Food Fight! Featuring the Schmucks: Alphus, Gerrick, Ambrose, and Noah! And the man himself: Garland!
The next day...
Dean looked over at the plates and just sighed and he slumped over. There were all sorts of treats and delights at the table, and because he didn't have a stupid mouth anymore he couldn't taste any of it! Oh yeah, have a mouth as a Poliwag and then lose it immediately! What kind of s**t based evolution was that!? "Woah! Alphus! Over here!" Sneaker shouted out, the Sableye waving his hands as the Blaziken made his way over to the table. There was quite the stir amid the tables now as Alphus set his sketch book down and Dean wasted no time in swiping it and quickly flipping through it.
"Our man has his muse back!" He chuckled as he moved another page and stared at it, before he burst into gut wrenching laughter. The Poliwhirl cracked up as he gripped his sides, "Oh... oh this is so good!" He cried out. Sneaker leaped over and landed on Dean's head as he stared at the picture and began snickering, "Hehe, I never got to see it, but look at that expression! It's like he didn't know it would happen!"
Alphus glanced up from his bowl to see several familiar mon making their way over. Some saw that this was clearly NOT going to end well if Ambrose heard of it, others burst up giggling, and others were a bit confused. Dean set the sketch down on the table that showed Alphus' very fond memory of his fist smacking right into Ambrose's face, even capturing the detail of the blood that had spurted out from his nose. "Heh, man! Just look at that expression!" Dean complimented. "I mean, honest to Arceus I have to say, this is your best work YET!" The Poliwhirl said eagerly. "Man, imagine if this gets to hang up in a museum, right?"
Noah sat down after several other mom. His meal consisted of a berry salad, and a glass of water. Looking around, he noticed that the other Gold Tribe and resident 'mon were gravitating to the other side of the room. It struck him as both weird and awkward to be somewhat isolated so he took his plates in both arms and ventured to where all the commotion was occurring. Recognizing Alphus and Dean at the center of it all, he noticed that the Blaziken had produced a new work, and set it on the table for display.
The snickers, laughter and confused looks were no longer a mystery once Noah himself gazed upon the sketch. Impressed and horrified at the same time, the paper captured Alphus socking Ambrose right in the face. While he did want to edge his way past the bundle of Pokemon to observe it closer, he didn't want to be seen gawking at it once Ambrose himself joins the dinner. Noah has heard many rumors of the Shiftry's temper and did not want to be on the receiving end. He gathered his things and promptly returned to his original seat.
Gerrick sat at the very end of the table where the action was going on. His feet were planted on top and he leaned back on a pile of rocks he formed to get more comfortable. In his left paw was a ridiculously large mug, definitely not standard size from the ones they would hand out here at dinner. This was his own mug he brought along everywhere he went. He had relaxed a bit on trying to act the part of the stonewall "Shadowrend" ever since the debacle with Yveltal. He expected most of them would somewhat trust him now ever since he helped save the Emperor's life, so he hoped he was in the clear. Besides that, it didn't seem like any of the usuals were around. Yet.
"Lemme see that!" He said, standing up off of his leaning chair and heading over with his large mug to observe the picture. He looked down at it, taking a large swig of his drink, and quickly proceeded to spit it out. Gerrick was laughing uncontrollably now, the mug swishing and spilling across the table and onto the other 'mon with the Krookodile apparently not giving a damn. "This is great! Who is this loser?" He asked, pointing at the 'mon in the picture.
Dean actually blinked a bit in surprise as Shadowrend himself came over and everyone suddenly fell silent as he took the picture, but once he broke out into laughter the other GT around them visibly relaxed. "That's Ambrose, er, sir." Dean said as he puffed out his chest, "He just drove Alphus here too hard and he got punched! Bam right in the face!" He said. "Just straight out knocked him to the ground! Of course it was what he wanted, and he deserved it too!"
Alphus glanced over from his plate and gave a small nod as he resumed stuffing food into his mouth.
"Well, good for you," Gerrick replied back, stuffing his face with a large piece of bread off one of the others' plates. "Fhoo Fhon't Hake Fit Fof Efeyhuhy!" He declared, barely audibly trying to encourage them not to take crap from anyone, but unable to form the words with a full mouth.
Just then, a group of Pokemon entered the Dining Hall. It was Ambrose, the smirking and cheroot-chewing Shiftry and a few of his friends, Stonetouch, Stinger and; they seemed to have heard Gerrick babbling gibberish. Ambrose arched an eyebrow at the company of people. Half of them were looking at Alphus's drawing fascinated, the rest were staring at Gerrick who had spit his drink all over them.
"Who is this blabbering fool?" Ambrose shouted at them, staring down at Gerrick, until he noticed his golden insignia. "Shadowrend, is it?" he asked, seemingly crossly for no reason, "well, that's a miracle you don't see everyday. Came back from the dead, or so I've heard, eh."
"Yeah looks that way," Gerrick answered, taking another huge swig of his mug. He eyed the new group of 'mon that entered, seeing that they were also Gold Tribe. "But then again, it's kinda funny to come back only to see the end times." Gerrick began using his large nail on his paw to pick his stood, a piece of meat having been stuck in there from an earlier dish he ate. He finally picked the thing out, before spitting it right below Ambrose's feet. "What is that, your posse?" He asked, pointing behind Ambrose at the other Pokemon. "And who're you?"
The Rhyperior called Stonetouch stepped forward saying, "Stonetouch an' Stinger. But we ain't no one's posse."
"We're all one big posse, right, brothers?" Stinger, an Ariados said, although his tone wasn't at all friendly.
Dean got off of his seat and crossed his arms, "Hey, one big posse then?" He asked, "Well... I think if Shadowrend is back he should be allowed his old position. And by that, I mean the weakest link has to go." He stared right at Ambrose, "I mean, he worked hard for his second position and Jacob likewise worked hard to succeed him right? It only makes sense in my eyes." He gave a meek shrug.
The room went silent when the bomb was dropped. Ambrose stared at Dean, smirking like always; it was hard to tell if he was angry, because he always looked angry. Even some Gold Tribe of Alphus's group glanced awkwardly at the third-in-command, disbelieving Dean's words. The Gold Tribe may have questioned Ambrose's moves in the past, but he had already proven himself as an able and strong leader. And Ambrose knew that.
He averted his eyes from the company and went over to the table to sit. He grabbed a mug, poured ale from a bottle underneath the table and drank it all in one shot, his cigarette always in his mouth. Stonetouch and Stinger had seated themselves beside him and they grabbed food and started to gobble it down. The Shiftry chewed on a piece of well done meat and his cheroot, he poured himself another ale and drank it, and then slammed the mug on the table and shot himself up from the bench. He pointed at the Poliwhirl. "How dare you insult me like that! Why don't you's just fight me one on one like a real man instead of letting that poophole you call mouth do all the talkin'!"
Dean's hands tightened into fists, "You know what? I'm very very tired of how you treat everyone like... like something you can step on! Yes, you're a leader, yes you worked hard for it, but a leader isn't just some hard ass who sprouts out orders and rages about! Hell look at Garland's reputation! Someone who is strong but also someone who actually shows that he cares about how those under his command actually feel?"
He stepped out from the table and narrowed his eyes, "So fine, let's go. Type advantages be damned."
Alphus however had a different idea. He reached out and pulled back the Poliwhirl as he shook his head, making a few symbols in the air as Dean huffed, "No fair! You got ta punch him why can-" Before the water type could say anything else Alphus tossed him onto his shoulder as he squirmed about, "Hey! No fair Alphus!"
"Well, look at that," Gerrick said with a chuckle. He took another gulp of the contents within his enormous mug. His eyes were glued on Dean and Alphus, before returning to Ambrose. "But ya know, he does have a point. Leaders gotta have the respect of the people they command, or else are they really leaders? Girlfriend has that," He added, referring to the leader of the Gold Tribe. "Not really sure you do. Hey, maybe I should take over your spot!" He added, bursting out into laughter and taking another large drink of his ale.
"Take over my spot! How're you planning to do that, friend? You're gonna roll over me with that fat belly of yours?" Ambrose retorted and Stonetouch slapped his knee and burst into howling laughter.
Gerrick continued to howl with laughter up until he was insulted by Ambrose. He looked down at his stomach and cocked an eyebrow. Up until now, he was joking around about the leadership position, but now the 'mon actually did piss him off a bit. He placed down his mug onto the table with a large slam, and picked up a piece of meat off of another plate. "I ain't your friend, buddy," He growled, biting through the meat with his sharp teeth for effect.
Alphus slowly rose up and stared right at Ambrose as he grabbed something off of the table and made his way over to Gerrick's side, and by forfeit, Dean also ran over. The Blaziken silently held up the picture he had drawn and let it drop to the ground. As it fell it happened to float over to Ambrose to land in front of him. The rest of the Gold Tribe fell silent, many staring on anxiously as a few scooted forward to see what would happen.
Ambrose stared at the drawing on the ground before him like wide eyed. The smirk had intensified so much, he looked like a tiny monster with a huge white mane. His teeth were showing, gritted so much that they cut through his cheroot, which fell to the floor. He'd normally replace it right away, and the fact that he didn't was unsettling. The Shiftry raised his scary gaze to the smug Blaziken. "It seems our 'artist' here enjoys punching his brothers," he said through gritted teeth. "Though even that is more acceptable than his art."
It didn't look like he was going to attack, but Stonetouch looked more sensitive about it. He stood up abruptly, his mouth trembling, staring at Alphus with a sad expression, as if he had just
killed Ambrose. He grabbed a plate with pie from the table and walked slowly over to Alphus, then planted the pie on his face.
"For Arceus's sake, Stonetouch, that was uncalled for," Ambrose muttered what he would in other circumstances yell as loud as he could, but his smile of amusement betrayed his thoughts about the Rhyperior and his pie.
Gerrick began to burst into a spurt of laughter. "You're not gonna take that from him, are ya?" He asked Alphus.
"Hey!" Dean said angrily, "You aggravated him last time! Everyone there KNEW that you were only making him angry just so he would punch you!" The Poliwhirl accused, "Just so you could keep him out of the mark!"
At Shadowrend's words Alphus didn't hesitate. It was a blur of motion as the fires around his wrists billowed to life and it only took a second before his right fist flew out and slammed right into Stonetouch's face. As that punch was thrown, as the sound of flesh meeting rock rang out all hell broke loose.
Those who were allied with Alphus at the moment fired out ranged attacks as some ran up to join him in melee combat. The rest started attacking them to defend Ambrose as all sorts of attacks flew across the dining hall. Along with those attacks various food items such as berries and pies were tossed about. A Dewott even held up a Sandwich as a makeshift sword and began to smack those around him with it.
Soon enough, the whole hall had fallen into a chaotic mess.
Ambrose covered his forehead and sighed, being in the center of the chaos. He tried raising his hand and opened his mouth to shout for them to stop, but a pie struck him, bullseye. The small Shiftry fell backwards with his face still stuck in the plate. He jerked it off of him, jumped on his feet nimbly, wiped the cream off his eyes and looked wildly around him. "AAALPHUS!" He shouted, spotting the Blaziken who had thrown the pie. He grabbed an empty plate from the table next to him and threw it like a frisbee.
Alphus quickly sidestepped as the flames on his wrists grew brighter as he jumped up and aimed fight for Ambrose as the flurry of food kept on being thrown about along with attacks.
Still eating his food, Noah eagerly watched the brawl unfold as if he was watching a movie. Once done, he began to navigate around the dining hall, dodging attacks and charging Pokemon while scavenging abandoned plates. Eventually he came across a large apple pie. Seizing it in his paws and about to dig in, he failed to notice a Vigoroth rushing at him in blind rage. With a solid Headbutt, the normal type bashed face-first into the Typhlosion knocking the pie right out of his grasp. Reeling back in both pain and anger, Noah's flame vents ignited violently and involuntarily flamethrowers shot across the the dinning hall. A stray blast eventually struck Gerrick right in the muzzle, interrupting his howling laughter and sending him tumbling right into the thick of the chaos.
Gerrick stood up, standing on top of the head of a Hitmonchan whom he had knocked over. He looked around angrily, trying to find the 'mon who had hit him before. "Who the hell did that?!" He roared, looking around for his target. There were multiple fire types in the room however, all hitting each other. "Aww, f*ck it!" He yelled, running right in the center of the bunch and jumping right at a group of brawlers and crashing the entire group along with him onto the floor. He then picked up a bottle of ale, slamming it into the head of a Dewott. Fisticuffs ensued around.
***
Meanwhile, outside...
Thrasher grumbled as he dragged his leg behind him, grunting as he made his way along the path and gasped as he saw the next hurdle. "Stairs... oh joy." He muttered, "No... no, think happy. This is... this is going to be okay." He gritted his teeth as he began to sloooowly rise up the stairs, gritting his teeth all the while. As he made his way ever so slowly up he glanced off and saw some figures making their way over to the hall as well, "Ah, Garland! How goes it?" He asked as he had to bit down on his tongue to keep a cry of pain from escaping as he made his way up another step.
Garland ignored his question, walking up the stairs with another member of the Gold Tribe; a female Granbull. "Help him walk, Faery," the Floatzel commanded, and the Granbull immediately helped Thrasher walk by grabbing his shoulder.
Thrasher frowned and looked at Faery, "Uh... is everything alright?" He asked warily.
Garland nodded no, then perked up his ears. Pokemon were shouting from the dining hall of his house. He quickened his pace to the top of the stairs.
Thrasher blinked and looked at Faery, "Carry me up there! Pronto! Did anyone get through our defenses!?"
Garland somehow knew what was going on before he kicked the doors open. The moment he burst into the room, everyone stopped. It was dead silent! His cold, penetrating gaze traveled from one corner of the room to the other, staring at the food that was thrown on the floor, the broken plates, the Pokemon that had stopped fighting with each other. "Who is responsible for this?" he said softly, his effort to restrain himself too obvious on his tightened mouth. Out of shame, perhaps, no one spoke, or out of fear. "Who is responsible for this?" Garland repeated, more intensely this time.
The Rhyperior stood up; he'd somehow crashed into the wall and his face was covered in mustard, but that probably was before the fight. "These guys!" he pointed at Dean and Alphus, "they taunted Ambrose!"
Garland looked over to the mute Pokemon and his telltale, then back to the Rhyperior. "... and is that a reason to start...
this?" he asked, putting emphasis in the last word to show a mild disgust for the mess that had been made of the dining hall.
"F-forgive us," Stonetouch pleaded, stooping his head, his mouth angling into sadness; he looked as if he was about to cry. "It was fun, though..."
"Quiet!" Ambrose nudged the Rhyperior and stepped in the front. "Garland! Good to see ya, heh," he chuckled. Oddly enough he was clean from head to toe, as if he hadn't been attacked with a pie. There was not even a single sign of the food fight on him.
"You too, Ambrose?" Garland demanded to know, "didn't you try to stop them?"
"I did try," Ambrose protested in a whiny tone.
Garland ignored him. "And you, Shadowrend?" he turned to the Krookodile, who looked to have been involved thoroughly in the fight.
Gerrick was smack in the middle of a pile of bodies, tangled between them, though they quickly dispersed when Garland had showed up. Nonetheless, he was covered in food, spilled alcohol, and had a small cut on his cheek. He was about to speak, but noticed at some point something was lodged in his mouth, something he didn't know was there. Spitting it out, he realized at one point a bit of food must have been lodged in, which he threw out and accidentally next to another 'mon's feet. "Not really, no," Gerrick replied casually, looking Garland straight in the eye. He looked around for his large mug, seeing it spill over on the table, and walked up to it with a sigh. He sat facing Garland along the long table and simply held the mug in his hand, each of his arms outstretched as they rested along the table.
"It was just letting off steam, sir....brother," He declared, licking his teeth to clean them out with his tongue. "After everything that's happened, I don't think that's too bad of a thing." Gerrick surprised himself with the way he was talking. He hadn't expected to get too caught up in everything, but he was actually speaking as if he were getting attached to the Gold Tribe a bit. That, and he was slowly dropping his ruse more and more. Then, he said something else he didn't expect. "Just let 'em be. I'll pay for the damages."
Wait, what the hell did I just say?
Alphus likewise didn't keep his head down. Instead, as Ambrose's gang accused them of starting this, he kept his head held up high. Dean however was cowering behind him, shuddering merely at the look that Garland gave them. He gulped and whispered to Alphus, "I-I've never seen him s-so angry."
Noah pulled himself up from a bundle of 'mon who stood motionless since the moment Garland entered. The whole time he had been bombarded by food and attacks only managing to defend himself by fighting back. Now that Garland had made himself known and all was still, the Typhlosion slowly dropped to all fours and began to stealthily sleek away from behind the crowd.
Alphus just took in a deep breath of air to calm himself. Meanwhile Thrasher looked about in amazement, "Dear Arceus." He muttered, "This... isn't good."
Garland stared coldly at Gerrick, who offered to pay the damages. "You do that," he said, then turned to everyone. "The Gold Tribe does not dawdle like this. You all should be ashamed." He turned and took the stairs for the second roof, saying, "there will be an early drill tomorrow. Get some sleep, and don't let the Emperor know about what happened here. We cannot afford anot"