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I was sleeping, Lorelei resting beside me smothering me, when something woke me up.
"Silver."
"No."
"Silver."
"No."
"Silver." Giratina repeated once again.
"What..." I groan.
"I'm bored, so I'm going to send you somewhere."
"Now?"
Lorelei shifts besides me, tightening her grip on me. She murmurs something intelligible. I scowl.
"Yes. Bring your three strongest partners."
"Why..." "I'm bored." ... Fuck me, I'm really going to do this, aren't I... "I'll go in the morning, when I'm done sleeping."
"Alright, I'll send you in the morning, but don't say I didn't warn you" is the last thing I heard from the Legend before falling back to sleep.
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Now morning, I stand before my team. Oberon, my Ursaring, is sitting near my Meganium, Gaia. Ares, a behemoth of a Salamance, stands glaring at Freyja, a gorgeous Milotic. Loki, a Zoroark, leans against Metagross, who is enduring the crackhead Joltik, Arachne, bouncing up and down on his head. Ifret and Apollo, two Charcadets, scuffle around, fighting playfully... probably. A brown Sneasel, Achlys, leans back watching the two play.
"Hey everyone, Giratina wants to take me somewhere."
The Charcadets both stop fighting and stare at me.
"I don't know where, but I can only bring three. So, I'm choosing Metagross, Gaia, and Freyja. Yes, that is final."
Ares glares at me.
"Ares, if we get in a fight, I don't want to worry about you losing control to Moxie, got it?" I speak calmly.
Ares chuffs and looks away as I recall the three I chose.
I speak to my team. "I'll be back soon, keep up with your training."
At hearing the sounds of affirmation, I look to my shadow, where two red eyes stare up at me. "Alright, I'm ready." Shadows wrap around me as Giratina's Shadow Force brings me to a completely different place.
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I end up in a city, dark clouds roiling in the distance, quickly approaching. The sun is rising behind the clouds, where the beach seems to be. Sirens pierce the air, loud enough to hurt my ears slightly. A few seconds into being wherever I am, I'm shoved by a person running. Then another. It seems to be a whole stream of people, fleeing from something as I move to the side. A legend, maybe? I grab one of the people. "Hey. Hey! What's going on?"
"Let go of me, you freak! Leviathan's coming, and I don't want to be stuck out here because the shelter's full."
They pull away from me, and begin running again, joining the sea of people, when I realize something with a cold shock. There are only people here. No Pokémon, just... people. I shake my head, deciding to deal with that fact later, as I move towards whatever everyone is running from.
==========================================================================
I see a large gathering of people in costumes, milling around a building off the shore of the coast. I head over, tapping one of the costumed freaks on the shoulder. "Hey, who's in charge here?" They barely pay me any mind. "Go get to a shelter, we're preparing for Leviathan. This isn't a meet and greet." I talk to a couple others, who brush me off as well. "Fuck it. Metagross."
I toss Metagross' Luxury Ball, releasing him in a wave of red light. Their reaction is almost immediate, turning from dismissive from shocked, and almost wary.
"Like I said. I would like to speak to whoever is in charge." "Was this really necessary?" Metagross transmits into my mind. "No, but they annoyed me." I return Metagross, and then a weirdo brings me to two men one in a midnight blue suit of armor and the other in a white skintight costume embellished with blue lightning bolts.
Oddly, they both have parts of their face covered. "So, are you in charge?" They both glance at me, before the one in the skintight costume speaks to me.
"Yeah, I am. You a mover or blaster?"
"A what?"
"Are you even a cape?"
"I'm sorry, I'm not from here, so if you could be a bit more clear? I am not an article of clothing, no."
The man in the suit speaks up, sounding annoyed. "Are you intentionally fucking with us, or are you just stupid?" I silently wish I had brought Ares. "I am not from this world.
So maybe, if you could explain what this Leviathan is, or even what a cape is, since I'm guessing it isn't an article of clothing, that would be greatly appreciated.
They both stare at me. The man in the suit swears. "He... isn't lying. Go find Miss Militia, let her know, have her give you a crash course. She'll be in the green camo over there." He gestures to a group of three other costumed kooks, talking quietly.
I walk over to the group. "I was told to ask for Miss Militia."
The woman in green camo, presumably Miss Militia, glances at me. "What?"
"I am not from this world, blue robo-suit over there told me to get you to give me a crash course."
"Are you messing from me?"
"No. What is this place, and what's going on? Assume I don't know anything."
She sighs.
"Alright. Leviathan is an Endbringer. Big monster, destroys places. He is a hydrokinetic on a macro scale. He controls water, with a range of miles, if not more. We are parahumans, we got powers, and now we are fighting to stop Leviathan so he doesn't destroy this city. Get that so far?"
I nod once, mind whirling. "Why don't you kill him?"
"We don't have the firepower, for one. Our best bet is to do enough damage to him to drive him off before he destroys too much of the city."
"Hmm. I'm guessing this Leviathan can't be poisoned or put to sleep? Or paralyzed?"
Miss Militia shakes her head. "As far as we know, no, it can't."
Well, there goes statusing it.
"Come on, Legend is about to give a speech."
"I follow her into a room, and lean against a wall, getting a couple looks."
The man in the skintight costume, Legend, I guess, steps up to the front of the room to address the capes in the room.
"We owe thanks to Dragon and Armsmaster for their early alert. We’ve had time to gather, and that means we have just a few more minutes to prepare and brief for Leviathan’s arrival, instead of jumping straight into the fray as we arrive. With this advantage, some luck, teamwork and hard effort from everyone, I hold out hope that this could be one of the good days.”
“But you should know your chances going in. Given the statistics from our previous encounters with this beast, a ‘good day’ still means that one in four of the people in this room will probably be dead before this day is done.”
'Huh, that's kinda dark,' I think to myself as quiet murmurs fill the room.
“I’m telling you your chances now because you deserve to know, and we so rarely get the chance to inform those individuals brave enough to step up and fight these monsters. The primary message I want to convey, even more than briefing you on the particulars of his abilities, organizing formations and battle plans, is that I do not want you to underestimate Leviathan. I have seen too many good heroes... and villains, too, die because they let their guard down.”
Legend glances outside the window, where buckets of rain is hitting the beach, whipping the ocean into a froth.
“We think of Leviathan as the middle child; he was the second of the three to arrive. He is not the physical powerhouse Behemoth is, nor the cunning manipulator that the Simurgh so often proves to be. That said, I would advise you to think of him as having many of the strengths of both siblings at once. You’ve seen the videos on television and the internet. You know what he is physically capable of. I want to be clear that despite the image he might convey, he is not stupid, and he can display a level of cunning and tactics that can and will catch you off guard."
“I will tell you what you may not know from the videos. He feels pain, he does bleed, but few attacks seem to penetrate deep enough past the surface to seriously harm him. He is like the other two Endbringers in this respect."
“What sets him apart is his focus on water. You’re likely aware of his afterimage, his water echo. This is no mere splash of water. At the speeds Leviathan can move, surface tension and compressibility make water harder than concrete. He also has a crude hydrokinesis, the ability to manipulate water, and there will be water on the battlefield. We believe that this is what lets him move as fast as he does when he is swimming. Faster than he is normally, far faster than any speedster we have on record.”
Wow, we really goes on, doesn't he?
“Were it just that, this fight might still warrant a show of force like what we’ve gathered here. But things are more serious than that, which brings me to our primary concern. As much as Dragon and Armsmaster’s advance warning might give us the opportunity to make this a good day, other issues threaten to make it just the opposite.
“I spoke of Leviathan as a hydrokinetic. I can’t state this enough. Leviathan is primarily a hydrokinetic on a macro scale. There is no better illustration than the days where Leviathan won."
“Newfoundland. May ninth, 2005. Nearly half a million dead. The Canadian island simply gone, after the shelf of land holding it up cracked in the face of what we now understand were incredible pressures beneath the water level"
My eyes slightly widen in shock. 'What.'
“Kyushu, the night of November second and the morning of the third, 1999. His sixth appearance. Nine and a half million killed when the region was swamped with tidal waves from every direction while Leviathan disrupted prearranged evacuation attempts. Nearly three million evacuees rendered homeless, a nation sundered."
"Giratina, what the hell is this place?"
"I got bored, saw this place was about to go to war against this creature, and was intrigued. So, I sent you here."
"That doesn't answer my question! How did you even know about this place?"
"Well, the part of your soul I took came from a place similar to here. I just sent you here because it was similar enough I could sense it."
"And what am I meant to be doing here?"
"I sent you here to entertain me."
I tune out the Legend, and tune back into... Legend.
"...classified the locations the Endbringers target as either hard targets or soft targets. The hard battlefields are where we stand our ground, buy time, wear him down. The soft ones are locations where we cannot afford to do this.”
A television shows a section of the city from the ground level. The west end of the city was bordered by hills, and the terrain slopes down from the base of a mountain. Under some buildings, a cavern is shown, bordered by rock on all but one side, where the sandy beach was. It was marked blue. Filled with water.
“Brockton Bay, this location, is a soft target. The city was originally founded at this location because of the proximity to the coastline for trade routes and an aquifier that provided the first settlers with access to fresh water. This aquifier, essentially an underground lake beneath the city, is our weak point. From the moment Leviathan shows himself, we expect Leviathan will stir and manipulate this underground reservoir to erode the surrounding sand, silt and rock. Add the tidal waves from above, with the resulting tremors and impacts…”
'The city could fall into the aquafer,' I realize.
“We have to end this fast. Each wave he brings on top of us is stronger than the last. This means we have two priorities. First, we cannot let him out of our sight. From the moment the battle is initiated, we hem him in, sustain an offensive onslaught. If we let him slip past our defensive lines, precious time will be wasted chasing him, getting him in another situation where we can contain his movements.
“Our second priority is that we need to find ways to hurt him. If you cannot, if your attacks are deflected or prove otherwise useless, work to support those who can. It is vain to hope to kill him, but he can be whittled down enough that he will flee back to the ocean, and if we hurt him enough, it may delay the time before he is capable of making another attack elsewhere.”
Legend frowns, and glances at the windows, which are rattling now from how hard the rain is falling.
“This is what the Endbringers are. As of yet, we’ve been unable to stop them, unable to get through even one confrontation without grievous losses, be it civilian casualties, the loss of a city, or the loss of the lives of some of the bravest and strongest of us. And they will keep coming, one after another, winning these small victories, and winning some major ones."
“You are doing a good thing. The greatest thing. This is why we are tolerated, why society allows and accounts for the capes that walk the streets and fight in its towns. Because we are needed for situations like this. With your assistance, we can forestall the inevitable. Your efforts and, if you choose to make them, your sacrifices, will be remembered.”
He looks to the man in the blue armor, who steps up.
“The Wards are handing out armbands of Dragon’s design. These are adjustable to slide over your arm and should be tightened around your wrist. The screen on the top of the armband notes your position on a grid, as well as Leviathan’s last updated location. Use this. You’ll also note there are two buttons. The button to the left lets you send messages to everyone else wearing an armband. It will not, unless you are a member of the Protectorate or otherwise a veteran of these fights, directly communicate what you say to everyone else wearing an armband. Dragon has a program screening messages and passing them on through the network based on priority, to cut down on unnecessary chatter that could distract from crucial information. If you must bypass this three to five second delay, speak the words ‘Hard Override’ before conveying your message. Abuse of this feature will lose you the ability to send any further messages.”
“The second button is a ping. Use it in the case of an emergency, to alert others if you are in danger or hurt. If it is not an emergency, but you want assistance, such as a flier to get you to another vantage point or you see an opportunity to turn the tables, press both buttons, tell the armband what you want. Dragon’s program will prioritize your needs, with assistance being directed your way if others are not occupied with more pressing matters. The armband tracks your condition and will automatically send a ping if you are badly injured or unconscious.”
I accept a wristband from a boy made of metal, and slide it on over my hand, before closing it around my wrist. The screen on the wristband shows 'State Name'. I press the communication button and speak into it.
"Silver."
My name shows at a corner, and a confirmations screen shows. I confirm it.
Legend calls out “Capes! If you have faced an Endbringer before, stand!”
I watch as a fair number of capes stand. Armsmaster whispers something to Miss Militia, and she shakes her head.
“When in doubt, follow the orders of the Protectorate first! We have trained, organized and planned for this! The others who are standing, now, are the ones you listen to if we aren’t contradicting their order! They have been through situations much like this, you go with their instincts!"
“We are splitting you into groups based on your abilities! If you are confident you can take a hit from Leviathan and get up afterwards, or if you have the ability to produce expendable combatants, we need you on the front line! You will be directed by Alexandria and Dragon!”
“Armsmaster and Chevalier will be leading the hand to hand combatants who do not fit in Alexandria’s group! Anyone who thinks they can harm or hamper Leviathan in close quarters, you’ll be assisting and reinforcing the front line!”
"Metagross, does the team think we go in this group?"
"We all agree, this is where we likely belong."
I step forward into the group led by Armsmaster, the man in the armor. This group is a bit smaller than the group Alexandria led. We move away, moving out of the building. I release Metagross, Freyja, and Gaia from their balls, moving towards Leviathan.
"Freyja, think you can lighten the rain at all?"
She shakes her head with a sad little croon.
"That's fine. Don't use water moves today, no need to give it more power. Try using Ice and Dragon moves."
"Gaia, try to stop it or slow it down with your screens and vines. Try Leech Seed or Giga Drain if you can, if not, it's fine. Also, try to heal anyone hurt you come across."
She nods.
"Metagross, with me."
I get a pulse of affirmation from him. Suddenly, a thirty foot tall humanoid exits from the ocean, a huge wave of water trailing him inland. Leviathan. His neck, upper torso, and shoulders are thick and heavy looking. His arms and legs are comparatively thin, standing on feet that resemble a Lucario's, and long claws at the ends of its' hands. It has a long, whipping tail, looking to be almost twice as long as Leviathan is tall.
I hop up on Metagross.
"Move in and use Psychic, try to stop or slow it down. Gravity as well, if you can."
A slight blue sheen surrounds Leviathan, and it is visibly slowed. Attacks of all sorts are pelting the beast, lasers, a few fireballs, a blinding orb reminiscent of the sun, various pieces of rubble or projectiles. Doubtless there are more that are too small to see. It slightly narrows it's asymmetrical eyes, one on the right side of it's face, three on it's left, looking in our direction. Then it's tail flicks in our direction. While the tail is too short hit us, it's water echo keeps going.
"Shit! Gaia, screens! Freyja, Icy Wind and Ice Beam, slow it down!"
Gaia and Freyja's efforts slow it down enough that it doesn't kill us, but it still buffets us. I hiss slightly as the wave sweeps over us, soaking any part of me that had managed to remain dry in this downpour. Had Metagross not been keeping a psychic grip on me, I would have easily been swept away. I watch as Leviathan surges forward, and my wristband begins listing off names.
Carapacitator down, CD-5. Krieg down, CD-5. WCM deceased, CD-5. Iron Falcon down, CD-5. Saurian down, CD-5, Sham down, CD-5. Acoustic deceased, CD-5. Harsh Mistress down...
"Freyja, Dragon Pulse, snipe him. Gaia, Magical Leaf, as many as you can send without losing any power."
I watch as their attacks launch, Freyja's attack boring a little ways into the monster before stopping, whilst Gaia's Magical Leaves all hit, but barely leave scratches on it's skin.
"Gaia, stop the Magical Leaves, work on setting a Sunny Day up, and if you can, charge up a Solar Beam."
A small orb forms over Gaia, before sputtering out. Gaia shakes her head as Leviathan swipes his claws towards another group.
... Down deceased, CD-5, Resolute deceased, CD-5. Woebegone down, CD-5. Fierceling deceased, CD-5. Adamant down, CD-5...
"Metagross, get closer to him. Freyja, Gaia, follow close."
As we get closer, I watch as Leviathan destroys more of the area, sending more debris through the water.
... Hew down, CD-5. Strapping Lad down, CD-5. Intrepid down, CD-5...
"Cancel out the gravity, it doesn't seem to be doing much. Use Shadow Ball. Freyja, another Dragon Pulse, follow it up with a Dragon Tail before moving back again."
An orb of ghostly energy launches at Leviathan as Freyja launches another focused blast of draconic energies. These seem to cause more than a scratch to Leviathan. However, when Freyja rushes forward to use Dragon Tail, Leviathan rapidly turns around, raking a claw across my beautiful serpent, causing serious, if not potentially fatal, damage, then blitzing towards a large group of capes. I immediately return Freyja and Gaia, ordering Metagross to bring us back and away.
Heavy casualties, please wait.
If the computer system can't even compute the deaths, how many could it have been... I feel slightly sick, though whether it is from fear for Freyja or horror, I don't know. When we are a decent distance from the brute, I release Gaia.
"Gaia, prepare a Heal Pulse for Freyja, got it?"
She nods, and I release Freyja. I stroke her face, attempting to calm her down.
"Shhh, shhh, hey, look at me, it's alright. I know, it hurts. I am going to take a look, then can you try to use Recover and Life Dew, if you can?"
Freyja nods, and I take a look at the deep gashes along her side. They seem to be clean slices, showing just how sharp the claws were, to slice clear through her scales like they did.
"Freyja, go ahead. Gaia, Heal Pulse."
I watch as the wounds close rapidly, a testament to just how durable Pokémon really were, one that I am currently deeply grateful for.
Losses are as follows: Debaser, Ascendant, Gallant, Zigzag, Prince of Blades, Vitiator, Humble, Halo, Whirlygig, Night...
Once the gashes are nothing but thin lines tracing down her body, I check in with her.
"You think you can go on Freyja?"
Seeing her nod, I turn to the other two.
... Crusader, Uglymug, Victor, Furrow, Barker, Elegance, Quark, Pelter, Snowflake, Ballistic, Mama Bear...
"Metagross, we are going to get close to it, then pelt it with Shadow Ball, got it?"
I feel a pulse of affirmation through my mind, then I feel myself being lifted by Metagross' esoteric abilities, before speeding towards where Leviathan is.
... Mister Eminent, Flashbang, Biter, Cloister, Narwhal, Vixen, The Dart, Geomancer, Oaf, Tattletale...
When we are a few hundred feet from the atrocity, Metagross begins peppering it with Ghost energies, keeping on the move to stay out of it's reach. Deciding that others are easier targets, it goes for them. The tiny sun that had been attacking Leviathan blinks out.
Brigandine deceased, CD-6. Miss Militia down, CD-6. Legend down, CD-6. Shielder deceased, CD-6. Sundancer down, CD-6. Escutcheon deceased, CD-6. Herald deceased, CD-6.
"Psychic again, try to slow it down, give others better opportunity to hit it."
A blue sheen surrounds Leviathan, fighting against his every movement.
"I cannot keep this up for long." Metagross speaks in my head.
"Alright, go until you feel you will be too tired if you continue."
I watch as a person is teleported in close to Leviathan, then he touches the beast, and it just stops, mid-lunge, as is his water echo. The rain lightens up a bit, but it is still hard. The person, in a costume covered in clocks, seems to be stuck in the water echo, unconscious. It's pandemonium, people shouting, fighting to be heard. A girl, surrounded by her own swarm of bugs runs over. She presses the communicator button, almost yelling into it.
"Clockblocker down! Need a teleporter to get him free!"
Clockblocker down, CD-6.
I watch as a guy in a black suit and top hat, face covered by a red mask, takes the place of another person near the bug girl.
"Clockblocker, in there." She points with one hand, holding her other strangely.
“I apologize for desecrating your body, brave hero,” he spoke, looking down at a dead cape. “You do good work even in death.”
Clockblocker takes the place of the dead cape, their positions switching. Another cape, one if a costume that accentuated their bones, checks over the unconscious cape.
"Listen!" I hear Armsmaster's voice ring out, cutting through the chaos.
“He’s torn through our front line, he’s taken down some of our best, and he’s deliberately targeted and eliminated most of the capes who were in Bastion’s group. We have precious few left who can take a hit from this creature and survive it, and we’re running low on those who can wall off another tidal wave or block his path. We’re not going to be able to go on with Plan A.” The words hang in the air.
“This brute is hurt, but we don’t have the resources to hold him down while we hurt him any more. We’re too tightly packed, like this, and it’s too easy for him to take us down in droves. Two or three more minutes of this, and there won’t be any of us left.”
Armsmaster turns, looking to where Leviathan stands, frozen. He points up at the brute with his Halberd. “We spread out. The second this beast is free, he’s going to look for a way out, to run and heal up what we’ve done to him. So we cut him off, we slow him down and keep him from getting to any areas where he can do real damage. Eidolon is going to leave, do what he can to minimize the damage from the waves and ensure the rest of the city doesn’t get leveled while we’re fighting here. The rest of us are going to slow Leviathan down best we can, take any opportunities we can to hurt the motherfucker. In just a second, we’re going to organize you guys, put the toughest and strongest closest to this bastard, space out the people who can hurt him, get the weakest ones positioned to pass on word if they see him slip past us. This is our plan B. We stall, from here on out we prioritize survival over putting this abomination down, and we fucking pray that Scion notices there’s an Endbringer around and shows up before this city and everyone in it is a memory.”
Capes work of trapping Leviathan, one cape growing a metal cage around the monster, while others create shields or other barriers around him. One cape weaves together a bunch of cloth, creating two giant cloth behemoths, standing almost at his shoulder. I have Gaia liberally coat him in Leech Seeds and Reflects, as Freyja uses Ice Beam and Icy Wind to coat him in ice, in the hopes of slowing him down.
Then, Leviathan unfreezes. Metagross uses Psychic to hold Leviathan down, while him and Freyja begin pelting the monster with Shadow Balls and Dragon Pulses. Capes begin launching attacks while Leviathan fights to break free.
And then he does, snapping the steel cage grown around him and breaking free of the vines and ice, then attacking capes the moment he is free.
Manpower deceased, CD-6. Aegis deceased, CD-6.
Two capes, one in a suit of armor, and the other a giant woman that stands near him, launch a high-tech looking cannon, shooting a giant laser, dealing a decent looking amount of damage to the Endbringer,
It rushes forward, sending it's echo into the duo.
Fenja down, CC-6. Kid win down, CC-6. Skitter deceased, CC-6.
Then he stomps down on the woman.
Fenja deceased, CC-6.
Then Armsmaster steps up, wielding his two spear-axes. I think it's called a halberd... The blade of one of the halberds has a slight grey blur around it. Leviathan sweeps his tail at his legs, and he jumps over it, carving a deep gash in his tail with the weapon, the carved material creating a plume of dust. The beast rears back, and Armsmaster jumps up, higher than any regular person could, slicing Leviathan just above the knee with the halberd, driving the blade nearly a third of the way to what should be the bone. Leviathan retaliates, swiping at Armsmaster, but the costumed dweeb plants a foot on the uninjured part of the knee, and kicks himself back and out of the way. The afterimage follows, but he swipes at it with the other halberd. The blade erupts with a giant purple flame, spewing like a Flamethrower, turning most of the afterimage into steam before it crushes him. He turns so the steam didn’t billow against the exposed flesh of his face, letting it pass harmlessly over his armored back. Some remnants of the afterimage strikes his armor, but he slides back and rolls with the impact, keeping his feet on the ground the entire time, allowing him to leap and roll to one side as Leviathan’s tail came down from behind and directly above him, leaving Leviathan was badly injured. What must pass for it's blood pours from six large wounds that weren’t there at the beginning of this encounter.
“You dumb brute,” Armsmaster growls. He's panting for breath. “Every fight you’ve done so far, that we’ve got on camera? I’ve watched it, put it through programs. I’ve got a computer on my back that’s relaying to a supernetwork, noting your every move, using subsonic pulses to read every aspect of the street, the surrounding buildings, every feature of the terrain. I know exactly what you’re going to do next. You’re going to try to catch me from behind with a wave.”
Leviathan lunges, swiping with an oversized claw. Armsmaster rolls to the side, swinging both halberds behind him, intercepting the wave that's coming from behind him, vaporizing it.
“You don’t even speak English, do you?" Armsmaster taunts. "Or you’d know what I was saying, you’d know I already won. The others helped, slowing you down, stopping the waves. But this victory, this killing blow? It’s going to be mine.”
I have a slight sinking feeling as I watch Armsmaster taunt Leviathan. Leviathan lunges, then stops, letting his water echo sweep past him, then lunges again, a half second later. Armsmaster leaps out of the way of the echo, drawing his knees to his chest, avoiding a claw swipe while he's airborne, then sends a grappling hook between Leviathan’s feet to pull himself to the ground. He skids with the momentum, sliding between Leviathan’s legs, and raises the blurry halberd, slashing Leviathan between the legs, leaving a deep gash in the first ten feet of Leviathan’s tail. The dust from Leviathan's tail hides Armsmaster for a moment.
Then he speaks again. "“This cloud around my blade? Nanotechnology. Nano-structures engineered to slide between atoms, sever molecular bonds. Cuts through anything. Everything. Like a sharp knife through air.”
Leviathan whips his tail at the again, only for Armsmaster to dodge the tail and the echo, getting another chunk of flesh vaporized for the beast's troubles. It turns to run, but Armsmaster launches a one blade as a grappling hook, wrapping around one of Leviathan's claws. Lrvaithan moves on, uncaring, but when the slack of the chain connecting the head and the handle runs out, he presses a button, and the halberd freeze, similar to how Leviathan had been frozen before. The Endbringer skids and falls on it's ass, wrist held up from the chain. Within the next couple seconds, the chain goes slack again, before tightening again as Armsmaster uses it to reel himself closer to Leviathan, driving his blurry halberd deep into the monster's face, before grappling away with the other.
Armsmaster calls out “Let’s see how quickly you respond to classical conditioning. Every time you try to run, I’ll do something like that.”
Leviathan's makes what feels like a half-hearted attack, before Armsmaster opens his mouth again. “For the record, that last trick was a temporal stasis trigger, with thanks owed to the cooperation of a subordinate of mine. Drains my battery reserves, but you don’t understand that, do you?”
Leviathan lunges forward, and Armsmaster launches the grapple, then freezes it, leaving Leviathan to get skewered, in through the neck and out through his the back of his torso. He continues charging towards Armsmaster. He lets the chain go slack, then dodges the beast's next few attacks, then slashes at his thighs, turning a couple chunks of those to dust as well.
Armsmaster shifts one halberd to the other hand, then wipes his mouth with the back of his empty hand. “I am going to be the one to take your head, abomination. I can only hope you know mortal terror in your last moments, know what you’ve inflicted on so many others,” he says.
Leviathan stands, touching the wound on it's face, then the one on it's neck.
“Delaying, buying time for a tsunami?” Armsmaster laughs. Leviathan cocks his head at the display of emotion. “No. Three point four minutes before the next big wave breaks through the ice. Dragon’s probes are giving me the data on that. This will be over before then.”
Armsmaster begins stepping forward. On his third step, Leviathan steps back and flicks it's tail.
“Finally scared?” Armsmaster taunts. “Good.”
Armsmaster goes all out on offense, slashing at Leviathan as fast as he can.
“I should thank you, monster,” Armsmaster speaks, after flipping back from an attack.
Leviathan tries to swamp him, but he's already moving out of the way, before launching himself up, leaving another slash in Leviathan's throat, landing on the monster's head, then jumping back down, tearing a gash down his face. Leviathan stumbles back, seemingly weakened. Armsmaster lands, then starts sauntering towards the monster. The ground starts rumbling, then the asphalt splits, a long crack down the road as far down as I can see. A concrete pipe rises from beneath the road, gushing water at Armsmaster. He freezes the water in time with his halberd, then leaps up, swinging his halberd down, then Leviathan moves quicker than he had been for the past few moments, blocking the halberd with a claw. Only this time, it didn't go through, getting stuck in Leviathan's palm. He grabs Armsmaster, then begins pressing down on his arm and wrist with claws, slowly crushing his arm. Armsmaster screams out in agony.
"Metagross, Psychic, pull Armsmaster out!"
Metagross pulls Armsmaster from Leviathan's grip, but not before his arm is mangled beyond recognition. Leviathan moves into the city while I press the communicator button of the wristband.
Browbeat deceased, BW-8. Parian down, BW-8. Shadow Stalker down, BW-8. Brandish down, BW-8. Scalder deceased, BW-8.
"Armsmaster down! Needs medical assistance!" I call into the wristband, then press the ping button on his wristband.
Armsmaster down, BW-7. Cloister deceased, BW-8. The Erudite deceased, BW-8.
"Metagross, let's follow. Launch Shadow Balls when you can. Freyja, Dragon Pulse if you're able."
We follow, the two launching attacks until we can't see him anymore, and we find what seems to be a shelter with rubble caved in over the entrance. Leviathan is nowhere to be seen. There are a few capes that are trying to clear debris from the shelter.
"Metagross, Psychic, clear out the rubble." I watch as all the rubble floats away, held in Metagross' grip. I return Gaia.
"I'm going in to check on the people in there." I open the door, head down the stairs, and encounter a load of people crammed onto a single level. I see that there is a second level under this one, but it's flooded. The water is currently around people's ankles, and it's filling fast. If people
"Alright, this shelter is flooding, so I'm going to move you to another shelter. Everyone out, single file," I call out, bringing the attention of the idiots civilians onto myself, and all their questions onto me as well.
"Why?"
"Which shelter are we going to?"
"Who are you?"
"Can I bring my dog?"
"I have a medical condition, my skin will get a rash if it gets too wet."
I feel my eye twitch. I am this close to just leaving the imbeciles behind.
"If you would like to live, come with me, nice and orderly, in a single file line. Or you can stay here and drown. Either one is fine with me. So, let's go. Single file."
I watch as people file out of the shelter, entering the downpour. Then, I hear something go on outside.
Frenetic deceased, BW-8. Penitent deceased, BW-9. Smackdown deceased, BX-8. Strider deceased, BW-8, Myrddin down, BX-9. Impel deceased, CB-10. Apotheosis deceased, CB-10. Laserdream down, CB-10.
I rush up the stairs, and see Leviathan killing capes and civilians alike. I release Gaia.
"Grab the people and go, fast as you can! Freyja, Metagross, Dragon Pulse, Psychic, Shadow Ball!"
Freyja and Metagross pepper Leviathan it the attacks as fast at they can charge them, distracting him from Gaia, who is wrapping vines around all the surviving civilians, and then lifting and running with the innocents. Then, as Leviathan begins to give chase, a golden man falls from the sky, stopping Leviathan by blasting hum with a beam of golden light. The golden man lands, then launches Leviathan back a couple blocks with a ball of that same light. Leviathan throws a car at the man, but he bats it aside with a hand, the car exploding in a golden light. The water rises up around Leviathan, then freezes, forming a wall, as tall as Leviathan, and about a hundred feet long. A person in a cape flies over, a blue-green mask beneath a hood, a green glow emanating from the hood. The golden man looks at the person with a blank face, but somehow gives the feeling of disgust, before launching the Endbringer back with another burst of golden light. And another, until Leviathan is retreating back out to sea.
"You happy, Giratina? Was this entertaining enough for you?"
Then I here the voice of the Legend that got me into this mess. "This was entertaining enough, as you put it. Would you like me to bring you back?"
"Yeah, you can bring me back now."
My shadow envelopes me as I am once more brought back to my world.