maskormenace | 2nd 💀 Video; Backdated to 7/4

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2nd 💀 Video; Backdated to 7/4

[When the video clicks on, the viewers are greeted with several faces in a shady area—or maybe it's just not particularly sunny despite being mid-afternoon. Either way, two of those faces most will be familiar with, but especially one in particular: Darin's. Though, his is bloodied and bruised, as if someone wailed on him with their fists. Actually, it looks like that's exactly what happened. He's also notably unconscious—his head being held up by Guzma (the other familiar face), whose fist is full of Darin's hair to do so. He also looks pretty damn smug—if not downright delighted—to a degree that's a little worrying.

The others in view are decidedly less human. In fact, they aren't at all—above Darin hangs a red and black spider, staring at the camera with large purple eyes full of interest and curiosity towards it. He seems to be keeping himself up on what looks like thick webbing that's hanging down from somewhere and connects to Darin... because Darin has been wrapped up in web. A partial cocoon covering his torso and arms. Curiously, there's blood on Darin beyond his busted face—soaking through the webbing that's around him. Awesome!

Next is a moth-like Pokémon, who seems fit to hide most of his body behind that arm of Guzma's that's holding Darin's head up. His little face peeking up over it to look into the camera as well. To the right of him is a hulking bug that looks similar to an isopod if it was on roids. He's got weird cross shaped white pupils, and unlike the other two who seem both interested and excited to be on camera, he holds himself far more reserved and stoic. More like a threatening backdrop to the whole thing.

The last member of this shitty sadistic selfie is a brown beetle-like monster the size of a child, who stands directly besides Darin. His eyes are wide and intense, almost hostile, as he stares at the camera. This hostility is only further emphasized by the obvious blood on the spikes of his pincers.

...And then a second later Pinsir fucking dabs, without breaking eye contact with the camera. As if the idiot bug even knows what the gesture means, but he's seen people do it, and they were on camera too! It makes sense to him. Guzma doesn't seem to mind. He doesn't comment on it, he might not have even noticed, honestly.

He's got more important matters to address:]

Listen up, idiots! It's ya boy again, and I'm here with a special message, a PSA, of sorts, yo.

[He glances to Darin, who is still very much so knocked out, before looking back into the feed. That sinister smirk still on his face.]

Just in case any of you rotten upstarts was under the absurd impression that big bad Guzma was a dude to cross, take it from poor Darin here: I ain't. You mess with me, and I'll crush you, just like I did him.

[As Guzma talks, he's swaying Darin's head side to side by the hold he has on his hair.]

This idiot thought he could stand up to me, that he could beat me down. Hell, in some warped sense of heroic idiocy, he even thought he could help me, HA! Some stupid soft shit like that—and where did it get him!? [Guzma lets go of his hair, letting Darin's head fall emphatically into a hanging position.] No where good, I can tell ya that much.

Your boy still stands, but this loser sure ain't, huh?

[Guzma gives Darin a good little spin as he walks away from the scene with the camera still pointed at himself. The spin, and the more Darin comes into view it's clear he's being suspended by that web that's wrapped around him. However, with that little crowd taking up less of the background, viewers can get more of an idea of where this little broadcast is happening: in an alleyway. Somewhere.

Super helpful!]

Consider this fair warning, y'all. I won't be handing out another.

[He lowers the communicator, making the camera view him from below as he's about to cut the feed, his hand hovering as he stares down at it for a moment as something occurs to him:]

—Oh, yeah. Those of you who give a damn and wanna clean that mess up, [he gestures over his shoulder towards Darin with his thumb, even though he's currently blocking the view of him,] he's in Maurtia Falls. Somewhere on the east side. Never been too good at giving directions, but I'm sure you hero-types can figure it out.

Later days, y'all!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[So far he looks alone, but Guzma's not too certain. He lets Lance chill there with his Dragonite for a few minutes, waiting to see if he can see anyone else who might be joining him—but deciding that if he waits too long, he'll lose his chance. He already has his team out, not wanting to risk the sound of releasing them to alert Lance of his location.

The plan was already explained to his team before hand, so when Guzma raises his hand to signal them, they go to work:

First flies in Masquerain, who fires off an Ice Beam right at Dragonite as it flits by, never pausing while it attacks. Circling around, and firing off more if that shouldn't get the Dragonite's attention proper. Joyfully chittering at the two of them as he does so. There's no fear in those beady eyes of his.

Next is Ariados, the spider Pokémon perched on the top of a street light, using it to conceal himself as he stretched his legs along the length of it, waiting for the signal of Masquerain's attack. Once he sees it, and hears it, he leaps into action. Lance being his target, fortunately the thing he does isn't something meant to hurt him, but rather detain him. He spews that stringy web that bug types are so associated with down at him from his perch. Aiming to cover him so thoroughly, that the Champion can't move, and certainly can't reach those Poké balls for his other team members either.

The other two are no where to be seen yet, and neither is Guzma.

He's waiting.]

Edited 2019-07-08 03:38 (UTC)

[Bellowing out a warning as soon as he saw Masquerain, Dragonite then roared in pain as the ice beam struck. The dragon tamer quickly turning his attention to the Pokemon out of concern and thus not seeing the threat that was behind him.

The large dragon lifted into the air, eyes burning with anger as the normally lovable creature was considerably pissed off. Powering through another ice beam and flying right at the bug in an Outrage attack.

This leaving Lance alone and vulnerable. However, what Guzma probably wasn't counting on is that something else had his back. Quite literally.

So when Ariados fired his webbing, the champion was nearly thrown off his feet as he was yanked backwards by none other than his own cape. The man's wide eyes and yelp of surprise being a clear indicator that he wasn't expecting this at all. It's only when he sees long strings of webbing that he realizes what's going on.

Grabbing two pokeballs from his belt, he turned his sights toward Ariados and quickly released the two dragons inside. Charizard and Gyarados both erupting from their respective balls.]

Letting your Pokemon do your dirty work, Guzma?!

[It's like a bash over the head when he sees that cape act, a realization that hits him like a ton of bricks. He had seen that cape move on its own before, when there was no wind it had billowed during their battle, when Lance was leaving, it had waved... He should have remembered that, should have counted on it: but he didn't.

Masquerain was doing wonderfully, and with Dragonite gaining on it, the little bug focused more on trying to maneuver and dodge, than attack. However, while the little speedster might have been able to stay out of Dragonite's range normally, he still suffered from his battle with Darin—one of his four wings is a little bent, and as such Dragonite is clearly gaining on him.

As a last ditch effort, the small bug pivots facing Dragonite—using its Intimidate ability in an attempt to throw the dragon off kilter, and maybe minimize the damage from that attack that's inevitable.

Meanwhile, Ariados melds down into shadow, traveling at impressive speeds to leap out of Lance's shadow and attacking—that fucking cape. An attempt to either rip it off of him, or to rip it to shreds. It puts him in immediate danger of the other two Pokémon, but also... Lance is right there in whatever crossfire they may unleash.

Not that they don't have their own issues to worry about, because next rolls out Pinsir, who emerges from another alleyway not far from the battle, slamming his hands down like he had before and unleashing a Stone Edge that erupts rapidly from the ground, tearing towards that Charizard.

Guzma doesn't speak up, he's just watching and waiting. He can't afford to let himself be goaded out, not yet.]

[Despite the intimidate, Dragonite didn’t slow down. Roaring through the air like a freight train in his Outage. Swinging clawed paws left and right at the little bug.

Feeling a tug behind him, Lance turned just in time to see his cape ripped off his shoulders. But it didn’t end there. The piece of fabric flailed about and then lunges at the bug to wrap itself around it’s head.

Meanwhile Charizard came barreling in, using his arm to none too gently knock Lance aside. Wanting him out of danger and out of the way as he focused on Ariados. A blast of flame erupting from his maw and swirling around him before as he attacked in a Flare Blitz. Only to then get hit from behind by a rock, causing the dragon to stumble and then whirl around with flames in his eyes. He then began to glow, taking on his mega evolution and emerging as Mega Charizard X.

But not before Gyarados swung around and lashed out in an attempt to knock Pinsir away with an Iron Tail.

A full on knock down, drag out, Pokémon brawl going on right before his eyes. But this also gave him opportunity to release his last Pokémon. Exeggcutor easily towering above the rest as he appeared.]

Edited 2019-07-08 23:32 (UTC)

[Masquerain is hit, and hard. The bug plummets like a rock towards the ground after he catches one of those swipes. For all he dodged a couple, the poor thing couldn't keep up. However, right before it hits the ground, it seems to correct, and catch itself—but the poor thing doesn't look good. Barely able to keep in the air, but managing somehow. It stares up at Dragonite with a defiance that doesn't suit those little beady eyes it has, but it makes no move to attack. It seems more focused on regaining itself and trying to stay conscious.

Meanwhile Ariados is in a fuck ton of trouble, and maybe the only thing that helped Ariados not get utterly destroyed by that Flare Blitz was the fact that cape spooked the poor spider and made him meld back into shadow as an attempt to flee. It didn't leave him unscathed by the Flare Blitz, and in fact he sustained some pretty decent damage as it caught the last of him melding down. A severe blow, versus an ending one. Either way, Ariados makes his escape towards another street light. Popping out of its shadow as he quickly, although with a bit of a hobble, scales the pole of it.

It's a good thing Pinsir has the attention on him, because that Mega Charizard X is nothing Ariados wants to be facing right now. That Iron Tail at Pinsir doesn't make the mark Gyarados was probably hoping to make—not when Pinsir counters with X-Scissors to grab the tail between those pincers of his. It doesn't do nothing, but the blow isn't as forceful as it could have been. The bug in question, however, is using that hold to attempt to swing Gyarados right into Charizard.

Lastly, as Exeggutor arrives, so too does Golisopod. However, it looks more like he appears from no where as he crashes those claws into the towering Pokémon as he unleashes his devastating First Impression. That dragon typing doesn't protect him from that Bug-Type Weakness, and that's what Golisopod was waiting for.

This... this really is such a mess right now, and still there's no sign of Guzma, but that's because he's waiting for an opening. His target is Lance, and certainly the Champion isn't crazy enough to just sit in the middle of that mess, not when attacks are flying left and right, and there's no true caution being spared in his direction.]

Edited 2019-07-09 02:44 (UTC)

[Unfortunately for poor Masquerain, once a dragon is in Outrage, it doesn’t stop. At least not for awhile. Thus even as the bug stops, the dragon is still coming. Flying down at it while unleashing a mighty roar with no sign of slowing down!

As Ariados disappears though, that leaves Lance’s cape to take the full brunt of that flare blitz. The article of clothing being engulfed in flame only to... come out unscathed. The fact that it was made from fire retardant cloth being the only thing keeping it from being incinerated. Though it still flaps indignantly at Charizard before zipping through the air and fastening itself to Lance’s shoulders again. The man indeed backing up to stay out of the way of the Pokémon, though he quickly hits the deck as Gyarados goes sailing over him thanks to Pinsir and slams into Charizard. The big black dragon getting knocked away and is sent sailing, crashing into the wall of the abandoned building. Exeggcutor’s three heads watching the whole thing and turning as Charizard goes by. So he’s just standing there stupidly when Golisopod descends.

Crying out, the tree dragon suddenly loses a big chunk of HP and is left wobbling. Which then turns to angry stomping as he fires off a psychic attack. Charizard and Gyarados though are both reeling and highly indignant, both their sights on Pinsir as Charizard pulls himself out of the hole he made in the building and shoots a bout of flame in another Flate Blitz. While at the same time Gyarados vomits a torrent of water. Boiled beetle anyone?]

Edited 2019-07-09 03:21 (UTC)

[As masquerain stares into oblivion in the eye, aka Dragonite as he descends upon him, the bug doesn't go down without another Ice Beam directly at him. If he's going to be taken out, it won't be without some good damage done! As the Ice Beam goes off, it's almost point blank, making it impossible to dodge, but it's not like an outraged Pokémon has elusiveness on the brain anyways.

When Masquerain is knocked down, he does not get recalled. He lays there, fainted and limp on the concrete, trembling from the damage done. It's not that Guzma doesn't want to bring him back to his ball, but he just can't afford it if this is going to go off how he wants it to. Not that it pains him any less to see his bugs in such a state.

But hey, at least Pinsir's little stunt pays off, and he's batting a thousand here! The beetle looks frantically overjoyed when Charizard crashes into the building, and he's a fool for taking a moment of delight in that destruction. Since he's getting faced with a two-pronged attack, and while he has the distance to jump out of the way of that Flare Blitz—the heat of it doesn't leave him unscathed—one can't say the same about the attack from Gyarados. The torrent of water just sends Pinsir tumbling in a way that'd be a lot more comedic if this mess was any less serious.

The psychic attack isn't one to sniff at, and Golisopod brings his arms up to shield against what he can of it, bracing himself for it. Fortunately Golisopod is in tiptop shape, and so he brushes it off once its concluded. However, Ariados launches his own attack, shaking his body as those little shadow parasites drop off of him, past the light he's perched on. They hit the ground, and scurry at an alarming speed straight for Exeggutor.

Golisopod takes a moment to do his little Sword Dance jig, bolstering his strength for his next attack: Sucker Punch for the poor dragon-tree. Meanwhile, Pinsir is getting his ass up, dusting himself off, and turning his sights on Lance. Those eyes full of malice as he full on charges at him, those pincers wide open and threatening as he chooses to ignore the other two.

His aim? Well, it isn't to crush Lance, or even actually get him, he's trying to chase him off towards Guzma's location in the alleyway. This fight's over if Guzma can get his hands on Lance, after all! Or so the stupid beetle thinks.

Either way, it's all part of the plan!]

[If Dragonite had Draco Meteor, he would be the meteor. The ice from the ice beam crawls across the Pokemon’s scales even as he plummets. Slamming first into Masquerain and then... the ground. The earth trembling slightly with the impact and a dust cloud rising. When it clears it reveals a Dragonite completely encased in ice, having been frozen.

Looks like Dragonite is down for the count. At least for the time being.

Lance is picking himself up from the ground when he sees Pinsir get swept away, and thus turns his attention to what else is going on. Charizard is shaking his head, still a little dazed with his head meeting a building. But he soon focus on Golisopod as he does his little dance. The mega Pokémon charging forward to swing at him in a thunderpunch. Exeggutor is also not done with the bug who snuck up on him, deciding to replenish some of his own health by using mega drain. Thus he doesn’t even see the little parasitic shadow bugs coming right at him. The Exeggutor wailing as they crawl all over him and burrow in.

Lance grimaces, but can’t dwell on it too long as he catches movement to his right. The right of a Pinsir barreling towards him not something to take lightly. The dragon champion turns and tries to flee. Only though he manages to only get a few steps before he finds his feet leaving the ground. His own cape hoisting him into the air, just out of pinsir’s reach, and just hovering. The cape pulling and straining to keep him aloft but is unable to get him any higher than a few feet off the ground.

Gyarados then comes charging to the rescue. The large water dragon lunging at Pinsir with intent to crush him between his jaws in a vicious Crunch attack.]

[Well. That's one way for their battle to end. Masquerain fainted. Dragonite an ice sculpture. Either way, it works, seeing as Dragonite can't contribute for the time being.

The double attacks on Golisopod is rough, particularly that thunderpunch. However, he's able to throw his shielded arms up in time, so the force of it is blocked, but the shock not so much. There's a low growl of pain that leaves him, and furthermore when the mega drain saps some of his strength. However, that leaves Charizard right up in his business, and with his bolstered strength he changes strategies. Forming a sword from conjured and high-pressure water, he strikes at Charizard with it—ignoring the Exeggutor for now. Ignoring even more how his instincts are crying for him to retreat—he can't, not now.

Ariados, however, shakes off more of those little shadow bugs, letting them rain down again, scurrying off to the other Pokémon—focusing on Gyarados this time. He'll leave Golisopod and Pinsir to the face-to-face confrontations, he'll be over here just debilitating their opponents in peace. Letting his infestations nest and burrow, whittling away at their strength.

Speaking of face-to-face, Pinsir's annoyed when Lance flies upward out of his reach, and for a moment he does a little hop as he reaches for him but fails to grab him. This of course allows Gyarados to get the jump on him—or the... bite? on him? Either way, those crushing jaws grab him, and while Pinsir makes no sound of pain, the way he flails and thrashes against Gyarados displays it well enough. Not down for the count, but he's certainly unable to unleash his own counter for the moment.

But Gyarados and Pinsir being right below the levitating Lance gives Guzma an opening. Quickly, he finally emerges from that alleyway he's been observing from, and he's in a full on sprint. His eyes locked on Lance as he jumps and lands on Gyarados. He wastes no time as he kicks off of him to aerial tackle Lance. If he can get a hold of Lance with both arms, like he's gonna squeeze the life outta him, that's all he'll really need.]

[Bellowing out a roar as the water sword strikes, Charizard leaps back to put some distance between himself and Golisopod. He might not be weak to water anymore thanks to being half dragon, but it still hit hard, and the fire dragon was losing steam.

Exeggcutor whimpered as the little shadowy bugs tormented him, literally under his skin. However, his tail head managed to catch Charizard's eye. An understanding being made between the two of them. Thus, Golisopod would find himself in an interesting situation as the two Pokemon opened their mouths where glowing energy began to gather. The two dragons then unleashing all their fury in two simultaneous hyper beams! Both of them knowing that they needed to get this done if they were going to be able to protect their trainer.

Meanwhile, Gyarados wasn't done with Pinsir. Having the bug firmly between his teeth, he decided to repay the stag beetle for his earlier move. The great water dragon rearing his head to hurl Pinsir right where Ariados was perched. He saw you over there! Particularly as he felt the little bugs crawling under his scales as well. Though what's even more irritating is the fact that he can feel Guzma using him as his personal springboard. His teeth snapping at the human, though far too late.

Guzma hits his mark, with Lance nearly getting the wind knocked out of him as the other man's weight slams into him. His poor cape though isn't able to hold them both up. Thus they quickly fall the several feet to the ground. Lance's cape only managing to twist things around so that Lance would be the one landing on top of Guzma. With the dragon trainer swinging a fist at the thug in hopes to end this before it gets ugly. Because he knows if Guzma manages to hit him first, it won't be pretty.]

[Golisopod is ever observant of his opponents, and when he notices the two charging up those hyper beams, he makes his move. Right before Charizard's can go off, he delivers a Sucker Punch in the form of an uppercut—trying to aim the dragon's head towards the Alolan Exeggutor's just in time for that beam to go off. Otherwise, he quickly puts up his shield arms for Exeggutor's impending attack.

At the very least, he'll only be taking one Hyper Beam vs the two.

Pinsir being hurled at Ariados is honestly pretty damn deserved. The two were acting like huge pains in the ass, though one bigger than the other. However, with Ariados' vantage point, he could anticipate the move, and so he swings down under the fixture and lowers himself out of harm's way via webbing. But then he also shoots out webbing to net Pinsir before he goes soaring off into the horizon like a certain trio of villains. Pinsir is of course THRASHING ABOUT in his webby confines, but Ariados is doing his best to lower the bug back down to the ground without dropping him, but the task isn't particularly easy with Pinsir throwing his stupid tantrum.

At least Guzma's plan worked. Kinda. He's got Lance, and he figured with the cape struggling to keep Lance up, it wouldn't keep the both of them. He knew they'd hit the ground, but he was hoping he'd be able to get himself into a better position. Not the position he's currently in. Under Lance. The predicament certainly riles Guzma, and when that fist comes for his face, Lance will certainly regret the choice.

There's a shift in Guzma's skin, what was once fleshy human looking features gets quickly replaced by what looks like an exoskeleton. His skin turning hard, angled, and smooth, and when Lance's fist connects, it feels like he's just punched a man made out of diamond. Because he basically did.

After the initial impact, Guzma's features return to normal.]

Nice try, but did you really think that'd do ya any good, Champ?

[And with that said, Guzma's going to reach up to grab Lance by the throat, his grip crushing, but he's not aiming to actually collapse Lance's throat here. Just maintain control of the situation as he pushes himself up so that he can rise to his feet. Doing so with Lance in his grasp is bafflingly easy, but that's what anger-powered super strength is for.

As he stands, he keeps Lance lifted off the ground by that hold.]

Tell your Pokémon to stop, and I won't crush your throat—I know you got that psychic link with 'em, so get to it.

[It was remarkably easy to find the battle site. Once their team drew close enough, they could hear the sounds of an all-out monster brawl, and see the beam attacks ricocheting up into the sky like a beacon. No wonder these men were using an abandoned location for their fight. If they held this battle closer to the heart of Maurtia Falls, there would be news vans descending upon the location within minutes.]

[With Lucina approaching from above, it was up to Allura to survey the situation from the ground, sneaking in from around the outside corner of one of the collapsed buildings. All the rubble is incredibly convenient for staying hidden, enough that she would rather be approaching this as a stealth mission. Unfortunately, with Guzma engaging Lance directly, they won't have time to sneak in.]

[Besides, the best one at stealth would be the Green Lion and its cloaking. And since Allura doesn't have an empathic link with it the way she does with Blue, she won't have much control over its actions. It's going to be a wildcard in this fight.]

[(... speaking of, where is Green? Did it already cloak itself?)]

[They have no choice but to confront this head-on. Quietly, she says...]

We'll lock down the battlefield. Blue, target all the exits that Guzma could escape from — and keep the ceiling open for Lucina. I'll start clearing a path through the monsters.

[In a strange reversal of the typical Pokémon battle dynamics, Allura charges into the fray while the Blue Lion stays back on the sidelines. From there, it starts firing its Freeze Ray in repeated bursts from its mouth — which yes, could easily be confused with another Ice Beam, sure. But if the Pokémon attack were an assault rifle, this one would be a sniper, striking with the speed and accuracy of a laser. It's aiming at the walls of the building around Guzma and Lance, sealing up doors and windows with a slick sheet of ice, filling all the gaps in the rubble as if to use them as the bricks in a wall of concrete and metal.]

[Meanwhile, Allura is charging straight into the middle of the combat, preparing to swing her bayard weapon — a whip, streaking beside her like a ribbon of light, with a metal-tipped end. Closest to her are the Gyarados, Pinsir, and Ariados — and she picks a target quickly.]

[She swings, and the whip lashes out towards the giant spider. The strike is coming towards its side, as she's not aiming to strike it with the heavy end. Instead, she's using it like the weights of a bolas, to quickly wrap and bind the whip around the body of the Ariados, restraining it like a lasso.]

[Rude! Golisopod manages to connect, causing Charizard’s head to be knocked upwards and fire his Hyper Beam into the sky. While Exeggcutor goes unhindered, his heads get clipped by Charizard’s attack, singeing his leaves, and throwing the tree dragon off balance. The ridiculously tall Pokémon then proceeds to fall almost in slow motion. His body crashing followed by his looooong neck/trunk, before his heads finally hit the ground. Timber?

Both Pokémon are forced to recharge, with Charizard deciding to put himself out of reach of Golisopod as he does so. Launching himself into the air.

Gyarados growls deeply as his satisfaction is cut short by Pinsir being caught by Ariados. But with the two Pokémon at a distance now, he turns his attention to his trainer. Who is in a rather compromising situation. Not having expected Guzma’s skin to literally harden like a metapod, the dragon tamer yelled as his fist connected. He could feel several bones breaking in the process. Distracted by the pain, Guzma has no difficulty in closing his hand around Lance’s throat. The man gasps, straining to get air into his lungs and his legs kicking in futility as he’s lifted off the ground.

Despite it all, Guzma’s demand is met with defiance in the dragon master’s gold eyes. It sure would be great if his backup showed up right about now! ... And as if on cue, something makes its appearance? Lance is a bit preoccupied but he catches sight of what looks like a robotic creature running around.

With Allura’s arrival hopefully providing a good distraction, Lance’s cape whips off of him and tries to wrap itself tightly around Guzma’s head. Tight enough that even he might have trouble prying it off, especially with just one hand.]

Edited 2019-07-09 22:52 (UTC)

[As if this situation needed to get any messier!

With Lance in his grasp (despite his defiance), his hand broken from that arrogant swing he took at Guzma, the Skull boss was certain he would win this little brawl—but then the cavalry arrives and Guzma's left on edge once more. Between the Ice Beam-like lasers sealing up exits, and Allura charging in, Guzma's attention is indeed split—and that cape wraps itself around his head without a hitch. With an aggravated sound, Guzma pulls on the cape—which is a struggle with one hand for sure, but one that leads to him squeezing Lance's throat even more. Because with his growing anger, so too does his strength grow, and with it his inability to properly restrain it.

He doesn't want to choke Lance out, but he's being given little choice here, isn't he? Not to mention, he's stubborn as fuck, and once he has an advantage of some sort, he's not about to let go of it. Literally.

With Exeggutor down for the moment, that left Golisopod dealing with Charizard—but the coward takes to the skies for the moment. Even blocking that Hyperbeam had left him in a rough state, but he couldn't retreat, he couldn't run and hide—he couldn't abandon Guzma. Not now, and so the bug soldiers on. With Charizard out of his reach, his focus shifts elsewhere for now. To Allura, who is accosting Aradios. He maintains that blade of water, rushing towards her while she's proccupied with spider wrangling.

Speaking of Ariados, the poor bug lets out a yelp of surprise when he feels that whip around him, and with being suspended by his web, he has no real shadow to meld into for an escape. So, instead, he starts to wrap himself up in more of his webbing, trying to keep himself tethered against the pull of that damn whip. It'll likely be futile, but dammit the poor thing is trying!

Which just means Pinsir is now on the ground, and also on the loose, because it took him literally no time at all to burst out of that webbing. The little frantic psycho of a bug taking only a moment to access the situation before locking eyes with Blue. He doesn't even fully realize what the thing is doing, but he just knows he doesn't like it. Which is enough to send the bug charging right at it, pincers open as he goes to ram it, and grab it with those crushing pincers of his.]

[Who's preoccupied? Allura sees the giant bug charging towards her, and calls out to it.] Nice try, but—!!

[And she turns, and parries the sword. With one end of the whip anchored by Ariados, the entire length has been pulled taut, and she drags this rigid line into the path of the blade. It's not a technique to try at home, since it looks like the blade would simply cut the whip close to the weapon's handle and continue on straight through her shoulder. But thanks to the alien technology that made the weapon, the whip remains unbroken, and blocks the attack with a scattering of water droplet and quintessence sparks.]

[Still, for her own attack, she needs to put some distance between her and the Pokémon. So, she ducks out of the way of any follow-through, and rolls to a better position to heave her strength into pulling on the ship. Sorry, Ariados, but this woman regularly chucks around fully armored men — you didn't have much of a chance in this tug of war. The gossamer threads pull until they tear, snapping Ariados forward as if it were launched with a rubber band — and Allura uses the whip to steer its momentum around her like a hammer throw, bringing it around towards Golisopod's side.]

[As for the Blue Lion, it does try to jump out of the way of the pincers, but unfortunately it's one of the larger and slower of the lions, and lacks the sheer brawn of Yellow — hence why it specializes in long range attacks. While its metal body is holding up against that crushing attack, the pincers are nonetheless immobilizing it, and giving it a poor angle to attack the giant beetle with anything besides its comparatively weak tail weapons.]

[So, time for something a little higher risk. Blue raises its head to the sky, and fires an energy cannon from its mouth. It's shooting at the nearest wall, to collapse it and cause the nearest rubble to come falling down on both of them.]

[This was not going well for Lance! Despite his the efforts of his cape, Lance felt his airways getting cut off as Guzma squeezed harder rather than let go. A breathless gasp coming from the man as he tried to pry the fingers from his neck with one hand to no avail. Completely unaware of anything else going on as his focus was trying to breathe!

The Pokémon quickly realized what was going on though. Anything or anyone fighting Guzma and his Pokémon had to be a friend. They also could sense their trainer’s distress through the psychic connection.

Exeggcutor picks himself up, and Gyarados seems ready to fight some more. Though Allura... seems to have things rather under control! That won’t stop the later from rushing forward to trying to snap up Golisopod in his jaws with a crunch attack. The tree dragon also firing off a psychic attack at Ariados.

Charizard though, seeing what’s happening with Lance, immediately swoops down. His eyes burning with anger as this man dared to hurt the one human he actually respected. Most Pokémon were taught not to hurt people, but Charizard didn’t give a flip about the rules, especially now. Thus as the mighty dragon landed with intent to bite the arm Guzma was using to hold onto Lance. If he wasn’t going to let go then Charizard would make him!

Nearby, a hunk of ice was finally melting. Dragonite managing to break himself free, only to find himself in the midst of chaos.]

Edited 2019-07-11 01:29 (UTC)

[Golisopod's impressed by her strength and agility, honestly. But he doesn't show this, were they sparring that'd be one thing. He always appreciates a good opponent, but particularly these humans (or so he thinks they are) who can stand up to his attacks. Maybe if this were under different circumstances, he'd enjoy training with her, alas. As she leaps back and dodges the follow through, his cross-shaped eyes stay glued on her as he watches her movements.

Anticipating and ready, he sees Ariados snapping towards him with great velocity. Fortunately, while Golisopod is big, he's quick on his little feet, and so he dashes forward, out of the line of Ariados' path. But not outside of the whip's path, which is planned. With his large claw arm, he times an upward strike just right to the whip itself, disrupting the momentum and changing Ariados' trajectory.

Which actually makes Ariados momentary scrape the ground as the bend in the whip sends him downward—but that's all Ariados needs. As he touches the ground, and thus his shadow, he melds down into it, and out of the grasp of that whip and away from the action—or so it seems. However, Golisopod's aid leaves him open for Gyarados—but the dark-attack doesn't do as much damage as the over-grown fish probably would have liked. Beyond the type-disadvantage, there's also the fact he's biting a diamond-hard shell on Golisopod's back. The growl of pain is evidence enough that the attack wasn't useless, but Gyarados is damn lucky that Golisopod isn't able to fire off a Pin Missile right into his damn mouth.

As for that sneaky spider? Well, he's popping up by that infested dragon-tree, striking him with his Shadow Sneak—only to get hit by that Psychic at basically the same time. It's too much for the poor spider, and where he'd normally land with poise and grace on those dainty legs, he instead hits the ground hard.

Pinsir however is busy with that lion, and he continues to clamp down on it, keeping that hold as he can. His eyes on that tail, and if it gets too close to him he'll be grabbing for it. Meanwhile, he stomps his feet down, which summons bright blue glowing stalagmites to erupt from the ground below Blue. Pinsir's a bit merciless, and he plans to continue this until either someone stops him, or the poor lion is done for. Slamming stalagmite after stalagmite into it.

Guzma's able to get part of that cape off of his face—but not soon enough. Just as he was able to see again, Charizard is biting at his arm, and the fangs sink in about a quarter inch before Guzma's defenses raise. Of course not without a yell of pain and surprise, probably to Charizard's satisfaction. However, his skin is hardening around those teeth—catching them there which makes for... quite the predicament!

Guzma's in pain, Charizard's fangs are stuck, and the longer Guzma holds that form, the more weakened he feels.

But on the other hand... it also makes him that much more pissed, and with that hand that once was preoccupied with that cape, Guzma's delivering a punch that could match a Hitmontop's right to Charizard's snout.]

Let the fuck go of me you dumb dragon! You want me to fuckin' kill him right here and now?! Keep at it, yo! See what happens!

[He has no plans to, but seeing as Guzma's defenses are making that bite way more tolerable, even with the fangs stuck, he's determined to use Lance as a bargaining chip. Particularly when that bite probably didn't do the damage Charizard was expecting.

Dragonite isn't noticed at the moment, but so too is the way his two remaining bug Pokémon seem to shift, though Golisopod is more notable than Pinsir. Pinsir always looks a little psychotic, however the intelligence behind Golisopod's eyes seems to vanish almost completely. Something more vacant and vicious replaces it. Even Ariados and Masquerain, who are weak and brittle, seem to be trying to rise again despite their injuries. Like the four of them are following some kind of hivemind—and they are.

The attack from Charizard has activated, for the first time, another of Guzma's powers: an alarm pheromone. Good job buddy! Now his bugs are frenzied, and every insect in the surrounding 100 meters or so will be on the attack. While not as dangerous as his literal bug monsters, it's still not great to be covered in and bit by ants, spiders, roaches, and god know what else might be in these run down buildings.]

[there is no ideal entry into this situation -- a proper battle, less of sword and shield and more of brawn and...and animals with lasers. one can only survey so much before having to make a decision here, and so, flying high above this chaos, she does.

Lucina lands hard, the bulk of her momentum caught by armored greaves, but some of that going into both Lance and Guzma, one hand for each, her intention in using her unexpected presence to bully between and grab hold of both of them by available lengths of clothes.]

CALL THEM OFF!

[she has no idea whose magic animal belongs to whom, but by gods, this madness needs to stop!]

[Come on, Lucina, it's like you've never jumped into the middle of a battle filled to the brim with monsters and laser attacks!]

[Allura, on the other hand, looks completely geared up to throw down with Golisopod. From the strike to the arm, she can hear the metal tip clattering against those armor-like scales. Even with the massive dragon helping her flank it, lashing against the Pokémon blindly is going to get her nowhere fast. On the other hand, it looks top-heavy, and those legs look tiny.]

[It also looks like it can roll, maybe? But you know what, she doesn't have time to second-guess this. She swings the whip in a low arc, aiming to tangle up one of the bottom legs and pull it out from underneath the rest of the body.]

[Now, as for Pinsir — unfortunately, having a metal chassis doesn't mean that the Blue Lion qualifies as a Steel-type. Still, only a few impacts from the spikes are more than enough to tell Blue that this needs to stop. It might not have a good angle to fire its mouth cannon at Pinsir directly, but it can certainly fire off a huge energy blast at the ground, cracking and crumbling a volley of the spikes — and then, with a jerk of its neck, butts its metal head directly into Pinsir.]

[Sorry Lucina, but your demand will fall on deaf ears, at least for Lance. He's in the middle of being choked and so he's got more pressing matters to think of. In fact... thinking was becoming very difficult as panic settled in and his brain was being deprived of oxygen.

Charizard's teeth being lodged in Guzma's armor doesn't help matters either. Finding himself stuck, the dragon started to panic as well, which only made him all the more angry. Bellowing in his rage, Charizard tried to pull himself free to no avail. On one hand he didn't want to hurt Lance but at the same time... HE STUCK! As his panic increased, the dragon's blue flames that flickered at the sides of his mouth began to grow and increase in heat. Guzma might find his arm becoming really really hot.

Lance wasn't really processing this though even as he was yanked around by Charizard's panic. His vision being edged in black as he struggled, which became less and less until finally the man's body went slack as he passed out. Once Lance lost consciousness, his cape went slack as well.

Dragonite saw all of that, and saw some strange lady yelling and tugging at both Guzma and his trainer. He didn't really know what was going on, but seeing his trainer in obvious danger, the dragon's protective instincts kicked in. The normally cuddly Pokemon letting out an enraged roar as it came stomping in Lucina's direction.

Put off by his rather ineffective and not too comfortable bite on Golisopod, both he and Exeggutor look around as tiny bugs start pouring in. The tree dragon stomping around and squishing several even as his health continued to get chipped at by Ariados' attack. Gyarados though, had a better plan in mind. The water dragon letting loose a Waterfall attack, via a torrent of water coming from his mouth to sweep away those bugs... and possibly anyone else in the way.]

Edited 2019-07-15 16:14 (UTC)

[Well, first thing's first: when Lucina lands, demanding for the Pokémon to be called off, Guzma only spares her a glance—seeing as right now he has a dragon literally stuck on his arm. The fire that billows from his mouth is only making the situation worse, and the thrashing doesn't help either—Guzma's strength right now is the only reason he's not being pulled around like a rag doll, but that doesn't mean Lance's body isn't getting jostled from all of this. Poor guy.

The intensity of the heat, and Charizard's clear attempt to back off prompts the diamond carapace to drop for the overgrown lizard to get free. Which allows Guzma to pull Lance to himself, releasing his throat so that he can put an arm around him—looping under Lance's own arms. The champ's head is rested on Guzma's shoulder, while Guzma's using him like a human shield between him and Charizard. This allows him to turn his attention back to Lucina for the moment.

Using his free arm to grab at Lucina's wrist, the grip is crushingly powerful, inhuman in its intensity; he levels a glare at her. Guzma tries to keep up his veil of confidence, but even he knows things are getting dicey, and more and more he's being backed into a corner.

Doesn't stop him from trying, though:]

Yeah? Whatcha gonna do if I— [And then there's that roar from Dragonite, and Guzma really knows this situation is getting stickier by the moment. He's got Lance as a shield already, but maybe he can use that hold on Lucina to use her as one as well. Either way, he'll be attempting to twist her arm so that he might get some control over her.] —C'mere!

[As for literally everyone else, well. With Gyarados releasing Golisopod and getting distracted by the Earth bugs marching onto the field, this allows for more of a fair fight between himself and Allura. A fair fight the insopod is no longer completely aware of with his mind being blanked out by that pheromone. Which helps Allura with her attack—the whip does indeed catch his legs, and she's able to knock him prone. Or so it seems, but instead Golisopod seems to use that moment and the curve of his body to roll back—and land on his feet. Those cross-shaped eyes stay locked on Allura as he rushes forward, all six of his arms up and ready as he charges her, swiping at her without hesitation.

It's hasty, sloppy, and frantic, like he's running off of nothing but the instinct to fight. It's lost all calculation he had prior, replaced by nothing but the thought of reckless and relentless attacking—and with six arms, dodging isn't exactly easy. Even less so as that Waterfall attacks floods the area, but the heavy, ocean dwelling bug seems otherwise unbothered by the force.

Fortunately for Pinsir, him and Blue are a bit further off! Less fortunate for the stag-beetle Pokémon, Blue has figured out a way to defend against his onslaught of stalagmites. With the ground crumbling like that, and Pinsir being knocked off balance, the headbutt knocks the Pokémon back. Forcing him to release the lion—for the moment. It doesn't take long for the likewise pheromone possessed bug to rush forward, pincers open wide as it attempts to grapple the lion once again.]

[the power of that grip was unexpected and painful, but the armor Darin made just for her spared her a great deal more harm that could've been had. Lucina tenses up to the shoulder and digs her heels in, this movement turning her in a way as to catch glimpse of the dragon storming their way.

out comes her buckler, hefted up to face level as she braces for any impact that make come her way -- and, really, these two Pokemon punch-boys' way, too. she's not out here to get either of them beat to hell or made mincemeat...if she can avoid it.

not sure yet.]

What's your plan with all this? [she grimaces back at Guzma.]

[It's remarkably fast for its size, and all those attacks aren't making it easy to dodge. Allura would be in far more danger if not for the sloppy, impulsive movements. She catches how instinctive it is, like she can guess where it's going to attack before it does. Nor does it seem to be using that downpour of water to its advantage. So, retracting her whip, she puts all of her effort into dodging, moving like a gymnast around its attacks as she watches for a better opening.]

[With all the talking up there, they are missing some seriously sick flips happening on the battlefield.]

[But what kind of opening is she looking for, exactly? With the way it's moving, it's even harder than before to score some attacks on the underbelly. And while she could try and jump on its back, and steer it into an obstacle... well, it just demonstrated how roly-poly it can be. She would be flattened.]

[The water from the Waterfall splashes around her feet...]

... Blue! Freeze the ground!

[The lion looks up from its wrestling match with the Pinsir — and shoots its freeze ray at the flooded arena. As soon as it hits the water, things start freezing rapidly, and part of the arena is starting to look like a hastily-made ice rink. Save for the 'islands' of rubble, which Allura is jumping up on.]

[If she had brought some ice skates, this strategy would be perfect. For now, she just has to trust that she can handle the slipping and sliding better than Golisopod.]

[This would be really humiliating if he was still conscious, but he's not. The dragon master is completely out, his breath raspy thanks to his bruised throat as his lungs instinctively tried to pull in air.

Charizard shook his head, and stepped back once he teeth were free. Dragonite's roar causing him to look up and bellow out at him. The larger yellow dragon skidding to a stop just a few feet before Guzma and his hostages. Rage fading from his eyes enough to show the intelligence that was there as he assessed the situation. The two dragons growling at each other in communication, trying to figure out what to do. Their trainer not able to guide them.

Water from Gyarados swept past the feet of the dragons, mostly going ignored. That is until they heard Allura's shout. ... Oh. Both Charizard and Dragonite lifted into the air just in time to avoid the floor freezing. Gyarados and Exeggutor, not having wings, were not as lucky. The former finding his feet getting frozen to the ground, with some of the ice going up his legs. The grass type, being weak to ice, cried out in discomfort. Gyarados also found the length of his body that was touching the floor getting frozen too. The giant water serpent thrashing about as he tried to free himself.

Charizard and Dragonite just looked at each other, wondering what was going to happen next and what exactly to do. Landing on the ice, they stood there was sentries. Glaring menacingly at Guzma but not acting. If they attacked, they would surely hurt their trainer.]

Edited 2019-07-18 18:08 (UTC)

Not get killed, for one.

[Guzma offers with a scoff, he didn't truly need to go further into that seeing as they were facing two dragons here. Dragonite seeming to be the more reasonable of the two. Not that he trusted either of them, but if he could convince them to back off entirely...]

Yo—Dragonite! How about we make ourselves a—Shit!

[He would have finished that thought, but he gets distracted by the feel of water rushing past his feet. That waterfall, while losing momentum by the time it hit their shoes, saturated the concrete beneath them. Guzma doesn't even get the chance to look at where it came from before he hears Allura's command, and that water is now solid ice, freezing around his shoes.

Naturally, like the idiot he is, he bodily reacts and tries to move—but only knocks himself off balance (Lance's heavy ass not helping matters). The ice only reaching to his shoes, which just means as he tries to maintain balance, his right foot slips free from his shoe (shouldn't have gotten the velcro), sock meets ice, and that only exacerbates his lack of balance. His grip on Lucina is lost, his other foot breaking free from his frozen shoe, he ends up falling right on his ass, but not without a flail of his free arm. To make matters worse, Lance's full weight just adds to Guzma's backwards crash into the ice.

...Well, it's not like Guzma deserved dignity at this point.

The ice similarly affects his Pokémon—Golisopod, in all his attacking of Allura as she dodges so expertly, he does not notice the freezing of the ground. So, one foot gets frozen, the other lands on ice, and with his own weight and momentum, he slips. Breaking that one foot free from it, only to fall onto his back. Instead of rolling like he did before, he much rather spins... and spins... and seems to be spinning away, a little bit helplessly on his back, unable to get any traction to right himself.

Bye Bye Golisopod.

Ariados and Masquerain, who were already struggling to rise, find their attempts completely hampered by the ice. The two weakened bugs nearly frozen over entirely. While Pinsir is safe—the water frozen solid before it fully reached himself and Blue. Of course he's not paying any attention to what's happening to the others (not that he would normally anyway), but is rather busy trying to flip the lion entirely.]

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fauxmarth - 2019-07-27 19:15 (UTC) - Expand

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