Chapter 6 Part 8: Chaos in the city

The prison ship reached the docks, with the pirates dividing in two groups: one that would accompany the teams aboard it to help them and a few members getting their vessels to a safe location, since they didn’t trust enough the tabirans to let them in their care; even if their reasons were justified. Alex, Nya, Zack, Katrina, Isabel, Peach and a few more that knew Psychic, concentrated in docking the ship with little inconveniences as the rest was getting the prisoners out very carefully, since most of them were too weak to move. Once in the docks, they extended the planks and began to move the people to the solid soil.

Before the other teams would say or do something, Ivanna gave the strict order to not attack the pirates that were on their side, pissing off a few of them. Percy was approaching to them, still shocked from the bombardment and the fires that were consuming part of Tabira and talked with her. As they could see, the city was in risk to be burned to the ground if the fires weren’t controlled in time. Since they had a bigger number of water types with their new allies, they decided to pierce through that infernal line so the teams that were needed in the other front could reach there in time as the rest stayed behind to help.

The teams Flight rangers, Fallen, Jade storm, Blue Tempest, Autem Deus and Jesslyn were the ones in that group, among with some of the guards, Percy to lead them and the water type pirates. The rest of the teams, along with the warriors, Ivanna as their temporal leader and the rest of the pirates would mobilize to the city center to crush the bandit presence. Before they could begin, Ivanna asked Percy two things: one was to see that the savitaran team that was rescued would be in a safe location and be treated immediately; and two was to interrogate Josephine by herself and with help from the Shadow foxes.

“I know she might be have some information about how this happened, but why do you want to question her?” Percy asked a bit confused.

“Isn’t it obvious? She was with Trench, meaning that she could have any clue of his motives of being here or what he plans to do” Ivanna answered.

“Do you… do you think there is a way to stop them?” He tried to give himself hope.

“Right now, no; but that’s something I prefer to discuss later; we still have a lot of job to do”

When everyone was ready, they began to move to the wall of smoke and fire. The water types and anyone who knew any of their moves as well as ground, ice and rock type moves were tasked to clear the way as the others were helping in any way they could. As strange as it could be, Percy asked Brandon if he could manipulate the sea water to drop it on the fire. He shook his head, saying that he didn’t know how he did it and he was still tired from the massive wave he raised. Once they had their passage, the teams Shadow foxes, Underground specters, Twin leafs, Crusaders, Emblem’s flame, Electrophilic with, Guang, MAGIX, Fallible; individuals such as Richard with Nina, Robin with the Salandit, the people that were accompanying some of the teams, the pirates along with Terra and William and all the forces advanced with their intentions clear: finish the nightmare.

Their first objective was to reach the city center. From there, they would head to the points where the enemy presence was tough. Since they were more people, they moved in two streets with the fliers and rides keeping an eye from above. Without the pirate threat, it was easier to travel and with an actual advantage, thanks to the alliance the Shadow foxes made. The bandits were mostly unaware of what happened in the docks and the changes of sides, so they wouldn’t see the pirates as enemies before it would be too late. That was one of the reasons Ivanna was okay to let them tag along, as long as they were watched.

On the way, Alex and Jack overheard the conversation of team Guang about the disappearance of Prier, the Absol that the Lucario hoped to change. They already noticed his absence a while ago, but not exactly where he went. Alex decided to ask Penelope what happened to him. All that she and her team knew was that his possible location was on Glorious Peak. When Ivanna heard it, she approached to them and asked who Prier was. Her face wasn’t meaning anything good when she turned around and continued after hearing the information.

“Alex; why she acted like that?” Lin Lin asked confused.

“*Sigh* if Prier wasn’t here, he can be accused as conspirer, traitor and other things as well” He answered.

“That’s going too far; I don’t think that Prier can do such a thing” Penelope questioned. “Right?”

“But it’s a strong possibility” Jack pointed. “If it’s true, he could be declared as war criminal and our guild don’t tolerate traitors; that’s why she tensed and she will be more if Sela forgives him”

When they arrived at their destination, things were more complicated than they realized. The bandits were attacking even more fiercely than before. The teams Pureheart pirates, Tourmaline and others along with the guards were holding the position, but they were falling back in each step. Ivanna commented out loud that it was probable that the flying squadron told them that the tabirans were practically annihilated in the docks, explaining the massive fires that were consuming that part of the city, inciting them to push forward in the destruction of the guilds. Lowering their morale would only happen if every bandit in the city was defeated or killed and their leaders captured.

While they were cleaning the mess, a certain braixen bandit was among the tabirans, leaving perplexed most of the teams that fought and defeated him in the past. Once they’ve reduced the enemy presence in the area some of them approached to him.

“What are you suppose to be doing here, Xavier?” Penelope asked.

“Ah, miss Penelope; as fiery as I remember you; you know how to ignite a battle”

“Wh… stop saying that!”

“But it’s true; you ‘burned’ their fighting spirit”

“Penny, you didn’t tell me that you have an admirer” Silas commented.

She was feeling really annoyed. “Don’t encourage him” She said between her teeth.

“Hey Xavier; do you remember what happened the last time?” Katrina asked on Cornelius’s shoulder.

“… you again?” He started to feel nervous when he saw the Eevee from a time ago evolved and with her Golurk companion.

“Do you want that again?”

“Eh…”

“Cornelius…” She started as he was preparing his hands.

“Nonononono; I’ll behave”

“I guess Kat put your words on ‘ice’” Cornelius commented.

“Apply water to the ‘burn’ area” Harry joked, annoying Xavier.

“Thanks guys” Penelope said with relief and a small smile.

“Anytime” Katrina smiled innocently.

Looking around, he saw the Shadow foxes with their group, discussing their next movements and his face changed completely as most of the teams could appreciate. He headed to them until Zack spotted him.

“I guess we’re on the same side” He commented when he saw him helping the tabirans in fighting back the bandits.

“You could say that” Xavier said, with a worried tone in his voice.

“What happened?” Alex asked. “It’s like you’ve seen the devil”

He was quiet for a few seconds. “There’s something I need to tell you”

“The rumors?” Jack asked.

“… Ywaru canyon is been attacked”

All the teams’ voices were shut down in an instant. It was like the day was going from bad to worse and it wasn’t over yet. “You mean…” Sasha was trying to say.

“I don’t know if refers to the entire canyon, but one place that was raided for sure was the prison”

“The only thing there is Kapon’s lackeys by now” Ryan deduced. “But why?

“This is supposed to be known by the guilds” Harry questioned. “Why are the only ones that have to know about it?”

“… Guys, there are people after you”

Alex, Zack and Jack frowned. It was unlikely that they made enemies, since most of them were probably targeting the tabirans, instead of a specific team; and they were still an invisible team to the rest of the guilds, compared to others. “Who?” The Honchkrow asked.

“I don’t know, but I heard that they were mentioning your names and your team clearly, like it was an obsession, there are three with a Samurott as their leader and a small group, calling themselves: Fox hounds”

That name was a punch from the past and a huge one. Only one Pokémon started to use that name when they started to become a thorn on his side, bringing a huge incident that was supposed to be the end of him, miraculously surviving what they’ve been through. Even Karla tensed with the news, because she knew what he was taking about. If the rumors Xavier was telling them were true, then the problems they’ve expected in the past days have just started and the tabiran guilds couldn’t get involve in them at any cost.

“Xavier, if you have more information about those rumors, I want a full report after the city is secured” Ivanna ordered. “I’m with them, so don’t hold anything back”

“I’ll try” He nodded.

“You’re going to keep it to yourselves?” Sabine asked.

“Yes; this time, it’s our problem, not yours or the guilds’” Zack said inexpressible.

“But…” Stella tried to say.

“No; the last time people wanted to be involved, few of them survived” Alex cut her out.

“I’ll put in a simple way; will you die for the problems of others? Because if not, then this discussion is over” Ivanna said, ending the conversation of the topic when no one was sure how to answer it.

After that, an air scout reported that there were groups of civilians and teams that were pinned down in different locations and they needed help, also that a massive group of bandits were regrouping near one of the entrances; possibly to for a one final strike in case they lose too much terrain. They distributed in smaller groups to reach the different sectors of the city, covering as much terrain as possible while they were keeping their battle strength. Teams Guang, New Horizonts, the blue division of the Crusaders, Underground specters, Fallible and Meryl were one of the groups; Crossed Paths, the red division of the Crusaders, Twin Leafs, Electrophilic, Zack and the rest of his gang, Robin with the Salandit, Hawk, Richard, Nina and Ivanna, another; and the rest of the Shadow foxes, the green division of the Crusaders, Emblem’s Flame, MAGIX, Pureheart pirates, Tourmaline, William, Jaina, Terra, Clanker and Elisa, the last one. Guards, warriors and pirates distributed in those three groups. Xavier stayed behind, giving the teams hints and warnings when they would head to fight the bandits, especially if they encounter Nadine and Sloan.

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Once the last of the preparations were made, they headed to different parts of the eastern side of the city. The first group pushed forward, with teams Guang and New Horizonts worried. They hoped that their people weren’t the ones caught in that problem after seeing them one last time before they headed to the docks. They were wrong. After crossing the streets for a few minutes, they found Rue, Ygritte, Stuart, and Emily with others behind some fallen trees as Dewey, Emma with some iron gauntlets, Nana and the teams were protecting them. They rushed immediately to drive the bandits off from the place. Since the enemies were not giving up after trying pushing them away, they resorted to knock every one of them down.

“Nana, everyone is okay?” Penelope asked.

“Yeah, thanks for saving us” She answered relieved for seeing them.

“You did great, Dewey” Lin Lin congratulated, with a happy bark from him as an answer.

“Emma, Emily, Stuart; are you alright?” Katrina asked.

“All of us in one piece, Kat” Emma answered, calming the worried Espeon.

“What happened?” Harry asked.

“We were heading to one of the evacuation zones when suddenly some bandits and some kind of… elite assassin attacked from nowhere and forced us to disperse” Emily explained. “We reunited with this group that were ambushed by other bandits, but the same assassin”

“It was covered in… armor? I don’t really know, but it slashed the guards like it was cutting berries” The Ursaring added. “And they were good; it also cut its own comrades”

Stuart was too scared to talk. Katrina rubbed his head to give him a bit of security.

“Okay, we will escort you to the evacuation zones, and then we keep helping in driving the bandits out of Tabira”

“Sounds like a solid plan” Cornelius agreed. “Katrina, you know what you have to do”

“Okiie” She nodded and used Helping Hand to boost her comrades.

Harry notified the other teams that there was an assassin wandering around and that they should keep their eyes opened for anything suspicious. The nearest evacuation zone was at one kilometer to the north, having to cross the abandoned buildings that would probably be hiding bandits. The pirates went ahead to be dissuasion as the guards established an outer perimeter and the teams, the inner to cover the civilians. They advanced slowly with the first part without enemy presence, but with the sounds of the battle close, beginning to feel a bit paranoid. Watcher applied Light screen to the group to at least not be knocked out from the distance and Jeff kept the crossbow with it attached. After seeing Anna fighting and learning quickly from the commander, he thought he was also capable, but Watcher was pointing some mistakes he was committing. They also encountered another team, Sugilite, which were helping citizens to reach the safe points and joined with them.

When they were at least three hundred meters from their destination, they encountered their first bandits. They appeared from a tree house and attacked them from above.  Since they couldn’t afford to damage their own city more than it already was, Penelope and Harry used Dark pulse; Lin Lin, her Focus blast; Katrina, her Psychic; Jeff, his Scald with Watcher’s Magnet bombs. From there, they stumbled with more enemies, the majority of them with their morale increased. From time to time, the Togedemaru Radley was circling around the buildings, with his partner, the Gothorita Shaeena, getting angry from separating from the group.

“Radley, get back here at once!” She ordered him in one of those opportunities.

“You worry too much; I have it covered” He said with confidence and disappeared from her sight.

Once he was on the back of the enemies, without them realizing, he used Discharge, launching rays right to their butts. All of the bandits jumped from the pain, covering their backs, giving his group the necessary distraction to beat them. The ones that saw him began to attack him, but being so small and evasive, no one could land a hit on him. He was mocking them, saying: “You didn’t expect my electrical touch, do you?” or “This will hurt you more than me, haha!” If that wasn’t enough, Jeff liked the boy’s attitude and joined him in his attacks to the back, using Scald to burn in the same spot. With the support of Watcher, using magnet bombs, the battle turned into some kind of painful jokes.

“Man, I hadn’t this kind of fun for some time” Jeff laughed.

“Yeah, you were also funny” Radley agreed.

“When are you going to mature?” Shaeena sighed, shocking her head.

“Mature is for fruits” The Marshtomp joked.

‘Not another one’ she thought as she face palmed herself.

One of the fliers that was scouting ahead and gaining more information about the situation in the rest of the city reported to Meryl that one of the evacuation zones was severely damaged and exposed to the bandits, having to evacuate it completely. Emma commented that it was not possible; the guards were experts in fighting in the tunnels and the bandits wouldn’t be able to get through them, until he added that one single strange Kabutops appeared out of nowhere in the middle of them and began to kill every single one of them in a few seconds and also took out some of the civilians, including elders and children without discrimination. The survivors said that the bandits unleashed some kind of demon that it also was killing their own people and now it was out of control. The teams didn’t know what to think or do against it.

Jeff began to think about something that Jack said while they were on the ships prior to battle the pirates. He asked Watcher if he could repeat the information, with Sasha and Darius hearing as well. It did, until he ordered it to stop and repeat a specific part. “Trench also unleashed an extremely dangerous assassin in the bandit lines; whatever you do, don’t fight him; destroy anything else to shake him off, but don’t fight him” ‘Maybe is this guy we have to avoid, but how? It’s like nothing can stop him… well, the Arbok squad is unstoppable, too' he thought and commented to them. They were also in the same dilemma.

When they were at least fifty meters from one of the evacuation zones, another scout alerted them that the bandits were heading to the appricorn cells. Most of them knew who were in two of them: Madeline and Gilgamarsh. Their release could be an even bigger catastrophe than the one they already had. Fortunately, another group of guards joined them and offered to escort the citizens the rest of the way. Without delay, the teams, the warriors and the pirates rushed to the prison, beating any bandit that came in their way, hoping that they wouldn’t be too late.

Once they arrived, they spotted the enemies at the entrance, fighting with the prison guards. Since the pirates were at front, the bandits believed that they were on their side, until they began to knock them down, helping the tabirans. With that surprise, they were able to wipe the bandit presence out of that sector before they could release any of the prisoners. But before they could head to the next part of the city, they heard screams coming from inside. Someone sneaked its way in and it was killing the prison guards.

Without wasting time, they headed inside. What they found was nothing they’ve seen before, at least in terms of any assassin, leaving them quite frightened. Some of the appricorns were wide opened, with the prisoners and the guards either stabbed or slashed, with the limbs or the head missing. As hard as it might be, holding the nausea from that view, they continued forward, following the trail of blood and bodies. From the sky, Meryl headed down and ordered to move slowly and not make any kind of sound. Hiding in any part they could, they saw the Kabutops they’ve heard about. Some parts of the armor were like it was coming from the Pokémon itself, even if it was covered almost completely and with its blades covered in blood. He was approaching to the cell were Gilgamarsh was imprisoned, with a certain Butterfree atop of the appricorn.

“Gil, I think this guy is coming to kill you as well” Ron commented.

“Are you serious? Get me out of here!” Gilgamarsh ordered.

“I don’t think I’m allowed to open it and also I don’t know how”

“Damn! You! Stop where you are! I’m the powerful Gilgamarsh, if you think you can kill me, you’re so wrong in that! I’m more powerful than you realize” He tried to threaten him, having a small visual of the outside.

“Prey… weak, easy to catch… must die like the rest” The Kabutops said like he was possessed, but the voice was mixed with a darker tone than the dragon.

“I don’t think he’s playing around; he literally cut everyone around here faster than you eliminating those groups in Fever Flats” Ron said. “And he opened those cells like they were made of paper”

“I’m not going to die here!” The witch shouted as he was desperately trying to get out. Fear was starting to consume him as he was now in the opposite situation, unable to escape and at the mercy of the assassin. The way he was walking wasn’t helping either.

“Stop!” Harry shouted as Lin Lin launched a Focus blast right at him.

The Kabutops didn’t turn, but he cut the sphere like it was nothing, with the two halves impacting a broken appricorn up ahead. He stayed stood at some steps from Gilgamarsh’s cell. He moved a little his head, with one of his deep orange eyes looking to the enemy group.

“We don’t know what kind of witch hunter or assassin you are, but you’re not allowed to kill Gilgamarsh” The Mightyena continued.

“He’s weak, you are weak; the strong Pokémon survives, the weak dies; that is the law of the world and the law of the war” The Kabutops said in the same manner and tone.

“I don’t know from where did you learn those kinds of things, but here we don’t play by those dumb rules” Silas said with his characteristic gestures.

“More reasons to believe that you don’t deserve to live; and what you call peace is just an invention, something to name a period between wars and goes against our real identity”

“You know what? Just shut up and let’s go to the part where we kick your ass” Sasha cut him out, after hearing enough war babbling.

“Uh… do you think we can beat him?” Kenneth asked.

“I hope numerical advantage means that” Darius answered.

In that moment, the Kabutops smelled something faint coming from the Bunnelby and the Drilbur. It was a scent he didn’t noticed for a very long time ago, but he already knew from whom it belonged to. His adrenaline started to increase and, with his Agility move boosting his speed, he knocked everyone out. The only two that weren’t exposed were Jeff and Watcher, keeping their position behind of an appricorn cell. For them, it was strange that he didn’t kill them, but when he sniffed Sasha and Darius and then disappeared from the area, the Magnemite suspected that he found a prey worthy to eliminate and in that rush to get out, he just gave one hit K.O to everyone to conserve his strength. A small miracle; given the circumstances. When they recovered from another defeat, three times in a single day for them to be tired enough, they checked the prisoners left. Cornelius knocked Gilgamarsh’s cell to see if he responded.

“GET AWAY!” the witch shouted. Fear was now clear in his voice.

“Well Gil, I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not for you, but the odd Kabutops is gone and there are only tabirans around” Ron said.

“First time I hear you afraid” Cornelius commented.

The dragon kept his silence.

Some cells ahead, Katrina and Harry arrived where Madeline was held and knocked. “Miss Madeline?” She called.

“Katrina? What’ve just happened?” She asked. “I hear sounds of battle and then someone was killing everyone out; then that dragon and Harry and everyone just went silent”

“There was an assassin or… something, I don’t know what it was, but a Kabutops was slashing prisoners and guards alike”

“The form of how he moves… is not something anyone has seen, almost unnatural” Harry added. “Have you encountered anything like that?”

She was quiet for a moment. “I don’t think so; and by how you’re telling me, I don’t want either”

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In the second group, they were already deep into the eastern side of the city. They were doing rescue labors in collapsed buildings, clearing areas of strong enemy presence and establishing a perimeter where they could keep the proximity with one to another. Brandon already recovered from his water manipulation and he was assisting in healing wounds with the help of Sabine. Zack, his gang, Jack, Hawk, Stella with Stephen as the usual power booster and Robin were with Ivanna, pushing forward and repelling the bandits that were approaching to them. Valerian and Karla were the ones infiltrating in the most complicated areas, searching for the citizens and bringing them to Isabel. Groups of guards were arriving at frequent intervals from behind after the first one headed out, extracting the people from the area and leading them to the evacuation zones. They encountered guild members such as Ozwald and Ryuka, rearming the team Aura seekers. The Riolu was relieved to see them back and worried when they told him what happened back in the docks; but with the situation getting their attention, they left their conversation for another occasion. Another team that was passing by with some of the people was team Pikachu, with Hate the alolan Rattata keeping a full eye on his partner, the Pikachu Aziy to maintaining him out of trouble.

Once the area was clear, they advanced again. On the way, they encountered two teams: Pathfinders and The apricot times. Zack look how Sonya was fighting. ‘Still with too much pain' he thought. They provided assistance in forcing the bandits to retreat and once they established another perimeter, the Honchkrow approached to the Sylveon.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

She didn’t answer, but nodded.

“Hello, mister Zack; thanks for helping us” Charles said relieved.

“Are you not wounded?”

“A little surprised, but no cuts” Pufne answered.

Yang, who was quiet while they were talking, frightened when she saw Anibal approaching to them. Sonya tensed at that and put a very unfriendly face. The Cacturne was confused; she saw the shiny mienfoo before, but with only a worried face, nothing really happened. Charles was also putting the same face, in case the Slyveon tries something.

“Sonya, Anibal is with me; you remember?” Zack said.

She wasn’t paying attention.

He placed himself in there line of view. “Sonya, look at me”

She looked to his eyes for a while, until she calmed down a bit. “Sorry” She mumbled.

“It’s understandable; let’s keep our focus in the tasks at hand for now”

Charles warned that he wasn’t a fighter, so Ivanna told him to join Valerian and Karla in rescuing the citizens. While they were doing the same strategy from before, Karla looked Sonya for a while, reading her body language. The expressions were too similar from hers in the past. She noticed that, giving a glare to the unknown Eevee to leave her alone. She was unaffected by it; what’s more, she was looking to her eyes.

“What are you looking at?” Sonya asked in and angry tone.

“You lost someone” Karla said with a lack of emotions.

“You don’t know what you’re…”

“Someone close to you; otherwise you wouldn’t be altered”

She was starting to feel pissed off. “Whatever you think you know; it doesn’t concern you”

“First loss as well; you started to feel what the real pain is”

“Karla” Zack called her, realizing what was going on.

In silence she went to Valerian’s side and moved forward to search in a house that was half collapsed. Sonya was about to lose the few nerves that were still holding her together while Brandon approached to calm her, even if it wasn’t his job.

“Please, don’t fight now; we’re supposed to be together, not divided” He said worried.

“Pff, tell that to her” She spitted. “And why do you care?”

“Um… because… if we fight between ourselves… the bandits could hurt us more”

“I-I… I t-think we h-have to” Yang agreed.

Even if she was deeply affected, the passive attitude of Brandon, combined with his pity tone was enough reasons to not be too mad at him, at least not yet. “*Sigh* okay, but just because we have to fight together”

“Brandon! I need you here!” Sabine called him.

“Um… can you help us?”

“S-sure” Yang nodded. “S-Sonya?”

“I’ll cover you” She went with them.

After a while tending some of the wounded, Sabine looked to Sonya from time to time, watching her behavior. In that dark day, at some distance with Brandon, they saw how they shiny Umbreon exploded in a magical blast until there were nothing but dust.  She heard the stories, but she didn’t expect to see that. And by how the Sylveon was emotionally collapsed in Zack’s wings; she realized it was the first time someone close to her died to protect her. She knew that feeling, although it was different. When they were moving to the next location, she found her best opportunity to talk for a bit alone in an alley.

“I guess we’re not so different after all” She said to her.

“Shut up; we don’t have time for this” Sonya cut her out.

“Tell that to your friend”

Sonya stopped, with her inner rage at the point to erupt if they keep referring to the same topic.

“Before you want to try burying me, I saw what happened to him and to you; he was close to you, right?”

“Shut up…”

“No, I won’t and I tell you why”

The Sylveon tried to hit her with Iron tail, but thanks for the training of Cornelius and her state, the Ninetales dodged easily. “SHUT UP!” She was with tears appearing in her eyes.

“You have to live with the pain I had to endure”

“You know nothing!”

Her response came with a Flamethrower to put her in place. “You are the one who doesn’t know anything; you lost one friend; I lost my parents and my sister; now tell me, whose life is more screwed up thanks to the witches?”

She didn’t answer, but growling instead.

“The only difference was that I had to survive without my family, without giving me time to cry or be depressed for the life I have lost; have you lost anything else besides your witch?”

Again, the uncomfortable silence.

“Nothing more; you don’t know what is loose it all and start from zero all over again”

“Get out from my sight”

“Or what?” She was expecting a fight.

Then two pairs of ribbons grabbed them and pushed them to the walls. Sonya thought it was a familiar Sylveon until she saw the Savitaran guild leader and with her respective differences; and she was even more pissed than she could even be. “Enough of this! You’re risking one thousand lives in discussing about dead people” Ivanna said and released them.

“She started with…” Sonya was pointing at Sabine.

“I don’t care; if you two are forgetting, we have enough dead people their families are going to cry on their tombs in the next days; if you don’t want that number to increase further, I suggest you that you settle your differences when the battle is over and get to work right now; understood?”

The glare she was giving combined with the weapons and blood on her face and combat suit was enough to receive a nod as an answer and both returned with their partners and continued their job, with Ivanna keeping an eye on the troublemakers.

A while later; Zack realized that Jack was missing when he didn’t see him in the front line. ‘Where did that Scyther go?’ He thought and called Isabel, Charles, Ryan and Hawk to follow him. ‘For the love of the gods, I hope he’s not in his beast mode; because if he is… '. With his small group, they scouted their surroundings, having to fight more bandits to get through.

At some houses away, the shiny midnight Lycanroc Wynter was fighting on his own against the bandits, trying to clear a path to some citizens trapped in a small storage. He already received some cuts that were healed up seconds later and he was engaging another group that came from the east; and those guys were giving him trouble. Then, all of them fell in an instant. Wynter didn’t understand what happened, until he saw that all of them were mortally slashed or stabbed. Looking around, he found the responsible: the Scyther with red eyes he encountered in the wonder room; and he was glaring at him.

He returned the glare and by mere instinct, he took position to fight. But in a blink of an eye, he disappeared and a couple of seconds later, he was at front of him, with one of his blades extended, surprising him. He heard that the mantis stabbed something, but it was not him or he would’ve felt it. Following the blade with his eyes, he looked back and saw that an assassin was close enough to kill him with a dagger. Jack released his blade and the body of the enemy fell on the ground.

“I could’ve taken it out by myself” Wynter said, trying to not reveal and emotion.

“Slow” Jack pointed to him as he was cleaning his blade. “And careless; he already slashed you”

Wynter looked to his left arm and saw a red line bleeding. “He was lucky”

“More luck and you would be another body in the graveyard” He noticed that his cut healed shortly. “You don’t fear death”

“What?”

He pointed to his arm again without the cut. “That; and also reckless”

The Lycanroc was starting to feel annoyed. “I didn’t ask for you to help me”

“I didn’t save you; I killed another enemy and I didn’t ask for you opinion”

“Again with this?” Zack complained while he was approaching from above and landed next to them with the rest of his small group appearing as well. “Of all the bandits you could have attacked, instead you still want to fight him”

“There were enemies here and all of them were taken care of; there are some citizens inside that place to evacuate; I’ll go ahead to determine where Nadine and Sloan are, while I take out some of their best bandits”

“Isabel will go with you; you know why”

“*Sigh* understood”

“I know this wouldn’t end well, but I think the Lycanroc must accompany him as well” Hawk proposed. “He was alone, so he wouldn’t raise much attention to them”

“I pass” Wynter denied and turned around to continue on his way.

“Fine by me, you just going to slow me down and I don’t have time to babysit you” Jack agreed.

Jack surely hit his pride enough to not let it pass. “You say that I’m slow and that I cannot take care of myself?” Wynter said pissed off.

“Yeah, so?”

“I’ll show you what I can do, bug; I’ll go with you” He was acting like a child that was told that can’t do anything good and wanted to prove that he was the best.

“I guess that settles it, Zack?” Hawk looked at him.

“I’m really going to regret this, but… *Sigh* fine; you just get the job done and don’t try to kill each other if you can? We have enough to worry about; Isabel, make sure that Jack doesn’t start”

“Okay” She nodded and followed them to the next area.

“Are you worried of what that Lycanroc can do to him?” Ryan asked.

“More like the opposite; Jack changes completely when his rage mode is unleashed and he doesn’t stop until he faints from exhaustion”

“How long it takes?” Charles asked.

“The last time since more than a decade ago, three days straight”

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Meanwhile, the third group also made significant advancements. They were halfway to the border of the city, getting anyone out from the areas as they were beating the bandits, recovering terrain. They began in clearing the sector from enemy presence and once they were sure that they wouldn’t receive any surprises, they continued searching for the citizens or covering the groups that were separated from their escorts until a new one arrives to take them out. In the biggest streets, most of them opted to attack from the distance; but when they were traveling in the alleys, combats with blades, physical moves or short range moves were a better option. Team Sharp blades joined them on the way and helped them in the rescue operations. There was other team they’ve spotted, but they were on their own way. It was Team Nox Aeterna, with Aima evolved into a Sylveon and the Noibat Claudia at some distance from her. They vanished before someone could say anything.

Captain Jones was pleased to see more fellow pirates joining the battle to protect the city, instead of destroying it and sent his condolences for their fallen captain. “A captain was supposed to sink with his ship, not being killed in a complete disadvantage on the ground against a traitor” he said when he learned of Trench’s treachery and manipulation.

Lucas helped in removing the rubble from some of the houses with the assistance of Alex or Nya, depending on who was close and with Anna and Clanker; they were searching for people that remained trapped. Sometimes they were turning with Peach, Marth, Zinnia, Phillippe, Jaina, William, Terra, Nina, Kala and Jones to speed up the process, along with the warriors and pirates. On the air, Elisa with other fliers and riders were providing intensive air support, making the job of their ground allies easier. Also, they were sending scouts with the other groups to have information about their progress and any inconveniences they might have encountered on their ways. It was then when they heard about the “demonic” Kabutops that was killing anything in its path and almost eliminated Gilgamarsh if the first group didn’t intervened in time.

In one moment, when they encountered a big number of bandits to give them trouble, the Pansage Zinnia from team Tourmaline started to feel strange. Everyone saw her ability to control plants at will, but Jaina and Nya started to pick an anomaly coming from her. Also that Alex was sensing that the stress of the battle was altering her, making her more aggressive. His partner was also getting worried when she was not responding to his call. As a preemptive move, the Lucario suggested that the rest remained at some distance from them while he, the Liepard and the Braixen were preparing to contain a possible danger, without mentioning the reason. Peach was the only one that was thinking in a possibility when they separated from them, hiding themselves from any eyes that could inform the guilds.

Then after getting caught by six enemies and one of them wounding her, Zinnia’s conscious part disappeared and used her power over plants to harm her enemies badly. Not only that, she also targeted the other three that remained with her. She wasn’t able to identify friend or foe as the plants were trying to get all of them. In all that mess, Jaina told Alex and Nya to restrain both the plants and Zinnia with Psychic while she was approaching to her. The bandits were already knocked out, but trapped inside that natural web; it would be a matter of time before they would stop breathing. The Liepard used her magic to attack the plants coming at her and once she was next to the Pansage, she hugged her.

“It’s over, dear; there are no more bandits to worry about” She tried to calm her while Alex and Nya were having problems in keeping the nature at bay.

Zinnia’s power was still in use and she was still in a state of “rage”, but slowly, the plants stopped moving.

“There… you are just afraid, but the danger is over” She began to pat her. “We’re not your enemies; we’re not going to harm you”

It took a couple of minutes before she would regain her consciousness. When she saw what she has done, she was scared that she used her power to hurt and that people saw her using it. “W-what have I done?”

“Look at me” Jaina made her look to her eyes. “This was an act of self-defense; maybe it was too rough, but you did what you had to do”

“B-but if you tell the guilds that I did it, then…” She didn’t want to think the next part.

“That’s why we decided to separate from the main group” Alex explained. “It’s not my first time doing this, but you have my word that we won’t mention anything about this”

“If may ask: how you were able to control the plants in such a way?” Nya asked.

“I… I…” She wasn’t sure if she wanted to answer.

“Let’s just leave it there; for now, we’ll act as nothing happened, but that means whenever you feel aggressive, you have to pull back, so you have time to calm your mind, okay?” Jaina proposed.

“Okay” She nodded. “Thanks”

Later, one of the scouts reported to Alex directly with a message from Zack: Jack’s orange eyes. ‘Impossible… even he said that the whole thing blew down and he died before that… if it’s indeed him, how the hell did he survived?’ he thought. As far as he knew, only the original Shadow foxes had an idea of who was the assassin in question. The problem was that Jack hadn’t encountered him yet; so what would happen if they see each other, he didn’t know.

Then another scout reported that there was a big group of bandits heading to a restaurant in a tree. Peach frightened, knowing exactly where the flier was referring. Alex sensed her change of emotions and looked to her.

‘You need help?’ He offered telepathically.

‘Can we reach there in time?’ She asked worried.

‘We’ll get there before them, let’s go'