I had a good deal of experience fighting fires.
Surprisingly enough, my experience didn't just come from this life with pokemon. I'd certainly done it more, but the basics of a fire were still relevant.
You could throw earth and water on smaller fires, but when a fire evolved into an inferno, you needed to get ahead of it and backburn to deny it future fuel.
This usually resulted in its spluttering out.
You could still have issues with embers being born on the wind and tossing it hundreds if not thousands of metres ahead of where you were fighting it.
The major difference in this life was that in a pokemon world, you could have fire-type pokemon that perpetuated the fire forwards through the dead zone you'd created.
Some did it specifically to have an easier time hunting with pokemon being corralled by the fire into the waiting jaws of various pokemon like Houndour, or even Growlithe.
If a herd of Ponyta got too worked up they could create their own fires to force competition away from their plains and while the offending party was fleeing they'd suddenly find themselves having to deal with a herd chasing them alongside the flames.
"Rain Dance!" I ordered when we got within range of the fire.
A good move to start things off as it would both reduce the temperature and the size of the fire, and also limit future expansion.
It would also tell me—
Several fiery orbs rose into the sky in a manner that was far too synchronised to be anything but coordinated.
Having expected this, I caught it all on video and quickly sent the file off to my hopeful reinforcements. With this any doubt that it had merely been the work of a group of enraged pokemon vanished.
People were causing this disaster.
"Zephyr! You're going to get a lot of flak coming your way, but I need you to turn the winds! If you can get a Hurricane going behind the fire to suck it in! Be on the lookout for people though! We're going to have to evacuate some while fighting others!" I shouted even as I gave impressions through the bond to let him know precisely what to be on the lookout for.
My shouting was mainly for the shinobi that, before they'd been out of sight, were now racing through the trees.
Rhydon and Trapinch had freaked out at first but I'd been able to calm them down by mentioning the ninja were reinforcements that I'd called.
Both pokemon happily accepted that.
As we closed within visual range of the fire pokemons erupted from their belts and our pokemon surged forward with water, rock or fire type attacks to quench the flames.
We swept in close to the nearest signal for distress and found two trainers only a little older than Forrest sprinting away from the flames.
"Get on kids!" I called with only the briefest check that they were who they said they were on the emergency ping.
I wasn't putting it past the Crusher Tribe to plant some of their own in an attempt to trap me.
The kids clambered on with their pokemon, vanishing into pokeballs. Jorm tore away, crashing through several trees as he got away from the flames. The kids stared at me and the wall of fire that was charging towards me only to shriek as one of the shinobi that had been with me dropped down next to them to begin lightly interrogating them on anything they might have noticed.
In the meantime, I went big with my opening move.
"Bertha! Go!" I shouted.
Bertha shrugged forward with her arm cocked back only to unleash the equivalent of a one-hit K.O. that caused a huge trench of the earth to erupt.
The flames for a good hundred metres vanished like the earth had suddenly swallowed them whole.
"Empress! Titan!" I called as I pointed in two different directions. They stepped forward and stomped, causing Earthquakes to send more trees tumbling and twisting to the ground while the ground bucked up in the unburnt areas, causing it to splash into the sudden walls that the pair rose.
While they were doing that, I pointed down beneath me and Shrek dove into the ground, digging furiously.
"Regirock!" I pointed towards a section of forest that was still aflame.
"Sand Blast!" I commanded. Regirock's arms swung back behind itself as it empowered the attack as far as it could. Then it swept its arms around and slammed then, sending a huge wave of sand and rock flying through the air, causing the fire to vanish as it was smothered.
I took a moment to survey the surrounding area.
The fire that had moments ago been an inferno was no nothing but a ruined, smoking landscape. Where the fire had been there was blackened husks of trees and wisps of what might have been shrubs minutes ago.
I spotted a few burned carcasses and grimaced.
That couldn't have been a nice way to go, fleeing in terror only for the flames to catch up.
In the charred wasteland I caught several houndour moving about in the smoke along with the occasional bark. There must be a few packs out there.
Part of me wanted to seek them out and send them scurrying off with their tails between their legs.
But I couldn't waste time doing that.
I could stabilise this area and move on to continue rescue efforts.
Behind me, Shrek launched himself out of his tunnel as a geyser of water erupted after him, causing the sunken basin to begin filling up.
There'd be a small pond here to create yet another block in the line of fire. It would also serve as a point that the local pokemon would be able to smell and approach.
"You'll keep some people here?" I asked of a nearby ninja.
They nodded. "We will lie in wait. If anyone tries to restart a fire here…" he left the consequences unsaid but I could tell it wouldn't be a mere slap on the wrists.
Rhydon and Trapinich, who'd followed us on our charge, gaped at the sudden destruction we'd caused to put an end to the fire.
It was a rather heady feeling to know that for as terrible as some natural disaster could be, in this life you very much could fight against them.
Barring of course if a Legendary pokemon really wanted it to happen.
I gave the surrounding overturned land with its slowly filling pond another look.
It was a strange thing to think of, but this place represented a small point of sanctuary in a suddenly much more dangerous land for pokemon and people both.
Don, who I'd had hovering high in the air, drew my attention towards him as he spotted several groups of people moving at the edges of the fire, extending the line and even attempting to link it up to where Sabrina was.
With the break I'd caused, I had an almost straight shot at them.
But that would leave five distress signals.
"Don, harass them with Hyper Beam," I called despite knowing that Don couldn't hear me.
The people around me all stiffened as I turned and mounted Jormungandr as high in the sky a lance of energy fired down upon a group of nerdowells.
I marked their location in my map, synching it up to an online tracker that would allow others to know that was a point of interest.
Then I rode Jormungandr while returning several pokemon to their balls so they could rest before the next encounter. As we moved, Jormungandr caused large patches of trees and rocks to go flying as we carved a line in front of the fire to create another break.
Whenever Don or Zephyr spotted fire types lurking in the fire, waiting to cross a break we paused to dispatch them as quickly as we could.
It took us five minutes to make it to the next group of distress signals… which turned out to be a trio of Fiorians.
"Ahhhhhh! Save us!" screamed one.
"Wait! He's a slaver!" shouted another stepping away from me and making a gesture that I had no reference for.
"And he's our only option!" shouted the last as they scrambled onto Jormungandr's back.
The first followed suit quickly while the second scowled at me.
"I don't have time for this or the patience," I declared.
With a nonverbal flex of my will Selene appeared next to me and glared at the holdout.
The woman had enough sense to tense up, knowing she was going to enjoy what came next.
"Don't resist, you're being rescued," I informed her as Selene grasped her telekinetically and locked her into position behind the others.
"C-can you do that?" asked the third Fiorian.
"I did, and you're welcome," I replied dryly as I sent Jorm racing away. "Go with them," I told Rhydon and Trapinich as Don gave me a heads up about the fire that was speeding up on me.
My pokemon swept out around me and we had just enough time to boost ourselves before a pack surged out of the fires.
Surprisingly there were several humans on their backs. Each wore dark leather that the fire licked at and as they moved, but they all drank deeply from gourds on their belts.
Helmets that were in fact large Houndoom or Arcanine skulls adorned their heads.
From small yellow or red glass they squinted at me only to stiffen.
"Sweet ancestors it's true! He does have two Tyranitars!" called one of the women who I dubbed fox-eyes in my mind.
"He has one of the Golems! Is that not a sign of—" another began to shriek as their helmet locked onto Regirock who was blinking rapidly at the group's sudden arrival.
"Silence! Overlord Granite has deemed him an exile! His standing in Indigo makes him a rebel to the Tribe! He has only one chance to surrender to us for judgement!"
That got a hiss from the others as their pokemon stamped around.
The woman bowed her head, looking to me as from each of them another four pokemon emerged, resulting in me suddenly facing thirty pokemon. As she lifted her head, she declared, "Apologies but you must surrender! We can—"
Bertha slammed her fist into the ground, cutting off whatever Fox-eyes was about to say as the earth tossed most of their pokemon into the air while the riders were thrown around hopelessly.
Talking was never a free action after all.
They adjusted quickly however and regained their bearings.
"He attacks! He is a rebel of the blood!" called the Leader as he drew a crossbow and fired at me.
I caught the bolt and snapped it in half with my bare hand as my pokemon surged forward to follow up on Bertha's attack.
Through the red glass, I caught the Leader's eyes widening in shock.
The other Crusher Tribe members didn't stay still however and called their own orders.
"Stone Edge!"
"Crunch!"
"Take Down!"
"Flame Wheel!"
"Close Combat!"
They shouted their commands even as they rolled across the shaking hardened ground.
In one case one of them tumbled into a burning bush only to straighten and march back out. As flame licked along their body they marched out without batting an eye.
Hmm, flame-resistant leather? With their choice of headdress I suspected I knew where they got their leather but I didn't give that much thought as I dodged a follow-up bolt from the Leader while my pokemon began flattening theirs.
Regirock caught a pair of Arcanine that attempted to slam into it from opposite points by spinning like a children's top. Its fists swept around and collected each dog only for Shrek to finish them off with a well placed Hydro Pump.
With their pokemon getting decimated in seconds Fox-eyes staggered backwards. "Leader! He's too strong for us!"
"Too strong for you!" snapped the Leader as he drew a wicked blade and threw himself across the field.
Selene moved to intercept only for a dark glow to pulse through him, causing her Psychic grip to fail.
Ho? Interesting. I began gathering rock energy within my arms in preparation.
I turned to properly address the sprinting threat while directing my pokemon to flatten that man's team in a sudden display of violence that had the tribals and their pokemon stepping back in shock.
The Leader, now committed, growled as he surged towards me, swinging his blade high at my head.
My hand lashed out, catching the blade and twisting it to the side. The man gasped in shock as he was wrenched into an unbalanced position. Rookie mistake. He should have given up his blade. Lola had taught me that lesson more than a few times.
With him off balance I ducked low and went from standing upright to catching him around the torso. There, I twisted and threw him to the ground. Then I straddled his hips and fired a punch from in close right where his chin would be.
This wasn't a big blow like Surge had taught me, but rather something Lola had shown me through my training with her.
With my rock aura behind it, it was damn effective as the bone helmet split and the Leader of the pack's face was revealed to me.
If I hadn't already been expecting it, I might have stiffened in surprise.
He looked like an older, leaner Flint that had gone several rounds with an Ursaring.
As it was, I expected it, so I didn't miss the way he smirked as he drew his crossbow up to my side.
Only for me to grab the weapon in my fist and squeeze as hard as I could.
With my eyes boring into his, I got to watch as he registered the horrible mistake he had made as I crushed his weapon and hand in mine.
"Argh!" he roared.
"Uncle!" screamed Fox-eyes.
With a smack to his wrist, his sword, which I noted was of a crude iron, was sent skittering off into the flames.
Only then did I stand, making sure to extend my arm as far out from myself as I could go while holding him by the front of his leathers.
"You!" he growled at me and attempted to kick me only for me to absorb the hit and come off better, once again thanks to rock energy.
I smirked at him as he grunted. "Not one of your best life choices," I said as I shook him lightly.
"How? How are you doing this?"
"I'm the one asking the questions," I replied tersely, my grip growing harder for just a moment.
"You bastard! Your family—" whatever he was about to say was cut off as my grip shifted. Now I was no longer holding him by the shirt front but instead by the throat.
It might have been a mix of seeing Flint's face on this enemy combatant along with the build-up of tensions, so my response came with a wave of darkness. "Don't think I won't break you,," I growled.
The man wheezed as I relaxed my grip, allowing him to breathe. "D-don't give threats you can't back up! You're soft!"
"Is that so?" I asked with a dark patience wondering what else he'd tell me.
"We know of you and your ways! You are Brock of Indigo!" he snapped.
"Hmmm, true. And I have no idea who you are. Some common brigand trying to steal and destroy it would seem," I said with a flat tone.
Empress caught a Houndoom by the horns and smashed it into the ground only to pause and sniff thoughtfully.
Her gaze locked on Fox-eyes and narrowed as she gave a low rumbling growl.
The Arcanine that had been darting back and forth to pepper my team with Flamethrowers and the occasional Rock Throw reappeared in front of the woman, who stepped back as Empress stalked towards her.
"You're losing this fight," I noted clinically. "Time to be good little criminals and tell me what you think you're doing."
"We're not criminals! We're proud warriors!" snarled the man.
"Is that so?" I mused. "Must have been awfully brave of you to cause this fire and then attempt to ambush me from within the fire."
"Tactics!" he snapped back.
"Pathetic ones," I commented, watching as the fires began licking at the back of the Crusher tribals heels, forcing them forwards.
"Agate! He's too strong for us! We need to flee!" called one of the men towards the woman I'd thought of as Fox-eyes.
"Not without uncle! No man left behind!" she snapped.
"How honorable of you," I called. "But I'm not letting him go. So surrender," I ordered.
The group growled and drew knives, but that only earned them a roll of my eyes.
"Cute," I said before I gestured at the surrounding flames that even now were cutting us off.
Shrek was once more beneath us digging up an aquifer to use as a pond but I had him hold off for the moment. I wasn't going to give them a safety net.
"Your pokemon are beaten. You'll have to run through the flames instead of riding them. If you do that, you will be abandoning your fellow tribesmen."
Each statement caused the group to twitch.
"Surrender, now!" I snapped, empowering my voice with a blend of rock-dark energy.
The group twitched and began to bend their knees only to shudder. "He is like the—"
"Silence! Give them nothing! Agate! Leave me you foolish girl!" roared the man in my grasp only for me to silence him.
If he caused me to miss out on —
"I'm sorry uncle… I'm not strong enough to watch you walk the dark road so pointlessly. Don't end your life to spite this rebel."
That got me looking back at the man in my grasp. What, did he have a hollowed-out tooth or something?
Arceus that was messed up.
The man glared at her, only to slump in defeat. "I raised you poorly," he murmured.
Agate knelt and put her knife flat on the ground before herself. "Please! We surrender!" she called to me, taking off her helmet to reveal a woman who looked somewhat like Yolanda, only with dark black hair, and was much older.
The others followed suit, and I hummed as faces that were familiar, while also strangers to me stared back at me.
"Detain them," I called, and from behind me, a pair of ninja appeared from the smoke, causing the Crusher Tribe to gasp in surprise.
A pair of what looked like twins in the back leaned towards each other. "We wouldn't have been able to get away even if we'd tried!" they whispered in surprise.
I huffed and deposited the man to the ground once he was cuffed. Only then did I have Shrek erupt from the ground with yet another geyser of water behind him.
"Rain Dance," I ordered, only to spot a pair of fiery orbs rise up behind the wall of flame.
Surprisingly, it wasn't another group of Crusher Tribesmen doing this, but a pack of houndour. I had Don drop on them and send them running for the hills before repeating the command.
This time, proper rain began to fall about us, quenching the fire.
I turned my attention to the man. "So, let's start again. What's your name?" I asked.
"Slate," he growled, flicking his eyes to where his niece was being cuffed and bound.
"So Slate, what were you attempting to do?"
Slate scowled at me. "We were to kill you," he declared without any hesitation.
Oddly, that got a stir from the others. "What? No Overlord Granite ordered us to detain him!" called Agate. "He said so in front of all the tribe!"
Slate sighed. "Ahh, I have been too soft with you Agate. The curse of seeing my sister in you, I suppose… Granite did not want to complicate matters for us. Brock would never join us, best to make it straightforward and slay him in honourable combat."
Agate and the others blinked in shock while Slate averted his eyes. "I agreed and would have spared our tribe much hardship. Also, if he fell by my hand, Granite had granted me first refusal on any of his pokemon."
That drew a glare from me. "Oh? So it wasn't just duty, but also greed at play hmmm? Awfully bold of you to assume they'd do anything but smash you."
"They are pokemon, it is their lot in—" Slate tried to refute only for Bertha to march up and tap him on the nose.
Said tap caused his head to rock back like he'd been struck.
"Perior, Rhy, Rhy!" she said, tapping her heart before gesturing at him and shaking her head in disgust.
I snorted. "She says that someone like you with an ugly heart would never be able to command even the simplest of my pokemon."
Bertha shot me a thumbs up and I smirked as I nodded back at her.
Still, what he'd said struck me as odd. From what I'd seen of the cave murals and even Empress' vague impression from the memory she'd shown me via Sabrina, had shown a more… synergistic society.
Was this an example of cultural drift at work with the Crusher tribe once being more noble with how they interacted with pokemon only to slide into something worse over time?
"How many others are there?" I asked as I directed Zephyr to sweep down to the last distress signal. The young trainer there stared at Zephyr like he was an angel of Arceus with how he swept through the flames and snatched her up.
She'd need to be looked over for smoke inhalation but that was something trained professionals could handle. I merely had him bring her to the other group of rescues that I'd made.
"... there is another group, but they were to start a blaze along the other route to the Battle Tower," Agate stated. "We worried that if we didn't split you up from your wife that you would overwhelm us," she said.
I gave the surrounding battlefield a pointed look before locking eyes with Agate who coughed. "We… underestimated you…"
"Clearly, and if this is the level of skill you brought against Sabrina, I don't think I have much to worry about. So, let's move on to the next pressing question. Where are the rest of you?"
"We will not say, if you press us, know that the information is outdated," she said, raising her chin proudly.
It, weirdly enough, reminded me of Yolanda challenging me to a game that she knew she'd win.
I shook the feeling off and hummed. "So the tribe continues to move, and it is up to you to rejoin them eh?"
When she blinked, once more as Yolanda would do when caught out, I held back a snort. This was strangely easy, thanks to my knowledge of how Yolanda would act.
"How many of you are there?"
Agate shifted and looked away from me, aware that I was reading her like a book. "Our tribe numbers in the thousands," she stated.
Hmmm a half truth eh?
"And when you're not counting the pokemon?" I pressed.
"Silence yourself Agate! He is a Rebel at the moment! Don't compromise your position by giving anything more away!" snapped Slate.
I glowered down at 'Slate'.
Yeah, I really didn't like seeing an older Flint shouting at an older Yolanda.
It was like getting a glimpse of another, harsher reality that might have been.
I kicked 'Flint' in the ribs to shut him up.
I mean… Slate.
I kicked Slate in the ribs.
Urgh, this was going to be a weird conversation during therapy later.
Hmmm, while I thought of it… "Do you happen to have another brother? By the name of Flint?" I asked.
Slate growled. "My twin died decades ago!" he snapped at me, and I stared at him.
Then I turned my gaze towards Agate/Yolanda…
I pinched the bridge of my nose.
Fuck, why did I have to go and ask that question?
What the hell was I supposed to say now?
Nice to meet you cousin and uncle?
For the sake of my sanity, I decided to just push this conversation and whole… issue to future Brock to handle.
Yup! That sounded great! After all, for all I knew Flint was a common name in the Crusher tribe.
Titan, having sensed my emotional state, moved to pat me on the back.
Empress, in the meanwhile, continued to sniff at Agate with interest.
Yeah, the evidence was just piling up right now.
"This… Overlord Granite? He's your leader, I presume?" I asked, shifting things back to a safer topic.
Then I realised that with how insular a tribe like this was, there were strong odds that he was also related to me.
Fuck my second life and the family drama I found myself in the middle of, I thought to myself.
"Overlord Granite is Chief of Chiefs for the Crusher Tribe," announced one of the kneeling men.
"Okay, so within the Crusher tribe there are… select groups?" I probed.
"There is the Claw, the Fang, and the Spike factions!" declared another passionately.
"Hmmm, interesting, I suppose," I offered back as I looked to the ninja for inspiration for what to do next.
I really hoped that Sabrina cleaned up her side of the fire soon enough, cause this was feeling awkward as hell.
With nothing better to do but wait for her to arrive, I decided to continue learning what I could of the Crusher tribe that they'd tell me.
I had to admit that if Noland and Fiore hadn't been able to capture the tribesmen in the past, then my estimate of him lowered somewhat.
_________________
Sabrina floated above the inferno, a scowl etched on her face as she observed the flickering lifesigns below her.
Such low cunning.
She couldn't tell where the Crusher Tribe assailants were, due to their use of dark aura to avoid her scrying but she knew they were out there.
All of her pokemon that could, had already cast Miracle Eye upon themselves in preparation for the upcoming fight.
And there would be a fight. That much was blatantly clear as Xatu was harassed, as it led a group of trainers away from danger.
Houndour and Murkrow don't act like that typically.
They were obviously riled up before the fire had even begun.
With that group handled, there was only one more group of people to rescue, but that group were the obvious bait.
There were no pokemon visibly circling the fire that had encircled the group, but there were obvious tells, like the fact that she couldn't simply Teleport in and Teleport out to rescue the trio of trainers.
The glade with only a small pond, barely more than an ornamental garden feature in truth, had been well and truly saturated before the fire was started.
Sabrina wasn't about to drop in on the group, as that would give herself little to nothing to work with.
So instead she and her team dropped down in line with a segment of the fiery wall.
Then she had Alakazam, Claydol, Slowking, Exeggutor, Hypno, and Starmie erase the wall of flame.
Psybeams and Surfs swept forward, empowered as much as they could.
They opened up a clear gap in the fire for a few hundred metres and allowed the stunned group of trainers that were ineffectively fighting the fires with their own pokemon to gape.
"Don't worry, you're rescued," she projected at them.
They all as one flinched in fear and stepped away from her rather than towards freedom.
Tch, a typical reaction to experiencing a voice in their head but not something she could indulge. She wasn't about to bellow at the top of her lungs to be heard over the roar of the fire after all.
"Come, we need to get you out of there, now," she told them, gesturing to the side.
A flash of warning from Farigiraf was the only warning she and her team received as a Mightyena erupted from the smoke and attempted to attack Jynx from behind.
A protect erupted around Jynx blocking the attack as two of her pokemon swivelled to intercept the assailant.
Others raced out just as quickly and soon a team of trainers appeared.
"Got her!" howled one.
"No we don't! She's not in the circle of fire you idiot!" snapped another.
"Silence, eyes on the target! We are to capture her!" Growled a stern voice that came from an older looking woman.
Sabrina noted the odd attire that appeared to be highly flame-resistant while also being annoyingly saturated in dark energies. They all felt static however, unlike Brock whose powers ebbed and flowed with his emotions.
More pokemon erupted from pokeballs and Sabrian found herself facing off against familiar faces with Onix, Rhydon, Rhyhorn, Golem, Ursaring, and even a pair of Pupitar amidst the cluster of Mightyena and Houndoom.
Claydol spun and launched a precise Earthquake at a cluster of rock pokemon while Starmie spun atop Slowking's crown in a maneuver she'd worked out with the pair of water-psychic pokemon.
From Starmie a barrage of Hydro Pump erupted, hammering the fire types as Slowking processed and followed up with a Disable at one of the Pupitar while the other was effected by Hypno.
Psybeam and Psychic and even a Focus Blast were all launched within moments of her opponents revealing themselves.
As Brock would say, talking wasn't a free action, and when facing her team, that was doubly true.
The Crusher Tribesmen reeled at the sudden, violent demonstration of her power with several of them backing up.
"She's not human! How did she—"
"Silence! Commit! The Overlord wishes her captured!" growled the Elder woman who Sabrina already didn't like.
Crossbows were raised and throwing knives were hurled at her, and annoyingly enough Sabrina had to step into Exeggutor's side to evade the attacks.
Sadly some of the bolts tore through the Barrier her pokemon raised and thunked into his side. He shuddered in pain and the heads facing the cluster of humans glowered before responding with Seed Bomb.
"She can't block our dark bolts!" crowed one of the men.
Sabrina rolled her eyes and grasped some nearby rocks and branches and retaliated by starting to smack the tribesmen around.
Her pokemon in the meanwhile received a quick dose of potion.
A Fire Blast from a Houndoom that leapt overhead was intercepted by a Hydro Pump while a Mightyena that flashed darkly only to reappear at Farigiaf's back where the rear facing head had the pokemon kick out to catch the attempted Sucker Punch.
Another pokemon got in an attack on her Hypno only for Jynx to catch them in the flank with a Draining Kiss.
From multiple angles attacks were launched and Sabrina grinned as her team dispatched each attempt.
She was confident they would win only to groan as a youthful shout carried through the sounds of the fight.
"Don't worry Sabrina! We'll save you!" roared the young trainer as they and their pokemon entered the battle.
Only to then take a bolt to the shoulder for their troubles.
Their battlecry became a scream of pain as they toppled. An instant later a Houndoom was atop the girl with its claws millimeters from her neck.
Then Alakazam was there in a burst of speed with an arm cocked back.
Houndoom and Alakazam locked eyes and Houndoom smirked as its tail wagged.
Around the field everyone went still.
The old woman spoke up then. "That's… that's enough!" she rasped and Sabrina took delight knowing that the woman was rattled.
She knew as well as Sabrina that if the fight continued, Sabrina was going to win.
All she had to do…
Sabrina glanced at the downed trainer. They were barely more than a child.
Their eyes were huge with terror as they stared up at what might be their doom.
Their eyes swept the field desperately and locked with Sabrina.
The child whispered something that didn't carry, but Sabrina knew what they said regardless.
She turned her gaze away from them, causing the child to whimper even as their friends watched on, stunned at the turn of events.
The old Crusher Tribeswoman and Sabrina locked eyes.
The woman bowed her head, but Sabrina didn't know her well enough, nor was she able to glean her emotions to tell if it was in mockery or acknowledgement.
Perhaps it was both?
"Return your pokemon… Surrender to us, and the child will not be harmed, you have my word."
"Hmmm, what will happen if I do?" Sabrina asked carefully.
"You will be presented to Overlord Granite, he wishes to meet you," the woman stated like that should mean anything to Sabrina.
"Hmmm, what of my pokemon? What will happen to them?"
They will be held in their pokeballs while you meet with the Overlord and returned to you afterwards… honour requires that much of us," she stated causing Sabrina to raise an eyebrow.
What an odd system of honour these people had. She had no doubt that as she learned more she'd find more backwards and contradictory practices.
Sabrina looked to Alakazam.
If he finished that attack and got the Houndoom off the child… There was however, a not insignificant chance that doing so would drag Houndoom's claws over their throat.
Sabrina sighed. "You're lucky we met now and not a few years ago," Sabrina declared before raising her hands. "Very well, I surrender to you… for now," she said.
She made no comment of her transceiver vanishing from her wrist to her clothes, the mapping feature very much still active.
Nor did she mention that her Xatu wasn't here with them.
He'd been flying back and preparing to deliver a powerful strike to the rest of the Crusher Tribe before Sabrina had received… 'support'.
As Sabrina's pokemon team returned to their pokeballs the Houndoom huffed smugly, like it had beaten Alakazam in some form worthy of song.
Dark types, overly proud when they weren't balanced out by a better typing.
The child and her comrades were frisked of their own pokebelts and bound by their wrists.
The girl who'd charged in now had rivers of tears running down her face. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she whispered.
Sabrina stepped towards her and wrapped her bound arms around the girl. "It's alright. I'll beat them up later. For now you're safe."
She leaned a little closer. "You're not going to die today," she said, answering the girl's almost silent plea earlier.
The girl twitched and sniffled, unable to say anything more as they were forced to mount up on an Onix while a Crusher Tribesman sat in front and behind them to monitor them. Sabrina didn't mind them. They weren't a threat now that she had the girl in her lap where she could protect her if another fight broke out.
The Crusher Tribemen hooted as they mounted up on pokemon that were battered and barely standing.
The elder was the only one not celebrating and, in fact, had a disgusted look as she watched her fellows.
"We ride back to camp!" she barked, leading the group to the northeast.
Sabrina sat with the girl still in her lap watching everything as above a small colourful bird drifted on thermals, soon joined by Don, and Zephyr.
Hmmm, good. Brock knew.
Another person might be afraid, but Sabrina merely documented everything and used her gifts to send messages to her allies.
If things went south she was more than ready to rip her and the young trainer's pokebelts from around the shoulders of the all too lax tribesman to start off round two if it called for it.
Until then, she was more than happy to allow them to lower their guards and take her right into the heart of their tribe.
They'd attempted to take a swing at her only to fail laughably. Their success was another's poor judgement and only one of them seemed aware of that.
She'd meet this Overlord Granite, and with Brock following along, she had a good feeling that all of this trouble would be wrapped up before sundown tomorrow at the latest.
The Crusher Tribe didn't know it, but they were about to deliver their own demise right to their doorstep.
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A.N. Thanks go to my patreons!
I'm sorry for the cliffhanger! Buuuuuut at the same time…
Yeah… buckle up, we're in for a wild time with what I've got planned for the next chapters!
Thanks also go to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!