CH103 (717), Twist

Having gathered enough information for now, I had my second thought stream focus back on the ongoing war. The war was going in our favor and the Guardian/Dusknoir was putting his three opponents more and more on the back foot. With the shield forme Aegislash having to stay back, Aegislash blade forme and the Ceruledge had to endure more attacks from Dusknoir, resulting in injuries that began to stack up.

15 minutes after Aegislash (S) got semi-crippled, Aegislash (B) showed signs of cracks as well though they were lighter than those of its shield counterpart. Nonetheless, its injuries still forced it into a more passive position which increased the pressure on Ceruledge even further. The way things were looking my previous estimate of an hour until the conclusion of the boss fight seemed to have been too high. As things stood right now, it looked more like the invading boss trio would lose within the next 15 to 20 minutes.

Still, I was not complaining about this positive development. The earlier this whole invasion/war concluded in our favor the better. Being a Terran myself, I naturally did not want the defending side to lose, and thankfully all signs indicated that victory was going to be ours. Anyway, seeing that Bossnoir had everything under control I once more focused on the general situation of the battlefield.

Among the 12 battlefields, 3 had pretty much reached a conclusion, or rather they were about to conclude. The battles between the "minions" had pretty much died down in those battlefields, with nearly all invaders having been taken down, though the defenders had lost a significant portion of their members as well. Only some of the stronger minions (DG stage ghosts) and the (sub)bosses were still battling. 

While the other minions did start to interfere in the still ongoing minion fights, none of them attempted to do the same for the (sub)boss battles. I was assuming that they feared that their attempt at helping would distract their superiors, resulting in more harm than good, which was to a certain extent a justified concern, and I felt that their choice was correct. All three defending (sub)bosses were currently winning after all. 

The other 9 battlefields still had enough invaders fighting to pose a serious risk, though I suddenly could not help but feel worried since I noticed that I was treating the other three battlefields as a done deal even though I knew that a battle was only over when the opponent was beaten and not a moment before that. 

A mistake on my part that should not have happened, and I could only hope that the defenders as active participants did not fall into the same psychological pitfall as I did as a spectator. An attitude like that was usually what led to one losing due to a surprise development/comeback. Thankfully, things continued in a controlled fashion in those 3 battlefields, and within a few minutes, only the (sub)boss battles were left. 

Once that happened, I noted that the leftover defenders of all 3 battlefields gathered around a certain area of their battlefield and remained there without interfering in the (sub)boss battle. I could see that none of them had relaxed yet and considering how they had gathered together like that I assumed that the place they congregated was the seal point of those particular battlefields.

That assumption strengthened when one of the (sub)boss battles concluded in our favor and the (sub)boss joined its minions instead of going out to reinforce its fellow (sub)bosses. Some would wonder why it did that, but after a brief consideration, I assumed that in the eyes of the defenders defending the seal took priority over helping the others, so rather than leaving the seal point open it chose to stay and observe the situation. 

I could not say whether this choice was wrong or right, but considering that this was not the first outbreak it was likely that this was a choice made due to experiences of the past, and as a mere spectator all I could do was watch anyway. The first battle conclusion was soon followed by a second one, also in our favor. Unsurprisingly, the second boss acted the same way the first one did.  

Mere moments after the battle on the "second" battlefield concluded, things took a turn on the "third" battlefield. Perhaps seeing the defeat of its two invading compatriots and being aware of its own less-than-ideal situation, the invading boss chose to resort to mutual destruction. It used a combination of Curse as well as Destiny Bond to basically perform suicide while dragging down the Gengar it was facing along with itself, and it worked.

The (sub)boss Gengar ended up being the first one of the defending bosses to fall, though thankfully its opponent fell as well so the development was not as bad as it could have been. Still, it appeared that I had rejoiced too soon since Chandelure's actions seemed to have set off a chain reaction because the situation on the 9 other battlefields changed within moments of Chandelure's suicide attack.

I could not believe I was saying or rather thinking this, but unfortunately, the invading (sub)bosses did not follow suit and attempted a mutual destruction scenario. No, the reality in front of me was much worse. Mere moments after both Chandelure and Gengar fell, roughly 60% of the still conscious/battling invaders chose to ignore their opponent and focus on the defending boss of their battlefield instead. 

They then followed Chandelure's example and used Destiny Bond as well as Curse on the (sub)boss while willingly accepting the attack from their opponent, practically sacrificing themselves to trigger Destiny Bond. Their actions caused the situation on all 9 battlefields to change from one moment to the next. While the defending (sub)bosses could have easily dealt with such a suicide strategy from a dark gold stage ghost, even if it was a (high) dark gold stage one, this was unfortunately not a singular attack. 

Each (sub)boss had to face the Curse/Destiny Bond of at least 30 "suicides". Even if only half of those struck, the damage would be substantial, and while I noted that none fell to the sacrifice directly, they did falter which their opponent took advantage of. The first of the defending bosses fell right after taking the attack of its opportunistic adversary. 

Thankfully the 30+ defenders that were freed up by their foe's suicide rushed toward the invading boss, so the situation got momentarily stabilized. However, it was obvious that the situation was disadvantageous to us because the dark gold ghosts were actually at a disadvantage despite having superior numbers.

They had to keep the "evil" boss from ignoring them in favor of attacking the seal, which made their job harder. Not only that, but within two minutes of the mass suicide the other (sub)bosses fell as well leading to the situation of all 9 battlefields looking the same, with the freed-up dark gold ghosts facing the invading platinum stage bosses. It appeared like the situation was temporarily stable, but the advantage had gone from our side to that of the invaders.  

Despite that, the 3 (sub)bosses from the battlefields we had won did not leave their posts to help out the losing 9 battlefields, which seemed illogical to me. What good would defending their seal points do if the other seals fell? Once the invaders dealt with the 9 battlefields, the 3 native (sub)bosses would have to face 9 platinum-stage invaders, and I doubted they could win against those odds.

I honestly had the urge to call out my team and rush up to reinforce the defenders, but I was worried that our appearance would be misunderstood, causing unintended negative consequences. I did not want to cause a distraction that ended up pushing our side into the abyss. As much as I disliked the thought, I would have to wait until our side truly lost the ability to defend the seal points before I could act. 

Looking at the situation at hand, the only good news was that the guardian had beaten Ceruledge to the brink as well, and once he had dealt with those three, he could move on to help the other battlefields. I could not help but curse when even that fell in jeopardy due to a smart move from the invaders. 3 of the sub-bosses abandoned their attack on the seal points and rushed toward the boss battle in the center. 

The defenders rushed after them to stop them from interfering, but they failed, at least partially. Nonetheless, while they were unable to stop the 3 (sub)bosses from joining the fight, their attacks/presence stopped the situation from turning into 6-vs-1 since the new trio ended up tagging in for the boss trio. The new arrivals faced boss Dusknoir, while Aegislash (S), Aegislash (B), and Ceruledge faced the dark gold minions that followed after the invading (sub)bosses. Despite their poor state, those odds were easier on them than having to battle the guardian. 

Meanwhile, the trio that subbed in was getting beat up by Dusknoir, but despite being on the receiving end of a beating, their actions meant that Dusknoir who had been close to beating his opponents was tied up again.  What followed took me off guard and startled me quite a bit. I heard Dusknoir release a sigh that somehow echoed through the whole chamber. 

"Young human," he said in actual human speech, while he continued facing the trio in front of him. Dusknoir's words startled me not only because he was speaking human, but also because he was obviously addressing me. "Do you have a few more Pokemon at the level of that special Butterfree lounging on your head?" he followed up, showing that he had not only noticed us but also gotten a clear picture of our strength. Well, of the ones that were outside Utopia at least.

Dusknoir's inquiry stunned everyone else, including the invaders, who slowed down their assault a tiny bit to observe the area to see whom Dusknoir was addressing. The actions of both the invaders and the rest of the defenders told me that no one aside from Dusknoir had noticed our presence which was somewhat of a consolation at least. Mothra/Butterfree patting my head startled me out of my musing.

"I do," I finally answered, which caused excited murmurs among the defenders and a surge in attack intensity on the invaders' part. "Excellent," Dusknoir replied. "Would you be willing to help us beat back these invaders? I would be willing to reward you for your assistance," he inquired while promising a reward.

"Certainly," I said without hesitation. "I've been wanting to help for some time now, but I have been worried about causing a distraction due to a possible misunderstanding caused by my sudden appearance," I decided to add since that was what I truly thought, and I felt the need to leave a good impression, especially after the reveal that Dusknoir possibly knew that I had practically been watching the invasion from the beginning.

"In that case, I shall leave as many of the commanders to your team as you can handle," Dusknoir declared before adding something that nearly made me rub my head in embarrassment since it proved that Dusknoir had missed none of our actions. "I've noted that you have an interest in the invaders. You can freely capture any of the beaten foes once we have repelled them," he offered serenely and all I could say was "Thanks". 

Nyx/Umbreon and Mothra snickered, aware of the embarrassment I was feeling at the moment, and even Dusknoir seemingly found the time to chuckle despite the fight he was involved in. I noted that Ceruledge as well as the Aegi-duo had finally located my position due to my conversation with Dusknoir, and the Aegi-Duo exerted themselves to free Ceruledge from his adversaries so that it could head in my direction.

Unfortunately for Ceruledge, I decided that this was the perfect time to ignore the amusement Mothra and co were feeling in favor of bringing out Horus/Xatu and the others who had been waiting on standby.

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