There’s no other choice. Fight on! (Vs. Inferno Pt.3)

If you give up now that’s sure to end poorly for you, he’s made that clear enough. The thought of running crosses your mind, but who’s to say whether or not that will bore him too? And boring him… does not seem like a good idea. Not only is he an incredibly skilled Pokémon trainer and a member of a powerful crime syndicate, but he tanked a Heat Wave from his own Houndoom, has flashing eyes, and a voice that seems to thrum with power. Again, boring him does not seem like a good idea. And the only thing that he’s seemed excited about so far is…

“We have to keep fighting.” Daniel reaches the same conclusion that you have, and Kayla nods in agreement.

“It’s our only option. Plus, we can’t leave those innocent scientists behind!” The brunette insists, though you can see her knees trembling.

Not that you’re in any position to judge, as your voice quakes when you reply. “Let’s do this then. I’ll take the lead with Mankey.” As you finish your statement, you release the fighting type from her ball. She whips around, ready to pummel you in some regard surely, but stops in her tracks when she sees just how shaken you look. Taking in the scene around her, she spots her fearsome opponent snarling down at her. Even beaten and paralyzed, the Houndoom is a terrifying sight, glaring down from atop a fallen stalactite and growling menacingly. Mankey does not flinch however, and starts angrily hopping from foot to foot, shrieking at the fire type.

“Seems like Mankey’s all fired up! Hopefully we can be of some use!” The golden-haired boy says, sending out his freshly-caught Golbat. The large blue and purple bat flaps weakly in the air, having barely recovered from its earlier injuries. “Sorry, this is a helluva battle to use you in first. But I need you; we need you. So just do your best, yeah?” Daniel’s voice is far more gentle than you would have ever expected it to be when addressing a bat, and the practically-**** Pokémon nods weakly in response.

“This is going to be really rough, but you’re my only choice. C’mon, Weepinbell!” The green-eyed girl sends out her unfortunate grass type, grimacing as she does so. Her partner stares up at its foe with wide eyes, but steels itself, willing to do anything for its trainer.

“Mankey, rush it and Karate Chop!” You command, wanting to grab the enemies attention. The exhausted Golbat and grass type Weepinbell are both liable to be knocked out in a single blow, so you need your partner to be the focus here. Though you’re honestly not sure how well the frail fighting type will be able to take a hit either… Regardless, she obeys your order, dashing forward and kicking off of the ground, launching herself up into the air towards the Houndoom’s position.

“Fire Fang.” Inferno’s raspy voice calls out. His partner’s jaw opens, sharp teeth becoming wreathed in flame as your monkey Pokémon approaches. Mankey’s already midair, and her momentum can’t be stopped. But, just as the dog goes to bite down on your partner, it’s body tenses. The paralysis has taken hold, causing its muscles to seize up at just the right moment for Mankey to land a hit. The feisty fighting type lands a chop right on the mutt’s skull, causing its eyes to bug out and the flames of its Fire Fang to shoot out both sides of its mouth. The pig monkey then kicks off of the dog’s head, backflipping away and landing on another nearby fallen stalactite. She turns around and slaps her ass, taunting the furious dark type.

As the beast wheels around, legs gathered up under it to pounce, a spray of purple liquid lands over it, the caustic fluid of Weepinbell’s Acid burning the hound and melting some of the stone at its feet. It spins around, growling at the grass and poison type. Just then, a blue blur speeds past the black dog, a Wing Attack from Golbat scraping its flank. The bat flies back into the air, out of range of the mutt’s bite of retaliation. Daniel and Kayla are doing a great job of harrying the beast, now you need to grab its attention once more!

“Another Karate Chop!” Mankey heeds your command, leaping once again towards the Houndoom.

“Ignore it. Fire Fang the Weepinbell.” The Rocket Agent tells his Pokémon. Even paralyzed, the powerful fire and dark type is still faster than your partner as it pounces off of its perch. As Mankey’s chop hits Acid-melted rock, Houndoom’s jump closes the distance between it and the grass type. Before Kayla can even try to get Weepinbell to dodge, the fire type attack connects. Blazing teeth sink into the yellow plant Pokémon’s body, causing it to faint near-instantly. Just like that, Kayla is out of usable Pokémon.

Mankey springs off of the pillar that the dog had just been on, launching herself at the enemy once more. Only this time, Inferno gives out a different command. “Flamethrower the monkey.” Once again unable to change trajectory midair, and without a lucky paralysis this time, Mankey jumps right into the fire type’s next attack. Orange and yellow flames gush from the opposing Pokémon’s throat, roaring into the air and engulfing your fighting type. By the time she makes it to her destination, she’s been knocked out, and just thumps onto the ground beside the Houndoom. The only conscious Pokémon your trio has on the field at the moment is Daniel’s Golbat, who is flying well up into the air, avoiding the chaos and waiting for its trainer’s next call to strike.

Things aren’t looking good. The girl from Vermillion is completely done in this battle, and your remaining options are less than stellar. “Damn it! I’m sorry boys, I’m done. If only we had brought some Revives…” Kayla bites her lip in concern, recalling her final Pokémon.

“We really weren’t prepared for something like this… Then again, how could we be? If only we didn’t run into all those Zubat earlier, we would have at least been in slightly better shape.” You say, feeling despair creep up inside your heart as you debate between using Pidgey or Pikachu next. Is it even going to matter?

“Yeah, our electric types and a few of our other Pokémon were already tired when this started, thanks to all those fucking bats!” The muscular blonde curses… but then his eyes widen all of a sudden. “All of those fucking bats… The fucking bats… Holy shit, would that work? We are still in the same cave…” You’re not sure exactly what it is your blonde friend is mumbling about, or what that sudden spark of hope in his blue eyes is about, but you’re about to find out. “Golbat, get down here!” He cries up to his newest partner, who glides out of the air and to his side.

“Oh? You aren’t giving up, are you? ‘Cause I’m not done yet. Long as you’ve got fight left in you, you better fight.” Inferno’s eyes glow briefly beneath his tinted glasses once again, and his Houndoom snarls at the same time.

Ignoring the man, Daniel speaks rapidly to his Pokémon. “We’re still in your home, right? And the Zubat around here listen to you, right? Can you call them in to help? As many as will fucking come!?”

It’s your eyes’ turn to widen in shock. You’re honestly not sure what you’re more surprised by; the fact that Daniel came up with a plan that involves calling in a fuckload of bats, or the fact that it could actually be just what you need to get out of this mess!

A moment passes, a moment that feels like it could stretch into eternity, as you wait for Golbat’s response. And when it comes, it is loud. The poison and flying type lets out a massive, high-pitched shriek, the shrill sound echoing throughout the cavern. Another moment passes, then the bat lets out a second screeching cry. Everyone in the room covers their ears, even Inferno, as the piercing sound rings out. A third shriek comes from the Pokémon, and it’s then that you hear another sound in response. Or more accurately, many sounds.

“Hm?” The pink-haired man’s eyes narrow as he too takes in the sound. The thunderous sound of a chorus of screeches and flaps, the sound of a massive horde of Zubat flying through all the tunnels that lead into this cavern. “Oh… Huh.”

“Uh, Golbat! Make sure that your friends know not to attack us or the people in the lab-coats, please!” The Vermillion blonde adds to his instructions quickly. His partner nods, then shrieks out another call. The answering calls are quickly becoming deafening as the swarm of bats gets closer and closer… Until, almost all at once, they emerge.

Hundreds of tiny blue and purple bats erupt from the main tunnel behind you, streaking over your heads and chittering out battle cries. More fly in from other tunnels, located at various points along the walls and ceiling, completely flooding the chamber with an utterly ridiculous number of bat Pokémon. Just how many live in here!? However many it is, you’re just grateful that they’ve heeded Golbat’s call for aid. There are even several other Golbat among the horde, having also answered the call of their kin. Here comes the bat-valry!

“Fucking shit! Prepare to engage!” Captain Richard shouts to his Grunts over the chaos. His three subordinates that still have usable Pokémon send them out, all low-level basics that you can barely even see through all the bats. The big man himself sends out one of his own, and this one is big enough that you can make it out. A blue-scaled, bipedal dragon with a red head; a Druddigon from Unova. The dragon type roars, beginning to rip the small bats out of the air with its claws and fangs. But for every one it strikes down, two more pop up, and the Pokémon is quickly being overwhelmed. The Rockets themselves fare little better, the Zubat attacking them as well. Biting into them, slapping them with wings, screeching at them, the criminals are having a rough go of it. Aside from…

Inferno stands calmly amidst the chaos, hands in his pockets, casually observing the absurd scene unfold. No bats make any move to attack him; in fact, there is a roughly ten-feet wide radius all around him that is completely free of any blue and purple Pokémon. They seem to be avoiding him for whatever reason, though the same can’t be said for his Houndoom. The paralyzed, weary fire and dark type is being assailed from all sides, its snapping jaws and blasts of fire and darkness only able to do so much. After nearly thirty seconds of unending **** from the bats, the mutt has had enough. Its body begins to glow orange again, air around it turning hazy as it charges up another Heat Wave. Before you have time to panic though, the hound vanishes in a flash of red light as the Rocket Agent returns it to its Pokéball. You aren’t entirely sure why Inferno has done this, but you’re thankful for it all the same.

The red-coated man places the ball back onto his belt, then yawns. Putting both arms behind his head, he turns to watch the bats’ attack on his fellow Rockets with a smirk. The Grunts are all out of Pokémon at this point, and are just curled up on the ground, trying to withstand the onslaught of angry Zubat. Richard’s Druddigon already looks nearly done, and the man himself looks like he’s cursing up a storm. He shouts something you don’t catch, and his unit all scramble up and get next to him. Recalling his dragon type, the blue-eyed man huddles up with his Grunts, then pulls something out of his pocket. You don’t see what it is, but there is a flash of white light an instant later, and all seven black-clad criminals are gone.

The swarm of bats continue to fly around the room, as if looking for a new target. “CALL THEM OFF, GOLBAT!” Daniel shouts out loudly in an attempt to be heard over the chaos. His tired partner screeches one last time, and all of a sudden the cacophony stops. The wild Zubat and Golbat stop shrieking, and slowly start to file out of the chamber. Several Golbat fly up to Daniel’s, having chittering conversations with it before leaving. Over the next few minutes, all of the bats exit the cavern, disappearing back deeper into Mt. Moon, back to wherever they call home. You all call out ‘thank you’ to them, waving at them as they leave. Just like that, everything goes quiet.

An unbelievable sense of relief washes over you, and you collapse onto the ground. You start just laughing, feeling light-headed from the sheer weight of the anxiety that has left you. Kayla and her master react in much the same way, falling to their knees and laughing while Daniel hugs his Golbat tightly. It’s over… You’re safe! You had been so scared; scared for your friends, your Pokémon, those strangers, your own life, but it’s all over! Everything is going to be fine.

“I- hahahaa- am the fucking lord of bats! Kneheheheheeeeel before me!” The golden-haired boy wheezes out as his body shakes with laughter.

“All hail the lord of bats! Hahahaha!” The slim young woman doubles over, holding her stomach, her hysterical laughter of relief so intense that it pains her.

“Thought - hahaha - thought you hated bats, Daniel! Look at you now!” You join in on the laughing, and you’re honestly not sure if you’ve ever felt so relieved in your entire life.

The trio of scientists run over to you all. “That was AMAZING! You saved us!” The woman, Ellie, screams, tackling the blonde boy and his bat into a hug.

“Uh, guys…” The scientist whose name you don’t know yet still looks nervous, his eyes flicking back and forth between you all and something else.

“Thank you all so much! Who knows what would have happened if you hadn’t shown up!” The other male researcher, Grant, extends a hand to you, pulling you to your feet.

“Everyone, we, uh, still have an issue…” The less-excited man says, eyes wide with panic.

“Oh come on, Malcolm, what is it now?” The female paleontologist says in exasperation. “Team Rocket is gone, and we’re all okay! So what could possibly have you acting like such a downer!?

The third scientist - Malcolm, apparently - raises a shaky hand up and points across the room. “That.”

You all turn, gazes following his finger… and landing upon something that makes your blood chill. Which is ironic, given his name. Still standing there, arms folded again and with a faint smirk on his face, orange eyes looking out from behind his tinted glasses, is Agent Inferno. His allies left without him. He’s still here. And he still has all of his Pokémon, even if his Houndoom is injured.

Well, that’s a problem.