PMQuest: Chapter 06 – Weapon of Will
Introduction:
A young man wakes up to find himself no longer in his cozy bed back at Fiore, instead rising from a soft patch of dirt with nothing but his socks, his underwear, and a vague memory of his training as a Pokemon Ranger. The rest of his past is a blur, but he’ll soon find that he won’t have much time to rediscover it.
Chapter 06 – Weapon of Will
The Leavanny stared us down, the lurid look in her eyes now tempered with a twisted violence. I had no doubt that she would use those blades against me. I had to be ready for anything.
Her body shifted forward, and I threw up an arm in anticipation for her charge. A second later, more sticky strands whipped against my forearm and clung to my skin. I instantly felt her began to pull, my socks not giving me enough traction to keep from being dragged towards her.
For a moment, my heart started to beat harder, my mind getting thrown into a small panic at the sight of her sharp, shimmering arms. But my arm swung towards the strings, either through instinct or panic, the crystal in my palm still forming a blade of light. It cleaved through the string, freeing me and nearly sending me onto my ass as the tension broke.
“Aww, you don’t want to come to me?” Asked the Leavanny, that wicked glare staring daggers at me. “That’s fine~! I’ll come to you!”
She ran towards me, and I brought my blade forward. I was not a fighter! Now that she was approaching, with two dangerous weapons brought against me, it started to dawn just how much danger I was really in! My sword began to flicker, and the light began to dim. ~Stay focused!~ Cried that psychic voice in a panicked beat. ~You have to concentrate!~
My eyes snapped open as I shook the crystal like a dying flashlight, thinking it would work. Just focusing on the blade seemed to have an effect, making it brighter, but the Leavanny was already a few steps away from me. I wasn’t going to be able to deflect her. I needed a shield!
I brought the blade towards my body, hoping to defend myself against at least one of the attacks, but the sharpened edge widened and spring outwards just as the Leavanny got her dangerous arms in range of me. They collided with what appeared to be a faint, shimmering wall, sourced from the crystal in my hand. I had lost my sword, but gained a shield in return!
Frustrated, the smile faded from the Leavanny’s lips. She continued to swing, her energy colliding with the one from the crystal. I felt the force of her blows, but none of them made it through. With a chirping growl, she shouted at me. “You can’t keep this up forever!”
She was right. She was certainly in a better shape than I was here. I was weakening from the constant assault. I was safe, but it wouldn’t be that way for long…
~Fight back! You have to use the crystal to subdue her!~
“I don’t want to hurt her,” I admitted. I couldn’t get my hand close to her, and the thought of actually harming her, or any other Pokemon, caused a knot to form in my gut. Even while under attack, fending for my life, I had to fight with my own instinct not to injure someone else.
~You won’t,~ the voice frantically responded, seeing the cracks starting to form on the shield. ~Pokemon are made of tougher stuff. The crystal uses your will as a battery, so if your will isn’t to injure…~
A loud crack interrupted her, the shield breaking. If I didn’t act, then the both of us could be in danger. I had to take her word for it. The shield started to completely shatter, and from the breaking energy wall I pulled a glowing shard, which warped into the same blade as before. Surprising the Leavanny, I was able to swing it under her pincering arms and collide it with her chest and belly.
The boom of energy caused a wave of force to erupt from the attack, and the Leavanny was taken off of her feet as her light body was flung backwards. She caught herself, but was scowling angrily as she rose her eyes to meet mine. She wobbled a bit as she stood completely to her feet, her eyes having shimmered slightly with the same light from my blade before they returned to their dark, malignant gaze.
“Humans can’t do this. Something is going on here…”
My success had me smile, and I pointed the glowing blade towards her. Despite my nudity, I felt more protected than I had ever since I arrived. She didn’t look injured despite taking what appeared to be a sharp blade to her chest. The Espeon was right. I could knock her out without hurting her.
I could win this!
The scowl on her face was as deep as my smile was wide, her dark eyes narrowing as she raised her blades again. Her String Shot whipped itself upwards from her abdomen, snagging onto a strong branch above her. She swung herself up into the trees, and, despite my focus on her, the rich, green color of her body matches too well with the rustling leaves above for me to keep a solid visual.
My smile faded, and my muscles tensed. I would have been very lucky if she decided to up and run away, but I didn’t feel particularly lucky lately. Waking up naked will do that to you.
I took a few steps forward to give myself more room to move around, my trepidation forming that blade of light into a shield once more. The cracks were gone, thankfully, though I definitely didn’t want to give her another chance to test its resolve. My thoughts whirled with some kind of strategy.
I’ll have to strike her quickly if she comes down and-
“Eep!” A small squeak of surprise piped up from behind me, my feet wheeling about on their heels to see the Leavanny on the ground by the crystal, energy rolling along her arm as she knelt beside the Espeon. My eyes went wide and I scowled, but the amusement was plain on the Leavanny’s face. A hostage situation.
“I don’t know what power you have there, but I know who gave it to you,” said the bug, pointing her dangerous blade towards the psychic type. “You two seem to have some connection. I like to think I’m reasonable, you know? So let’s make a deal.”
“Don’t hurt her,” I replied, anger welling up at the sudden feeling of hopelessness after having just discovered some kind of strength here.
“That’s not the plan, dear,” replied the Leavanny, giving a shrug. “I may have gotten a little angry, but I don’t want to hurt either of you. Really, the only thing I want is you, with that weird crystal on the ground where it won’t interrupt us again. You do me a favor and drop that little trinket, and we go back to having fun like we were before we were interrupted! Not such a bad deal, is it?”
Despite her words, her Leaf Blade was still dangerously close to the Espeon. The Psychic type was clearly far too weak to endure it, and she could be really injured if a Pokemon attack hit her now. I wouldn’t be able to clear the distance fast enough to protect her with a sword or shield. Already the energy of that barrier was starting to shrink, returning to the glowing crystal in my palm as my will faltered.
The Espeon squirmed with worry, but a small leg on her back kept her from doing much more than look at me with pleading eyes. Begging for me to agree to the deal and free her, or begging to ignore her plight and protect myself?
The Leavanny’s dark eyes were blazing into mine.
“Come on, sweetie. Just let go~!”
Choices:
The next part of this story splits into two choices. Click on my Profile to pick your next chapter:
– Take a Risk;
– Play it Safe;
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