"Take them out, Knights!" Maverick shouted as he charged into the fray, immediately dispatching more than one Mechanist alone. He was the head commander for good reasons, and this was one of them.
"W, you can teleport, right?" Already Alice had an idea, grabbing her subordinate and pulling him out of any harm's way.
W opened his mouth to respond before Alice pulled him away, prompting a slight yelp before he recollected himself and nodded. She still scared him quite a bit; if it wasn't for the fact that she was his superior he would most likely be using that very move to escape her right now. "Y-Yessir—ma'am," he confirmed anxiously.
W had to focus now. The action he'd been waiting for was finally here; he couldn't let it go to waste because of his irrational fear of his own commander. He shook his head a couple of times to try and get the feeling out of his head, blocking Knight-Commander Alice's glare from his mind for a moment as he tried to gain that concentration. Yes... that concentration he so loved, he felt it pushing all other thoughts aside.
W's nervousness instantly dissipated and his eyes narrowed, scanning the surroundings for a moment before looking back to Alice. "What's your plan?" he asked, his tone much stronger than before.
"... but I am an experienced field technician. My knowledge of machinery alone guarantees a 100% success rate on any mission you task me with... so long as you don't make me bear the insidious burden of working with such... profligates."
Krekker glanced to his side as the other Pokémon spoke. A guaranteed 100% success rate simply wasn't possible, and what raging arrogance this electric-type had to say that it was made him appear careless and stupid in the Bisharp's eyes.
"So the Electivire has a tongue, charming," Krekker murmured. "I'm no profligate. You'd do better to contain your prejudice."
"Krekker... Krekker... right! That former knight!" Damon said, nodding. Krekker was a little saddened that 'that former knight' appeared to be how he was known, but he supposed he couldn't blame Damon. "For battle strategy, as soon as we gather up we will discuss strategy, just to see where our strengths lie with our given volunteers. And eh..." He turned to face the Electivire, "I am not sure those statistics are grounded in science. We are a team here after all." He said with a nod, "Though you two should probably pack the necessary equi-"
Krekker – and Damon, it seemed – were caught off-guard when an alarm sounded abruptly. The Linoone rushed into another room, and soon enough the ringing ceased. When he returned, though, it was clear that it hadn't been a false alarm.
"Alright, sorry people but we're going on a rescue mission right now. Uh, you two! And eh.. you three! Come with me!"
"So soon? Very well," Krekker bashed his metal fists together twice in percussion of sorts before leaving the convention centre. The situation outside could only be described as organised chaos. Pokémon rushing about, grabbing weapons, being wisked out of existence by other Pokémon that seemed to be teleporting them. And then there was- oh, dear... Urta Runes, training instructor. Krekker had luckily had few dealings with her - he preferred to train alone, and his ex-knighthood and general nomadic attitude so far was enough to avoid the Blaziken. Not only was she scary in personality, but her being Fire/Fighting type wasn't so comfortable a position for Krekker. Fighting type moves destroy him anyway, but the offensive capabilities of his Steel-type moves were nullified by fire. Fighting was bad. Fire/Fighting was just adding insult to injury. And with a personality like that to match... he'd rather not think about it, even if she was technically on his side.
Thoughts of Blaziken-related mortal danger aside, Krekker was fairly surprised at his own eagerness. He extended his blades - sharpened, he made sure of that - and made a move to the teleporters. The Bisharp left the weapons where they were, but took a couple of those pellets. He could use them if he needed them, even if he preferred using his own weapons for the most part.
In a flash, the scene changed. The Psychic-types' Teleport worked, thankfully; he'd been a little afraid they might not work for him, what with his typing. Caves gave way to grassland, and grassland gave way to village. And explosions.
"Alright everyone!" Damon spoke out loud, "Head into the village and find our men! Do not engage knights head on! Get in, retrieve our fellow Mechanists, and get out! I don't want anyone rushing in to be a hero!" because heroes are bad guise
Krekker observed the village from afar, though Damon was right. As much as he'd like to plan a strategy before going in, there wan't time. He could strategise while fighting, his mind was fast enough for that, he knew. There were a few different entry points to the village, he could probably go with one of the nearer side entrances, maybe climbing up around there...
Mind set on entering the fray, Krekker stretched and scraped his blades together in his regular Swords Dance before running towards the village's boundaries.
This fight was chaos. Maverick Renos was downright slaughtering Mechanists left and right, and his soldiers followed suit as they started breaking the front lines. Then Krekker heard a scream from an end of the village that he could've sworn was devoid of Knights. When he took a glance in that direction he found the roof of a house was blown out, and an armored Absol standing on the wreckage. She looked in Krekker's direction, then to a squad of Mechanists that were just then preparing to throw a bunch of gas pellets at her.
Then she disappeared into thin air, and a leafy tree branch collided with the pellets, dragging the gas back towards the Mechanists who threw it.
"How are you holding up?" Alice asked her Kirlia "friend" as she appeared by his side in the thick of some trees. The rapid teleporting he'd been doing for her couldn't have been good for him. On top of it, he was throwing things around with his powers.
"Yeah, no, I'm fine," W responded hastily. This was a blatant lie, as the Kirlia stood leaning against a tree catching his breath.
Alice looked toward a small group that she could pick off easily. "Over there," she told him. As W teleported her out again she finished, "Get somewhere safe," like she could tell he was exhausted.
At this, W furrowed his brow. "Are you kidding me? I came here for action, I'm gonna get it, orders or no," he said sternly. Before his commander could respond, the Kirlia sent out a devastating pulse of Psychic energy at the group of Mechanists in question.
Unaffected by the attack, Alice had a much easier time of taking them out.
Get in, retrieve fellow Mechanists, get out... Krekker reminded himself of his orders. This was a rescue mission, not an attack. He approached the squad of pellet-throwing Mechanists - before he could reach them, however, they were blown back by a wave, assumedly made of Psychic energy. Krekker sprinted to the scene to find the armoured Absol from before incapacitating the Pokémon who were still standing, lightning-quick purple flashes coming from her claws.
"Step away, knight," Krekker called to the Absol, stepping in front of the Mechanists at the back. "I am not here to fight." He put one foot backwards, his hands in front of his face in an Iron Defense in case the Absol attacked, but she stood down as he asked. "Leave this village—behind me and to the right," the Bisharp told the conscious Mechanists behind him.
"We're not here to kill you," Alice clarified, although Maverick wasn't nearly as merciful as he ordered the other Knights to be. "This was an ambush."
Krekker hesitated, sensing familiarity in the Absol's voice. "Do I-?" He stopped himself. "An ambush? Hmm." Krekker wasn't sure what to think on hearing that. Best to ignore it for the time being.
"Yes; we were escorting civilians to a safe location."
"Words can do nothing to convince me of that. I'm sorry." Krekker raised a metallic eyebrow, "I've noticed you aren't attacking me. Is it not in your 'code' to show no mercy to your enemies?"
"Our orders were to use non-lethal force." Rear legs poised to move, the Knight-Commander's bright blue eyes glowed black and gold as she stared Krekker dead in the face, paralysing him with a fear he only felt for an instant. She leapt back, an entire tree finding its way to the Bisharp in front of her.
Shooting out Psychics at what little remained of the Mechanist group was all well and fun, but when the Bisharp came strolling in to start a conversation with Alice, a small smile crept upon W's face. "Hmm, maybe this'll be the challenge I was looking for," he mumbled to himself. Taking a few steps back from the tree he'd been leaning his back against, he directed all of his focus to uprooting the ten-foot-tall plant and sending it flying in the Bisharp's direction.
Krekker's eyes widened as he noticed the tree flying at him. He knew he had to move, but his feet wouldn't listen even as he tried to run, and the massive plant was too big to just dodge. The Bisharp held his arms up in defense, head lowered and taking the tree face-first, his body grinding into the bark. Lifted off the ground, Krekker recovered from the Knight's glare and twisted his body, the blades that made up his form slicing through the foot-wide trunk with ease.
Krekker landed with a metallic clang, pieces of wood dropping from the air and adding to the percussion with their own bonks and thumps.
"Please retreat," the Absol asked of him.
Krekker smirked, refusing to just back away so easily—he was starting to have fun. "I'm afraid you'll need a few more trees to take me out. Who is throwing them, by the way?"
As the mysterious Bisharp was revealed to practically be unharmed by his attack, W's face lit up with excitement. Up until now, the easily-dispatchable Mechanists had been more of a bore than he'd anticipated; even that silly Arcanine from earlier might have been more of a challenge. However, this Bisharp seemed to have the makings of a Knight, so maybe he was worth the time.
W's expression faded as the excitement and all other emotions were put on the back burner once more, the only thing left to focus on being the Bisharp and how to kill him.
Behind W stood three more trees, each as large as the last. Without hesitation the Kirlia uprooted all three and devoted most of his energy to keeping them aloft, before sending them hurling in the general direction of Alice and the Bisharp. The first tree seemed to be flying straight at its intended target, but the other two had been thrown quite randomly; who knew which 'mon it could've ended up hitting?
The Absol didn't seem to have any trouble at all. She lifted into the air and disappeared in the leaves of one of the trees, coming out the other side with little more than greenery and some twigs on her fur that she quickly shook away. She'd have to reprimand W later for such careless aim.
Krekker took a tree head-on, purple light covering the blades on his body as he tore straight through the one he found flying at him.
The third tree curved, flying into the air. Krekker, having been distracted by the first tree, was rammed right between the chest blades with Alice's horn. He was swiftly thrown skyward as the third tree came crashing down. Krekker saw his chance. Swords Dancing mid-air, he grabbed onto a stable branch and redirected the tree, sending it flying in the direction it came. Krekker saw the Psychic now. A Kirlia a ways from the Absol—a safe enough distance to throw trees, clearly. Krekker landed as the tree sped towards its target, settling back into his ready stance.
"Not bad," W spoke out, since the Bisharp saw him now anyway. He released a burst of Psychic energy at the tree's center, causing it to split into two in midair and fall to the ground before hitting the Kirlia. He had to admit, keeping himself in the open probably hadn't been the best idea. His goal was now to keep the Bisharp away while giving Alice chances to attack, and so he set to work.
The first part was easy: W lifted himself high up into the air, higher than the trees had once stood, so that there was no way the Bisharp could harm him without the use of a gun. Next, he focused on the patch of ground beneath his enemy and wrenched it out of the ground with his Psychic, promptly tripping him. Then, he let his mental grip go, allowing the chunk he'd extracted to fall back down onto the Bisharp.
The chunk of earth pinned Krekker's arms, but a quick Iron Head soon split the boulder in two. He stood again, panting slightly, and spoke.
"Two-on-one? I expected better from you." The Bisharp Swords Danced once more, reaching for his pellets and abruptly launching one at the Kirlia above. The sleeping pellet raced to its mark and exploded, a cloud of gas surrounding the Psychic Pokémon. Krekker kept an eye on the Kirlia's position, but turned back to the Absol. "Ready for a fairer fight, or should we both agree to go our separate ways? I shan't judge you on your comrade's lack of manners."
"Thank you," Alice responded, her subordinate teleporting away before he passed out completely, "but you're weary. I won't continue this fight as if we were on equal footing, and I'd prefer not to kill a former comrade."
"So you had noticed after all," Krekker chuckled.
"You have the makings of a Knight; it was difficult not to."
"I have the training of a Knight. Such fascism was lost on me. Regardless, it is good to see that not all Knights follow the Code as blindly as others." The Bisharp checked behind him — most of the Mechanists there appeared to have made it out. Backing away to follow the others, he told the Absol, "I should hope you will see sense soon, lest this war take you down a path you may regret. Farewell."