Pokémon Umbral ~ Ruinous Origins Mission 1, Chapter 2

[Menarker]

"Swampert, hang tight, you're doing well!"

Renny said this with as much boldness as he could muster but it was worrisome when more Narchams kept pouring in at a rather hectic pace. Swampert looked for another target and decided to inflict retribution on the largest of all these monstrosities.

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Not much else to say. Swampert goes onto turn 2 of the rampage. Targetting Puvloulet for dragon damage.

[Dracorion]

Pierce could barely contain himself. These things were really, really tough. But he was tougher. "Skarmory, hang in there! Night Slash!"

Suddenly, a thought occured to him. "How about if we pile as many statuses as we can on them? Paralysis, freezing, or sleep; anything that can keep them from hitting us like that again." He asked Rio. Because, goddamn, that move, Syncstrike or whatever, and the subsequent onslaught had hurt Skarmory a whole lot without a type advantage, where just minutes ago it took at least two electric types to do that kind of damage.

[Geminex]

Impact swore loudly as he fell back to the ground, landed badly, nearly broke his wrist, got cut up by what felt like a sand-blaster loaded with razor blades, rolled, came to a halt against a wall, and finally staggered upright. He'd had worse experiences before, this didn't quite compare to getting hit at close range by a full-powered explosion, but it was horrible nonetheless. At least there wasn't too much debris or shrapnel, just pain flaring through is body, several open, bleeding wounds, impaired vision and, for some reason, a taste of salmon in his mouth. He hoped that the attack hadn't directly affected him mentally and that that last bit was due to the concussion he had probably suffered. This hope was confirmed when the Restore he administered intravenously started flowing through his body and miraculously cleared all his ailments. He was glad. He hated salmon. There still seemed to be a strange beat in the air, but he realized that that was just the music. He had managed to catch one of the dragon slaves right before the syncstrike occurred, and while flying through the air while holding a piece of very sharp metal had been risky, he now at least had a useful weapon to hand. Before launching himself back into battle he surveyed the situation, turned to pierce. "We're killing them as fast as they're reappearing, I don't think that status effects would help us much, unless we specifically target the Pulverot. Any pokebrids should try to use whatever defensive buffs they have, that way they'll be able to stand a few attacks when they're no longer shifted." He sighed, muttered. "Here we go again..." then drew his sword back and ran at the nearest healthy Narcham. The shadow blades had been a fairly intuitive weapon, quick, sneaky, murderous. The sword was the opposite. You couldn't treat it like an extension of your forearms, it had momentum, it had inertia. It wasn't a weapon so much as a very sharp counterweight, and you had to guide it. Guide it he did. He took two quick steps, sword held by his side, and stopped dead, half a yard from the Narcham he was targetting. He had been moving at running speed, which meant that his blade had quite a bit of velocity as well. That, and a little help from his arm muscles did the rest, letting the blade scythe forwards in a silvery, horribly lethal, but strangely noble arc. You could almost hear the roar of mighty dragonkin as the edge sang through the air. Any further metaphor was rudely interrupted as the blade bit into the Narcham with a sound that was as far from that of roaring dragons as you could possibly get. Blood splattered, skin split, Impact felt a few bones crunch, as the weapon traveled through the monster (for once, he realized, the term would not be objected to by his peers). But he wasn't done yet. He had been holding the sword in two hands, but now he dropped one hand to his belt, letting his right hand guide the blade, angling it up, then sending it down again in a stabbing motion, impaling the Narcham. To finish up, Impact's left hand rose again, holding the revolver he had taken from the on-site armory to replace the one he had given to Charlotte. His second quick-draw in ten minutes, Impact realized. He hoped it would be as successful. Keeping the impaled Narcham locked in place with the Dragon Slave, he brought the revolver up, aimed at the thing's head. Had this been a know pokemon, he'd have known exactly where to fire to kill it quickly, but since these fuckers were new to the scene he had to settle for shooting it once in each eye, and once in the place where he hoped the spine began. Then he pulled his sword out, kicked the thing away, and stepped back.

((Yes, looong post. Also, he did more than he should have been able to do in one round, but I call rule of cool. You cannot object to Slash, Stab, Shoot 6 times, Kick. That's a 9x combo.)

[Bard The 5th LW]

While the scynstrike didn't really hurt Charlotte, it really had its toll on Sol-leks. It wasn't enough to stop him though. Nothing would keep him out of a battle, not even these gross flesh-sacs.

"Sol-leks, keep attacking, and don't let up for even a second," Charlotte commanded. The Houndoom took this advise to heat and once again charged at the enemy, determined to place another kill. He didn't want to appear weak to anyone, not his trainer or his allies. Meanwhile, Charlotte was wondering if she could get one of the Narchams stuffed, and keep it as a sort of trophy.

In a similiar manner to his first attack, Sol-leks dashed straight at his foe, but instead of biting it, he quickly spun around and let loose an iron tail at what it decided was probably the Narcham's face. It couldn't tell.

[DanteFalcon]

Matthias stood up a little shakily, surveying the damage. It seems he was one of the lucky ones the Narcham avoided and he was just fine with that. He didn't have the defense most of the others did. He also didn't want to take the chance of the Pulverot surviving the outrage for another sync strike. So it was time to make sure another sync strike wouldn't happen. He targetted the Pulverot and stabbed at its mind.

Disable!

[Astral Harmony]

Battle Synopsis: Four Narchams go down. They aren't being replaced anymore (forbode...). Pulverot takes good damage from both Toxic and Outrage, but remains strong despite the pwnage. The remaining Narcham downs Swampert with Bloody Flurry. Pulverot downs Sol-leks with Body Wrecker. Rachel is working on restoring those Pokémon.

Pulverot was nearly knocked onto its back from Swampert's Outrage, but retained its balance. It was made out of no less than five Narchams. Some herculean effort was going to be necessary to take it down.

Skarmory cut a Narcham up badly with Night Slash. Pierce had an idea while thinking about that powerful Syncstrike. "How about if we pile as many statuses as we can on them? Paralysis, freezing, or sleep; anything that can keep them from hitting us like that again."
"A counter tactic," Rayleen said to herself.
"It's doable," Rio answered. "If we want to shut down that Syncstrike, we'll need to remove that Pulverot fast. Individually targeting Narchams with status effects will just reduce the threat, not remove it entirely."
"Is that our only option?" Rayleen asked the Kimono.
Rio just shrugged. "I'm all open for suggestions. Despite my knowledge, I'm still kind of new to fighting them myself. Anyone who would know the most about these things is probably Kiyomi. She's my lover."

Rayleen raised an eyebrow. "Kiyomi? Sounds like a girl's name."
"Yeah, Kiyomi's a girl."
"And she's your lover?"
"I'm totally devoted to her...ah, most of the time."
"But aren't you a girl, too?"
"Yes, and?"
Rayleen ignored that. More curious about Rio than before, Rayleen was certain that Rio wasn't from around these parts. "Where do you come from, anyways?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Then how about a hint?" Rayleen asked, uncertain of why she was so curious about the powerhouse.
"Well, hmmm...oh! We don't have Pokémon where I come from."
"You...you're kidding, right?"
"Nope. Not a single Pokémon exists where I live."
Rayleen's jaw hung a bit at that. No Pokémon? Pokémon were everywhere in this world, even places that humans could never go to, and this lewd woman lived in such a strange place? Rayleen decided not to bother with anymore questions and focus on the fight. These Ruin Pokémon were serious monsters, and they had no time for idle banter.

Impact made magic happen with the Dragon Slave. His opponent didn't move after that display. Rayleen followed up with a different opponent, making movements that resembled a dance more than a woman slicing into something with a sword. Ending with a dramatic flourish, Rayleen assumed her stance, sword trained on the remaining Narchams. "Nice kill, Impact." Rayleen complimented her fellow Slayer.
"Awesome show, Rayleen! You GO, girl!"
Rayleen played it off. "I wanted to learn swordsmanship to impress Reicher."
"Boyfriend?"
"He was. Then he became my fiancé."
"Awww."
"Then he and my father were flattened by a Bastiodon falling at fourty feet per second."
Rio choked a bit on how Rayleen just put that out there. Rayleen said nothing more, keeping her focus on the foes. "Hold up, they're not being replaced this time."
"Gendom's sweating it out, I guess." Rio said, still taken aback by what Rayleen had said earlier.
"Or perhaps they're setting up a second defensive fighting position," Rayleen countered. "If we can finish fast, we can hit 'em before they're ready for round two."

Charlotte's Sol-leks wisely targeted Skarmory's wounded Narcham, silencing it for good. That was three Narcham's removed from the battle without being replaced. "Excellent kill," Rayleen approved. "Won't be long now."

Pulverot froze in place, mesmerized by Matthias's Disable. Then, it shook its head and resumed its stance. Matthias had disabled Pulverot's Sweeping Ray, the attack that was used as its part in the Syncstrike. With any luck, that was the only way they could use that powerful move. Pulverot's body shuddered as Toxic worked its painful magic, but the Pokémon remained standing.

"Miss Rio, let's work together." Dormond said with a polite bow, then turned his back on a Narcham. The giant maw connected to the back of his head rose, opened wide, and blasted a Narcham with Ice Beam. The Narcham reared back from the strike, then froze solid.
"I've got your back!" Rio said and jumped, rebounded off the ceiling, and with an insane spin, drilled right through the Narcham, shattering it into pretty fragments.

There was only the Pulverot and a single Narcham remaining. "We are awesome!" Rio said jubilantly. The Narcham rushed forward and sliced into Swampert with Bloody Flurry, raking the Swampert with its hook claws five times. Two were critical strikes. Swampert fell over onto its back and returned to its Pokéball. Pulverot charged Sol-leks with more speed than one would credit the large monster for and brought both of its massive claws down on Sol-leks. Sol-leks was returned to its Pokéball before the wounding got too severe. "I'm on it," Rachel called. "Damn, these things don't mess around, do they?"

[Geminex]

Impact nodded. "Let's finish this!" He launched a flurry of attacks at the one remaining Narcham, feeling his blade dig repeatedly into various sections of its body. He didn't know a thing about its anatomy, but the dragon slave seemed, thankfully quite effective. He hit its three right-side limbs, hoping to lob them off, then slashed at its midsection, before burying the sword up to the hilt in the area just above its blade-studded jaw. His revolver wasn't loaded at the moment, but he was getting used to the sword's heft, and his slices were far more accurate and deadly this time around. As he wrenched his sword from the monster, he turned to Rio.

"Yo, is the Gendom gonna be guarded? If not, I'd propose that you and our pokebrids go on ahead, charge through the second line of defense and eliminate it, while we hold said second line of defense off. Once you've eliminated it, you can hit our opponents from behind. Would that work?"

[Dracorion]

"Fair enough. Pulverots are priority then." Pierce said. His focus on the battle was then finally broken by Rio's and Rayleen's conversation. He chucked a little and muttered "Heh, lesbians." Everyone always went for the lesbians. Bisexual, actually, from the way she flirted with Impact and her comment about Hector and Angelo, in which case it would only be worse. Pierce was surprised at how cold and serious Rayleen let her guard down because of one little comment. She had retained her composure, just barely, but she was practically tripping over herself.

Pierce tried to focus on the battle again, but Rio's next comment astounded even him. "What do you mean "no pokemon"? Where the hell do you come from? Outer Space?" He asked disbelievingly. Pierce pulled himself away and forced himself to concentrate. No more distractions.

Pierce applied a Full Restore on Skarmory, at the same time he saw Impact comboing the last remaining Narcham, and it would have to go down. "Skarmory, target Pulverot!" Skarmory shrieked with renewed vitality and flew straight at Pulverot, wings glowing dark again as it slashed the massive abomination with Night Slash.

At the same time, Pierce listened to Impact's suggestion. "Even if the Gendom isn't always guarded, it's gotta be right now. Notice how no new Narchams have sprung up? That means something bad is happening in that vault. We need to hit 'em hard now before they're ready."

"Having everyone here for one Pulverot is overkill. You all go on, and Renny and I will clean up here." He finished. He wasn't all that thrilled about his choice in partner, but he knew Renny's Magnezone could get the job done.

[Menarker]

Renny was mentally stricken with worry for his pokemon given the sight of other woundeds he saw that he was mostly inattentive to the chatter. He could hear it, but he made no effort to think in depth about what was said.

"Aww no, Swampert! You'll be ok, hold on tight, alright!? Rachel, over here!" Renny handed his pokeball with his downed pokemon over to Rachel, as he pulled another from his belt and threw it in front, revealing the Magnezone again.

"Magnezone, Flash Cannon on that large pokemon there."

ZONE! It responded by quickly glimpsing the unfamiliar opponent, while powering up its metallic laser. With a quick once-over completed, it fired the powerful beam aiming for its single eye in the middle of its body.

"I think he's right. Go on ahead, Pierce and I can catch up with you in a minute!"
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Super Effective STAB damage on Pulverot with steel special attack. Magnezone has huge Special Attack stat. Magnezone also resists Ruin type attacks due to electric type with no weakness from its steel type.

[Bard The 5th LW]

"Can you two quit the small talk," Charlotte cut in to Rio and Rayleen's conversation. "You can exchange your life's stories when your lives aren't endangered," she told them. It seemed that she cared little for expedition. And just to tease them , Charlotte threw in another little bit, "and maybe you can make out to when Rio's girlfriend isn't looking."

"Just stay back," Charlotte told Rachel as she handed her Sol-leks pokeball, "things are about about to get fun." It appeared that all of the others were putting there efforts into gang-stomping the remaining Pulverot. Charlotte wanted to be included in this, it would probably be one of the first recorded kills, and she wanted her signature on it.

"Buck, go," She said enthusiastically as she released the Arcanine from his pokeball. The large dog seemed enthusiastic about battling. Enthusiastic like a puppy being given a treat. "You see that boy," she said to Buck while patting him on the head," get the big one in the center, make me proud." This was about as much compassion as anyone could ever imagine to see from Charlotte.

Buck was enthusiastic about being given the chance to fight something new. He didn't even seem grossed about by its appearance. Instead it jovially charged at the monstrous entity. Instead of biting it though, Buck slammed straight into it head first at full speed, using a Giga Impact. If it weren't for the fact that Giga Impact was likely to break one of the Pulverot's bones (if it has any), it would almost look like Buck was playing.