Faolan
The world had turned blue black, hostile auras bristling from the trees. He felt them, before he saw them jumping out of the darkness - Pokemon with black bands strapped and carrying all sorts of weapons.Too many. Just as I had thought. With the edge of his sight, he noticed that the Zangoose leader of the group had been taken down by that Krookodile; in truth, he did not care if the Brotherhood members all died right here and now. If they were responsible for all the crimes the Crown was accusing them of, Faolan had not seen evidence and thus was not convinced of their guilt. Yet, the accusations still existed, and neither their innocence had been proved. In his sense, Faolan considered the Brotherhood expendable, as it did not fall for him to judge them, for he did not know the whole truth. The Companions were attacking the heroes as well, though, so Faolan was inclined to serve them death.
Faolan the Wicked inhaled, straining his limbs in a Sword Dance, analyzing the situation at hand calmly. Rhyperior. Heavy weight, blades strapped on his hand. Slow in close combat, but powerful. Prone to my attacks, he looked to the right, to a Pinsir, or not. Pinsir. Capable only in melee, but with low health, aware of the pinchers - I can kill him instantly. No, that leaves me vulnerable to attacks. Next to the Pinsir, there was a Breloom. Breloom. No special advantages against me, dangerous up close, like me. Knows Mach Punch and Seed Bomb.
In a split second, his battle plan had already been formed. Faolan exhaled and leaped off the ground to avoid the Breloom, who was the fastest, landing next to the Pinsir and swiveling past him, whipping his face and making him stumble backwards. Faolan did not kill him; he instead faced the Rhyperior, who had already raised his massive arm to land it on the Mienshao, but he wasn't there. The arm with the blades came crushing down on the ground, in time for Faolan to release a supercharged Aura Sphere right on the Pokemon's chest. The blow caused a terrible sound of rock cracking and made the Rhyperior roar in pain and stagger.
Faolan inhaled. Step to the left, fluidly leap off the terrain, an explosion blew dirt and mud from the ground underneath him. He landed feet-first on the shoulders of the Breloom, locking his feet around his foe's neck and rotating his body's weight swiftly. The Breloom swirled round and fell with him, dazed. Faolan struck him between the eyes in a Drain Punch, breaking his skull without a single drop of blood staining his fur. He exhaled, knowing what followed. Detect. He swiveled around, the whip-like fur of his right arm deflecting the incoming pinchers harmlessly. His left arm caught the Pokemon's fat throat and blasted him off with a blue flash of aura.
Five seconds, three adversaries. He had done better.
Tsulong & Vincent
Tsulong snarled, seeing the Pokemon of the Crimson Company attack them from the shadows, all around them... He noticed some popping out of the ground. They were hiding underground! He felt his heartbeat quickening and the blood pump his feet, anger rising and flaring in his nostrils when he spotted Mantarys. Vincent was dealing with a Gurrdurr when he took notice of them. In a rallying cry, he tackled the Gurrdurr's side, taking him down easily with his size. He roared his fury in his face, and his breath was about to become fire, when something violently cast him aside. Rolling onto the unstable ground, dazed, he realized he was hit by a Camerupt, who was laying dead next to him.
"Out of my way," Mantarys was screaming as he fought ferociously with the Zangoose, trading and dodging blows faster than the eye could see.
Meanwhile, Vincent, having stumbled back after Tsulong's vivious attack on the Gurrdurr, who seemed rather surprised at the attack dashed forwards towards his foe. The Gurrdurr was now readying himself to strike against the downed Tsulong. Just before swinging the girder, he looked to the side to see the blur of Vincent dashing up straight in front of him, the shell in his left hand inches from his neck as he mumbled "Too slow." and in the next moment, the shell sliced through the Gurrdurr's skin, causing the Pokémon to cough and wheeze in pain as he fell over, the heavy girder falling next to him.
Vincent turned to Tsulong, his mouth still covered by the scarf as he nodded his thanks. "Much appreciated." came his voice from behind the scarf. Tsulong nodded, his eyes fixed on Mantarys and the Zangoose, despite the hell that was going on all around them.
"You're Zeke," the Krookodile shouted at his opponent, as he tried a slash, which was parried by the Zangoose's claws. "Fancy yourself a Lord now, don't you?"
Zeke? Zeke the Ruthless? Tsulong was left wondering for a moment. He remembered Durand saying Zeke hadn't been seen in so many years, nobody knew what he looked like or what species he was any more. But if he was that Zangoose, it would all make sense. The members of his team showed him proper respect, so it had to be him. But he was no Lord. Either way it went, the heroes and the Brotherhood had a common enemy now: Mantarys and his Company.
"Vince, let's help Zeke out... if we save him, we'll be tight with the Brotherhood!"
"Maybe not tight, but I'm sure he'll appreciate the gesture." Vincent joked.
Tsulong's mane was engulfed in flames as he said that. He left a fiery trail behind him as he charged full speed at the Crimson Captain, who was seemingly too focused on Zeke to see him... until he turned around, his black eyes locked on Tsulong, who was being shot at him like a bullet.
"Welcome," Mantarys grunted, sidestepping and slashing at him. He was fast, but he didn't manage to hurt Tsulong, who turned direction as soon as his feet touched the ground, launching himself at the Captain once again. The Krookodile swirled around in an iron tail, the force of the impact shaking Tsulong; his flames didn't seem to hurt Mantarys's tough skin.
Vincent had his hand raised, another blast of water shooting from the ground thanks to the moist soil of the earth. Vincent lept onto the shot of water and as Mantarys and Tsulong clashed, seemingly both of them coming to a stop, Vincent lept off of the water pulse, which collided harmlessly against the ground, causing him to fly over Tsulong, straight at the Captain.
With his right and left arm pulled back towards his right, he used the momentum to slice his shells towards the Captain's face in a diagonal manner, his eyes locked squarely onto Mantarys'... the shells pierced his snout and the Captain screamed in pain, grabbing Vince forcefully before he landed. The Dewott cringed behind the scarf, raising his right arm to prepare to slice the shell across the Captain's claws, but too little, too late. He was thrown, flying across the battlefield.
The Krookodile's eyes were blazing with fury and his face shining with blood from the gashes. He felt Lord Zeke coming, so he swung around to grab his arm and twist it, forcing him to fall on the ground.
"You're dead," Mantarys screamed at the Zangoose, leaning close to his face, ready to bite his head off.
"Arceus is by my side," Lord Zeke whispered with a bloodied jaw. His fur was stained with countless cuts and wounds Mantarys had dealt him, but he hadn't yielded yet. At the crucial moment of the execution, Tsulong had opened his mouth to unleash a roaring stream of fire that made Mantarys raise his hands to protect his face. Lord Zeke launched himself off the ground and slashed at the Krookodile in an X-scissor, while he was still staggered in the flames. There was no more screaming, for a second, until Tsulong lost his breath and the flames subsided.
Mantarys was standing, his face and his gut monstrously burned and scarred. Meanwhile, Vincent had managed to twist around mid-flight, just before hitting a tree, which he slammed into, feet-first. He dropped to the ground and rushed forwards, ducking and avoiding the flailing attacks of both enemies and allies, nearly getting both burned, frozen and electrocuted on his way towards the three other fighters.
Mantarys seemed groggy after the furious flames Tsulong had burned him with as well as Zeke's heavy attacks on him, Vincent pulled his arm back, his shell glowing a firm white before thrusting it forwards, an ice beam shot along the ground towards Mantarys and between his legs. Vincent lept onto the ice and sped forwards, gliding towards the Krookodile as he held his shells up in front of him in an X-pose and once reaching him, he bent backwards while pulling through with his attack, slicing across Mantarys' belly while sliding beneath the massive Pokémon at high speed, hoping to dodge whatever he might throw at him.
...
...
A shockwave shook the earth, making the ground crack in a terrible sound. Rocks and debris were sent flying everywhere as every Pokemon on the area was knocked off their feet from the powerful earthquake Mantarys had unleashed. Tsulong had been buried under a tree and some rocks. He was breathing heavily, but not normally as his back was squeezed down. He half shut his eyes in attempt to see through the dust. His own safety didn't concern him as much as that of the other heroes, although he was hurt and immobilized. I didn't know Mantarys could use earthquake, he thought tiredly, desperately looking for Vince in the field of destruction the Captain had caused. Blood, death all around him. The members of the Brotherhood had all been slaughtered, but the Cyalans kept coming. They're too many, too many...
Suddenly, somebody was thrown a few feet away from him, rolling on the ground. Squeezing his eyes, Tsulong recognized Lord Zeke. The old Zangoose coughed up blood and turned his head to look at him, laying exhausted on the ground. Although he was battered and bloody, the look on his face was strangely serene, and his green eyes were peaceful. "Run, boy."
A huge shadow that could only belong to Mantarys approached Lord Zeke and grabbed him from the bloodied fur of his head, forcing him to get on his feet and kneel. Tsulong, in vain, tried to cry in horror as Mantarys silently buried his claws inside Lord Zeke's right eye. The Zangoose shook in breathless pain as the Krookodile raised him and impaled him on the gut, his hand running through him all the way to his back.
"The King'll be happy about my new bracelet," he rasped in a despicable tone, gritting his jaws tightly in anger. When he was done, he unstuck his hands by kicking the body away. Tsulong couldn't tell where the body had gone, or if Mantarys knew the Arcanine was near, but he saw neither of them for the last few seconds. He tried squirming out of the tree on his back, but it proved impossible. He grunted, his eyes watering from the dust. He thought he was seeing things... a figure, more slender, was standing in front of him.
"Huh? Faolan?"
Faolan grasped the tree's trunk and lifted it enough for Tsulong to get off, then let fall with a thud. He winced as he tried to thank the Mienshao, who nodded curtly in response. The dust had settled down and he could clearly see the others; more of the Crimson Company's mercenaries were coming from the east side of the ravaged field, trying to surround them. "Run," Tsulong shouted, and another voice joined him.
"Run, follow me," the only remaining member of the Brotherhood shouted with him; it was the Electabuzz from before. He was headed up north, firing thunderbolts at any Cyalan who came too near, and blocking any ranged attacks with a reflective mirror.
"Perhaps retreating is our best option right now," Faolan concluded and Tsulong agreed and started to run, even though his back ached him.