[FIN] Nothing But Trouble

[Suudonym]

Dove's Typhlosion was soon joined by Luke's Aggron, the latter regarding his trainer with some suspicion. Tartarus wasn't trained to combat human opponents, but it didn't look like there was much room for negotiation. The large pokemon lowered his pointed head at one of the nearer enemies, threatening to charge.

"You think we're gonna just sit down and shut up after watching you kill our friend?" one of the individuals out of the paths of Tartarus and Sparky responded harshly. Some of the members flanking the circle withdrew handguns from their persons - the group had apparently expanded its range of weaponry since the last encounter. Their sights, for now, remained trained on the pokemon, ready to defend their teammates against attack.

Luke, knowing full well that he was in no shape to fight and unequipped for battle anyway, dedicated his resources towards finding some way out of the mess, or at least out of the encirclement. He didn't have much to work with, but he had a pokemon that turn invisible at will, and that was something significant. He just had to figure out how best to use it to their advantage.  

[Tori Honoo]

Though Sparky's eyes stayed fiercely locked on the ring around his master and her friends, the fire along his neck flared as the men began to draw the guns from their coats. While he would have no reserves attacking a human that threatened his trainer, the fire type was unsure how to go about disarming the men of their weapons, especially when there were so many. Any attack he could make might only set off another of the men's guns, leaving her entirely defenseless. He stayed back, growling deeply.

Dove watched the group with steady eyes as well, though her heart thudded painfully in her chest as the men trained their guns on her Pokemon. Sparky was a great protector, but his skin would do nothing to stop a bullet and though his considerable size was usually an asset, it wouldn't do much more than slow him down if guns were involved.

Maybe if she could just get out, she could call for help, she thought, daring to risk a glance at her friends as the man from before again accused Luke. The repeated information shoved aside, she turned to look around the ring for any sign of escape, freezing as a few of the men advanced slowly.  

[BlackPidgeot]

As the guns came out, Yuri knew all too well that there was no reasoning with these guys. On top of that, none of them stood much of a chance against guns. Yuri hated firearms, even though he'd been required to train in them. The man still held his ground though as the thugs advanced still holding up his blade in silent threat. If they were going down then he'd go down fighting.

However, they were not done yet. For suddenly a large, dark four legged figure rushed into the fray, trampling a couple of the gang members in the process while taking another in its jaws and shaking him like a rag doll. Shouts and screams and chaos soon ensued along with panicked shots being fired with I'll aimed accuracy. Repede too appeared, sinking his teeth into the hand of a man with a gun.

Yuri didn't waste the opportunity and flew into action, swinging his sword and sending blood flying through the air as the blade cut through another couple gang members. "Luke, get her out of here!"  

[Suudonym]

Luke's hand lay on his chest as he thought desperately, his breath coming less easily as he searched their surroundings and considered their situation. Suddenly there was another fighter present, evidently on their side, and an opening for escape was created. He turned to Dove at Yuri's shout, "Go on, I don't think they'll try too hard to stop you," and to the Aggron awaiting orders, "Tartarus, cover her." Dove wasn't the target of their grudge, but they probably wouldn't just let her waltz out unscathed; the giant steel-type would afford defense against attack, allowing her Typhlosion to fulfill any need to counter.

As Tartarus moved to comply, Luke turned his attention to the Mew still clinging at his shoulder, "Lorelei, wanna fight with me?" Though hesitant to throw himself into battle, the psychic-type was even more pleased to be relied on, and he used his ability of transformation to become a second Aggron. Targeting the most threatening foe, he used Tartarus's Metal Claw to disarm the approaching enemy.  

[Tori Honoo]

Though she flinched violently as the gunshots sounded through the room, the girl froze once more as the Arcanine appeared and barreled through the ring, her eyes widening even further as Yuri leapt into action and sliced through the men with his sword.

Well then, the thought to herself absently, terror further solidifying in her stomach. It wasn't just a weird prop.

Again, forcing the information back into the recess of her mind, she turned back to Luke and the action around them, nodding hesitantly as he told her to run, offering a quick "stay safe!" in return.

Calling to her typhlosion, she made her way toward the gap in the encirclement, staying close to the aggron's side. Though she had no intentions of leaving the boys in exchange for her own safety, she said nothing of her plans, not wanting them to worry over her presence--it would be best if they thought she was gone and could worry about their own safety, and once she was free of the men, she could call for backup and find another way to help from the outside of the ring.

Sparky took up her other side, attacking anyone that took a step toward her. As shot after shot was fired, the fire type returned the favor with a searing burst of flame, eventually creating a firewheel in his determination to keep his party safe. However, as one of the shots finally hit its target, the typhlosion roared in pain, buckling a little on its wounded arm then rising to full height to walk on its hind legs.

"Sparky!" Dove shouted, staying tucked against Tartarus' side. Knowing their escape had almost closed in on itself, she couldn't call him back to his ball just yet, when they were still surrounded--not that he would stay now anyway.
Enraged, the typhlosion stood its ground in front of her, drawing its strength for its next attack, sending the men running from him as fire exploded in their direction.  

[BlackPidgeot]

Yuri was just trying to hold off the guys so that they could escape, and hopefully keep a path clear. Having cut through a couple of the guys already, many of them were a bit reluctant to approach Yuri. Those wielding guns were paying more attention to the immediate threat, namely the Pokemon.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Dove try to make her escape, but the red head hadn't moved. "Luke, get out of here!" Yuri shouted impatiently, "Now!" However, his attention was diverted as one of the thugs actually did get up the nerve to attack him, knife in hand. Yuri's sword easily cutting into the man's shoulder and effectively disarming him for the moment.

Blasts of flame were shot in different directions from the fire dogs, while Link also used his brute strength to mow down the criminals. However, the Arcanine stumbled and yelped when a bullet tore through his shoulder. Yuri's attention was immediately drawn to the injured Arcanine. Just as the guy who brought them there drew out a gun and aimed it at Yuri's backside while he wasn't looking.

"This is pay back!" And then the man fired.  

[Suudonym]

Tartarus moved with Dove, watching their surroundings carefully. He recoiled lightly from the sound of gunfire as it connected nearby and gave a low growl at the girl's decision to leave the Typhlosion to fight with such a severe injury, but he abstained from acting on any feelings of disapproval. His duty was as the girl's protection, not as her critic.

"I'm not going anywhere!" Luke replied in defiance. "This is my fault to begin with!" These stupid thugs had only marked them because Luke had wandered into a part of town where they had noticed him, and Yuri had only become involved because he had offered assistance. He felt useless being unable to help directly, but he could - and did - guide Lorelei against their enemy, at least. The Mew was somewhat clumsy in his unfamiliar Aggron form, but he managed to hold his own, batting away those who approached with his tail and claws. The sudden shouted taunt, however, attracted Luke's attention to the man brandishing a gun against Yuri. His eyes then went to Yuri, preoccupied with the wounded Arcanine. This is my fault to begin with.

"Stop!" He was in moments removed from the protection of Lorelei's side, reaching for the man's wrist to force his aim from Yuri. This endeavor was successful - or so he thought, until he realized the heat spreading in his side from the end of the gun's barrel, which, though pulled from Yuri's target, seemed to have ended up directed at him.  

[Tori Honoo]

As more men pressed closer, Dove found herself and the Pokemon surrounding her being forced back to where they had started, though the gunfire had slowed. Feet away from where her friends were fighting, Dove stayed safely guarded by the Aggron ad drew the ball from her hip with a desperately apologetic look to Sparky. She would have him seen to immediately after they escaped--if they escaped.

Turning to see how her friends were faring and to find the source of the shout, she froze. Her heart stopped as the gun was fired.

"L....Luke!"  

[BlackPidgeot]

He had only looked away for a second, just a second, because of the Arcanine. Yuri then turned around just in time to see what happened. Luke moving to intercept a gun aimed at himself, the gun going off and... "LUKE!" The kid had just taken a shot for him... for -him-. His free hand balled into a fast and his eyes narrowed and teeth clenched. "You bastards..." the man seethed.

The gangster was at first surprised, then grinned in victory as he realized what had just happened. "Ha, that's what you get you little-HRK!" He didn't get time to finish for a blade went right through his throat.

He'd had enough, these guys had gone too far. Withdrawing the blade, Yuri was about to check on Luke when the other members of the gang noticed what happened. Essentially seeing a repeat of the same incident, they didn't run away this time. Instead they rushed for Luke and Yuri, and the latter faced them with a deep frown and a cold glint in his eye.

Switching the sword from his left hand to his right, Yuri rushed at the oncoming thugs. A flash of metal and then crimson as he met the oncoming men. With a slash he eviscerated one, and with a thrust he plunged the blade into another's chest, the sword then flipping in the air to be caught by his left hand as he took out another two in quick succession. All done with swift and deadly accuracy.

He wasn't playing around anymore.  

[Suudonym]

Tartarus and Lorelei raised their heads in attention at the situation unfolding around their human, the latter of the two Aggron abandoning his temporary form and moving to Luke's side. The trainer staggered backwards in surprise from the sudden impalement, looking on in sheer bewilderment. He didn't have time to dwell on the scene for long, though, before pain and dizziness began to drain his strength. He grasped briefly at the air in instinctive search of some kind of support before giving up on the task and lowering himself to kneel on the ground, a hand clasped at his side. There was pain, he was sure, but his concern was more focused on the blood running from the wound and its consequence spreading steadily through him. Breath came in agonizing unevenness, pressure constricting his chest and limiting his movement. The sounds of the events continuing around him was drowned out by the dull ringing in his ears, green eyes staring in unfocused concentration at the dirt- and blood-strewn floor. He had to breathe. That was all he could do now.  

[Tori Honoo]

Dove stood frozen, watching as Yuri began to demolish the attackers,tThe mew return to its form, and Luke fall to the ground. Abandoning all thoughts of her own defense, she ran to the fallen young man and knelt beside him, quickly drawing a thick white scarf from her bag and pressing it over the wound to staunch the blood flow as she spoke.

"Luke, it's okay, you're going to be okay, I promise," she told him,gently brushing his hair from his face with a shaking hand. "Just hold on."

He had to be. He had to.  

[BlackPidgeot]

As Yuri went on his rampage, cutting down any guys that came at him, he then went after another thug who had lifted a gun. However, the man was clearly in a terrified panic as he saw Yuri coming for him, the weapon held with a trembling hand and fired. The bullet zinged past Yuri's ear, cutting a few strands of his hair just before he bore down on the guy, running him through with his sword.

Link, blood running down his leg, and Repede, had quickly taken up a defensive posture around Dove and Luke. Anyone coming near them getting flamed or bitten. The remaining gang members quickly figuring out that they had better chances against the one man than the group of Pokemon protecting the girl and the fallen Luke.

"Get him!" one guy shouted and they all rushed for Yuri at once. All brandishing knives or just using their fists at this point as the others with guns had either been disarmed or killed at this point. All converging on him at once, Yuri swung his sword, cutting through flesh and taking out a couple of them just before someone's fist connected with his jaw, causing him to stagger. Another drove a knife into his arm, and yet another slashed his back. A couple guys grabbed his arms, forcing him to drop his sword and restraining him while the lot of them started beating on Yuri mercilessly.

Link was quick to go to his aid, flames dancing between his jaws as his teeth sank into the shoulder of one thug and yanked him back. Repede was there as well with a Wild Charge, effectively electrocuting another guy. Able to wrestle himself free with the distraction, Yuri quickly picked up his sword again. Ignoring the pain he hacked away at the nearest guys, and between him and the two dogs, took them all out... finally.  

[Suudonym]

He winced at the sudden pressure to his side, the offered fabric slowly soaking. Hands and shoulders trembled lightly from the accumulating physical burdens, and breath came with increasing difficulty. Despite everything, he forced himself to respond to Dove's presence with as much of a smile as he could manage. It wasn't much of a smile. "Are you and Yuri okay? You don't have to worry about me, but could you make sure Mieu and everyone are all right?" The wound itself wasn't of a very serious nature, but he couldn't physically withstand the stress of the blood loss. His face paled, a mist of sweat forming at his forehead as vision faded in and out of whiteness. If he had to die, he didn't want to die terrified and grieving. He had been confronting the possibility of his death far too long for that.

Tartarus, moving to join the party at his trainer's side, paused before passing Yuri. The unfamiliar fighter seemed to be in pretty poor shape, and given that the man had fought as their ally, the Aggron saw it fit to offer him his large form for support.  

[Tori Honoo]

She looked back as though he were crazy to ask such a question, then shushed him as he continued to speak. "Sh, sh, hey. You're going to be okay, I promise. I'll...I'll take care of things." Somehow...

She watched him another moment, then urged him to lie back slowly, moving carefully to support him. Once that was done, she grabbed her phone and dialed for emergency response, looking to Yuri as she did so.

Her breath caught in her throat as her eyes fell over him and the mangled corpses that laid at his feet. Covered in blood and staggering through the bodies of his victims, he looked absolutely terrifying. When the operator on the other line responded, it took a moment for her to give their location (as best she could tell) and the situation. With reassurance and a bit of guidance received, she sat the phone aside, and turned her attention back to Luke (lest her stomach begin to churn more violently), who at the moment was clearly in need of much more attention--and much less a threat.  

[BlackPidgeot]

Once it was all done, Yuri staggered a bit. He was bruised, his lip busted, blood running down his arm where he'd been stabbed, and the back of his tunic torn again. Not to mention he was spattered with blood from the bodies lying on the floor. Breathing heavily from exhaustion and pain, he put a hand against the Aggron as it offered him support. Taking a moment to stare vacantly at the bodies on the floor as he realized what he just did.

The tip of his sword dragging the ground, the blade dripping with blood, Yuri started to make his way towards Luke. When Dove made the call, has was relieved, and yet... he knew as soon as the ambulance got there it wouldn't be good for him. It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who slayed all these people.

Still, Yuri fell to his knees at Luke's side and put a hand on his shoulder.