CH63 (427), Well, That Escalated Quickly (4)

Only a few moments after Hera/Pidgeot gave the warning that the tide had arrived, we saw the first line of Pokemon appear before our eyes, and as soon as that happened, my Pokemon began executing the plan we came up with as our opening move to hopefully deal with the tide without having to combat it.

Seb/Nidoking as well as Gaia/Nidoqueen took a step forward and visibly concentrated for a moment before they simultaneously stomped onto the ground. They triggered an enormous Earthquake that began spreading in the direction of the tide, not only shaking the ground in front of us, loosening the earth in the process, but also forcing the tide to slow down to avoid stumbling and being trampled on by the lines behind them.

Still, that was only the first part, the second part began the moment Seb and Gaia stepped back. Step two involved all water types aside from Manami/Lapras, who was with me in the back. The moment the Nido duo were back in line, the water types simultaneously released a Surf, causing a gigantic wave to head toward the approaching tide.

Forget slowing down, the wave forced the tide to a stop, and even though the frontline no doubt wanted to retreat a bit, they were swept away, causing them to crash into those behind them, no doubt causing considerable chaos in, at least, the front ranks of the tide before the water subsided.

Still, while the Pokemon that were part of the tide were in chaos, my Pokemon started phase three. The Surf tactic caused the water to seep into the ground that had been loosened up by Seb and Gaia's Earthquake, turning the ground between us and the tide into a nicely soaked mud stretch.

This muddy ground was perfect to obscure the Toxic Spikes the Beedrill began spreading all around by flying along the whole defense line before retreating back to their initial position. Seb and Gaia also joined in, but they focused on the central area of the defense line.

The Beedrill were not the only ones acting during phase three. While the Beedrill were spreading Toxic Spikes, the Butterfree also flew along the defensive line and released String Shots onto the ground, so that any Pokemon passing through would get entangled in them.

They also spread Sleep Powder and Stun Spore mostly focused on the strings they released. The Butterfree also retreated back to their position as soon as they were done. While all this sounded rather lengthy, the execution from start to finish for phases one to three took only a bit more than a minute.

It was this quick and seamless execution that gave the opposing side no time to react, along with the fact that the majority if not the whole command structure of the tide was probably located in the back, delaying any reaction they could have made to our sudden preemptive strike. I noticed boss Arbok giving me an impressed look after witnessing the smooth execution, but I did not react and kept focusing on the front instead.

Anyway, I would have preferred it if we could have added a phase four, which was sowing a load of Leech Seed across the whole stretch, but currently only Hashirama/Venusaur knew that move among my Pokemon, so I had to shelve it for now.

Perhaps, if I ever decided to assemble a grass squad for that, I could add a phase four in the future. I mean, I could see a party of Hoppip gliding across a field spreading Leech Seeds and powder moves across any place they passed. Not to mention the other alternate options that no doubt existed.

Regardless, the other side managed to regain a semblance of order by the time our side was done, and they started to resume their advance, even if they were advancing decidedly slower due to the slippery, muddy ground.

The fact that they were simply continuing their advance without trying to counteract the steps we took, gave me the impression that they either did not care about sacrificing the foremost batch to overcome the hurdle, or they simply missed our action during the chaos, which admittedly sounded weird to me as well.

Nonetheless, there was a reason I went out of the way to slow down and stop the tide with our first strike instead of directly attacking the tide itself. I wanted to try the diplomatic approach first before I was forced to draw blood, so I used my aura to strengthen my throat and mouth to amplify my voice.

I then levitated into the air until I was high enough that I could be properly seen by the other side. Once I had reached that point, I cleared my throat to gain the attention of the tide and to test if the amplification worked, which it did.

"I'm Junior Aura Guardian Mikail, and I would like to speak with the leaders of your tide," I announced toward the tide that had once more momentarily stopped.

I could hear the chatter coming from among the tide and patiently waited for the leaders to step forward. Seeing how the majority of the Pokemon were part of the Furret and Linoone line, I was expecting the leaders to be a Furret and Linoone as well.

"Motherf***er," I could not help but curse before teleporting back down to my initial position to dodge the orange beams I saw heading in my direction. Just in time as well, since once I looked up after reappearing beside Hashirama, I saw two Hyper Beams pass through the position I was levitating at just a second earlier.

Those sh*tty critters directly Hyper Beamed me instead of stepping forward to negotiate with me. I guess that was a way to decline the negotiations, even if I severely disliked their approach, and I was not the only one.

My Pokemon did not like their behavior as well. No, they did not like it at all, and they made their displeasure known. The Slythering Six released their own Hyper Beams in retaliation, with half of them aiming towards the source of the Hyper Beam coming from the right, while the other half aimed towards the source on the left. That was 3 Hyper Beams being fired at each assailant.

Moreover, the Slythering Six were not the only ones that immediately retaliated in outrage after I was attacked. Hera and Moka/Crobat sent a Hurricane at each aggressor respectively while Horus/Xatu released a Heat Wave in tandem, lighting the Hurricanes up, and turning them into flaming ones. Enji/Arcanine also joined in with a Heat Wave of his own to boost Horus' Heat Wave.

Finally, there was Mothra/Butterfree, who, while the others were executing their attacks, coalesced the biggest Spiral Galaxy I had ever seen her create, before releasing the move right into the middle between the two assailants, just as the attacks/moves of the others landed.

The swift and brutal retaliation from our side probably left the other side with nearly no time to react, and the explosion that followed the arrival of the Hyper Beams and flaming Hurricanes was enormous, not to mention the explosion that happened after the Spiral Galaxy detonated shortly after the Hyper Beams stopped.

No one moved while the dust cloud that sprung up after the mass attack settled. The Arbok tribe on our side as well as the tide on the other most likely out of shock, and my Pokemon to see the result of the attack. I honestly could not help but be worried about the collateral damage the retaliation had caused.

While I doubted that the tide leaders had died just like that, the same could not be said about the weaker Pokemon around them that probably got caught up in the retaliation. Still, I did not blame my Pokemon for their actions.

The other side had attacked me after all and was taking part in a tide, which was synonymous with having accepted a death waiver in my eyes. Whoever was ready to kill should be prepared to be killed in return and all that.

Besides, I had just been Hyper Beamed, so I was a bit pissed at the other side, so my compassion for them was a bit low at the moment. Anyway, it did not take long for the dust to settle, and I did move up a bit to get a better look at the situation.

The first thing I noticed was that quite a big part of the Pokemon around the area where Mothra's Spiral Galaxy exploded were sleeping, which was good, and what the purpose of the move was in the first place. Other than that, two small areas had cratered a bit. Was that even a word? If not, then I was officially coining it as one.

Still, while I could see a few unmoving bodies, and some burnt wood-looking things that might have been limbs, the Furret and Linoone that were the actual target were still alive and kicking. Well, at least I could see that they did not escape unscathed from the retaliatory attack, so there was that.

In fact, they looked quite hurt, so I was hoping they would consider calling off the tide, seeing how they were at a disadvantage, at least strength-wise. Unfortunately, that was not what happened. Instead, they angrily shouted something, and the Pokemon began to reorganize themselves, completely ignoring their dead, wounded, and/or sleeping compatriots.

Seeing their actions, I could not help but wonder whether those leaders were born stupid, if their anger had made them stupid, or if they had something they were relying on, like some hidden super-strong ancestor they were hiding at the back of their mob. Still, such stuff only happened in stories, so there was no way that would happen. Right?

Anyway, the fact that the other side was just going to ignore the loss of roughly 500 or so Pokemon, dead or immobilized, cost them the last bit of my sympathy and I gave my Pokemon the order to be ready. I informed them, that they had free reign to attack as they saw fit, as long as they adhered to the strategies we trained in for situations like these, and that they could go all out.

I received a lot of "Rogers" from all around me, and we all watched as the tide stepped onto the mud stretch, coming into contact with the traps set in there. Nonetheless, traps and hurdles aside, those at the forefront were being pushed ahead whether they wanted to advance or not, so it did not take long for the first few lines to fall, unable to continue.

The tide lost close to another sixth of their number by the time they made it to our defensive line, and once they did, the Ekans/Arbok began to attack, as did my Butterfree and Beedrill squads, along with my other Pokemon below the gold stage.

The gold stage group was ignoring the advance party in favor of keeping an eye on the stronger members of the tide. They kept taking shots at them whenever appropriate, keeping them from moving to the front, or outright taking them out of the fight.

Yet, even while all of this was happening, with more Sentret, Zigzagoon, or other attackers falling each minute, I failed to spot either of the tide leaders. Neither did I see someone that would qualify as an ancestor guy or gal.

The only ones that stood out were probably subleaders of the tide, but they were being attacked/harassed by my gold stage group, and two of them had already collapsed, unable to withstand the continuous attack coming from so many strong Pokemon.

After another 5 minutes, without being able to spot the ones responsible for keeping this unnecessary slaughter going, I asked Horus to stop taking shots at the subleaders, and focus on locating the tribe leaders instead. He nodded and teleported away, probably upwards to scout the area.

It took a few minutes, but he came back and told me that he had found them hiding at the back. Apparently, they were treating their wounds, while using the rest to buy time to recover, so that they could join the attack.

He said that he tried eavesdropping and that it seemed that they were planning to ambush my Pokemon while they were distracted. I was not surprised by that at all, seeing their despicable conduct so far.

Still, I saw no reason to give them the opportunity to fully recover and told both Mothra and Horus to attack them. I told the two to take the whole Slythering Six with them when they teleported over, so that they could serve as backup if necessary, and stop the others from coming to support their leaders if not.

-----------------------------

You might want to check out the announcement/heads up in the auxiliary section I uploaded.

Advertising plug-in:

Currently, the first goal has been completed, so for the duration of February the lowest number of advanced chapters available is 4, while the highest number of advanced chapters is 8.

If the second goal gets fulfilled, the lowest number of advanced chapters available will be 6, while the highest number of advanced chapters will be 10. Aside from the advanced chapters, I will also release 2 bonus chapters if goal 2 is met.

Sketches, drawings of the MC, Variants and maps can be found on my Patre'on. A patre'on exclusive Legendary Lore series can be found there as well.

Help me stay motivated.

patreo*n/Azrail93