Kahu Kiaʻi
The first signs of the fight were the gunshots in the distance. Then the laser fire. What a life I lead, to recognize the 'fwoomp-fwoomp' of it, the smell of ozone along with gunpowder. People were screaming and running away, clearing the road of cars and adding to the noise.
We spun around a corner and I quickly braked to a stop. The street was right in front of one of the Pearl Harbor museums. Or gift shops. I don't know, I'd never been there before. But I imagined the tourists were usually running for the hills.
A pair of military jeeps were parked there, angled together to block off the street as civilians ran past us. Soldiers in armor and helmets with big guns were crouched behind the jeeps, shooting at the enemy.
Mousers. The small metal monsters, dozens of them, were joined by about ten Silicon Dragons providing covering fire for them. From the looks of it, the metal monstrosities were happy to simply hold position, chasing off people from the street.
"Do we fight here?" Orca asked.
Sam was getting out of his car.
"No, we need to keep moving," I said.
Sam and Orca looked over at me, surprised. "What the hell are you talking about?"
I looked over at the FBI agent, then turned back to the street. "They're spread out across this place fighting everywhere. We need to split up. Besides, Killer Frost is the biggest problem. So we need to get moving. If we don't take her out, she'll keep turning the whole area into a winter wonderland."
They had to feel it. Middle of July. And it was beginning to feel like Christmas. Snowflakes were drifting in at random, the wind was alternatively cold, then warm.
Sam scowled at me. After a moment he nodded. "Ishido!"
"Yeah?" an Asian man asked, coming around to join us.
"Hold down the fort here, take out whoever you can."
I reached for my waist and pulled off two Pokeballs. A black man in the back of Sam's SUV frowned as I opened them up, then his eyes widened when twin flashes of light were followed by Tyrunt and Mimikyu, his eyes snapping to stare at Mimikyu. His skin paled just a bit.
Tyrunt looked around. He saw one of the Mousers. His eyes widened. The Mousers all around froze, looking over at him.
"TYRUNT!"
I almost heard the sound of 'Only One They Fear' playing in my head when Tyrunt snapped forward, crossing the distance between himself and the closest Mouser, scaring the hell out of one of the soldiers, who shot at him and missed.
Tyrunt ignored them. He had his target. Mask waving in the wind, he plowed into the Mouser. And tore it in half.
"GRAGH!"
He jumped onto the next, biting deep into it, oil spilling like blood onto the ground, before he pulled his head back with a big chunk of robot in his mouth. A group of Mousers attacked, and the laughing Tyrunt welcomed them gladly, jumping back to battle.
"That's disturbing," Ishido said,
"Mimikyu…"
"Do what you can to help the psychopath," Sam said to Ishido.
"Yeah, yeah," Ishido lifted his gun and moved forward.
"Mimikyu," I said to my ghost girl. She looked up at me, wearing a Aquaman costume today. "Make a hole for us."
"KYU!" Mimikyu disappeared into Sam's shadow, making him jump in surprise, before she popped out in the middle of the battle. "MIMIKYUUUUUU!"
Ghost arms spread out from her cloak. They grabbed onto Mouser's and sent them flying. Tyrunt, seeing what she was doing, joined in.
"Follow us," I told Sam, lifting the heavy metal shield on my back and handing it to Orca. "Hold this to protect us."
"Goddamnit," Sam growled, the muscled Hawaiian man entering his car and revving it up.
"You sure you know what you're doing?" Orca asked, holding the shield out.
"I'm the king at pretending to be competent," I admitted.
"Wait, wha-AAAAH!"
The motorcycle took off. I crouched low over the handlebars, just enough that I could see under my new shield. We charged into the space between the two jeeps, Sam's SUV barely squeezing in after us. We passed by Ishido, jabbing a Mouser out of the air, Tyrunt, ripping and tearing through the robotic clones of himself, and Mimikyu, who gave us a wave with one hand as another used Wood Hammer on a robot.
Then, the Silicon Dragons in the back started shooting. Bullets bounced off my shield.
Oh right. The shield. Amos, my Loa instructor, had suggested it. A big slab of metal, shaped like a riot shield, made to take bullets. Then Giovanni got involved with the designing stage.
I'd wanted just a simple Pokeball symbol on the front.
He put the symbols of every Pokemon type on it instead. Arrayed out across the shield like the arcane images of an unknown civilization, color-coded as needed, the symbols for poison, steel, rock, all neatly engraved and painted on the shield. It was ostentatious if you asked me. But it certainly made a statement.
The shield shook as the bullets hit, but Orca held it out without complaint as we approached the Silicon Dragons. They dived aside when we threatened to run them over, turning to shoot at us only for Sam's SUV to force them to run again.
I revved the motorcycle and kept going. Up ahead would be a bridge crossing the water. Once we hit it, then we'd be on Ford Island, and then we would be able to attack Killer Frost at Battleship Row.
That was the plan at least.
Admiral Clarey Bridge was up ahead. I only knew the name of the bridge because of Gurdurr. He loved reading up on construction projects and talking about them, and the Admiral Clarey Bridge was one he admired.
We turned up onto the bridge and rode forward. Orca screamed something I couldn't hear as we approached the middle.
"What!?" I called back.
"Why aren't there anymore dragons!?" Orca yelled again.
The question hit like lightning. Mousers well behind us. A small number of Silicon Dragons… and then nothing. From the streets to the bridge. And now, a completely empty bridge over a river of ice…
Fuck.
I swung the handlebar and hit the brakes at the same time, squealing into a quick turning spin. The explosions began a moment later. In lines across the bridge, cutting it into square sections. Orca looked around, confusion on her black and white features. "What is going on!?"
"They're splitting it up," I said in shock. "They're turning the bridge into a bunch of platforms on the water.
Admiral Clarey Bridge, aka Ford Island Bridge was a marvel of engineering for a couple of reasons. It was made under-budget for one. Created to replace the ferries that used to take people to Ford Island everyday, it took- look, none of that matters. What does matter, is that it's one of the few big floating bridges in existence. Floating bridge.
The explosions ripped through the cement in precise sections, followed by the icy below us. Everything began to shift and move under our feet. I growled as I got off the motorcycle, Orca following, and ran over to the edge of the bridge. Sam and the tall black man with him ran over as well, now standing on a different section from us.
Four big sections of bridge were now floating on the water, Sam and his partner on one, Orca and I on another, each one floating with a giant platform of ice surrounding it.
"What the hell are they doing!?" Orca asked.
"They're trying to keep us from the island!" Sam shouted across to us. "We need to-"
They came rocketing from the water. 30 or so men and women, wearing armored suits colored a deep red that looked beat to hell, if still functional, they looked like shark versions of Iron Man, though their visors opened the second they were in open air. Each with the symbol of a green dragon on their chest. Landing on the bridge, they raised weapons. I lifted my shield in time to block a burst of bullet fire, Orca ducking behind me as well.
"Contact!" Sam shouted, jumping behind his SUV and pulling out an assault rifle to begin shooting, the black man with him joining in with a handgun. "David, cover right!"
"On it!" David shouted. He followed up with a harsh word that seemed to scratch a part of my throat, before a short blast of lightning came from his hand, splashing across the armor of the closest dragon to him, stunning him long enough for the guy to pop the man in the chest with three bullets.
I pulled a Pokeball from my waist and aimed it upwards. "Gurdurr, wreak havoc!"
With a flash of light, Gurdurr appeared, his large nose crinkled in concentration. The Silicon Dragons fired up at me, and his I-Beam spun quickly, blocking bullets in an incredible display of dexterity. He landed in the center of them.
"Gurdurr!" he slammed the I-Beam into the concrete and spun in a circle, the ground ripping and flying out as large stones enveloped in scarlet energy were thrown at the dragons around him, the stones bouncing off the armored men and women to drive them off.
"Orca, throw the bike!" I shouted while the Silicon Dragons were distracted.
"Okay!" She reached out and grabbed the motorcycle, it's steel crunching under her grip, biceps and back muscles flexing as she lifted the bike over head. With a roar, she threw the bike at the nearest group of dragons, scattering them.
For a moment, I thought that we might be able to turn things around.
That was when a rhino-man fell out of the sky and tackled into Gurdurr.
"Guuur!" Gurdurr bounced off the floor, then into the divider in the center of the bridge. He rolled aside just as the rhino-man rushed him again, the massive bulk smashing apart the divider.
"A serum mutate!" Orca said, a dark pain to her voice.
"Oh yeah!" another voice said, followed by a smelly brown shape rushing past me to smash into Orca. Orca landed on the ground and rolled to her feet, clutching her belly. I looked at her belly. Then I froze.
The rhino-man turned and grinned, smacking fists with a warthog man. "Nice, bro!"
"Awesome, dude!"
The two smacked chests into each other, laughing stupidly as I stared at them. A rhino and a warthog, dressed like 80's rocker villains.
"Bebop and Rocksteady!?" I couldn't help it! That was just so damn stupid. "What the hell!?"
The rhino and warthog men looked at each other. Then at me. "Who's that?"
"You are!" I was still running on shock.
"So am I Rocksteady?" the warthog asked.
"Uh, no, I think you're Bebop."
"Then am I Bebop?" the rhino asked.
"What? Dude, no, if he's Bebop, you're Rocksteady."
"Are those… our superhero names?" Bebop asked, scratching his hairy belly and letting out a pig-like snort.
"No, you-"
"Will you stop joking around and punch something!?" Sam shouted in the background.
I don't know why I was surprised when Bebop punched Rocksteady in the face.
"Dude!" Rocksteady yelled in shock.
"He said to punch something!" Bebop yelled back.
"Oh god, I don't have time for this," I pulled out a Pokeball and tossed it upwards. Mudkip erupted from it. "Surf, now! Gurdurr, hit that fucking pig!"
"Kip!" a wave of water flowed up out of the river and smacked into a group of armored Silicon Dragons, washing them across the bridge.
"Come on!" I yelled at Orca, running forward, the giant woman following quickly. The other Dragons started shooting at me, the bullets bouncing off my shield as I ran towards them until I was in front of one. I ducked down.
The Silicon Dragon had enough time to stagger back at the sight of my shield being replaced by Orca before she punched him in the face hard enough to send him flipping backwards.
As Orca and I waded into the fight, Gurdurr was moving in towards Bebop.
-
Gurdurr
"Durr!" Gurdurr jumped forward with his I-Beam, swinging it around towards Bebop's face. Bebop raised his arm in a block.
The I-Beam bounced off Bebop's forearm. Gurdurr froze for a moment in shock. In all our time in the DC world, nothing had just… blocked him. The last months had been him kicking ass all over the place. He'd smashed apart damn near any and everything that wasn't a Pokemon.
"Ha! Tickled!" Bebop swung a fist while Gurdurr was still surprised in the air. The blow struck across his face, driving him back. "Come on, shorty, you gotta do better than that!"
Gurdurr spat out to the side, gritting his teeth. He spun his I-Beam around and went for another swing. Bebop smugly went to block again. Then Gurdurr brought his attack short, revealing it to be a feint. Bebop couldn't adjust fast enough to block again before the I-Beam smashed into his belly. He acted like he'd taken a small punch, barely grunting.
Gurdurr didn't let that stop him, following up with a Mach Punch into the warthog's chin. Bebop grunted, kicking out and forcing Gurdurr to block with his I-Beam, sliding back before he ducked under another haymaker from Bebob.
"Come on, short stuff, I can take everything you've got!"
The Fighting Pokemon grinned. "Gur? Gurdurr."
Yeah? We'll see.
With another twirl, he stepped forward, Gurdurr and Bebop quickly trading blows at high speed.
-
Kahu Kiaʻi
"We're wasting time!" I shouted to Orca and Sam as the shifting bridges continued to move and shake under us. Sam took advantage of that, ducking behind the edge of his bridge to shoot at the Dragons running around on ours.
"I know! We need to get to Killer Frost!" Sam joined in. He shot someone trying to get a line on Orca, before ducking down to avoid another blow.
Mudkip dived down into the midst of more dragons, blasting one with ice. David shot that guy, shattering his ice covered armor apart and letting Mudkip headbutt him to unconsciousness.
But there were still more bad guys. And of course, the weather was still changing. We could all feel it. It was starting to get insanely cold. Taking down the dragons was important of course, but Killer Frost was going to cause a lot more damage overtime if we weren't quic-
"Got you!"
A huge gray fist wrapped around my neck, lifting me into the air. An ugly face appeared before me, grinning at me as I choked. His mouth had tombstone-shaped teeth, and his horn was a lot sharper and more intimidating looking up close.
"You're the one guy, right? You're worth a lot of money," he said right in my face. Which was unfortunate for me.
"Great," I choked, grabbing onto his arm, still holding my shield tight. "But can you please talk away from my face. Your breath is terrible."
"Kip!" Mudkip ran forward, surrounding himself in waves of water and smashing into Rocksteady's chest. The rhino-man stumbled back a step, letting go of me.
Over the edge of the bridge.
"Son of a biiiii-" I fell what must have been twenty feet, landing on my back on the ice, my shield landing next to me. I lay there for a second, my brain trying to catch up with the pain. Anyone who's had a hard landing on their back before knows the feeling.
Then I heard a crack. I closed my eyes. "Bitch."
The ice shattered under me, sending me under the water.
I felt like my brain shut down. It's hard to describe the shock of hitting water that is that cold. Cold water shock, they call it. Fall into water under 15 °C and your body begins to shut down. Muscle spasms, paralyses, and a sudden gasp reflex. All great things to have while swimming.
I felt the panic as water filled my mouth, then my lungs. I couldn't move, swim. I simply floated, gasping involuntary for air and getting water instead. Barely, in the distance, I could see a huge shadow in the water, but I barely noticed it in favor of the fact I was drowning.
A small shape splashed into the water. Followed by a much larger one. The small shape approached. Mudkip. He swam towards me, looking over me before opening his mouth.
A stream of warmth came from his mouth. Scald, a Pokemon move that could spray out superheated water. Enough to unmelt a frozen target.
For a moment, the big shadow in the distance approached. I felt myself focus on it. What was that? It wasn't ice. It was… what-
As the warmth of Mudkip's Scald flowed around me, the larger shape floated down to me, revealing itself to be Orca. She grabbed my wrist and began swimming upwards like a multi-colored torpedo. When she approached the ice, she didn't hesitate, instead smashing through.
I felt my eyes begin to close, darkness approaching, panic still taking over, before she pulled me from the water, Mudkip pushing me up.
I landed on the ice and desperately choked on nothing, trying to get air back into my lungs and instead throwing out water. I felt my lungs shake and shudder, pain filling me. After a long moment, I was breathing air again, the chill air feeling better than sex as it filled my chest.
Mudkip nudged me. When I looked at him, he had my new shield in his hand. It was wet and scratched up. But I reached out for it anyways.
Orca placed a hand on my back, watching me cough, as Mudkip sprayed more room temperature water against me, warming me and raising the temperature of it as I calmed down. Not a perfect solution when I could feel the ice under me melting, but better than the freezing water staying on me and dropping my temperature.
"You okay?" Orca asked.
"Kah-khack!" I spat out more water, gasping. "U-Under the water. That shadow. What was it?"
"Shadow?" Orca stared at me. "Uh, I think it was a submarine. We had to help you though-"
"Thank you," I held a hand out. She took it, lifting me up. I nodded gratefully.
Then I looked around quickly. We were closer to Ford Island now. I could walk there if I wanted, across the ice. But... "If there is a sub, that's probably where the Dragons are attacking from."
"Mudkip," the little blue Pokemon agreed.
"That doesn't matter, we need to get you to-" Orca began to say seriously.
I grabbed her by her soaking wet vest, pulling her down to look her in the eyes. "Grace. Orca. There is an enemy under the water. You and Mudkip are our only underwater specialists. And those armored guys are-"
A loud splash. Seven people in red armor came flying out of the water, landing on the ice and glaring at us. When Mudkip sprayed a blast of water at one, the armored man raised a metal shield that seemed to absorb the attack into ports on the front as the strange dewdrop-shaped shield glowed blue.
"Ice Beam."
Mudkip changed gears on my command, a blue-white beam freezing the shield of the man.
"Gah!" he screamed, tossing his shield aside.
"Orca, Mudkip, take out that sub!" I turned and started running. "I'm going after Killer Frost!"
"Damnit Kahu-Ugh!" I heard Orca grunt in pain. Before I could be worried, I heard a whale's cry of rage before a scream and a 'crack' sound followed, then splashes of water. When I glanced behind me, everyone was gone, with a final splash of icy water. I reached for my final Pokeball, flipping it open.
Slugma came out, landing on the ground. I felt relief at her appearance. Not just for backup. She was so nice and warm. The joys of my own lava girl.
"Slugma?" she asked as I ran/hobbled along.
"We had to split up. It's just you and me now," I told her as we ran towards where Killer Frost was reported to be. "...we split up."
I mumbled the last to myself, a sudden thought striking me. No. No one could plan something that in-depth. They'd need to know that I would be tossed into the water, which happened by accident, right?
Except… I'd been thinking of rushing forward anyways. I was focused on the main target while splitting off people to fight the Dragons…
"You okay?" Alakazam said in my mind as Slugma and I ran, my girl melting the ice on the ground where she went.
"No, I'm not. I think I'm heading into a trap."
I kept running forward, the heat from Slugma slowly drying me off as I grabbed the flat club at my waist. I'd likely need it soon.
-
Author's Note: Next chapter, everyone is split up, and the war begins in earnest. I CANNOT fucking wait.
And you all thought I wasn't gonna use Bebop and Rocksteady. So yeah, the reason they have the name is that Kahu gave it to them and they were stupid enough to roll with it. At some point, Kahu is gonna realize that and get amazingly annoyed that he's the one who made the reference.