The Legendary Beast Pack

[Exo-Raikou]

Frollo gave a nod of approval toward the Wildfire - hadn't she said her name was Basaina? - Before speaking again:

"She's right, Mightyena. She and Naxalge have it right on the money, so to speak. Weakness is not only 'mewling, pathetic wretches like you,' but it is also the inability to do what is necessary to survive in this rotted world. The inability to harm or kill when it is necessary; the inability to get over one's fears is also weakness, and so is the inability to come to terms with your own, broken past and accept that only survival - by any means - lies in store. The greatest fighters of the pits are the ones that have survived the longest during their stay, and it is they, and they alone, that have conquered their weaknesses."

With that little tirade finished, he sped up his run ever so slightly. He could see a faint light in the distance as he continued to run.

We're close, he realized, oh so very close. If we are beaten by that Persian and his cohorts, it might be only by a minute; two, even.

 

[Metalos]

Was it time to wake up yet?

Mandalus could smell pokemon. His upper body protruding out of a mound of human garbage, the raw, rank stench of their hearty emotions cut through the putrid cloud of pestilence squatting over the dumpster like a bloated cloud. Rousing him from his state of hibernation, his singular eyelid twitched erratically as he struggled not to wake up.

He wanted to dream in sterile safety, to simply lie buried until time and decay withered his fabricated prison away to nothing, upon which he would at last take flight to the realm of spirits. There, at long last, he could leave his misplaced regrets behind. Emotional baggage stolen from countless pokemon while they slept, weighing down his spirit like luggage tethered to his soul. Smothering him in a manner not dissimilar to the pile of garbage that kept his physical form immobilized.

It was getting harder to ignore them. Like a sound, their prescence continued to grow louder, brighter, stronger. There was no single sense alone that could describe it. He could feel them coming with every fiber of his patchwork being, instincts that had lain dormant since his days fighting for the sick amusement of his human masters taking hold in the back of his mind. They were moving so quickly. If he didn't hurry, he would miss them. And then he would have to burden himself with yet another regret.

"Wait... wait for me..."

Flailing in his sleep, his flayed appendages swinging through the air, the momentum loosening the weight around his waist, Mandalus opened his eye and cast his cyclopian gaze in the direction of the approaching pandemonium. Stretching out an elongated arm in their direction with his palm open - as if reaching out to them in desperation.

"Set me free... don't leave me shackled..."

In the palm of his disfugured hand, an etheral ball of ghostly flame sprang to life, flickering blue like a beacon. Glowing brightly, Mandalus had to avert his gaze in order to avoid looking directly at the eerie light, which stung him, having not used his eyesight in what felt like eternity. His Will-o-Wisp shining faintly in a final bid to escape, the Banette hung his head and waited in hope for someone to come to his aid. Whether or not they would show him mercy? That was another matter entirely...

 

[Arylett Charnoa]

She heard a voice speaking to her briefly within her mind… Spoono?

As soon as she had successfully struck down her target, she felt the anger starting to lift again, and the dark aura slowly disappearing. He was right… and she was merely relying on her weakness to win. Showing weakness. They would deal with Crazy later… and the proper way. Not this way. The Absol grinned in a satisfied way, shaking her head as spiky fur went in all directions.

Then she heard him say some nonsense that she had never lost anything… for a moment, Naxalge could feel it rising again. The urge to fight. Hmph! As if… that human would always remind her of the fact that her battle record was less than spotless. She knew weakness, and she knew it better than anybody in this place. It was all she had ever known and tried to hide, that desperate and soft part within her, shielded by the Darkness…

But no, stay calm. Spoono and Wildfire were right. She calmed down as her fur settled again and continued a sarcastic smirk.

“I warned you, Crazy. But you’re not even worth my words; Spoono and Wildfire have said it all. You’re beyond words. Touch me again though and I don’t think even they will be able to stop me from wiping you off the face of this planet.”

With that, she ran away from the injured Mightyena, feeling some satisfaction that she had shown him his place. It took her a few minutes, but she caught up successfully to Spoono and Wildfire.

“I’d like that.” Responded the Absol to the Arcanine’s suggestion of a list, as she shook her fur out of her face once more.

 

[Coloursfall]

Edward regarded the large bird who had appeared before them with a blank expression. He stopped walking for a moment, looked the bird up and down, and sneered.

"Fuck off. I don't have time for you."

And with that, he resumed running.

He glanced over when Halan landed next to him, and grinned a bit, showing slightly yellowed teeth. He nodded his head at the Lucario's words, and sped up his pace, quickly leaving the obnoxious bird-thing behind him. He couldn't wait to get his paws on some humans... They were so soft and squishy, and looked easy to kill. The most he had to worry about was their brainwashed Pokemon.

But no matter. He would cross that bridge when he came to it. He sped up when he saw the building, grinning.

 

[Wargle]

"Hahaha... Same as always..." Magic said before traking off and flying above Ed. "How pathetic...."

 

[Solstice]

"How long will it take..." Xero continued mumbling, "To find an opportunity to escape?"

The Umbreon pushed on the cage door, and it was locked. No luck.

"Why? Why?!" Xero started ramming against the cage, but nothing had happened.

His new scars and cuts and bruises started to ache again, and Xero finally halted.

 

[Blastoise Fortooate]

A smile? He was glad that the erufuun was so forgiving. A smile on his part would have been hard to see(especially from their elevated angle), so he didn't even attempt it. He tapped his club against the tree as the lucario (Halan? She had a rather thick accent, he knew that) took off from her perch. There was a bird ahead and above (flashes of foolhardy, effective group attacks) that was harassing Ed. Not good. They had a mission to do, and he didn't like the pokémon instinctively, anyway. In addition, Ed was quite the loose cannon and he really didn't need to be any more wrathful at the moment, considering their objective.

Hoss began running again, slower now, and tossed his club with practiced ease. The Ancient Weapon had more of an imbalance in weight than most marowak clubs, but it was magical and anyway marowak and cubone have rather a lot of skill at making things fly how they want. The club twisted end over end In a smooth arc.

It missed the bird entirely, of course; Hoss wasn't looking for a fight and only wished to frighten the thing off. As the bone returned to the earth's surface (Hoss catching it without looking), the marowak yelled something into the air as he picked up his pace.

"Buzz off!" he cried in a scratchy voice. He slammed his bone to the ground several times for good measure.

 

[Dark Shocktail]

Dominic frowned at Shelia. He could've sworn that this was the Ninetales he had made the promise with...but she didn't seem to recognise him. Were there many black Ninetales? He didn't know. "...It's nothing." He muttered. Maybe a clue would be given in time but for now...he'd keep his eyes out for the one he was thinking of. And other this one, just to be sure.

His ears perked at the sound of another pokemon. A pitiful cry as it pleaded to be freed from shuckles. He skidded abruptly to a halt, listening sharply. "Wait!" He called, before the others shot off without him. "I think I hear someone...one of us." He clarified. He concentrated and turned, walking towards what he thought was the source of the sound, body glowing gently.

"Hello...?" He asked quietly. He saw the flicker of a flame. He hurried over, peering into the light...and gasped. He'd never seen a creature like this - it seemed to be made of human cloth, but the scent of a pokemon lingered. It held a ball of flame in it's long hand and looked so frail and fragile. Dominic called back to his newly formed team. "There's a pokemon here!" He approached the unknown pokemon carefully, the same way he'd approached the group earlier. "Hey...are you alright?"

 

[Exo-Raikou]

Only when the lights in the distance began to brighten did Frollo remember the Jolteon that was keeping pace with the rest of the group.

"Most people refer to me by my surname, Frollo. I do believe that during my days in the pits, I had a title, but you would be hard pressed to-"

No. Nobody needs to know that you were slowly eased out of battling life. They might be a little suspicious as to why I might have been rotated out... and given my current age, weakness would be the most likely candidate of their reasoning. No reason at all for them to know...

The lights were slowly breaking through the treetops, and Frollo could see that they came from a series of buildings.

The goal is within reach. You should be warned, Viridian Pit:

Judgment is imminent.

 

[wolftamer9]

Lurkky collapsed. He couldn't move his legs anymore, the bleeding had gotten worse. He watched the group leave for the pits and yelled out for them to stop, but they were too far away to hear him. He lay down on the ground hoping he'd get some rest, maybe find some way to stop the bleeding.

He thought about the strange characters in the group. They fought, they threatened, they talked about who was expendable and who deserved death, and yet he was the one they couldn't trust, the one who was called crazy. crazy, crazy crazy.

Lurkky suddenly wondered if he was crazy for hearing Death, and for losing control of his body. He wondered if maybe something was wrong with him for not having such bloodlust despite having fought in the pits.
No, he thought, they all have some voice in their heads telling them to kill. I'm the sane one for holding it back.

He wished he could prove his point to them. He hadn't meant to complain. He just thought that for fixing the world, more needed to be done than just freeing the enslaved. They had to be taught to change. He wished very strongly that he could explain all this to them.

His forehead felt weird for a second, and then suddenly he felt like he could do it. He stood up. His legs didn't hurt at all. He looked at them. Some kind of bone had grown over the wounds. His claws were ever so slightly longer than before. So were his teeth. He felt strong. So strong that he made a dash to catch up with the pack.

And despite the cackling he could hear in his head, he didn't suspect a thing.

 

[Wargle]

The bone flew by Magic, and he smirked. "Foolish Pokemon." He turned upside down by using Acrobat at began a Steel Wing, his blades on his wings getting longer and glowing silver.

 

[Stormecho]

Basaina was used to praise, but only from her trainer. He was probably dead now, but the nod from Frollo was almost unexpected, and she snorted, covering the sudden rush of pride and satisfaction. The Alakazam was supposed to be amazingly intelligent, since he was a Psychic, so if he agreed with what she said... It was a heady rush of feeling, but she shook as if to dislodge it. It certainly wasn't the time to be swayed by anything like approval. It didn't matter to her what Frollo thought, other than that he respected her strength. That was all.

"I'm sure you would," she told Naxalge, turning her head to take a look at 'Crazy'. "I'd even help you if he decides to get too close again. Unless he's even dumber than he's been acting so far and tries to touch me instead." Her eyes narrowed, gleaming with anticipation. The sight of the arena distracted her, and the Arcanine tensed up. She had escaped from it so recently, and now she was willingly going back to destroy it. A role reversal, and one that made her slightly uneasy. At least humans tended to be blind - if she moved fast enough, they wouldn't notice her helmet and know that she had turned on them until it was far too late.

"Almost there, eh?" she muttered, more to herself than to her companions, and increased her pace, leaping ahead and ignoring the spiky feeling of nervousness that mingled with the urge to kill. She wasn't about to show that sort of weakness, not when it was important to have them know just how capable a killer she was, and especially not after all those little speeches that Crazy had spouted. It was almost time to kill...

 

[River]

Allum nodded his head slowly, "So, any particular plan of action? Or just break stuff without getting hit?" He trained his eyes on the path but twitched an ear to see if any of the other pack members had a comment.

Wildfire, he assumed, would be one of those who would excel at breaking things with sheer power. Frollo seemed more along the type to think things through. The Horrid Queen would do well at guarding against other pokemon and humans and that Mightyena would do well with that too. If only they would get along, 'Meh, can't have everything in a fighting squad.' Although he wondered where he would fit in, would he be a destroyer, a guard or a mastermind? Or would he be a healer like the other Eevee and Smile? No point trying to find an answer now, he would deal with that when he came to it. For now he had to keep a sense out so that their arrival remain as silent as they feel it need be. Suddenly a thought dawned on him,

"Did anyone actually go into the other group? The one that was supposed to free the pokemon? Or are we to assume the Golden Terror's group will be doing that while we risk our necks?"

If so we may come across a few problems. Last he had seen of the persian was not all too pleasent towards this group. If Allum had to deal with anyone attacking him in a battle rage he would. Without hesitation, but perhaps with mercy. 'Without weakness we are imperfect' he thought, 'with every being there is a weakness, be it physical or mental, whether or not they accept it'.

 

[Exo-Raikou]

"If the Persian's group goes to actually free them, we will hopefully arrive in time to provide enough cover fire for them to free them all and escape... that was my plan from the start, and I suppose had I been more thorough about explaining it, we wouldn't have gone into such a drastic split.

"As far as I'm concerned, the plan at this point is that we get in, clear away as many enemies as we can, free as many pokemon as we can, and then pull out. A simple plan, yes, but at this point, it's very likely our best course of action. If we are lucky, the Persian will see us freeing the pokemon and see that the divide and conquer strategy isn't too terrible after all."

He shaped his spoons into the same longswords he had used to attack the Mightyena earlier. As he continued his walk, the buildings became more clear. They were very nearly in.

Now then, Persian, we will see whose strategy has the most merit.

Briefly, he wondered how many of the humans would recognize him as the Alakazam that had "gone insane," and had to be eased out of the arenas. He hoped that some of them would... just so he could see the dawning horror in their eyes as to who it was that was slaying them.

They will know their mistake, oh they will definitely know.

 

[Littlestream]

"I guess we're almost there." Astrid said as her group neared the pit. Walking had put a strain on her, as she still felt the injuries of some of her most recent battles. But now they were there, and it was time to do what they had said they would: free the Pokemon.

(Some people actually did go with the rescue group. I mean, only like three of us, but still... don't pretend we aren't here! There just aren't as many of us, so we have had less opportunities to participate in the discussion.)

 

[....]

Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock.....

Leo had been to Viridian before. He had fought Suzanne for the first time there, and gained his first loss.

Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock.....

He was running.

Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock....

He knew that the longer it took him to get there, the more battlers would die.

Tick tock, tick tock...

He sprinted, passing everybody in view, his heart pounding.

Tick tock...

He nearly collapsed as soon as he crossed the Viridian City Limit.

Time's almost up.

He shakily walked over to the Gym and laid down, waiting.

 

[Metalos]

Holding the glowing beacon of fire steady with grim patience, a burning manifestation of his waning faith, the light began at first to fade, and then to flicker. Mandalus starting to think himself delusional, driven to madness by wishful thinking and false hope. Letting the flame fade away into ashes, hanging his head in despair, he jerked in surprise at the sound of a voice close by. Reaching out, he felt the warmth of a living creature drawing near, driven towards him by emotions rarely encountered within the nightmare of the pits.

...pity?

...concern?

Had he possessed the capacity to - Mandalus would have wept tears of joy. Warily, he allowed himself a fraction of hope, elated by the possibility of freedom from an eternity rotting in the stagnant pits of human waste.

"Please... don't leave me!"

He called out to the nearby pokemon, casting his gaze upwards to meet the gaze of what was undoubtedly a Raichu. Clasping his hands together in a position of prayer, staring up at the electric mouse with a look of passionate desperation, his eye glowed with tentative hope, flickering and faint like the light of a candle, but burning brighter with every passing second in the presence of long-awaited company.

"My name... is Mandalus. Liberate me from this odorous prison, I implore you. I am uncertain how much longer my body can Endure it. Set me free... and you will have my gratitude eternal. Along with any other material assistance I can provide."

 

[Littlestream]

Maybe I can actually help with this. Maybe I'll find her... Astrid's thoughts drifted off as she realized that the chances of finding her sister were very low. Instead of sinking further into the depression that already gripped her, she thought, Well, at least I can hope. There's always a chance, no matter how small.

While she had been thinking this over, the Quilava that had been with her had run forward and was laying by the gym entrance. When she reached the Pokemon, she gently nudged him in the side.

"You should get up. We need to get into that pit." she said. She said it a bit gruffly - it showed she was nervous. Without waiting for an answer, she turned towards the gym and walked towards the door. It's all or nothing. Best thing to do is to get on with it.

 

[Exo-Raikou]

It wasn't long until the came into enough focus so that Frollo could tell that they were now well inside of Viridian City. Satisfied with that, he relaxed some of the enhancement on his muscles. Whatever travel would be made to the pit from here would be done by floating. Ahead, the shape of the Gym was clear; it was as if the structure was a beacon; guiding Frollo to its position.

This may not have been the pit I escaped from... No, that one was much further off. I feel no necessary reason to think that one of my... handlers would be here. No, no reason at all.

Still floating toward the Gym, he swiveled around so that he was now facing Naxalge, Basaina, and all of the others, all the while, he was still floating toward the Gym.

"I am not one to make any sort of rousing speech, so instead, I give you all this final warning: if I see any reason that any of you are unworthy, your judgment will be swift. Pray that you prove yourselves worthy of being spared."

With that, he swiveled around once more, and sped up his float until the Gym was nearly right in front of him. Had he been paying more attention to the rest of the city, he would have seen the Raichu and a Banette, and the other, "enemy" pokemon nearby.

"The time has come."

The crusade has begun.

He thrust the shaped blade into the air.

"Now, we strike."

 

[Zora of Termina]

"They're here..."

Sheila's voice was a whisper. Best not to attract notice. "We haven't gotten enough of a head start. I think we should take the Pokemon that the Raichu... Dominic was it? I think we should take it and move on. Get to the next pit before those cabezas de la mierda, and liberate it before they can."

Her eyes were locked onto Ed. "It will be fast. The next town isn't far off from here. The sooner we can get ahead of them, the better off we'll be, savvy?"