Pokémon Chronicles 零 (ZERO)

Episode 9: Panzer's wish

"How in the world did you get here?" I dared to ask, staring at Edvard angrily. I had to not be intimidated by his appearance, but deep down I could tell that I was. A Zweilous, as Abe Lucario called it, wasn't exactly a Pokémon that was easy to stare at and remain calm, even if it had been comically hit by a tree trunk before.

But simply trying to hold up against him wasn't my intention. Doing well in battle against Megan and showing off the Wind Wolf wasn't enough to beat a Pokémon like this, and I didn't need to be told that. My mind was frantically hatching possible plans for survival, but I needed to stall for as much time as I could for any of them to work.

"The same way you got in, through one of those entrances," Edvard-right answered, looking back at the path to Fossil Hill. "You may have gotten away with that trick last time, but this time'll be different. There are no trees around!"

"... Yeah but... there's flowers. Fake, easily burnable flowers," I pointed out, having to browse for excuses to talk. "That Dragon Rage from the flowerbed was clever, but if you had burnt them and not us, you would've set yourself alight."

"I told you so!" Edvard-right exclaimed, nipping at his other half.

"What's with you? It was a good idea and it worked, didn't it?" Edvard-left argued, biting back. Megan took that as a moment to stand back up, speechless at what I had done.

"Crystal..." she muttered.

"We need to get back and get some knights..." I said quietly to her. "Go now."

"I'm not leaving you," she argued.

"Darn it Meg, not now!" I snapped grittily.

"It makes no difference anyway," Edvard-left announced, returning our focus to him. Both loomed over us both and boasted their height, smiling eagerly at us. "Even if you found some way to stop us here, you wouldn't be able to stop us from getting revenge in the long run."

"Why revenge, anyway? I mean I know I got you hit pretty bad, but..." I wondered, edging away slowly. He kept walking to stay in front of us.

"Don't you know how embarrassing that was? A kid! A kid managed to escape me, the great Edvard!" Edvard-left shouted. The right head slumped forward and glanced at him.

"How many more times do I have to tell you it's 'us' when you say that? You got it right just a second ago..." he grumbled.

"Oh shuddup and let's start eating them already! Before those knights show up!" Edvard-left shouted.

"Not on my watch!" Megan coughed, throwing herself into them as their little squabble began. It looked like she had been bitten as a reaction, but she did manage to bash the big Pokémon away somehow. She immediately proceeded to flare up her back and roar, threatening to pelt them with Flamethrower.

"Ha, not this time you little rat. Compete with this!" Edvard-left said eagerly, rearing back for a Dragon Rage. His other half charged the same attack, however, all of us were left in shock when Megan suddenly threw her head up and released her attack directly into the air, roaring at the top of her voice to put in full effort. Her flames went impressively high, but didn't last long. The Cyndaquil was also left huffing and sweating, smiling expectantly.

"Wha... what? Was that for us?" Edvard-right questioned as the duo dismissed their attacks in confusion. I realised what Megan had done right away, impressed that she had suddenly changed motive enough to do a smart move like this. I expected her to want to try and defeat the Zweilous again.

"How dumb can you be? An attack just went off in a place where everyone's cranky about lack of bestia," she said cockily. "Knights'll be here any minute."