End Game (Balendin)

[ardos]

(Warning: Violent descriptions may ensue.)

Ardos didn’t want to leave the cave. He knew who was waiting for him, and he had no intention of confronting him. However, it would seem such a thing would be inevitable. If Ardos wouldn’t leave…Balendin would certainly come in. How did it ever come down to this? He was always so careful, well most of the time he was. It had to have been his spite, that lust of revenge that created this plan and gave that damned Nascour the opportunity to double cross him. Oh fate, how you have screwed him.

Ardos decided that it was best to leave, there was a chance that Nascour was just bluffing and Balendin would not be waiting for him at all. If he were out there though…Ardos would be in for quite a fight. He wouldn’t go down easily, a push over he was not.

It wasn’t like he had much to lose; Nascour had already taken everything Ardos held dear in one swoop of his freakish hand. The only thing left was his life, and he would be damned if he had some mainland posh take that from him. Ardos pulled a single pokeball from under his coat and after a final goodbye to his dear deceased Alakazam he exited the cave.

When he came upon the entrance, his fears were confirmed. There was Balendin, patiently waiting for Ardos to arrive. A slight sneer formed on Ardos’ face, but it was soon sucked back into the frown that had just recently taken residence. He stepped out of the shadows and stared at the man before him. Would he be his executioner, or his greatest triumph? It was time to find out.

Ardos spat on the ground and spoke, for the first time since he has entered the war, in his native Orre accent, “You think you can take me down huh? You’re welcome to try sir but I swear to you this, I never go down quietly.” With a wave of his arm, the ball in his hand was opened and a one-eyed Sceptile emerged from within. The sceptile growled at Balendin, and Ardos quickly spout out, “It’s you or me. Let’s try to make this quick eh?”

[balendin]

Balendin moved purposefully towards his destination. High above him, currently hidden by some clouds, flew his dragonite. Balendin had found his smoking gun. Of course, his gut instinct had guided him towards the killers long ago and it was rarely wrong, but it was far easier to pursue an investigation when he had more solid evidence. No doubt Blaine would appreciate some sort of more solid proof if Balendin was going to take down a relatively influential Lux figure.

The evidence the veteran had obtained was beyond expectation. It not only implicated Ardos in the assassination of Owen, but also proved his other suspicions as well. Had Balendin been a religious man, he might have thought the gods had chosen to bless him with a miracle.

Balendin made his way to the cave Ardos had allegedly taken to as a hideout. Lux forces, carefully hand picked for their loyalty to the true Lux cause, would be gathering now to clear the cave, but it would be some time before they moved in on the position. Balendin would have plenty of time to deal with Ardos if the man had not already fled.

Balendin stood in front of the entrance of the cave. Would Ardos come? Hopefully it could all end today, but even if the traitor escaped, he was doomed to live on as a hunted criminal. Even if Balendin died, the information of Ardos' treason would get out to the world.

The traitorous council man finally slinked out of his hiding hole. It was time to teach this Orre hick how justice was served in the mainland.

"Ardos Verich. You are under arrest for treason and murder along with, no doubt, any other number of horrendous crimes that have yet to be discovered. Turn yourself in peacefully or I will be forced to use extreme force."

As expected, Ardos was going to resist. Resisting arrest was basically an admission of guilt in Balendin's book. If Ardos was to die in this encounter, Balendin would not lose any sleep.

"Fine then. I was hoping you would resist. Justice will be served regardless if it is here now or on an execution block later."

As Ardos threw out a pokeball, Balendin did the same. In a flash of light, an Arcanine appeared. Not wasting any time, the legendary pokemon let forth a stream of fire towards its opponent in the form of a powerful Flamethrower attack.

[ardos]

Balendin was quick to bring out his own pet, and Ardos didn’t expect any less. The Sceptile stepped in front of its master and sneered at the oversized mongrel, ready to go one on one right away. Ardos didn’t give any normal commands though, instead simply hissing, “Kill.”

The sceptile nodded, though it wasn’t used to improv. It charged forward, its arm leafs glowing green and extending to form a Leaf Blade. As the flamethrower came its way, the Sceptile’s only good eye flashed in an attempt to detect the attack. With a swift roll it dodge the attack and swirled around to strike the arcanine.

In the mean time, Ardos took another pokeball out of his coat. He had never fought a sentinel before, heck he was a sentinel at one point. This could go downhill very fast, and he wished to be ready if fate decided to screw him over.

((Take out that Sceptile as you see fit.))

[balendin]

Balendin's Arcanine let out a half growl, half roar as the Leaf Blade caught it leaving a shallow wound. The Flamethrower was then quickly was rendered useless by a well placed Detect. Quickly the Arcanine lunged at it with a Crunch attack. Its jaws closed around the sceptile's neck, but instead of letting go it hung on. Shaking its head and pulling back, the legendary pokemon ripped a chunk out of the forest pokemon's neck. The Sceptile staggered and the Arcanine let out another stream of flames. The grass type went down in a blaze. It struggled on the ground as it burned and then went still.

"The murder was brilliant, by the way. I searched that crime scene from top to bottom and could not find any evidence or DNA to implicate anyone. Probably should have staged it to be less professional. Nox is typically far more sloppy when they kill people."

[ardos]

Ardos made his way to the left as his Sceptile zoomed in for the attack. His blood was rushing; certainly his well-trained sceptile could defeat any brute he went up against…opps spoke too soon. As soon as Ardos got a clear view of the two, he witnessed his poor grass companion get its throat ripped out and then had to watch as the monster burned the sceptile alive…well mostly alive.

Ardos growled, another damn pokemon dead. He didn’t care about his Sceptile as much as he did his alakazam but the notion of someone killing his pokemon just made him fume with anger. As Ardos let loose the second pokeball had brought out, which released a rather bored looking Sawk, Balendin began to go on about some murder Ardos committed. Ardos didn’t really say anything to deny his claim; after all during his time here in the mainlands he murdered a fine number of people. He had no idea Balendin spoke of the former president Owen’s assassination, the only deed Ardos could firmly say he did not do.

Ardos quickly commanded his Sawk, “Retaliate.” and the fighting pokemon obeyed. It jumped forward and began to run toward the arcanine, it’s hands glowing and rearing back to deliver a vengeful punch in the name of his fallen comrade.

[balendin]

As Ardos released a new pokemon so did Balendin. Not knowing what Ardos would call next Balendin could only hope for luck. Drawing out a pokeball, he released his Metagross. As it was released, the sunlight caught its skin causing a sparkling effect. His Metagross was a bit different from a regular Metagross. It had some sort of strange mutation which caused its coloration to be different from others of its species. Instead of a blue body with a silver X, this metagross had a silver body with a golden X. In addition, as one could see, the sun caused the sheen on its body to seem like it was sparkling. Apparently, his condition was rare and highly sought after by collectors, but to Balendin it did not matter as long as the pokemon fulfilled its purpose.

The Metagross appeared at the same time as a Sawk. It seemed to Balendin's luck held true. Soon the karate pokemon was charging the iron leg pokemon down with a vicious Retaliate attack. The powerful normal attack smashed into the steel pokemons body sending it flying back a few feet. Fortunately, the sturdy steel pokemon was able to take the damage.

"Metagross. Stop it where it stands with a Zen Headbutt."

Metagross obeyed infusing its steel head with psychic energy and blasting forward towards the nearby Sawk.

[ardos]

Ardos gazed upon the Metagross and yet felt no fear. Even with its unusual coloring, Ardos ‘s mind was blinded by rage and he still thought he could win. Unfortunately, when that Zen Headbutt hit his Sawk, the poor pokemon’s spine snapped in half and its rib bones shattered into pieces, puncturing several major organs. It was dead before it hit the ground.

Ardos stared at the limp pokemon for only a moment, quickly taking out yet another pokeball. He wasn’t sure what exactly lay dormant in the ball, but he sure as hell knew he didn’t pack a shedninja. This was like the fifth time the stupid creature had appeared instead of one of his other pokemon, how did it keep sneaking into his team? The damned ghost pokemon hovered quietly and hummed a haunting song to its master. Ardos roared and tried kicking the useless pokemon away but his foot fazed through it. He was about to recall the sneaky bastard when a grand idea popped into his head. He pointed at the Metagross and hissed, “Attack it.”

The shedninja yipped with joy; at long last it had a purpose. It could finally prove that it wasn’t as useless as his master had thought. The shedninja turned to look at the metagross and somehow felt no fear. It would surely defeat this foe and finally gain acceptance into his master’s team. The ghost slid into its own shadow and disappeared from view, only to reappear in the shadow of the Metagross to strike it. This Shadow Sneak would most certainly defeat the giant gleaming behemoth!...right?

[balendin]

Balendin's Arcanine had been hanging back as Metagross and Sawk fought. Back in days long past, the legendary pokemon remembered that his master would call him back before sending out another pokemon in battle. It seemed that humans had ceased to follow such rules as time had moved on.

What would see to someone on the outside as a casual flick of his master's wrist, the Arcanine clearly understood as an order. Slowly stalking to the puny ghost's side, the Arcanine suddenly shot forward. His goal was to bring his jaws down on the Shedninga's body. After the Crunch attack, he would release a Flamethrower engulfing the shed pokemon in flame.

Balendin's Metagross was hit by the ghost bug's attack. A dark attack would be nasty to a regular Psychic type, but the powerful duel steel type was able to absorb the impact. Metagross was ready to strike back, but the order never came.

[ardos]

The shedninja did not see the legendary beast from behind and thus could not react accordingly. Surprise engulfed the little creature as it was snatched up into the beast’s jaws, causing pain to surge through its body. The shedninja soon saw no escape from its fate, and as fire consumed its body it could not help but let out these final thoughts: “Oh what a dreadful thing my life has been, to have been discarded as a husk and abandoned by my maker. Why would he not accept me? Was I not loving toward him? Did I not make every attempt to prove I was useful? Oh all that effort and time, wasted on an inane venture. Perhaps in the life beyond I shall have purpose: Et sic cadam.” And with that, the husk pokemon burned away into dust.

Ardos weaved a sadistic yet frail smile upon his face. At least something good happened today. Ardos took out yet another pokeball, knowing for sure this one would hold a useful minion. He threw the pokeball far ahead of him and from it emerged a Cradilly. Ardos growled slightly, the plant pokemon was strong indeed but it couldn’t move, not a very good choice against two rather active opponents. Ardos wasn’t a fan of using more than one pokemon ever since his assassination attempt on that one Hoenn leader, made his mind spread too thin. However, he found this to be a desperate situation, so he reached into his coat for another companion.

Unfortunately, as he fiddled through his coat he found no other pokeballs. Cradily was his last one. How could he have been beaten so badly? Damn that Nascour, he shall pay for his treachery. Oh well, Cradily would have to do…well it would if it weren’t dead by the time Ardos looked up…

[balendin]

A lone Cradily. Did the great Ardos really only bring four pokemon with him? Two on one was not really what one could call fair, but this was not a matter of being fair. Balendin was not here for a fair fight. He was here to bring down a Lux traitor. A man with no honor who had committed crimes innumerable. He did not deserve any special favors.

"Metagross, Meteor Mash. Arcanine, Iron Tail."

The two pokemon advanced on the lone Cradily. In theory, together the two powerful steel moves should be able to end this fight immediately.

Balendin decided to end this for good. Pulling out his handgun, he pointed it into the air and let out a shot. Like a dragon of ancient legend, the Dragonite descended out of the clouds. It opened its maw and it began to glow. Out of it sprung a beam of pure destructive energy heading not towards any pokemon, but towards Ardos himself.

[ardos]

With his last pokemon dead, Ardos didn’t know what to do. He was not prepared for this battle, He had brought the bare minimum to fight a foolish boy not a hardened veteran. He decided that there was only one solution: take this bastard down himself. Ardos reached for his handguns but found them to be missing from their holsters…he had left them in the cave.

Ardos screamed in frustration, and consumed by fury he prepared to charge his two opponents unarmed. However any thought of taking on two horribly powerful creatures with his bare fists vanished as the dragonite appeared. Ardos suddenly was so eager for battle.

This escalated sense of danger only increased as the beast opened its mouth and unleashed a bright ray of energy. The Cradily was already a heap of green goo so Ardos could only assume it was meant for him. He turned to run back into the cave and hide in the darkness from Balendin. He didn’t even make it one foot before the beam ripped through his body. His entire being jolted, his arms twisted and his head jerked back causing his sunglasses to fall from his face. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he tried to scream in pain but all that came out was a horrible prolonged grunt. When the beam faded, a hole could be seen through Ardos’ chest and most of his stomach. What wasn’t disintegrated fell to the ground as he did, gasping and grunting. He was physically dead as he hit the ground, however his brain did not immediately turn off. As he lay on the earth, gazing into the darkness of the cave, his final thoughts rolled through his head. Most villains simply reflect on the bad things they did and come to accept that maybe being a bastard was not the best direction, however all Ardos’ brain could think of in its final moments was how he had failed his father. His father was not avenged, and he would never be avenged…and it was his fault. Ardos actually for some reason hoped Arceus took him to the distortion world, so that he wouldn’t have to face his father’s disappointment in paradise. With that haunting feeling of dread still lingering, Ardos let go.