Pokemon - From the Brink

Chapter 55 - Uneasy Alliance

"All right, you pasty-faced freak! I'm not playin' around!" Tobi roared, leaping high into the air, intending to right empty-handed now that his weapon had been crushed before his eyes.

"This world's people are stubborn." Bedlam watched the lesser threat charge upwards.

"Don't lump him in with us!" Skyra hissed.

"It doesn't matter what labels you bear." Bedlam reached out and snatched Tobi from the air, catching him by the neck.

"Rrgh!" The enraged copy kicked out, his foot striking Bedlam's chest, but the attack did nothing to the alien, who grabbed Tobi's outstretched leg in its hand, puncturing the skin with its claws. "Ghack!" He winced, lashing out with a flurry of swipes that all missed their mark as Bedlam twisted its wrist and smashed its knee up into his leg.

There was a horrific crunching sound as Bedlam snapped the bones in Tobi's lower left leg, causing him to howl in pain.

"Eugh!" I winced and looked away.

"You'll all meet the same fate in the end. That includes you." The monster released its victim and brought its closed fists together, bashing them down into Tobi's chest, cracking parts of his ribcage and collapsing his lungs in a single blow.

The weapon-less fiend crashed down into the ground at break-neck speed, a new crater born from the impact.

"He... He's getting his ass kicked..." Darragh blinked.

"So easily..." I gulped.

"If you insist on getting in my way, then I'll deal with you later." Bedlam opened a portal down below. It swirled into being a few feet behind me, and the cold feeling that came from it made my heart beat faster.

"It was my mistake in thinking that you would be intelligent enough to follow my commands." Bedlam came down and picked Tobi up by the scruff of the neck, his face bloody and his limbs flimsy. His eyes were still burning with hatred, and he spat blood onto Bedlam's wrist.

"Charming." It said, before tossing him with great force.

"Hey-!" Skyra turned and reached towards me, as Kiria and Azelf darted forwards.

"Watch out!" I grabbed Nelly and tried to shield her, though a second later Tobi's body crashed into us and we all went flying back into the vortex.

*

When I opened my eyes, I was falling through the sky, the ground rushing up in the distance. We were dropped over a city – specifically over a large building that seemed to still be in construction, judging by the scaffolding and steel bars all over the place.

The structure was about 20 storeys high, but it wasn't about to last much longer – the same would be true for us if we hit it.

I was already screaming the moment I felt no ground beneath me, and hearing Nelly's cries mix with mine made me curse myself even more. If I had pushed her away, she wouldn't be here now.

She was clinging onto me for dear life, her eyes jammed shut as we tumbled, and every now and then I caught glimpses of Tobi, spiralling down uncontrollably a few feet away.

"Azelf!" I yelled, the wind fighting to steal my breath. "AAAAAAZZZZEEEEELLLFFF!"

The top of the construction site filled my view and I whimpered, curling in on myself and squeezing Nelly tight.

But at the last moment, I felt all of our momentum come to a dead halt, and the wind stopped rushing past us.

There was a loud crash and a ton of clangs as Tobi kept going and smashed through several floors of the building, bouncing off steel bars and rails on his way down.