Pokémon Chronicles 零 (ZERO)

Episode 32: Desperation for peace

"Panzer and Ion? They ordered our arrest?" I cried, tripping forward.

"Yup, and they're the highest of the high. Although, I'll admit they never gave me a real reason for it... I guess they want to play things drama style, and lay down your crimes when you're stuck in front of them. I love that kind of entertainment!" Feather laughed, bouncing on his tail. "So, what's it gonna be? Are we gonna have to rough you guys up, or do you surrender and go quietly?"

"Hey, guys... he doesn't have a weapon, so I'm going to go with my original plan. Just play along, please," Lucca mumbled, sneaking a glance back at us. I gulped, while the others mumbled their responses back. We were surrounded by knights on all sides and had nothing but a hollow horse carriage to use as a shield, so whatever was on his mind was all we had to count on now. Personally, I couldn't escape the confusion of exactly what was going on, and wanted to surrender in hopes of that resolving my confusion.

I believed I was the one that had killed Phoenix and Gladys, but here we were, surrounded by the imperial authorities who wanted Lucca for the same thing. But on top of that, Panzer and Ion of all Pokémon had reported us for much more, including the impersonation of the shining warriors. Were we even in a position where we could talk things through enough to find out what any of this meant?

"Well... you aren't laying down your weapons, so I guess that means we're fighting this out. I might even get to see a little blood! It's action time, boys and girls!" Feather cheered, throwing his arms up.

"Megan! Brine, go!" Lucca shouted, making them flip out into action. Megan did a quick job of stopping many of the knights from charging towards us with her fire, whilst Brine stumbled a little but tripped up the remainder with a spout of water. For some reason, Feather made a curious sound, as if he was impressed with our opening actions.

"I'm not going to sit around and get stopped. Not now, not after coming this far. Crystal, get ready! You'll need your bow. Mimia, you're with me," Lucca instructed, executing his plan immediately. He slammed the ground with both of his hands, bathing himself in a gush of water that prepared him for an Aqua Jet attack.

"Wait, what?" I gasped. The knights were all ready to battle now, so Aqua Jet would only make their job of stabbing us with their weapons easier. That is, if Lucca was actually after them. He took off before I had even drawn an arrow, arching through the air to slam directly into an unaware Esther, who had been fighting to get out of the scrambling knights. Lucca kept going however, pushing her until they smashed right into her original ride, the only carriage that had horse Pokémon ready to pull it.

"This ends here!" Lucca announced, flipping around carefully. Within a few seconds, he had grappled Esther and had her held against his chest, keeping one of his swords resting on her neck whilst the other pointed at the knights.

"Lucca!" I cried, having my complaint drowned out by Mimia's sudden incessant barking. Megan quickly caught on as well, and fired another Flamethrower to keep the knights back.

"Just go with it," Shelly whimpered, pointing at Feather. Before I knew it, we were at another stalemate of sorts, with Esther being held as our hostage. I wanted to scream, but Lucca's actions had stopped the battle, and that fact had me go silent. I was the only one not near the carriage right now, but virtually all eyes were on Lucca and the others, giving me a free shot against any of the Pokémon. Feather was the obvious choice, so I held an arrow aimed directly at his belly.

"Oh my, are you supposed to be a big time villain now?" Feather sung.

"Oh yeah, I'm a big time villain alright. Move aside, or her head comes off!" Lucca threatened, making the poor Pikachu scream. He tightened his grip on her to strangle her a little, stopping her from screaming and crying out. "Keep squirming and the same will happen. And don't even think about trying to electrocute me."