Lykas and Odd packed up a small bag, bringing along their Pokemon and a few items they thought might be useful, preparing to head off to the base of The Grove. “You think we should tel Wren about this? He seems like he’s eager to fight for his homeland?” Odd asked.
“Nah. I think if we bring him, he’ll end up getting in the way more than he’ll help on this one.” Lykas replied. “He’s eager, yes, but he’s also inexperienced in warfare. We might not be four star generals but we’ve seen our fair share of fighting already.”
“Good point.” Odd replied. “I suppose we’re so used to fighting for the sake of the world, we don’t even realize we’re doing it anymore…” He mused as he ensured his Pokeballs were all secured.
“Seems like it.” Lykas agreed while he mimicked the Ghost Channeler, checking his Pokeball belt and making certain that it was secure and each ball on it was safely and securely attached. “Kinda weird when you consider how young we are, though. We’ve been mercenaries since we were kids, basically, and we’re not much more than that even now.”
Odd sighed as he soaked in Lykas’ words but he shook his head in the negative as they started toward the exit. “No. We’re a lot more than that. I’m one of the most skilled Ghost Channelers to have lived in recent history and you’re a powerful hybrid who might not have even lived this long if we hadn’t found Snagem when we did.”
“We can talk about it when we get back home. We need to go out there and help the people of Unova reclaim their homes.” Lykas replied as they reached the door. Tossing out a Pokeball, he gave Mykel the information he had about the Grove and asked that they be Teleported as close as he could get. The pair arrived in Floccesy Ranch shortly thereafter, thanks primarily to Flare’s initial invasion. Had the hybrid not joined the defense front then, Mykel wouldn’t have been able to get them even that close and they’d have been forced to rely on Claydol.
“Let’s go and lead the charge.” Lykas decided, leading Odd toward the area using the map he’d been able to find in the SNAG’s database. “We’re in heavily Flare-controlled territory right now so let’s stick together until we start moving the camp.”
“I actually agree with that.” Odd nodded as the pair moved, Lykas recalling Mykel to his Ball in order to keep the Gardevoir safe until a later time, when his abilities would be heavily relied upon. At least he assumed that would be the case when he did. It didn’t take long to find the Hidden Grotto where The Grove had been set up, resulting in the pair having far more energy and needing far less rest than either had expected.
“Freeze!”
Lykas froze up at the call, looking around with his eyes, head unmoving, in search of the source of the cry. “They’re over there.” Odd replied, pointing toward the treeline.
“I said freeze!” The voice called out again. “Move again and I’ll have your head!”
“Good luck with that.” Odd replied, shadowy tendrils of Ghost energy emerging from his own shadow and racing across the ground. Using the grass as cover, the tendrils sought out and uncovered their unseen challenger. Winding around their ankle, the source of the voice was lifted into the air fairly easily, dangling upside down with a slingshot in his hands. “You’re just a kid…” The Channeler realized.
“And you’re a monster!” The kid shouted back, trying to load some sort of projectile into his slingshot while dangling in the air.
“Close. I’m a Channeler. And I’m here to help.” Odd replied with a smirk.
“Huh?”
He’s right, kid. We heard you guys planned to move the camp. We came to make sure you all get there safely.”
Letting the kid drop back into the shrub he’d been plucked from behind, Odd withdrew the shadowy arms of Ramses Curse. “Go on and tell everyone at the camp that we’re on our way.”
“Why would I do that? So they can panic when a monster shows up?” The boy demanded, scrambling up from the underbrush and quickly sending a small rock flying toward Odd’s head and right through him as the Channeler’s body phased the stone through it.
“I’d entertain you and feign injury at that if we weren’t in such a hurry.” He told the boy with a sigh, covering his face with the palm of one hand for a moment as he took a deep, relaxing inhale. “But we’re kind of rushed for time here. So go. NOW!” He screamed the last word as blue flames consumed his body, giving him the appearance of a walking inferno for a brief moment.
“AAAAHHH!!!” The boy screamed, terrified now. He ran off quickly, though not without trembling for a moment and leaving a small puddle behind. “This isn’t over! I’ll beat you!” The boy shouted back, in spite of running for his life at the moment.
“You literally just scared the ~/~out of the kid. Are you okay?” Lykas asked his partner, almost sensing the seething rage bubbling below the surface.
Odd shook his head for a moment as the flames consuming him died down. “Ya…” He replied, confused for a moment. “Ya, I’m fine. Where’d the kid go?” He asked, looking around for the boy.
“Well, he pissed his pants and ran off crying like a little ~/~ when you went full ‘Demon mode’ on him and exploded.” Lykas replied, giving his partner a concerned look.
“Oh… right.” Odd recalled, vaguely, that the boy had indeed run away screaming when he told him to hurry back to the camp. “Let’s get going. We need to get those refugees to their new campsite in a hurry. I’m pretty sure Wren said he was thinking about going with the group fighting to take back control of the Driftveil Drawbridge.” He voiced a moment later, trying to distract himself from thinking about why he could only vaguely recall something that had just happened.
“Ya.” Lykas agreed. It wouldn’t take them much longer to get into the camp itself. Or what was left of it at least. It looked like the refugees were ready to leave any moment, with or without the two. There were Gigalith, Zebstrika and Stoutland all over the clearing with packs loaded up on their backs and sides, tied carefully to keep anything from falling. There was even a Samurott and an Emboar helping haul things from “Point A” to “Point B”. Just about the only thing left put together was the large cabin that had functioned as a gathering hall for the camp’s leaders. Lykas piped up from behind the Channeler, leaning around to look at the boy better.
“I don’t care!” The kid exclaimed, loosing a pebble from his slingshot toward Odd. The pebble phased through the Channeler’s body without even leaving a bruise.
“I’d feign injury from that if we weren’t pressed for time, honestly.” Odd sighed, dropping the aggressive boy onto the shrub he’d been hauled out from behind. “Just go tell everyone at the Grove to be ready when we get there. Pack whatever they need and get whatever Pokemon they have that can haul it ready to go as well.”
“Why would I lead you to The Grove like that?!”
“Because we’re going straight to it and not following you. Now GO!” Odd exclaimed, suddenly being engulfed by a huge gout of blue flames.
“AAHHH!” The kid flailed as he tried to escape from the terrifying beast threatening him. It took him a moment but he did manage to get free and fled in a hurry.
“You okay there?” Lykas asked as Odd’s spectral flames died down.
“Ya… Ya, I’m fine.” Odd assured his partner, wondering for a moment where the sudden burst of rage had come from.
It wasn’t but a few minutes later that the pair reached the Grove properly. By the time they got there, it seemed like the entire camp had been stripped down to bare bones. None of the tents remained standing and practically all of the buildings except one had been torn down and packed up onto the backs of Gigalith and Zebstrika all over the Grotto with the occasional Stoutland, a single Samurott and a solitary Emboar carrying all of it. The Gigalith seemed to be loaded down with the building materials used for the buildings and the one remaining was currently in the process of being disassembled.
“Looks like the kid got the message through.” Lykas quipped with a smirk.
“I’m pretty sure that kid had nothing to do with this. It looks like they were getting ready to leave whether we showed up or not.” Odd retorted, looking around at how prepared the refugees were to up and leave at any moment. “Probably a good thing we got here when we did.”
Lykas nodded. “Let’s find Roxie, then. She’ll be the one coordinating this, right?”
“Most likely.” Odd replied as the pair started through the collective of the camp, asking around as they went if anyone knew where Roxie was. They were directed, fairly quickly, to her at the large building that, by the time they reached it was down to it’s framework. “Roxie?” Odd asked as he neared, not seeing the woman at first. Among the various hammering, nailing and screeching sounds as nails were pulled, one of the various noises stopped. It wasn’t clear which one but after a moment, Roxie’s head popped out from under the building where she had been helping to dismantle the floor. “Wassup?!” She asked, dragging herself out and jumping up to her feet.
“We came to help move the camp. You guys were wanting to move toward Clay Tunnel, right?” Lykas asked.
“We’re actually aiming for Twist Mountain.” Roxie corrected him. “But Clay tunnel is the closest entrance to the easiest route to get us there.” The woman explained as she wiped some dust from her face with her sleeve. “Twist Mountain is a huge natural maze with all sorts of resources we can use to our advantage while we fight back against those Flares! And when this is over, we’re taking the fight right back to Kalos. By the time we’re done, Unova’s gonna own that whole region!”
“NO!” Lykas snapped. “It won’t. If Unova tries to take over Kalos right after fighting back, all that does is turn the war on it’s head. The point is to fight them back and keep them from taking over this region. When they give up, we’ll find the leaders of this attack, Lysandre and Ein, and we’ll bring the both of them to justice.”
Odd nodded. “The armies are doing what the ringleaders tell them. Take the head and the army drops like the body of a dead Ekans. No orders, no movement. Which means it’ll be easy to take it apart then.”
“Fine!” Roxie snapped back, clearly not happy that her revolutionary idea was shot down.
“We’re almost done packing everything up. The plan is to go straight over the mountain into Driftveil City and hit the tunnel while the enemy is distracted by the fighting over the drawbridge.
“That makes sense. I think some of our allies are actually heading that way to help with the fighting, too.” Odd agreed with the plan. In the meantime, do you have a path in mind? Crossing the mountain won’t be easy on it’s own.”
“We plan to cut our way through as we move.” Roxie replied.
“That’ll take forever. It would take weeks to clear a path as you go and Flare would easily be able to capture you all if they caught you in the process.” Lykas snapped back. “I have a better idea.” Tossing out Mykel’s Pokeball, he looked over to Odd. “Let us borrow Treble for a minute.”
“What for?” Odd question, curious was fresh hell his boyfriend had planned. Despite the curiosity and the fact he knew Lykas was certain to do something stupidly dangerous, he released the Drifblim anyway.
“We’re gonna make a yellow brick road to follow straight to the wizard.” Lykas replied with a smirk. Looking to Mykel, his smirk widened. “Mega Evolve, Mykel. We need that kind of power for a few minutes.” Laying two fingers on the Keystone embedded into his obi, he watched both it and the Mega Stone on the belt that Mykel wore begin to glow. The grasping strands of raw power from each reached out toward one another and when they connected, the Gardevoir was consumed by a crystalline shell of energy for a brief moment. When it shattered, he emerged in his Mega evolved form.
“Treble, can you carry Mykel as high up into the air as possible? I need him to be able to see from here to as close to Driftveil City as possible.” The hybrid told his partner’s Blimp Pokemon. Treble nodded and wrapped his ribbons around Mykel’s middle to hold him as comfortably as possible for the both of them. “Mykel, when you two get up there, use Hyper Beam! Cut us a pathway straight across the mountain!”
“WHAT?!” Odd exclaimed, suddenly horrified at Lykas’ utter disregard for the sanctity of the forest. “I don’t have to be a hippie to know that’s a terrible idea!”
Lykas shrugged. “Bad ideas don’t necessarily make for bad plans.” Lykas retorted. “Besides, you have Glissando and Refrain with you. Between the two of them and Mykel, we can make a pseudo road while we travel using whatever’s destroyed along the way.”
Odd made to protest when he realized Lykas was probably right. It would be a lot faster to cross the mountain if the trees and other natural obstacles were obliterated first. Not that it was a good thing to be doing. “Fine… Don’t expect any Pokemon whose homes you destroy to let us pass quietly.”
“It’ll be fine! We have a ton of Pokemon that can defend us all while we move.” Roxie announced as Treble lifted Mykel higher and higher. It took a few minutes for sure but when the pair reached an incredible height, to the point that they appeared as little more than a dark speck in the sky, a sudden bright light masked their speckness and a pinkish beam of mass destruction rained down upon the earth, ripping through the forest and mountainside in a rapidly moving straight line, arcing a bit from how fast Mykel swept the Hyper Beam through the area. The sounds of soil being ripped from the earth, trees crashing through the forest as they were torn from their roots and stone being blasted apart echoed throughout the mountain but, surprisingly enough, no one showed up out of nowhere to investigate.
“That’s… an obscene amount of destruction for a single-use road…” Odd said to himself, feeling the dread and rage of countless Pokemon suddenly exploding into being and swelling by the moment. As Treble brought the exhausted Mykel back down to Earth, Odd shuddered yet again. “I hope you’re all ready and willing to deal with the consequences of that…”
“It’s gonna be fine.” Lykas assured him as he looked around. By now, everything was packed up and everyone was ready to go.
Despite the amount of anguish in the areas surrounding them, Odd noticed a distinct lack of anything attacking as the members of the camp moved across the mountain and with Refrain and Glissando both out of their Balls and using Telekinesis to move broken logs and shattered stone into a walk path with a bit of help from Mykel’s Psychic, the huge group moved fairly quickly and with very little trouble. “I’m worried we’re going to be attacked at any moment…” Odd told Lykas as they traveled.
‘Relax, already. Anything that was in the area is either knocked out by that Hyper Beam or ran like ~/~ to get away from it and isn’t coming back any time soon.” Lykas assured the Channeler.
Except he wasn’t completely right. Odd felt it before it saw it as a rock phased through the back of his head without leaving with anything more than a small bruise. “I already told you that doesn’t hurt me.” He announced to the child behind him.
“It’s the kid with the slingshot again…” Lykas announced, ignoring him otherwise.
“He’ll figure it out eventually.” Odd replied as the group travelled. He kept his senses tuned to the area around them, ignoring the boy with the slingshot until, after a while, he actually felt something hit him rather than simply phasing through his body. “GAH! What the hell?!”
“I told you I’d beat you!” The boy with the slingshot shouted at him as he loaded another stone into his launcher. When he loosed the stone, Odd could see a faint trail of energy following behind it up until it hit him in the stomach. Yelping as he actually felt it again, he quickly cupped his stomach and caught the stone before it fell away.
“Is that a Ghost Gem?” Lykas asked as he saw the faintly glowing purple stone.
“Necrite it is.” Odd confirmed, annoyed, before flinging the chunk of crystallized chi to the side. “Obnoxious little brat.” He grunted to himself at the sight of the boy.
“Just ignore him.” Lykas suugested, continuing the climb the mountain and directing the trio of Psychic-types they had at their disposal to continue crafting the smoothest road they could manage.
“Easier said than done if he’s got any more of that stuff lining his tiny pockets.” Odd retorted. Fortunately, nothing aside from a few angry Pidove and one of the Pan- trio ever interrupted the steady progress of the group and it looked like the various members of The Grove took care of them, leaving Odd and Lykas to do little more than supervise for now.
It took a few hours to reach the end of the route which was only possible thanks to Lykas’ wanton destruction before The Grove started to move and thanks to the trio of Psychic-types the two Snagems had on hand crafting a road of sorts that made it easier to walk across the ruins mountainside. Once the group reached Driftveil City, that was when the problems started.
“We’re under attack!”
“No we aren’t! The city’s under attack!”
“Keep moving!”
“Everyone, stick together!”
“We’ll never make it!”
“We’re all going to die here!”
The shouting across the large group only got louder and more chaotic as Lykas and Odd attempted to usher everyone toward Clay Tunnel until, his anger growing, Odd finally had had enough.
“SHUT UP!” He screamed, blue flames consuming him as his anger reached a crescendo, the beating in his soul mimicking the feeling of a racing heart as the surging wrath inside him tried to escape. “You’re all contributing to your own downfall! Be quiet and follow me!” He shouted at the group as he pointed Lykas toward Driftveil. “Watch our backs while we head to the tunnel.” He told the hybrid, recalling Refrain and Glissando both back to their Pokeballs.
Lykas nodded and signalled Mykel to follow him. “Will he be ok by himself, Boss?” Mykel asked, worried about Odd’s anger problem.
“He’ll be fine.” Lykas assured the Psychic-type. He wasn’t completely convinced, though. Odd had never been the sort to lose his temper like this and, worse, he seemed to be doing it a lot more frequently lately. “Besides, when he blows up like that, they all shut up and pay attention. Even Roxie’s losing control of that many people at once. If they have to be afraid of him losing it on them all to listen, then at least they’ll get where they’re going safely.” Mykel nodded, hoping Lykas was right.
While Odd lead the members of The Grove toward Clay Tunnel, Lykas joined the fighting around Driftveil city. Despite his efforts to keep Mykel’s energy in reserve as much as possible, he ended up having to rely on the Mega Gardevoir’s strength a bit. Water Spouts and Moonblasts alike could be seen flashing through Driftveil for a bit as the pair launched airdropping Flare members into the sea. Before long, they sensed a sudden, massive swell of Grass energy coming from an Aqua ship out in the ocean and when a Solar Beam ripped through the air toward a Flare Airship, Lykas nodded, pointed and shouted. “Hyper Beam! Take another one down!”
Mykel looked at first like he was charging up a Moonblast but when the bundle of pink-tinged energy was rapidly condensed into a singular point before a massive beam of Fairy-tinted energy ripped through the sky, screaming along it’s path until it pierced an airship like a lance of light. With two airships coming down at once, Lykas stopped for a moment. “Oh crap…”
“What’s wrong?” Mykel asked, huffing and puffing for a moment as he recovered from the effort it took to launch that attack, even in his Mega-powered form.
“I don’t think Wren’s got a way off that ship and if he just attacked Flare, they won’t let that ship go long without blasting it out of the water, either.” Lykas realized aloud, explaining his concerns to Mykel.
“I just...need a minute…” Mykel replied, standing up and stretching his arms a bit. They were sore from pushing the kind of power his Hyper Beam used through them. After about thirty seconds, after one of the Flare airships had fired off missiles as well, Mykel spoke again. “I know where he is! I’ll be right back!” The Pokemon vanished in a flash of blue-green light but was only gone for a minute or two.
When the Mykel reappeared within the confines of Driftveil, Wren and his Maractus in tow, Wren stopped for a moment. "Who are you and how did you know I was there?"
"He's mine and we could sense your energy on that ship when you attacked." Lykas explained from nearby. "We're in a hurry, though. Keep them distracted so we can get these guys into the mountain!" With that, Lykas and Mykel ran off toward Clay Tunnel, heading back toward The Grove, most of whom were closing in on the entrance to Clay Tunnel.
“Good thing we decided to get these guys moving early. If Wren’s here, that means there’s probably other Snagems around too and they can keep Flare and Aqua both busy.” Lykas told Mykel as they raced onward. The Gardevoir nodded, taking note of the decreasing number of individuals left outside of Clay Tunnel.
By the time they had caught up, it looked like everyone was inside already. “Take it out! We need to close off the tunnel so Flare can’t follow us.” The hybrid told his partner. Mykel nodded and, condensing a powerful bundle of Fairy energy, he flung a Moonblast at the boards bracing the tunnel entrance.
“Not strong enough.” Odd pointed out. “Stand back.” As he walked up close to Lykas, he drew another Ball and threw it out to release Treble again. “Explosion!” Snapping the ribbons of Ramses Curse out of his shadow and throwing them across the space between himself and Treble, he prepared for the inevitable. About that time, he saw the bratty kid with the slingshot that had been harassing him since his arrival aiming something at the ceiling above Treble. It took a moment before he realized what it was but when he saw the sparks, he caught on quick. The kid was timing it to shoot a cherry bomb that would explode when it got close to his target. Where he’d gotten it from and, given how he’d been acting, why he hadn’t used it on the Channeler was anyone’s guess at this point but the problem was that the boy was within blasting range of Treble’s coming attack. And it was far too late to stop it now.
“Damn it!” Odd shouted as he flung a Premier Ball toward the kid. “Cadenza, cover him!” Just as the call was issued, Treble swelled one final time and a with a momentary pause as all sound in the tunnel became masked by the imminent kaboom, he exploded. Successfully snatching the Ghost-type out of the range of the falling debris, recalling him to his Ball and conjuring a Guardian Halo in rapid succession wasn’t easy with how little time Odd had to pull them off but he managed it. Barely. The result of it all, though, was one destroyed tunnel entrance, one safe child and a couple unharmed. In the grander scheme, however, The Grove managed to get everyone and everything they needed moved through the tunnel and into Twist Mountain while Odd and Lykas were busy with distracting the Flares and blasting the tunnel entrance closed.
Once they were sure everyone was safe and that the resistance wouldn’t be needing them immediately, they decided to head back to HQ. Mykel’s Mega Form faded away, finally, leaving him in his normal form, whereupon, he Teleported Lykas back home, too tired to give Odd a lift. He intended to have Claydol come pick the Channeler up but before that could happen, Glissando released himself from his ball and the Drowzee took care of it. Odd hadn’t realized he even could before now but the small Psychic-type managed well enough.
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