[PKMN OPEN] (M)(IC)Pokemon Battle Royale - Earth and Sky: Beyond

Mary lolled her head as Reanne fell asleep in front of her. ...Huh? What was--Did she just pass out? This poor baby must've been up all night or something. She couldn't help but smile, which was handy because she was about to run out of reasons to do that. It all happened so fast. The lightning that was making Rose anxious proved to be more than an irrational fear. Commands were being shouted, and then cut off as a bolt of lightning ...ripped into the cabin and vaporized the driver. Rose let loose an appropriately girlish scream and Mary just sort of felt her own scream die in her throat. Not needing to be told twice, Rose quickly moved open a window behind her and awkwardly shambled out, her dress getting caught momentarily and causing her to all but fall on her face as she tumbled from the bus in a rush, staggering back to her feet as she turned to check on her sister.

...Mary, you dumb--

Inside, Mary had stopped to help their sleepy friend out of a jam. After having just watched Reanne pass out mid conversation, she had little faith in the girl's ability to wake up in a timely fashion, figure out what was going on, plot an escape and then act on that escape plan in a timely manner. "Hang on, I've got you." she murmured, slipping one arm underneath Reanne's thighs and the other under her back. Mary scooped Reanne into her arms and cradled the other tightly to her chest. She then stood back upright with some effort, her legs wobbling insecurely with her newfound weight. Right! Now to make her heroic escape! ...It was then that Mary realized that windows were small and difficult to climb out of, and she was moving for two. Her pupils dilated rather sharply as her gaze drifted to the disintegrating front of the bus. She felt like she staring down the throat of an eldritch monster! Mary backed away in a panic, only for the sound of violently snapping metal to greet her ears.

"Dahlia, use Sacred Sword!" Rose commanded, having released her honedge to aid in Mary's escape. With two powerful slashes, Dahlia cut through the metal wall of the bus like a hot knife through butter, tearing away a large hole in the side of the bus through which a thoroughly spooked Mary quickly hopped through, staggering rather hard and nearly falling forward as she landed. Rose rushed to Mary's side and gave her a little tug, guiding her away from the bus. She had no idea where they were going, but if they were lucky the danger would stay with the bus. "C'mon, we need to go..." she anxiously urged.

Emmanuel had been enjoying the view, at least partially. While big old rocks were always a pleasant sight, the constant thrum of thunder and the blinding bolts of light preceding each heavy beat left his body tense, weary, like something instinctual was knocking on the corners of his mind. The chatter of the other passengers was drowned out, and his surroundings, at least on the bus, he was no longer aware... Until the bus began to slow to a halt. Emmanuel felt the weight of the bus shift as the vehicle's front pulled to the left and when the young man turned his attention to the driver's seat to get a glimpse of what was going on, he was blinded by a detonation of light tearing right through the roof of the vehicle.

By the time Emmanuel regained a hold of his senses, another bolt of light tore through the bus, muffling the shouts and screams of those around him. When the brightness faded, Emmanuel's eyes widened in shock. Everything was missing, the front of the bus, the driver, the seats at the front, the floor, it was all gone. He knew it was only a matter of time until he was gone too.

His right hand shot for his waist, clicking the mechanism of a pokeball before grabbing for another. Emmanuel leaped from the window seat stepping halfway into the aisle and shouted, "Juice, Dynamic Punch! Standing in the seat previously occupied by Emmanuel, rearing its clenched and glowing fist back, was his Juice, the Poliwrath. Under an explosion of glass, peppering into spaces in Emmanuel's hair and leaving minor cuts on his face, the metal of the bus's wall gave in, leaving an outward gap the size of Juice's fist.

Both of them knew this was not big enough for an escape unless that of a comically small person. Without much thought, Emmanuel took a step back in the aisle and sidearm chucked the pokeball in his hand as far as he physically could, hoping that at least they could get out safely. Meanwhile, Juice knocked aside the seats to its side, easily dislodging them with strong punches and kicks. It the new space around him, the pokemon took a wide stance, grabbed the newly formed hole with its cartoonishly massive hands, palms outwards, and with its powerful muscles taut, began to rip the wall apart.

As Emmanuel reached for his third and final pokeball, he realized something and stopped. The first pokeball, it's flight over, clanked against an outcropped rock and rebounded into the air. Despite her appearance, with her rotund body and frankly dull expression practically always on her face, not to mention the swirly head of hers that just looked plain silly, Lady was probably the most intelligent of the pokemon he had on his roster. Even from this distance, she could see the panic in her trainer's eyes. In an instant, the Lickilicky shot her dry tongue through the air and into the gap Juice had created, twirling it skillfully around her trainer like a ribbon. Only a ribbon wasn't this strong. He could feel her grip tighten around his waist, almost astonished at the strength of it. Juice gave his trainer one look back and then, flexing his legs and bending at the knees, leaped from the bus through the now massive hole he had stretched apart.

Another thought came to Emmanuel at that moment, something fleeting, but he refused to ignore it. With one hand gripping his lifeline in Lady's tongue, Emmanuel turned towards the aisle and shot his free arm out into it. Again, another burst of lighting roared down upon them, this time close enough to Emmanuel that he could feel the heat of it searing against his face. Everything felt dry. He couldn't see a thing. Gritting his teeth, Emmanuel shouted out into the crowd, whatever was left of it, "If anyone's there, grab on!"

And then, Lady began to pull.
​

With the bus in shambles, the roof torn by a cosmic attack of the lightning, leaving nothing but the base and wheels with trainers bailing out. Another whistle is heard as the static retracts slowly as pokemon from the hillsides begin sliding down and descending on the trainers with the element of surprise, hoping to have caught them off guard or at least taking out a few trainers in the discharged strike. The shocks retracted as it began to rain and the fir was electrified, both literally and figuratively as the welcome wagon into Ignea was charging the trainer's way. A small group of pokemon riding Zebstrika's we're closing in, these pokemon with ritualistic looking tattoos and body paint as they descended on their prey. Joseph freezes for a moment, processing the new information as he pulls out his pokeball for Static and tosses him out. "Static, Charge Beam! Aim for the closest rider, I've got... sort of, a plan." He pulls out his own walkman and starts looking for batteries. He intends to use the same event that happened to them on their attackers. He was attempting to buy time to get setup.

"Are we going to acknowledge that you just ripped open a bus to save me??" Mary breathlessly asked, beaming rather appreciatively at Rose. Rose became slightly flustered at the remark. Destroying busses wasn't something they normally even thought about doing, no, but it was going to get destroyed anyway right?? Rose looked about to try and secure them an exit when another glance revealed moement. Pokemon were swarming down around them. Her words were caught in her throat. She looked back in time for Reanne to wake up from her little nap and start asking questions--Was she drooling on Mary's sleeve? Rose flinched at the sight, but resisted the urge to point it out. Now was definitely not the time or place for that! "Yyyeaaah~ Some big monster ate the bus! We got out alright though." Mary remarked somewhat light-heartedly. Reanne could feel her arms trembling ever so slightly, but she seemed to be in no rush to put the other down. "We're outside now...--" Mary began, her gaze drifting over to the charging pokemon. "...That's a lot of pokemon. Do you think they're coming to help us?" Mary asked no one in particular. Rose, finally finding her voice, observed the charging pokemon for a moment longer. "N-No... I think they're here to eat us." Rose replied rather flatly, at tad stressed out by the events of the day. "Dahlia, use Shadow Sneak to stop them in their tracks!" Rose quickly went on to order, gesturing at a row of incoming pokemon.

A shadow lurched out across the hillside. Rose's honedge made several slices at the air as the shadow passed, the tip of her blade passing through the shadows to cut at the charging pokemon's feet and legs in an effort to make them rethink how much of a hassle this fight would be. Watching this for a moment, Mary turned her attention back down to Reanne. She seemed mildly disappointed. "Looks like there's a battle going on... Don't worry though. Peach and I can protect us~" she explained and reassured.

Emmanuel?s fingers grasped nothing. The sweltering heat he felt against his face seconds ago turned to a warm breeze as he was pulled up off his feet and away from the bus. Moments later, Emmanuel landed back on solid ground, stumbling a bit on arrival. He leaned his back against the nearby outcrop of rock, hoping to sort himself and regroup. ?Thanks,? he said, a bit short of breath, rubbing Lady fondly on the head.

Juice casually sauntered up to the two, an oddly relaxed look on a normally irritated face, as if the very recent, perilous events were of no real concern to the Pok?mon. Emmanuel narrowed his eyes and shook his head. ?You little?? He trailed off, a not so distant rumbling filling the air, different from the thunder.

With his eyes up and wide, Emmanuel saw the stampede of Pok?mon closing in on them, descending from the hillside. ?Nah? You can?t be serious.? He muttered. Feet scrambling backwards in a hop, his torso and legs halfway turned around, Emmanuel felt the ground begin to shake. In this moment of impending doom, a rather silly thought lodged itself into the young man?s mind. This was a lot like those movie scenes ? the ones with the massive horde of something stampeding down towards whoever or whatever, the roar of a trembling earth filling the room from the speakers, and the sharp and erratic jerks of the camera. Except, that angry horde was charging down on him, that roar more like a series of pops beneath his feet, and the ground below dancing in his eyes.

Emmanuel recognized what was actually happening. In the midst of his turn, he saw a trainer some dozen yards away lofted into the air, a Magneton by his side, and a Claydol below, rings of dust rising into the air.

?A great idea,? Emmanuel said, barely audible even to himself ?if you were alone.? Teetering a tad too far forward, the young man grabbed the rock he had just been leaning against for support, until that was split apart by the vibrating earth. Twisting with momentum, Manny managed to save at least his face face, falling gracefully on his ass.

Sitting there, resigned of any further ideas of running away, mostly because the horde of Pok?mon had covered too much ground for his liking and would probably catch him at this distance, Emmanuel began to think. It wasn?t long until he blurted out, ?Rollout?? It was more of a feeler than a command, but a command nonetheless. Lady, her tongue still out, swinging halfway to the ground, shook her head in defiance. ?What do you mean, no?? He responded, his arms up in disbelief. ?Uuuuse rollooout!?

As the pair of trainer and Pok?mon continued their argument, Juice, all too familiar with the scene, headed over to one of the fallen, freshly splintered rocks. Although still roughly the same size of an average man?s torso, the Poliwrath lifted the rock over his head with ease, and with a swift turn of his hips and shoulders, following through with a hop, Juice began hurling miniature boulders at the horde charging down from the hillside.

?Look at that, look at that.? Emmanuel said, pointing at Juice, who was paying no mind to their conversation. ?Are you really gonna be outdone by a toad? He?s a toad! Are you a toad??

Lady?s vacant look practically disappeared. Her small, beady eyes narrowed, and then Lady spun away from her trainer to face the rushing crowd. Emmanuel caught a faint pout as she did this, and before he could comment, a blast of gravel and sand splashed his face. Taking off in a run, or what could be described as a leisurely walk of a run, Lady, the Lickilicky, shot out into a great pink ball, and with incredible acceleration and velocity, barreled into the charging herd of Pok?mon.​

The trainer's held back the force as the tribals start reading the attacks of the trainers and start splitting off from a large wave into clumps or groups. The few hit with the stone attacks, the tribals begin to adapt and watch the pokemon that can perform the attacks and begin focusing their strikes from a distance charging in towards the pokemon opposing them. The tribals weren't expecting heavy resistance as smaller groups begin backing off in fear and start to regroup to retreat. ".... That's... interesting. Wild pokemon, organized... Static, Use Toxic, Aim for the leading gro-" A set of poison needles from a bug pokemon start flying twards Joseph as Static jumps to knock him out of the way, the needles grazing and injuring Static's Leg. "LUX!" "Static!" He looks up and holds him in his lap as he tapes a pack of batteries to his walkman and turns it on. "Static, Thunderbolt this!" He throws his walkman as Static complies. The shock from the energy begins to effect the strange discharge above and come clashing down towards the ground. Bolts of pitch-black energy begins to rip up have the pathway, leading back towards the attacking tribals. Taking notice to the electric strike, a large portion of the tribals retreat to get out of the area. A handful of them slip by the electrical deathly nature and begin charging in; however they are in fewer numbers.

...Was this part of the contest? It seemed like a question with such an obvious answer, but was it really that obvious? "...I'm... pretty sure they ate the bus driver. What kind of contest is that?" Rose replied, chiming in on Reanne's thoughts. "An eating contest?" Mary helpfully suggested in turn. "...I don't think that's what an eating contest is." Rose flatly replied, dismissing the idea. "It doesn't take two to breakdance~!" Mary encouraged in response, earning herself a befuddled look. "Bwhu--..? What are you--..?" Rose began. It took her a moment to realize what Mary was getting at. Of course! It didn't matter if she chose not to compete. These were wild pokemon! They'd make lunch out of her and probably call it a victory either way! " . . . Fair enough. If we're going by monster kingdom rules, I'd strongly prefer to eat!" Rose combatively remarked, passing off her momentary bewilderment in favor of a burst of fighting passion! "That's the spirit~! You can do it~!" Mary replied with a little giggle. However, what happened next briefly stunned her. Reanne ... asked Mary to join her! They could do this together? Mary's eyes lit up with an overt joy. Reanne--That was music to her ears~! It looked like she just might squeal with joy for a moment!

The tribals numbers began dwindling still as they charge. As the trainers brace for the next impact and for an offense; something in the distance is seen, a gush of wind as if a small tornado was ripping through the valley as the tribals are sent flying sky high. The gush of wind rushes towards the trainers and halts as the remaining kinetic energy brushes past the defending group as a gentle breeze.

As the tribal begin falling, a blue aura surrounds them as they begin to levitate before they hit the ground. The tribals who attempted to use range attacks only have their abilities reverse and hit them instead. Among the sudden confusion, a loud tapping is heard, as if a cane was striking the ground, from around the bend, an old and wrinkled Slowbro was walking towards the trainers with a Lucario and Machoke in tow wearing poncho's with the symbol of an odd looking imprinted on the front. The Slowbro looked at the trainers and chuckled "It looks like we have several survivors... I do apologize for my rudeness; I thought that this pathway was clear into Ignea... I didn't think another tribe would invade so deep into our territory." It peers behind the trainers and notices the blocked tunnel entrance. "... ▼▲♫, your men have their work cut out for them. We'll need a group out here to clear the debris.... Anyone still alive, gather your pokemon. We'll be your escorts towards the next bus station, It's a short walk. Anyone needing assistance, Don't hesitate to speak out."

Jospeh stared on in awe as the Slowbro offered to escort them into Ignea. "You can talk?!" The old pokemon grins. "All pokemon can talk child. you just haven't learned to listen... Come along now." The Slowbro raises his wodden walking stick and with a tap to the ground, the attacking tribals are flung into a large living ball of pokemon above him. "I can't hold them for long and I have to escort them back to their territory." He starts walking away slowly as the fighting types approach and look among the ttrainers to see if any of them need help.

---

"You needn't to worry, I think we'll do just fine." Reanne reassured, whereas the two girls had shared seat on Shimmer's back, with her waiting for Mary's turn to deliver an attack by sending out her own Pokémon to 'even the odds.' Post-haste, a white humanoid Pokémon levitated from above, concentrating a powerful psychic energy toward the Electivire Shimmer had attacked prior. And the consequence left it face-up, not moving an inch, eyes swirled, no can do about that really.

"Wow! I sure have never seen a Pokémon this powerful and beautiful!" Reanne commented upon her performance in striking fear for those nearby the blast. But that wasn't enough for a certain round Pokémon racing through, rubble and dust carried upon the trail of the mountainside. If wasn't for the follow-up strike, Reanne could've missed sight of it. "Hang on tight!" With confidence, Reanne sternly warned for another command to intercept the Ball Pokémon. Shimmer raised his forelegs, lowering the back slightly to adjust a desirable surefire angle.

"Here it goes! ...eh?" But before Reanne could continue offense, the nearby wild Pokémon were outlined by a mysterious blue glow, including the Electrode that came rolling and leaping erratically, eventually stopping on its track midair. It was just as close as the topmost strand of Rose's disheveled hair, before being pulled away with a visible frown. Now that Reanne had seen it, she couldn't help but let out a giggle of Rose's newfound appearance━she must've had too much electricity to make her hair stand like that!

"...But it's weird. Who could've done that?" Reanne questioned, later meeting eyes with a mysterious figure standing in between another two. The wrinkles on its pink skin are obvious signs of aging, but a Slowbro, with a shell taking hue of yellow rust? That was a peculiar feature to be found on a wild Pokémon that somehow, could speak like a human. First it's the white hair, now a different shell color? Aging is a bizarre thing to exist, I need to pry their secrets someday...! Reanne thought determinedly. The light pat from his Trainer prompted Shimmer to slowly propel forward, carrying the two girls slowly unburdened by weight, "Are you all okay?" She asked those who were able to hear her, "I guess that's the end to it. It's so short-lived that it didn't make me any more excited. Oh well, now should we keep going?" She nudged Mary lightly, who wasn't as obvious initially that her hair too, was alike to Rose's.

The reverberating tumbling of rocks has fallen stagnant. The crackling electrics ceased to ionize the loose air. Some were able to hold off by their own, while some did suffer from slight harm caused during the skirmish. The assault they led heralded an evident conclusion, that the tribe wasn't strong enough to prevail over the select few of ragtag Trainers. Should one call this a victory? Or a fluke? That's up to their interpretation, for those who still lived in body and soul.