Blaguarro Town Residential District

[Butterfree]

Dave felt his hackles rising, ribs stinging, heart pounding, a Poochyena instinct in the back of his brain going okay, let's nope the fuck out of here and another that fixated on Moltres, tensing muscles to dodge a strike. Jesus fucking Christ, these so-called Saints.

"How about literally any other fucking way than trying to make a shitty existence even worse?"

 

[Inkedust]

Moltres laughed, pleased at what the two had just said, like she had proven some kind of point. "Like I care about being a god!" she cried. "Do it then! Stand up to me or watch your hard work be undermined!" Black and magenta flames sparked at the edges of her beak as she beat her wings to rise into the sky. She had taken the ignoring of the question as a "yes" (although based on the bird's demeanour, it was clear that any answer would not have mattered). Yet instead of attacking the pair of Wayfarers, she turned and flew off towards her actual target of this "demonstration"...

The railway. The very same one the Wayfarers had worked so hard for the preservation of against the Escarpa. The very same one that currently acted as Blaguarro's lifeline. Could they stop her in time?

 

[Namohysip]

Mhynt sighed at this and watched, for only a second, as Moltres fled. She glanced at Dave with a knowing stare; at this point, it was clear what Mhynt's MO in giving chase would be like.

She reached toward him and focused. "Attack the left wing," Mhynt instructed. "It's time to clip this bird's wings. It'll buy time for the others."

That was all Dave had for prompting as she drew her blade and stood to Dave's right. She closed her eyes. Golden lights flowed through the veins of her leaves.

"A god led astray, eroded by their power and longevity," Mhynt said as if in some chant. The golden lights got a little brighter.

"A mortal mind in an immortal body, crying for help, rejecting duty and diligence." She reached for Dave, holding his back. That brief tension of an incoming Teleport took them both.

"A lost god. A fallen god, wandering in the cold of eternity." They jumped forward and, taking that momentum, disappeared and reappeared above Moltres, falling after her current flight.

The Radiance turned the Leaf Blade into something almost pure gold.

"May the warmth of Judgment and light of the Prism end your suffering."

Something about Mhynt's Leaf Blade was different. It was the first time she'd get to use it in a true battle, it was no longer practice, so she wanted to make it strong. Make it good enough to deal a mark when their hard work was already at risk by some other god.

And so, when Mhynt descended, she raised her blade of golden light. Tinged with a strange poison, she aimed for that first, and then aimed her blade at Moltres' right wing, aiming to carve the dark flames away with holy light... and also to drain Moltres of her vitality. Ahh, just like old times.

 

[Butterfree]

Dave wasn't entirely sure what the fuck Mhynt was on about in her mumbling about gods, but he nodded and gritted his teeth, and when Mhynt whisked them into mid-air above Moltres, his stomach churning in freefall, he prepared to strike. Stop this smug motherfucker, whatever it took.

If she was a legendary Pokémon, she was probably stronger than anyone they'd fought. Just like fucking Zapdos.

His chest wavered with Poochyena instincts, phantom pain in his ribs, screaming that he shouldn't have come here, and with a pulse of hot anger he crushed all of that into dust.

Just weaken her first. Find the weak point. Go for it. Just go for it and smash her into the fucking ground.

As he prepared to hit a Rock Smash, his body burst into a gleaming sensation of cold metal, hard and smooth and immovable. There was no pain anymore, no screaming instincts, no sickening nausea, only the pure, iron force of sheer willpower.

No force on this fucking earth would stop him.

 

[Inkedust]

There was an impact, which shook Moltres off her path and dissipated the flames around her beak, but she was quick to adapt, flapping her wings and making her flames burn hotter to shake off the pair of pokémon before folding them to dive towards the earth. "It will take more far more than that to clip my wings!" she screeched. Even if it was proof of tactic and surprise – it was certainly enough to stall for a moment longer – two Wayfarers against a Saint was far from a fair fight. "I will relish putting you down to my level!"

When she neared the ground she opened her wings again, sending a wave of repulsive energy towards her attackers. It momentarily severed the ability to channel the moves the pair had used.

Moltres used Spite!

And then, she flew off towards the outskirts. The hex would wear off once they caught up to her and at the rate they were going at, they would just barely be able to reach her in time to stop her destruction.

 

[Namohysip]

"Tsk." Mhynt, free-falling once shaken loose, glanced at Dave and conjured her Leaf Blade again. It was hard, but it felt like the technique that had been sealed wasn't her Leaf Blade, but her Enervation technique. That was fine.

She tossed her Leaf Blade at the ground, right where Dave was about to land, and then clenched her fist. The blade exploded in a cloud of leaves and plants, becoming an improvised soft landing for the Poochyena. Mhynt, meanwhile, pivoted and rolled, using her Acrobatics to divert most of her downward energy into her roll.

Once she came to a stop, she sighed and sat up, feeling the hex on her body. She'd have to be careful about that.

"...Are you okay?" Mhynt said. "We should trail her. The others should be here soon."

 

[Butterfree]

Dave landed with a thump and a stab of pain in his ribs on a suddenly-sprouting bed of foliage. Moltres had done something, sealed away that smooth iron determination somewhere he couldn't find it again. He heaved himself to his feet, legs wobbling.

"Been better," he growled. Not like he hadn't made do without whatever that was for the past forty years. "Still got juice to teleport?"

 

[Namohysip]

Mhynt looked at Moltres, thoughtful. "...Let's walk," Mhynt said. "Gather our strength. Focus our energies. The others need to catch up. But perhaps we can get in her way with another Teleport volley as we go."

She tried to channel her Enervation again. Not quite yet.

"But at the bare minimum, it looks like we have a bird's wings to clip." Her gaze darkened, and she marched forward.

 

[Butterfree]

Walking. Fine. Dave exhaled through his nose. "Won't know what fucking hit her," he muttered, ignoring the stinging in his ribs as he followed behind the Grovyle.

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