Arms of Arceus

Suzuki glided through the air above Greenland with twelve angry Beedrill at her back as she made for the base camp. They flew above the trees, darting down beneath the thick branches then back up again as they scouted the lay of the land. The Pokémon had been forced to fight from the moment they had arrived in this brutal landscape, and Suzuki had reveled in the glory of it. From the plants and animals, to the very water and air, everything on this continent had been tainted by a strange radiation that had transformed the inhabitants into engines of destruction. On a purely physical level, these creatures were stronger than anything the Pokémon had faced on Octaria. A herd of massive, raging deer had pressed her forward detachment hard, cracking the armor of the Armaldo she had sent through to secure the arrival point. Despite the great size difference, the Armaldo had managed to hold the animals back, and Fluttershy had been able to calm them after a brief standoff.

Now the Pokémon were busy clearing out an area of jungle far from the simple civilizations of the Hulks. By powering the teleporters with the magic of the pulsing, diamond pillars that hid the city, the Pokémon had entered Battleworld undetected. Even so, Dorris was busy leading her strongest clairvoyants in monitoring Doomstadt and the kingdoms surrounding it for signs that God’s Breath had somehow been discovered. The council had been given leave to make the first forays into Battleworld, while Fluttershy stood by at the base camp, and Harmony stood by at the portal site within the city. Each of them had teams of nurses ready to treat friend and foe alike while Suzuki and Torri led the forward expedition.
Suzuki felt that she had gained a measure of this kingdom. It was full to bursting with war potential, and the chance for glory. The shield she had taken from the Deadlands was now strapped to her back, polished and clean but unchanged. It was a functional trophy, and it had already proven quite useful in dealing with the creatures of this world. She had chosen to wear it while exploring to test Headpool’s claim and to give her blind spot a bit of protection. Though she had initially feared that it would break and she would lose her trophy, that fear lessened the more she witnessed its impressive durability. Now, she had no worries about being struck from behind, and her fighting style had become bolder as a result.
Though the expedition had only been in Greenland for a day, several dozen specimens of local fauna had been sent back to camp for medical treatment and examination. From massive snakes with fangs as large as Suzuki, to thirteen-foot-tall gorillas and bears, everything in this place was large, deadly and seemed to be itching for a fight. Suzuki and her swarm had overcome every challenge that had come their way, despite certain limitations placed on her. Fluttershy had expressed great sympathy for the inhabitants of Greenland, and she had requested that none of them be killed. The shy pegasus had asked that all injured creatures be sent to her as soon as possible. Suzuki had agreed, and everything she had fought, if seriously injured, had been taken back into the forest’s heart by groups of Machoke and Gurdurr once pacified.

She didn’t mind sparing these mindless beasts, regardless of how brutal they were, but she wasn’t sure how long Fluttershy’s sympathies could be appeased. Chompy was leading the second wave, along with an elite team of Garchomp. Suzuki and Torri would have the enemy sighted, and hopefully destroyed before he arrived. However, if they proved to be too powerful or too numerous, Chompy would call upon his dragon-type battalions and march on Greenland. These Hulks were powerful, but she wasn’t sure they would be able to survive the single-minded destruction the Tyrantrum would bring to their lands. Then she encountered her first humanoid hulks in a clearing near the forest’s edge.

Suzuki had been careless, and the hunters spotted her swarm before she spotted them. Their first attack caught the Pokémon off guard. Though her Beedrill were agile enough to avoid being skewered by the sudden barrage of spears and arrows, many were cut as the surprise attack erupted through the trees. The hulk’s weapons were made from the massive Gamma Trees, whose bark was as strong as an Onix’s skin and tipped with steel and flint. Her swarm dodged a second wave of fire before closing in as their leader made a clipped report on the encounter through the psychic link. These hulks had the wherewithal to report back to someone, and if they did then word could reach Doom’s ears. As Suzuki engaged, she decided to incapacitate them and have their memories altered in God’s Breath, but the fight soon proved to be more than she’d expected.
She shattered arrows and spears left and right as her Beedrill dodged the hulk’s attacks. Their stingers barely penetrated the hulk’s skin, and even then the hulks quickly shrugged off the poison. The Tyranids and Orks had done similar, for a time. Eventually the Orks had succumbed to the poisons, while the Tyranid troops had merely adapted. These hulks were laughing off the Beedrill stings as they drew long hunting knives and slashed out with surprising speed, forcing her swarm back. This irritated Suzuki as she crashed into the enemy’s primitive formation. She picked out the leader, a tall, red hulk with a furious smile on his scar-covered face. He looked demented as he stood his ground, but that changed to surprise as the Mega Scizor cut through his skin.

Blood poured from the open wound, though Suzuki noted that it began to heal almost instantly. As her Beedrill kept the other hulks busy, she examined the shocked leader for signs of weakness while gliding out of the reach of his fists. Thinking his foe was avoiding battle, he roared in anger, clapping his hands together with enough force to send shockwaves through the air and shake the nearby trees. Suzuki caught the wind and flew backward, absorbing the shockwaves with a grimace as her Beedrill were scattered. She gave a short order to her swarm before coming back around for another X-Scissor. The hulk leader watched her approach and stood his ground as she cut him a second time. He reached out as Suzuki made contact, wrapping his hands around her torso and slamming her to the ground with a scream of satisfaction. Suzuki felt the ground crater beneath her, and her exoskeleton cracked from the force. She gritted her mandibles as she ignored the pain, slashed the hulk’s wrists and tore herself free from the creature’s grip.

Her Beedrill were now doubling up on the six remaining hulks, diving in and out of range one at a time, forcing their opponents to focus in two places at once. The hulks seemed to adapt to this tactic this with practiced ease, but Suzuki noticed the first signs of fatigue on several of their faces as they struggled to land a blow on the Pokémon. They were the ones who had been stung the most, though red hulk never noticed this weakness.
Laughing now, the leader reached over his shoulder and withdrew a long, steel sword. He swung it at Suzuki as he charged her, the gouges and scars on the blade shining in the light of the sun. With expert timing, Suzuki ducked underneath the cut and darted behind him to sever his Achilles tendons. Taking advantage of her momentum, she rose into the air, spun and launched herself at the injured hulk to slam him to the ground with a Giga Impact. He lay face down for a moment on the cracked earth and shivering vines. Growling in rage, he rose onto unsteady feet. He let out a mighty roar as he attempted to rally his now desperate group, only for it to be stifled by the vines wrapping around his throat. Some of the hulks screamed, some gurgled, and they all fought as the thick vines that had been covering the ground quickly entangled them and dragged them deeper into the forest. More vines shot up from the ground and nearby trees, grasping for the Pokémon and forcing them to fly higher until they were above the canopy and out of reach.

The bug-types hovered in the air, amazement and fear quickly suppressed by survival instinct. The vines that had shot after them were soon pulled back into the forest, leaving the clearing barren. Biting back her nerves, Suzuki flew to the ground. She bent down and took several of the broken spear shafts before rising once more into the sky. The screams of the hulks continued for five minutes, following the swarm as they flew back the way they had come. Eventually, the screams came to a terrifyingly abrupt end. Suzuki made the event known through the psychic link as she pulled her Beedrill back. Suddenly, she wasn’t so sure that Chompy’s ruthlessness wasn’t necessary.

Torri made note of Suzuki’s voice as she reported her encounter with the humanoid hulks, though she barely registered her friend’s words as she focused on the rhythmic swiping of her claws moving through soft earth. Despite her present lack of attention, it felt good to use the psychic link for its traditional purpose once more. It had always been a means of communication between the members of the High Council. That had changed due to the situation on Octaria, where larger forces had been divided to make them more agile, and knowledge of the future had been necessary to deal with the overwhelming numbers God’s Breath had faced. Now the link was reserved for the High Council once more, though the young Gardevoir they were channeling through still felt the need to describe his visions to the group. The Excadrill assumed it was an order from Dorris and left the boy alone. He had been right twice in the last four hours, which, as Torri understood it, was an improvement from his time serving under Rarity. His wrong predictions hadn’t cost them much more than time, and while that annoyed Torri, she thought it more important that he get some practice and become a better clairvoyant.

Torri was too busy digging to care much, anyway. Teams of Excadrill, Diggersby, Bunnelby, and Dugtrio were rapidly digging tunnels and trenches throughout the forest on the shores of Greenland’s southern border. Dorris had predicted that the area known as the Badlands was where they would encounter their first enemy, and they needed to hurry if they were to prevent an attack on the Mud Kingdom further north. Hurrying was what Torri did best, and she took pride in pushing her ground-types hard to meet her expectations every day. They were already reaching the Badlands, despite several unforeseen obstructions on the first day of operations. She now had a secret weapon to deal with those obstructions, though.

Torri smiled in satisfaction as she turned to look at her newest charge. Maud Pie stood a few meters down the tunnel, further along their path to the Badlands than any of the other diggers. She was good when she wanted to be, but she couldn’t compare to Torri’s experienced ground-types when it came to working the soil. Her talents shined whenever they found a rock blocking their way, which had happened four times thus far. The roots of the trees overhead had been easy enough to dig around or manipulate into braces, but every rock they had encountered had been larger, and stronger than the Pokémon could handle. Torri had broken the first, but it had taken her three whole minutes. That had been far too much time wasted, so she had tried something different when she came across the second rock. She had called Maud for help. The pony had been slow to arrive, and she had stood for a full minute studying the bolder when she had finally made it. After a minor outburst from Torri, Maud had destroyed the rock in three quick kicks.

Now Torri kept Maud as a permanent part of the team, ready to break these absurdly strong rocks whenever they were found. Torri watched as Maud dug absentmindedly with one hoof while examining a chip that had broken off of the last rock she had destroyed. On her head was the rock she called Bolder. Torri was unsure if Bolder was truly alive, but Maud treated it with a love and care that only made sense in the context of a pet. Between her one-sided conversations with Bolder and her eagerness to study the gamma infused rocks around them, the pony was a slow and unenthusiastic digger most of the time, but the Excadrill was fine with that so long as she could clear paths.

Torri was amusing herself by considering her interesting work conditions when the tunnel began shaking. She put a claw to one of the walls and felt for the source. It was coming from up above. She leapt out of the way as a large, grey fist plunged into the earth to grab at her. It missed, but another grey fist broke through the ground above Maud and pulled her up to the surface. The surprised pony’s eyes widened slightly as she was dragged out of the tunnel. Bolder fell off her head, changing direction mid-air to land underneath her silver armor. Torri raised an eyebrow at the rock’s unexplainable redirection as Maud disappeared through the hole.

“Look what I pulled from the ground!” bellowed a voice from up above. Torri ran a ways down the tunnel, past her fleeing subordinates, before sticking her head up to see what had become of Maud. Two large, grey humanoid creatures were staring at the pony with dumb, excited expressions. Torri assumed they were the humanoid hulks that Headpool had spoken of.

“It’s a pony!” said the hulk that held Maud. The mare only looked at him dispassionately, the edges of her mouth curved down ever so slightly in anger. “Told you I was right, Tom. There was somethin’ diggin’ at the ground!”

“I’ve not liked horse,” Tom said. “Never have, not enough fat on them.”

“I don’t think I’d taste very good,” Maud said.

“Oy, it talks, Bill!” Tom said as he grabbed at Maud and pulled her from Bill’s hands. “What’s a talking pony taste like again?”

“I dunno,” Bill said, as he hit Tom upside the head. “Is you a West Nag?”

“I’m a mare from a rock farm several miles outside of Ponyville,” Maud said, simply.

“I ain’t never eaten a Ponyville nag. What’s you taste like?”

“Like rocks, probably,” Maud said, sarcastically. Torri couldn’t help but smile at the remark.

“It doesn’t matter what you taste like,” Tom said. “Bert’ll make sure you taste like chicken. That’s what all his food tastes like, except the chicken.”

“What tastes like fish!” Bill said.

“Oy, what’s all this talk a’ fishes, now?” said a third grey hulk as he lumbered up behind his friends. “The mutton’ll be done soon, and you’ve been too long out lookin’ for tomorrow’s food, hey.”

“We pulled a pony out of the ground,” Tom said as he tucked Maud under his arm.

“That’s dumb talk that is,” Bert said as he hit Tom on the head with his crude, wooden spoon. “Ponies live in da’ fields and da’ like, not underground.”

“I caught ‘er, anyway,” Bill said. “I’m just lettin’ you hold ‘er.”

“You’re armpit smells awful,” Maud said as she put her front hooves to her nose. “I’m getting out of here.”

She kicked out hard with her back hooves and forced herself free of the hulk’s grasp, knocking him onto his face in the process. The hulk’s friends laughed at his misfortune while Maud ran for the hole. She was stopped just as she reached its edge and dragged back to the group. She kicked hard at the fist that held her. Bert yelled in pain as the bones in hand cracked, but Bill was already reaching for Maud, with Tom following suit as he staggered to his feet. The pony turned to face her attackers; her normally passive face now angry and determined.

Torri admired that determination as she leapt into the ground and dug below the three hulks. She came up just as Bill’s hand wrapped around Maud’s neck, slicing the hulk’s forearm open with a Metal Claw and forcing him backwards. He growled angrily as the cut on his arm began knitting itself back together, and his friends advanced behind him.

“We can’t let them leave,” Torri said as she glanced sideways at Maud.

“Then we have to knock them out,” Maud said as the three hulks charged together.

The next few moments were filled with blurs of movement and screams of anger. Maud leapt for the hulk named Tom and kicked him in the forehead as he grasped clumsily for her. He was thrown from his feet to land on his back, a hoof-shaped dent marking the place where he had been struck. Bill raised his fist and lunged for Maud, shattering the ground as she leapt out of the way. Torri jumped back underground, emerging a moment later to hit Bill’s head with the backs of her claws as he recovered his balance. She returned to the ground as the grey behemoth put a hand to his head and roared, only to emerge a second later and hit him again. She continued this as Maud charged Bert, breaking one of his legs with a brutal kick before sliding underneath him, leaping into the air, and kicking the back of his head.

“These guys are tough,” Maud said as she landed. Bill was staggering after the tenth strike to his head, while Bert was pulling himself back to his feet in-between cries of anger and pain.

“At least the smaller one stayed down,” Torri said, as she abandoned another attack to dodge Bill’s fist. She pulled herself onto his arm and ran along it, past his shoulder to leap back into the ground.

“Tom’s always been a weak one,” Bill roared as he tried to follow Torri. “He’s just a kid, afterall. We keep taking him places ‘cuz our mum said we had to.”

“Aye, but he does make for a good laugh now and then,” Bert said as he charged Maud.

“Laughing at your friends isn’t nice,” Maud said as she dodged under Bert’s grasp.

“Nonsense, pony. He ain’t no friend and he ain’t gonna help us, none. Look at ‘em cryin’ over there.”

Bert stopped mid-assault to point over at Tom. Maud looked at the smaller hulk to see that he wasn’t unconscious, only sobbing into his arm while lying on his back.

“Those is hurtful words!” Tom said, angrily. “I’ll tell mummy you’ve been mean to me!”

“Oh come off it,” Bert said as he waved a large hand at Tom. He opened his mouth to continue griping, only to be struck in the jaw with an earth-shattering kick by Maud. He was thrown from his feet once more, landing on his back several yards away where he stayed, unmoving.

“Ha!” Tom yelled, viciously. “Serves you right, you big bully!”

“What are you doin’ Tom?” Bill said as he took another heavy blow to the head. “Help me catch this mole thing and the pony so’s we can eat!”

“Fine, fine,” Tom said as he rose to his feat and charged. He reached for Torri as she leapt from the ground, but like his companion, he was too slow to catch her. She turned in mid-air, landed on his arm and charged his head. Her Giga Impact shook the air and sent him flying from his feet toward Maud. The pony stomped his head into the ground, stopping his momentum as Torri fell back into her hole to recharge.

“Dang it, now they’re both asleep,” Bill said as he staggered up to Torri’s hole. “We’ll never eat if they stay like this.”

“Don’t worry,” Maud said as she approached the unsteady hulk. “We’ll feed you after we alter your memories. I think you’ll get along better after that, too.”

Bill looked confused for a moment, as if Maud had said something completely alien. Then, before he could speak, Torri leapt from the ground and landed the finishing blow. Her second Giga Impact sent him flying past Maud into a large bolder. The gamma enhanced rock shattered, and when the dust and dirt had cleared Bill lay on his face, as motionless as his companions.

“The Beheeyem will make good use of their abilities tonight,” Torri said a few moments later as she took a rope given to her by a Sandslash. “They’ll fit in our tunnels, but only in a single file. Can you get them back to base?”

“Yeah, I’ll pull them there,” Maud said as she wiped a bit of blood from her hooves. “Just make sure they’re secured properly.”

“Did you hear all that?” Torri asked, her attention already shifting to the psychic link, even as she secured the hulks to Maud.

“I heard it,” Fluttershy said. “I’m preparing the medical tables now. They’ll hold them, right?”

“Eh, maybe. I don’t know. If all else fails, just operate on the ground.”

“But that’s so unsanitary! I’ll send for bigger tables.”

“Send for some treats for Bolder, too,” Maud said as she pulled the rock from her armor and placed him on her head.

“O-ok,” Fluttershy said, a hint of confusion and amusement in her voice.

“Did you hear that, Suzuki?” Torri said, already moving the conversation. “We got three human hulks! How’d it go with the group you encountered?”

“I think they got eaten by plants,” Suzuki said after a moment. Her voice was a strange mix of excitement and fear. “Get those guys back to base, fast. We need more information about this place.”

“Gotcha!” Torri said as she leapt in the hole behind Maud. “Hurry up, Maud! We gotta move it before Chompy gets here, or he’ll gripe at us.”

“Will he really?” Maud asked as she began a brisk canter down the tunnels.

“I dunno. His mouth is so big, sometimes I think he’s about to yell when he’s really just chewing his food. Point is, we need to go faster!”

“Right,” Maud said, though she didn’t increase her speed. Torri ordered her workers to dig the next tunnels twenty meters further underground as she scampered back to base with Maud.