The Arrival Of The Hunter

But at the last second, Alpha got to Aiz'(Mienfoo)'s aid, his entire body surrounded itself in a metallic sheen as he crossed his arms. With a large explosion, the Iron Defense immediately dispelled upon impact, and Alpha was sent flying away a dozen feet, struggling to maintain its balance as it landed.

Cinder couldn't see it from where he was, but the whiplash alone had left Alpha with bruises on its whole body. A direct hit from the attack without any defense would have spelt doom.

Gabite was about to pursue his prey, but suddenly stopped as he felt a series of icy arcs of beams pelting his back. Groaning from the attack, he turned his attention towards Hercule, who was attempting to put on a brave face as another Ice Beam was charging up on his belly.

Starly considered firing a Thunderbolt of his own while Gabite was distracted, but quickly decided against it.

That would just draw the dragon's attention to him, while he was trying to protect Cinder and Korrina from harm. And after what had just happened with Alpha, the young sheep's confidence in his Reflect being able to properly defend against the Gabite's attacks was suddenly beginning to dwindle.

Thankfully, Cinder took the initiative as Gabite began to run forward, his foot stomping down on an unconscious Poochyena's skull with a sickening CRUNCHING noise as he raised his glowing claws.

"Move backwards while you fire, Hercule!"

"Mud Shot!" Com called out.

As Hercule began to run backwards, her Ice Beam firing out of his spiralled belly and towards his target, Gabite opened his maw, allowing a large ball of mud to escape from his throat, firing towards Hercule with staggering speeds as it collided with the Ice Beam.

Although it was somewhat weakened by the explosion, the Mud Shot managed to overpower the Ice Beam, continuing on its course, only slightly smaller and slower than before.

Hercule bolted to the side, without thinking as he desperately avoided the ball of mud. The attack nearly clipped him in the side, but missed its mark and collided with the nearby wall.

Before Cinder and Korrina could breathe a sigh of relief, however, their eyes widened in horror as Hercule, moving too quickly to stop, tripped over the unconscious body of a Zubat.

Hercule yelped in shock as he flew through the air, his momentum carrying him forward as she collided head first with the ground, rolling painfully along the stone floor of the room. Once he stopped, he lifted her head, lying on his stomach as his eyes suddenly bulged, a weak, fearful gasp escaping his throat as Gabite loomed a few meters away, eyes locked murderously on his target.

"Hercule!" Cinder and Korrina shouted in horror as a grinning Com took advantage of the situation.

"Dragon Pulse again!"

The bruised newly evolved pokemon worked his way up to his feet, but Gabite was already charging up his attack, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

Strong enough to shatter an Iron Defense, the powerful blast would surely destroy his body. Hercule was left with no time to react as the dragon-jawed blast escaped from the roaring Gabite's mouth, speedily flying towards its vulnerable target.

Cinder was thinking a million thoughts at once.

One of his pokemon was about to get seriously injured, or worse, die. Right in front of him. And the rest of the team.

And he had no way to stop it. No moves that he could use to save him. No command that he could give him would help, there was no time for her to react.

Hercule had just evolved a few moments ago. And now-

The explosion happened before the blast could reach its target.

In a split second, Cinder and Korrina realized that Storm and Aiz(Mienfoo) was no longer in front of them anymore.

In a flash of light, Strom and Aiz were standing about halfway between the tadpole pokemon and the blast's current position.

But with the swift speed of the blast, there was no time for any of them to defend themselves to cushion the impact. Cinder suddenly noticed Aiz summoning one single Rock Tomb in front, like a defensive shield, the gray-haired boy immediately recognized it as Brock's Geodude's, modified move. Storm also supported by releasing a Thunder Shock at the incoming Dragon Pulse as to weaken its momentum. Unfortunately, the single Rock Tomb was incomplete, only half finished, when the Dragon Pulse smashed into the two.

The shockwaves of the explosion generated a strong gust of wind that sent a yelping Hercule rolling a few feet backwards, but he was spared from his fatal fate.

Storm and Aiz weren't too fortunate like her though, as they were the closest to receive the shockwaves of the attack.

The Rock Tomb that she had erected cushioned the blow a little bit, but as it was half finished, it was annihilated even more easily than Alpha's had been. Some blood sprayed from the young sheep and fighting-type's body as they were catapulted into the air.

The brief moment of surprise that Gabite felt from the duo's sudden intrusion was just the distraction that Hercule and Starly needed. The next moment, before Gabite could act, the dragon was suddenly howling in pain as the combination attack scored a direct hit on him.

Pushed backwards by the force of Starly's Whirlwind, carrying with it the merciless, frozen might of Hercule's Ice Beam. The dragon let out a deafening roar of rage and agony as the ice from the attack assaulted his skin, the impact being all the more strengthened by the force and momentum of Starly's powerful attack. He felt his skin grow cold, his back covering with ice…

Cinder took a brief moment to turn his attention to Storm and Aiz(Mienfoo), sighing with relief as the duo, while bleeding in the head and some areas a little bit, made their way to their feet, having been assisted by two fast moving flying-types, Hero(Hawlucha) and Talon(Spearow), before their body could hit the rocky floors of the caverns. They were still in fighting condition, despite being hurt.

And looking over to Hercule, he was now on his feet as well, an awed gaze directed towards the duo that had saved his life, throwing a thumbs up at his allies gratefully before his focus came back to their mutual adversary.

Turning his attention back to Gabite, the dragon was still reeling from the powerful combination attack, doubled over in pain as he desperately gripped at his agonizing back.

Korrina took a step forward. "Hero(Hawlucha), Stone Edge!"

"Hercule, keep Ice Beam going!" Cinder quickly called out in turn.

Hero slams his glowing orange fist on the ground, causing glowing light blue pillars of rock to appear and rush towards the dragon's already agonized and frozen back. At the same time, Hercule took aim at the behemoth's face.

Both attacks landed, inciting more roars of rage and agony from the bulky dragon as Cinder gave a follow-up order.

"Storm, Iron Tail! Starly, Quick Attack with Steel Wing!"

Now reeling from multiple hits that his typing was vulnerable too, Gabite saw no reprieve as the young sheep bolted his way towards him, metallic tail at the ready. At the same time, Starly zoomed in as well, quickly advancing towards her opponent with Quick Attack as her wings shone with a metallic luster of its own.

Both pokemon were enhancing their speed with Agility/Quick Attack, as per usual. Storm leapt upwards, preparing to strike down on the dragon that had nearly taken the life of one of his teammates, while Starly dove down high up in the sky.

Both attacks landed at once, Starly's Steel Wing colliding with Gabite's chest while Storm's Iron Tail was brought cleanly down on his head.

Gabite wheezed from the impact on the Steel Wing, while the metal tail from Storm smashed down onto his skull. The next thing Cinder, Korrina, and their respective teams knew, the large dragon was lying face first on the rocky ground of the caverns, motionless.

The Rockets were left stunned, backing away slightly as Starly and Talon(Spearow) returned to the ground, Hercule returning back in front of Cinder and Korrina while Storm, Hero (Hawlucha), Aiz(Mienfoo) and Alpha(Riolu) made their way back to their respective trainers. Hercule's eyes were locked on Storm, who, despite his bleeding head, greeted the flabbergasted tadpole teammate with a raised hoof and a smile.

Cyan's fists were clenched as his knuckles began to turn pale white.

"I… I lost… to these brats?!" He shrieked pathetically as Storm began to charge once again.

Cinder didn't even need to give the order.

The young sheep already knew.

The dashing sheep raised his tail as his wool crackled with lightning, ready to incapacitate the Rockets-

The Rockets suddenly parted with a collective yelp as a silver beam with a metallic aura came flying out of the tunnel, aimed right at the charging Storm.

Crying out in surprise, Storm fought against his own momentum to take a leap backwards. The beam struck the ground from where he once was, but the young sheep cried out loudly as the shockwaves from the collision sent him flying across the cavern.

Cinder, Korrina, and their teams all yelped out loud with startled expressions as the kicked up wind reached all the way towards them, fighting against the shockwaves that threatened to bowl them over. Aiz raised a Reflect to help protect herself, Starly, Talon and Hercule hiding behind him while Alpha erected its own Reflect, while Hercule jabbed Pound into the ground with his new gloved hands, Hero holding onto him for dear life.

The unconscious bodies, however, were currently capable of no such resistance, flying across the room, with only Gabite not being lifted too highly off of the ground, instead rolling a few feet away in comparison.

Cinder and Korrina had their arms crossed protectively in front of their faces as they stumbled backwards, each of them thankfully pressing a hand against the wall before they could fall over completely. Cinder looked to see Storm catching himself with iron Tail, but couldn't sigh with relief as he and his friends took in the newcomers.

Com's face was pale as a stoic woman made her way out of the shadows. Flanking him were four other men in Team Rocket uniforms, and a pokemon that Cinder recognized as a Scizor.

The dimly lit tunnel hid much of her facial expressions, but it didn't hide the Hunter's snarl.

"So… this is what's gotten all of you in such a bind? When I heard that a couple of children were doing this, I was already disappointed, but it's even worse than I thought." Her glowering face, hidden beneath the shadow, turned its attention to Cyan and the rest of the grunts, all of whom were miniscule under her brutal gaze. "How are you bumbling cretins so incompetent at managing affairs that this is supposed to be an emergency?!"

Cinder let out an audible gulp as he felt the pit in his stomach growing ever deeper.

Whoever this guy was, he already wasn't liking the aura that he gave off. And that Scizor must have been the one who fired the blast. It was strong. Much stronger than even any of the attacks that Gabite had just used.

Korrina inched closer to Cinder, practically involuntarily. It was as though they were both desperate to make the close physical contact make them feel more secure, and less vulnerable.

Despite knowing that it would not.

Fear worked in strange ways, sometimes, and it almost felt as though Cinder's own feeling of fright was mocking him with the situation that he was in right now. Any sense of comfort that he might have felt from being close to someone else would just be an illusion of safety that these newcomers could shatter easily, with just a single attack from Scizor.

What's more, Cinder knew that he wouldn't even feel the illusion anyway, that getting close to another was just a desperate attempt to try to feel it. So why was he so desperate to try to make the attempt, knowing that it was hopeless? Why even try to get rid of this feeling, when you already know that your methods will never yield any results? Was that, in and of itself, an illusion of comfort?

Com staggered backwards as the Hunter's gaze pierced into him.

"What are you doing here?" He stammered out in panic. "Weren't you-"

"Someone from your group sent a distress signal saying that a couple of kids were giving you guys trouble. It sounded pretty mundane, but his tone of voice seemed to imply that you were losing control of the situation. I had most of the squad continue while I rushed up with a few people."

Com was about to demand just who had sent the signal, when he suddenly felt fearful vomit in his throat as Hunter pulled him in with one arm, locked around the woman's head as she grinned sadistically.

"You know, Agent Com? I think I owe you an apology." Hunter J's voice was laced with cruel sarcasm. And a lot of mockery. "When I gave you this mission, I figured it would be a simple one. After all, I was only instructing you and the others to look after the base and keep the rest of the mountain under control while we retrieved the Moon Stone. I guess I thought the assignment would be an easy one for you. Something that you can handle. Stress free, my friend, you know?" She pulled the agent in closer, and Com could almost feel his heart ceasing to beat forever as Hunter J's deadly grin came into full view. "But I must have made a massive oversight. How could I ever forget about the possibility of something like this happening? How could it slip my mind that you and your group would be faced with something as terrifying, horrific, and daunting, as two rookie children?!" The sarcasm in her tone of voice was beginning to give out, the true fury behind her words slowly leaking through her condescending demeanor.

Cinder wanted to grab Korrina and run. He could feel the anger creeping through this woman's voice, and all he wanted was for them and their teams to be as far away from Team Rocket as possible.

But he knew that he couldn't. Scizor's sharp eyes hadn't left them, and the powerful bug/steel-type looked ready to eviscerate them all at a moment's notice. That blast that it had fired would have surely obliterated Storm if it had made contact, too.

Their pokemon all had their eyes locked onto the powerful bug, expressions ranging from either outright fear, or a mixture of fright and anger. Even Hero (Hawlucha), despite being well-known for its bravery and fearlessness, trembled in a manner that conveyed genuine concern for the current situation. Storm was the least fearful of the group, eyes locked onto Scizor with grinding teeth. Even then, however, the sweat flowing down his head was quite visible.

Daring to spare a glance at Korrina, if only for a moment, he could see her face was frozen. She was barely even blinking, not taking her gaze off of Team Rocket. It was like she wanted to gulp, but couldn't.

Quickly returning his own gaze to Team Rocket, Cinder felt his fists clenched. Taking his eyes off of them would be a bad idea, but it's not like paying attention to them would suddenly change the situation that they were currently in in any way, shape, or form.

Perhaps, that too, was an illusion of comfort.

Hunter J released Com, roughly shoving him backwards, leaving the terrified man to be caught by a couple of comrades before he could topple over. The force behind Hunter J's push was strong, conveying a great deal of muscle and strength despite her thin arms, without much effort needed to speak of it.

Walking forward a bit, eliciting Cinder and his friends to take a small step back, while also not trying to move too much, so as to not provoke Scizor into retaliating, Hunter J turned her head to look around the room, surveying the end results of the battle that had just taken place.

"Honestly, it's quite the spectacle to see all of these pokemon from our side out like a light! It's almost as though you weren't even able to pin down a couple of children with such a huge numbers advantage!"

One soldier dared to speak up. "Most of your stronger pokemon are tired after-" A stern look from Scizor stopped whatever remaining words that were from exiting his throat, leaving Hunter J to continue.

Cinder and Korrina suddenly felt sickly as her eyes finally found their way to them. Her face is now on full view, leaving them able to deduce how she felt towards them.

All that they could see was her malicious grin.

"Children shouldn't be meddling in our affairs like this. Although, I suppose C and the others probably said something similarly. Perhaps words don't work on you now that you already proved most of this squad wrong?"

No response. Cinder didn't know what he could say that wouldn't piss this woman off. Completely unsure of what a safe response would be.

That Scizor was right there.

A slight chuckle from the callous woman. Not a good natured one, but one that only furthered the sinister aura surrounding her.

"Well, someone's going to pay for wasting my time." Her face slowly turned serious. "So, I'll just skip the dialogue for now-"

"STARLY! Reckless, and Steel Wing!" Cinder's tongue moved faster than his brain.

Apparently, Starly's body moved faster than her brain as well. Cloaking herself in the blood-red aura that accompanied her 'Ability', shrieking madly in a manner that didn't even make Hunter J flinch, she rocketed forward towards Scizor, moving at incredible speeds, metallic wings at the ready-

THUNK!

Scizor didn't even budge as his raised claw, now glowing blue with a metallic aura, was struck by Starly's wing.

Korrina's hands shot up to her mouth as the uselessness of Starly's offense became known to everyone else in the room.

Hunter J simply chuckled again.

"Metal Claw, Scizor."

In a flash, Scizor had shoved Starly away with ease, catapulting her into the air, where, with an amount of sheer flight speed that was far greater than even her own flight speed, the bug was suddenly above her. Cinder didn't have time to register the armored bug's actions as its glowing claw was smashed into Starly's stomach. Starly didn't even have time to wheeze in pain as she was rocketed towards the ground, landing on the unconscious body of a Zubat, the impact kicking up a great deal of dust as she immediately lost consciousness.

Before Cinder could even react by shouting out his feathered friend's name, Storm acted.

The sheep's voice was filled with fury. By the time Scizor returned to the ground, Storm's body was crackling with electricity. Cinder and Korrina could feel the heat of the sparks as the lightning cloaked Storm's fur, albeit very thin of a layer.

It was the first time Cinder saw this.

Cinder didn't even have time to shout at Storm to stop as the young sheep leapt forward. His cry was animalistic as he shot headfirst towards Scizor's body, only to be intercepted by another Metal Claw.

Much like when it had stopped Starly's Steel Wing, Scizor made no offensive moves. Simply raising a claw to block the attack, not moving an inch from the force of the impact. Storm angrily grinded against Scizor's defenses, desperately trying to get his opponent to even budge with his attack, but it was to no avail, and he was quickly shoved away.

As Storm was sent flying through the air, Cinder threw his arms out to catch his starter pokemon. His eyes widened as he took Storm's unconscious form.

The young sheep was not yet strong enough to handle... whatever move that he tried to use, Korrina and Cinder could see that. Not that it mattered, because Scizor likely would have retaliated again if he had remained conscious.

Korrina's eyes darting towards Starly's body, she could feel the vomit building up within her. Two teammates down already. And that armored bug would take care of the rest with no effort.

A snarl turned the duo rookie's attention towards Alpha, who was holding his head in pain, the negative aura waves radiating throughout the room overwhelming him.

Resolution brimming in his eyes, the young Alpha(Riolu) glowered at Hunter J and Scizor, both of whom practically bore holes through Cinder and his friends with their merciless gazes. Walking forward, the baby pokemon spread his arms out defiantly, doing his best to remain steadfast despite his shaking legs, and Aiz's(Mienfoo) attempts to pull him back.

Hunter J's gaze was dangerous as she turned her focus to the Riolu. "Heh, another hero in the group, huh? Well Scizor and I don't have time for those. So if you would be so kind as to just drop dead-"

Hunter J was cut off as Alpha let out a battle cry that carried across the room.

And then, his body was glowing a pure, bright white.

Korrina's mind felt jumbled as the Riolu began to grow in height, suddenly replaced with a Lucario as the light around him dissipated.

And yet, another pokemon of theirs evolved because of their perilous circumstance.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

*Top 39 (1/2)*

*So guys, the release of chapters per day, as of now, will depend on the Power Stone Ranking of this Fanfiction.

° Top <150 - A chapter everyday, except Sunday.

° Top <70 - Two chapters per day, except Sunday.

° Top <25 - Three chapters per day, except Sunday.

° Top <3 - Four chapters per day, except Saturday and Sunday. (If you think I am bluffing, you can check that I had even dropped 5 chapters in one day.)

*So if you enjoyed reading it thus far and had some spare Power Stones. Gimme those rocks ^=^*