about it.”
“No, I’m sorry. I was just thinking about Alric.”
(About what he said?) Asiyu’s voice sounded from the Ankh strapped to Hazuki’s belt. (I know he told us that Johto is Pokemon grounds and dragons aren’t appreciated here. I haven’t forgotten and I’ll stay in here unless it’s absolutely necessary.)
“No, it’s just that he reminded me so much of another Lapras I knew.” Hazuki said softly. “But he died….saving my life.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to stir up any bad memories.” Gwyen paused.
“That’s all right.” Hazuki replied. “I just…hey! Look there!”
“Where?”
(It’s them!) Asiyu hissed. (Those two clowns that dropped us into the sea in the first place!)
Gwyen and Hazuki ducked behind a fruit stall and glanced over to an Aggron and Rhydon pair known as Sano and Uno respectively. The two were chewing on some large chunks of meat and laughing.
“Let’s watch them for a while.” Gwyen suggested. “If those two really do have links to Raguragi like they told us, we might be able to find out something by following them.”
“Yes, I agree.” Hazuki nodded.
The dinosaur duo was soon on the move and trailing them proved to be no challenge at all. Gwyen and Hazuki did their best to blend in discreetly with the crowd, following their foes all the way to a warehouse located by the docks at the edge of town.
Sano and Uno entered, locking the door behind them. However, searching the alleys around the building yielded results in the form of a loose brick on the wall, revealing a hole which both eagerly peeked through.
There, they were greeted with another unpleasantly familiar sight…Juncan, the Grovyle who had worked with Bashaamo and Raguragi during the battle against Bahamut, Lombadra and themselves.
All three were talking too softly for both Gwyen and Hazuki to hear, however there was something else that caught their attention. There was a battered figure chained to the walls on the opposite side.
It was definitely some kind of dragon, though it was better described as a gray and brown Gargoyle with a reptilian face and long wings stretching from his back. The tall figure was motionless, though his chest was rising and falling, indicating that he was at very least alive.
Another distinctive feature, the horn at the end of his snout, had been snapped off.
As Hazuki stared harder, there was no denying it. She’d had a personal encounter with this dragon some time back, and there was no denying his identity. He was a Legendary Dragon like Zian and Asiyu, though his ‘Pokemon’ type was the Fighting element.
“Kioi!” Hazuki gasped.