ToT Chapter 5 - Part 1: First maneuvers

The day of the battle has come. All the teams prepared the best they could in order to match Gilgamarsh power. Alex, Zack and Nya went to join the respective combat teams. The rest stayed back in the camp in case of any problems that may occur, especially from Jaina, since she couldn’t reveal herself as a witch as recommended by a few guild members that they know her; and Anibal to not be affected by Gilgamarsh’s corruption.

The tension could be felt in the air. Alex and Nya decided that it was best to capture Gilgamarsh than kill it when they went to both meetings, because for them, it was more a moral choice than hate, considering all the information and the possibilities; Zack joined the decoy team to provide some distraction for them. In any case, they’ll follow the decision of the guilds if the witch proves it was a higher threat for capture; it was not their place to question, whatever the consequences.

Alex and Nya held their crossbows on their paws; they knew it will be a hard battle, maybe even harder than they suspected because of all they heard; but they kept their resolve. One way or another, this has to end. They also decided that they’ll keep their distance from Gilgamarsh at any time and in case of Alex, only make fast hits with the katanas when the opportunities present. While they were waiting, Peach approached to Alex when he was looking around.

“Peach?” Alex asked when she reached them.

“H-Hi” Peach said.

“They let you out?”

She nodded.

“And you’ll fight in this team?”

She nodded again.

“Okay; no mistakes this time; feel free to help us if you want; Nya and I will target the legs for now to stop him from moving”

“I-I’ll help y-you this time; I-I want to p-prove to everyone I can be t-trusted”

Alex nodded. “Then stay near us, we can cover you if something happens”

“Zack should be able to get his attention with the others; if they can blind him for a few seconds, it should be enough to attack him closer” Nya commented.

“Even with that, we cannot dare to approach that much, unless we want to sink in his muck”

“We’ll see; in any case, if you have the chance…”

“I’ll make a pass”

Alex offered Peach to carry her in his back to pass through the pool, which she denied. The order of attack arrived and all the Pokémon moved to the pool. The attack started with boulders launched from the catapults, with one of them managed by Lin Lin and an enormous Psychic wave from a box Menthe held that hit Gilgamarsh. However, they didn’t enough to weaken him, even less do any real damage.

‘Time for phase 2 then’ Alex thought.  Then, all the teams began to launch long range attacks with moves and weapons towards the witch.  Alex and Nya used the prods impregnated with the tablets and salt, and launched to Gilgamarsh while he was distracted by the Decoy team; Peach used a spell to walk above the ground and with them, started to approach. With the help of the Decoy team, they managed to hit him with some rounds, but it wasn’t enough damage to bring him down.

Zack focused on getting attention of Gilgamarsh by hitting him with Dark pulse in all that resembles an eye to blind him and flying very fast in his line of sight. In response, the witch launched a Dragon breath towards him and the nearest fliers multiple times. All of them evaded the attacks, then Zack said to Gilgamarsh:

“That’s all you got? With so many eyes, you could have predicted our maneuvers”

“I’M MORE POWERFUL THAN ANY OF YOU’LL EVER DREAM” Gilgamarsh said.

“Then I’m really disappointed in your performance if that is how you use your power”

That last sentence got the witch’s attention for enough time for the rest of the decoy team to approach. Then Gilgamarsh hit him with a Thunder to prove him wrong. It made a lot of damage, but not enough to make him fall. ‘Not good; if I get caught with another electrical attack, it’ll be my end’ Zack thought as he shacked himself and passed to evade everything the witch was launching at him.

“WHAT DID I JUST SAY?” Gilgamarsh asked.

“You’re going to have to try much harder than that to prove me wrong” Zack replied and evaded another Dragon breathe as a reaction.

Then he looked to Chip, who was trying to confound the witch by using her speed combined with Quick attack and Double team. Gilgamarsh had a bad time, trying to hit the real Chip. Then, he used Muddy water to hit anyone who’s near. The attack hit Chip and sent her to the muck. Not wanting to see what happens next, Zack flew direct to her and using Psychic, got her out from there and placed her on his back.

“Are you okay?” Zack asked.

“*Cough*yeah, barely; that was close” Chip said.

“We have to take relief to go to the medical team”

“Now?”

“Not yet, just a few more seconds for the others to attack him at close range”

Zack and Chip teamed up to coordinate evasive maneuvers with Fracture, Vander and other decoy members while the attack and suppression teams approach. When both combat teams reached their destination, Zack picked up and carried Chip and other injured Pokémon out of the battlefield, and alerted both Alex and Nya he’ll fall back to recover using telepathy.

Now that they were out of ammo, they kept attacking the legs using their move sets. Alex used Aura spheres while Nya and Peach used Flamethrowers and concentrated in a single point. Nya also used Fire pledge and Psyshock in both legs. At some points, Nya and Alex used Psychic to compress Gilgamarsh legs to stop him from moving, at least for some seconds to help the other teams to approach; and against his minions to stun them for the same amount of time. Then Alex proceeded to eliminate a group of them, using his katanas. He was able to take down five of them before they recover and surround him. Before they could attack, Ignius jumped in and assisted Alex to destroy the minions.

“Thanks for the help” Alex said when they finished them.

“It’s not over yet” Ignius said.

In the meantime, Zack headed to the hill with the wounded to recover from the initial attack. On arrival, Sonya, Yang, Riley and the others headed to assist them. Yang helped to transport some of them to a safer place, while Sonya and Riley healed Zack and Chip respectively.

“I thought he got you when that thunder hit you” Sonya said worried.

“No kidding; but if he hit me with another one, that would certainly happened” Zack said.

“Are you alright Chip?” Riley asked.

“Yeah; Zack got me out before Gilgamarsh would have any chance to strike again” Chip answered.

“Thanks, thanks for helping her”

“No problem”

“There, now you’re fine; will you continue?” Sonya asked to Zack.

“I have to; Alex and Nya are in there and they need my help as the rest of the combat teams to defeat him”

“*Sigh* okay, but please, be more careful this time”

“I will”

“Okay Chip, you’re healed now”

“Thanks Riley; Zack, will you help me on getting back?”

“Of course; team up again?”

“Yup; we’ll play defensibly this time”

Once they were recovered, they headed back to the pool and continued distracting Gilgamarsh. Bit by bit, the witch began to weaken. Peach was almost caught by one of his attacks when she got closer, but Alex used Psychic to bring her to them and grabbed her. She was shaking.

“Are you okay?” Alex asked.

She looked to Alex and nodded.

He dropped her and Zack used telepathy again.

‘Alex, you have a path now; you better take the chance’

‘Got it, cover me’ Nya! I’ll make a run towards Gilgamarsh; I need some cover to get close”

“Hit and run, Alex; don’t stay too much near him”

“I wasn’t planning that; Peach, help Nya; focus your attacks in the eyes looking at us”

With Nya, Zack and Peach covering Alex, he approached to the Goodra and made slashes to the legs as fast as he could, using Extreme speed. Then he headed back to not be caught by any retaliation, and kept using Aura spheres and Psychic to bring Gilgamarsh down. Alex and Nya also used Psychic to get anyone out from the witch’s attacks if they were in the danger zone, although they couldn’t get some of the teams who were far from them and the dark types.

At some occasions, Alex, Zack and Nya rotated themselves by dragging any Pokémon who were badly injured near them out of the combat zone, even risking their lives to do that, and gave them to Yang, Sonya, Riley and any medical team member who were close, including anyone who was passing near the area and had the bad luck to head straight into the pool. Even they headed back treat some of their wounds. In one opportunity, Alex helped Yang to transport Nox and Stella, who were injured and in the case of Nox, poisoned.

Then something happened; Lydia was grabbed by Gilgamarsh. Zack and other fliers tried to get the witch’s attention, but he wasn’t even looking to them. Then a burst of pink energy hit Gilgamarsh, freeing Lydia and incapacitating the witch for a bit. Zack turned around and saw Gnarl, knelt and covered in the same energy. ‘If he is another witch, he’ll get immediately in trouble’ Zack though.

The entire terrain changed because of Gnarl’s attack and recovery. He told to Alex and Nya to fall back, just in case. When he joined them, they saw some of the guild members, Mirya, Fracture, Nita and Cerise discussing.

“W-what is h-happening?” Peach asked.

“We have a new problem; if my guess is correct, Gnarl is another witch because of his attack and Mirya is not taking it well” Zack answered.

“Maybe he did that for a reason” Alex suggested.

“I guess he did it to save Lydia; she was in a tight spot when Gilgamarsh caught her and Gnarl was seeing that”

“We’ll stay back for a moment and see what happens?” Nya asked.

“Yeah; better not risk ourselves for now, even if the terrain is in our favor”

It was like an auto accomplished prediction. Gilgamarsh recovered fast from the attack and began to grow new minions and roared. Then he attacked everyone who was near of him with more force than before.

“No time to stand here; we have to help them” Alex said.

“Wait!” Vander said.

They all say Vander approaching to them.

“What happened?” Zack asked.

“We need to regroup, now! You and the other teams who stayed here have to cover the combat teams retreat”

“Tell me we have a plan” Alex said.

“That’s part of the reason we want all of them here”

“Then we’ll do it” Nya said.

Some of the teams started to retreat from the battlefield when the order came, but others were on a tight spot against Gilgamarsh’s counterattack; some of them badly injured and incapacitated to escape. Alex, Zack, Nya, Peach and the others who came with them used their range attacks to lift the pressure in the most complicated points, dragged anyone who was stuck in the muck and gave them to the Pokémon who were in a better condition to carry them back. Some of the Pokémon, including Ignius and Chip joined them to cover the retreating teams. When there was no one left behind, they started to fall back to the hill while they were still attacking. Once they were out, they headed with the rest to hear the new plan the guilds have prepared.

They’ll need a miracle to beat Gilgamarsh and the Shadow foxes hoped that this works; because if not, the chances of success will be very low.