Pokemon - From the Brink

Chapter 40 - Siege

After the Ultra Beast incident, everyone who was involved went to speak with Megan, who listened to the events and slowly seemed to become more vexed.

"Bedlam killed their whole population...?" Megan looked back at Midorima, who had Uxie floating by his shoulder.

"Yes... That's what I learnt when I touched one of them. It was in anger and pain, turned savage by a traumatic event where it witnessed all of its kin wiped out before its eyes..." The Korean sighed.

"It's safe to assume that same fate befell both Guzzlord and Buzzwole." Uxie added. "Both of them were enraged and out for blood."

"And Buzzwole would've got what it wanted if Caleb hadn't stepped in." Paolo said. "How are your arms, by the way?"

"They're fine." Caleb nodded, lifting them and checking them. Buzzwole had smashed them to pieces when Caleb had rescued the others, but his newfound bond with Terrakion had enabled him to heal almost instantaneously.

"If anything, Terrakion was the one who saved everyone. I'd be dead if my body hadn't hardened up like that." The boy shook his head.

"Grr... Damn..." Megan frowned. "Bedlam provoked conflict again. It terrorised those creatures just so it could feed off the violence they brought."

"Buzzwole managed to get through our shields." Kiria said. "I checked them afterwards and they seem to be holding up, but we should probably deploy another one outside that wing to be safe."

"Right. I'll have Kai get on that when she gets back." Megan nodded. "Anyway, well done, Caleb. And you, Midorima, for awakening your own bonds. That makes four so far, and the pace seems to be ramping up. With any luck, we'll be on track to beating Bedlam way before it gets its full strength back."

With that, the group was dismissed.

*

"RRRAH!" Skyra yelled, bringing his iron sword down hard against Janus' own.

"Brute strength won't get you anywhere!" The sword master barked back, dropping his weight to one side, allowing his opponent to drop down, the tip of his blade plunging into the floor.

"Gh!"

"You're open!" Janus spun back and pushed the heel of his foot into Skyra's stomach as he tried to pull his sword out of the floor.

"Ack!" Skyra staggered back, clutching his stomach. "Damn..."

There was a knock at the door and it slid open slowly.

"Um, hello...? I was wondering if – oh!" Rebekah's head came round the corner. "There you are!"

"Rebekah?" Skyra straightened up. "What's up?"

"I was looking for you!" She smiled. "I wanted to see if you wanted to sit down for lunch soon."

"Oh, ok. Yeah... Yeah, I'll be there in a minute."

"Great! Meet you in the cafeteria." She waved before closing the door behind her.

"...Why did you want to practice the sword again?" Janus asked, retrieving Skyra's blade and holding both training weapons up to inspect them.

"Because I want to be sure that I can protect the people I care about." Skyra replied, wiping sweat from his brow.

"I see. Perhaps this isn't the right way for you to go about it." The instructor said, hanging the swords back up on the wall.

"What? But I..." He frowned. "If I don't bond with a legendary Pokemon, then I want to still be able to fight! I won't let Bedlam threaten us and just stand back doing nothing!"