Round Four, Act Two
Mewtwo conjures a ball of fire, bouncing it idly on its palm as it surveys the scene below--its opponents slumbering soundly, save for one measly little cottonee. The legend chuckles to itself. Honestly, it's almost
too easy. And now, to destroy the one who had the audacity to think it could take the power of legends for itself...
Mewtwo hurls the fireball at Monopole, watching it unfurl in midair to take on a broad five-pointed shape. The metagross is doubly trapped, slumbering and held fast by telekinesis, and certainly has no hope of avoiding the searing attack. The fire blast strikes it dead on, pushing it back in the air with the force of the resulting explosion. Monopole tilts but does not awaken, the three trainers sleeping on its back teetering on the edge of the void for a moment.
Ventus, perched on one of Monopole's limbs, holds tight despite the metagross' unexpected pitching, but it's clear her sleep is less peaceful than most. The swellow murmurs and shivers in her slumber, which is laced with unending hordes of empty-eyed nightmare-creatures, skeletons half-dissolved into crackling bands of digital snow. Outside Ventus' awareness, Darkrai raises an arm and brings it slashing down, releasing a slicing pulse of dark energy that rockets down and slams into Monopole, knocking the metagross into another tilt. In Ventus' dream, the landscape of oil-slicked ocean and half-submerged wreckage yaws and twists, and her panicked flight loops erratically as she tries to figure out what's going on. The skies are as dangerous as the land below, and the sudden jolt is almost enough to send Ventus into the jaws of an aerodactyl skeleton gliding right at her, a keening noise rising from its empty mouth as the wind rushes through its knife-sharp teeth. They snap shut on one of Ventus' tailfeathers as she twists to avoid the rider on its back, dressed in black and hooded. As she does so, she catches a glimpse of her wingtip, which is falling away to vanes as white as bone. Pulling up, Ventus looks down at herself, only to find the strange affliction that did in the abominations is working away at her as well. The flesh on her talons is rotting into a haze of ones and zeros, exposing slick tendons and the cold white of bone beneath. Her feathers are falling away, and the infection is working deeper, and the abominations are closing in around her, and she's growing tired, oh so tired, as she struggles to stay aloft as her body deteriorates...
...and just what the hell is all this bullshit, anyway? Ventus makes a course correction and drives straight into the ribcage of a skeletal archeops, knocking bones spinning, and passes straight through a cloud of fizzing static. The collision causes no pain, and the weird infection spewing from the creature has no effect on her at all. Ventus angles up through the smoke-wreathed sky, blasting another abomination out of her way with a hyper beam. She's almost as angry with herself as she is with whoever it was that thought this claptrap up. Honestly, zombies, weird, sinister riders, post-apocalyptic wasteland? What a snore. Whoever cooked this one up was just plain
trying too hard with the scary, and as soon as she finds her way out, she's going to teach them a lesson in
real fear.
The swellow jerks awake just in time to see Giratina making another trans-dimensional jump, its crest glowing blue as it slices open empty air and slithers through into the Reverse World. The swellow glances around, taking in the sight of her teammates sleeping, the safeguard glowing pointlessly around them, and Aries drifting alone, gathering solar energy for his attack.
With an angry screech, Ventus rises from her perch aboard Monopole, and not a moment too soon; a portal to another world opens below the metagross, and Giratina hurtles through, striking Monopole with a solid clang as it soars up past the metagross. This last insult is, at last, enough to wake Monopole, and it manages to stabilize its flight soon enough to prevent the humans still dreaming on its back from plummeting into empty space.
Ventus yells a challenge at Giratina and takes off after the dragon, but the legend ignores the tiny bird flitting in its wake, its attention drawn by Aries as the cottonee blasts Darkrai in the face with a brilliant beam of pure light. The legend cowers back, hissing and raising its claws before its face to ward off the hated light.
If there's one thing Ventus can't stand, it's being ignored by an opponent. The swellow spreads her wings wide, summoning as much energy as she can muster. A bright orange curtain of light outlines the swellow's body and expands steadily as she accelerates upwards, letting out a piercing cry that at last causes Giratina to look down at her. The dragon has no time to dodge before Ventus, now glowing white at the center of a diffuse, vaguely bird-shaped cloud of flying energy, slams into its face. Giratina reels back with a roar, body twisting and lashing in confusion as it tries to realign itself, while Ventus keeps rocketing upwards, soon vanishing against the brightness of the meteor-studded sky.
Meanwhile, Monopole is gathering what strength it can for an attack of its own. The legends' attention has left it heavily damaged, but it isn't quite out of the picture yet. It extends two claws upwards, releasing another chilly gust of wind at its opponents. Giratina and Mewtwo are little bothered by the weak attack, albeit a bit slowed by the formation of frost on their limbs, but Darkrai, still reeling from the searing solarbeam, feels the burn of the cold more acutely than the others. The dark legend growls and hunches down against the chill, consoling itself with the knowledge that the metagross is soon to find itself forcibly removed from battle.
Team Legend
Safeguard in play: 4 more actions
Kratos Aurion (O)
Giratina (X) <Levitate>
Health: 872
Energy: 961
Used: Shadow Force @ Monopole
- Frosty. -2 Speed
Pathos (O)
Darkrai (X) <Bad Dreams>
Health: 846
Energy: 955
Used: Dark Pulse @ Monopole
- Shivering. -2 Speed
Kusarigamaitachi (O)
Mewtwo (X) <Prankster>
Health: 985
Energy: 952
Used: Fire Blast @ Monopole
- Having a grand time. -2 Speed
Team Asber
Safeguard in play: 4 more actions
Grass King (O)
Monopole (X) <Clear Body> @ Leftovers
Health: 34%
Energy: 66%
Used: Icy Wind
- Defiant to the end. Under the effects of telekinesis (3 more actions). -4 Speed
Derpy (O)
Aries (M) <Pressure> @ Sun Stone
Health: 85%
Energy: 81%
Used: Solarbeam @ Darkrai
- Worried. +3 Defense
Chief Zackrai (O)
Ptah (M) <Hyper Cutter> @ Life Orb
Health: 94%
Energy: 84%
Used: Nothing
- Still snoozing. Deeply asleep.
blazheirio889 (O)
Ventus (F) <Guts> @ Life Orb
Health: 96%
Energy: 91%
Used: Sky Attack @ Giratina
- Enraged.
Wargle (O)
Mr. Wonderful (M) <Pressure> @ Expert Belt
Health: 94%
Energy: 99%
Used: Nothing
- Drawn back into his keystone. Deeply asleep.