Chapter 33
Dick Grayson/Robin
Backflipping over a series of bullets, Robin let out a small laugh. "Man, I thought Hawaii was going to be relaxing!"
His booted feet pressed against the wall behind him, the Boy Wonder springing off before the next burst of gunfire could hit him, then somersaulting around to pull out his staff in mid-air, the metal shaft smacking a Silicon Dragon gangster in the face.
He landed with grace, grinning confidently as he assessed the situation. Six guys, formerly eight. A small number. If he'd been quiet and stealthy, he might have been able to take them out without anyone noticing.
But Dick Grayson had been in a plane for the last 7 hours, then sitting around waiting after that. When Bruce told him to go out and explore, get a feel for the underworld of Hawaii (who would have thought Hawaii had an underworld?), he'd jumped at the chance.
But he couldn't run around in his costume. Can't have Robin in Hawaii at the same time as Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson without a solid alibi. So instead, he was wearing the most generic suit he could. Thin blue-black Kevlar sweater and pants, with a series of pouches for all his gear and a full mask.
Thank god the stuff was breathable, otherwise, he'd be sweating like crazy in the humidity.
"I gotta say, you guys are more fun than I thought," Robin ducked under a kick, smacked the man in between the legs with his staff, then tossing an iron ball bearing in between the eyes of another person, dazing him long enough for Robin to leap upwards and land on the guys back with booted feet, sending him crashing to the ground. "Like pinatas! Easy to crunch, and fun to watch fall apart."
"Where the hell are you little shits coming from!?" a woman with the Dragons pulled out an Uzi and fired it. "Shouldn't you be in school?"
Robin backflipped into the air, landed on a wall, jumped off that to take cover behind a set of fire escape stairs bolted into the opposite wall. He jumped through the fire escape, twisted around with the grace of a born Olympian as bullets fruitless followed him, and smashed into the woman with his right foot to her chest followed by his staff to her face.
"I already finished my homework," he quipped, chuckling.
Then a dinosaur dropped out of the sky to land on top of a different woman.
"What the fu-!?" Robin said, raising his staff. In his defense, he'd only fought like, three dinosaur-type bad guys in his job. Which wasn't many, but it was weird that this made four.
It took him a second to recognize it from Batman's notes. Tyrunt, one of Kahu Kiaʻi's creatures.
The dinosaur was somehow both tiny and huge. On the one hand, years of pop culture and personal experience made Dick used to dinosaurs shaped like Tyrunt being giant engines of death. Tyrunt was closer in size to an ATV. Tiny, compared to his larger 'cousins'.
But compared to them, he was a big animal with claws, teeth, and super-strength.
The Silicon Dragons froze. Tyrunt roared. Robin tossed his staff like a javelin at a guy who tried to run, knocking him down. Another guy shot at Tyrunt.
The bullets barely sank into his rockhard structure. Tyrunt charged angrily, jaws snapping shut, shattering the gun between his teeth, then spinning around to hit the man with his tail.
Robin hadn't been taught to ignore a sudden advantage when it popped up. He jumped off of Tyrunt and tossed a few ball bearings at two more. Almost in tandem, Tyrunt ran left, while Robin landed and went right. A gloved fist and rock hard head hit them in the stomachs and folded the pair of gangsters easily.
The final Silicon Dragon, a woman, stared nervously at them. Then she raised her hands. "I surrender?"
Robin grinned. "That's a good idea."
He took out a pair of cuffs and walked over to her, pulling her hands behind her. As he did, he looked over at Tyrunt.
Not the weirdest thing he'd seen since he got adopted by the World's Best Detective, but still. The way Tyrunt stared at him was weird. He was smart. He looked at him with intelligent eyes.
He was also chewing on an UZI.
Robin finished handcuffing the woman and moved onto the next while looking around. "What were they even doing here? Why break into this place?"
It was a small store. Not a bank, gun shop, not even a pharmacy. Just a mom-and-pop shop where people could buy candy and small goods. Nothing crazy…
He put the handcuffs on the last person and stared at Tyrunt. The dinosaur stared back.
"Hey… uh," did this thing understand English? "You aren't going to try and eat me, are you?"
Half a joke, half a test. In the footage Robin had seen, Kahu seemed to have a tight control over the creatures. Not like a general, more like a dad in some ways. But Tyrunt looked like an animal. A smart one, but no way to tell how smart without more experience. And any dangerous animal, no matter how 'tame' could become deadly in an instant-
"Tyrunt!" the dinosaur's tail was wagging quickly, his harsh glare becoming a big smile.
"...That's not a no."
"Runt."
Well. Good enough.
"I don't think these guys were breaking into the store for chocolate and chips," Robin said. "No matter how delicious Dorito's are. I'm gonna check it out."
Tyrunt nodded. "Ty, Tyrunt, Ty."
Robin grinned. "I'm gonna take that as a yes."
He walked over and kneeled next to the door. Tyrunt's eyes stayed on his back as Robin picked the lock, quickly opening the four locks on there.
Not at all freaked out by the big predator following him in, Robin walked into the back of the store. He found himself in front of a small door. A door with a very advanced Waynetech lock.
"Huh. Market value for these things is 30,000," Robin mused. He quickly tapped at the keys, inputting the override. The small door clicked open, and Robin swung it outwards.
"...Tyyyyy."
"Those are a LOT of weapons," Robin said slowly, blinking at them.
Lockers were on each side of the small room, with several shelves, boxes, and other containers. Each holding neatly stacked and arranged rifles, pistols, grenade launchers, machine guns, bombs, and enough ammo for everything.
"The hell kind of store is this!?" Robin asked, befuddled. He looked over at Tyrunt, only to blink.
Tyrunt looked back at him, a bunch of 5.56 ammunition falling from his lips. Robin held in a laugh. It was an oddly cute image.
Still. The Silicon Dragons had been trying to steal this? There was enough weaponry here to arm a small Gotham gang just starting out, or a large army. Who were the original owners?
Robin took notice of a laptop in the corner. He went over to it and slipped a USB cable from his glove compartment, sticking it in. A hologram sprung up from his arm, allowing him to tap at the keyboard there.
"I'm not sure how much you understand, so I'm just gonna talk fast," Robin said to Tyrunt, who walked up to watch him work with curiosity. "Whoever owned this place was working for the Silicon Dragons. So why would they try to steal from themselves? Some kind of internal conflict? Maybe this is their version of company softball?" Robin mused. "Or… maybe those guys weren't Silicon Dragons."
He'd thought they were, due to the dragon paraphernalia a few had been wearing as well as tattoos. Or, they had been Dragons, but had decided to branch out on their own. It happened. A couple of gangsters start thinking they might be able to make their own path.
"I'm copying all the data on here," Robin said, watching as his download bar finished up. After pulling out the cable, he took out a USB stick. "I have my own copy. And I'll put another on this drive," he said to Tyrunt. After a moment, he passed it over to Tyrunt, who took it in one of his little arms, moving his big head awkwardly out of the way to facilitate the move.
"I don't know how the whole thing with your… dad? Master? Teacher?"
Tyrunt shrugged.
"All of the above? Well, whatever you call it, I'm guessing Kahu Kiaʻi is going to want to know more about the Dragons. And, it looks like a shipment is coming into a warehouse a few miles away soon. The guys who are supposed to be watching this place are overseeing that."
Robin grinned. "How about it, Dinobro? Wanna go kick some butt at a warehouse?"
Tyrunt had a wide grin on his face and nodded. "Runt, Tyrunt!"
"If I may," Robin jumped in surprise when someone spoke in his brain. A flash of light was followed by an… alien? Some kind of, long-mustached, weasel with brown armor on his chest? "I can aid you in your endeavors. I am Alakazam. A Pokemon under Kahu Kiaʻi's command."
Robin recovered, but it took a sec. The amount of people who could sneak up on him was small. The number of teleporters in the world was smaller. Though it explained a lot about Kahu Kiaʻi's movements about the island.
A teleporting, telepathic, alien guy? Batman needed to know about this.
"You may tell him if you wish," Alakazam said.
Robin scowled at him. "Get out of my head."
"As you wish," Alakazam said in a polite tone, floating alongside Tyrunt. "But as I said. We are willing to help you in assaulting that warehouse. It would give you ample opportunity to analyze us."
Shoot. That was true, but Robin was also kind of disappointed in himself. He'd spent a single night in Hawaii, and was immediately made. Well… it was hard to stop a mind reader from making you.
Robin pictured explaining that to Batman. He'd likely accept it as a good reason. But somehow, he also felt like Bruce would be disappointed anyways.
The thought of that led Robin to his next thought. "Maybe he won't mind so much if I at least come back with more info."
"...Okay. I accept," Robin said with a bit of his earlier cockiness returning."But I need to make a call first."
"Feel free," Alakazam said.
Robin walked out. As he did, Alakazam snarled at Tyrunt.
"Stop eating bullets you prehistoric guppy, you'll get indigestion."
"Runt!"
Cute. But Robin was worried now. A mind reader. For all Robin knew, Kahu now knew the identities of both Batman and Robin. Maybe even more than that.
Batman needed to know. Then Robin would go and take down that warehouse.
As he reached for his communicator, he felt Alakazam's eyes on his back.
------
Mahmoud Schahed/Kahu Kiaʻi
This party had gotten interesting real quick. It felt as though with the arrival of Luthor and Bruce, things had risen to a tight tension. All of it coming from Giovanni, Bruce, Luthor, and my direction.
Luthor roamed the yacht like a cobra hunting prey, smiling and chuckling as he wined and dined, drawing in the other rich folk with raw charisma. Mercy stood behind him at all times. I felt her eyes land on me over and over again. She wasn't scared of me or anything, just acknowledging a threat.
Bruce was a lot more interesting. If I didn't know who he was, I would have seen him as a flamboyant and charming playboy. He joked, flirted, teased, and seemed to ignore anything but his own fun. But I noticed he seemed to come away from a lot of his conversations with the various moguls with something. A deal, a promise to speak further, enraged at some perceived insult. Whatever he was doing with those guys, it was working.
Giovanni was similar to them in that. But in his case he reminded me of… well, of a mob boss I guess. If Luthor was a semi evil business man (Jury was out on how evil he was) and Bruce was a playboy with secrets (which was an understatement on like four levels) then Giovanni was a mob boss speaking to potential family members.
It was all in how they spoke. All charismatic, sure. But Luthor would more often than not focus in on business matters immediately, logic and rationality coming to the forefront. Bruce would be more stealthy, guiding the people he spoke to towards a conclusion he was aiming towards, then acting surprised when they would agree. Giovanni would speak to them from the level of authority a father would have, half convincing them to make a deal with him, half-teaching them why it was the best choice.
Between the three of them, they dominated the party.
I walked out onto the deck after a bit though. Off in the distance, Alakazam was giving me a running description of his battle alongside Tyrunt and Robin as they raided a warehouse of guns and goons. Not too intrusive, but I wanted to keep on top of it in case of anything wild popping up.
Some mouser bots and that cheap power armor they'd been employing. Nothing new, but the fact that the Dragons were beginning to use tech like that in larger numbers was worrying.
I was distracted when I heard someone walk up to me. I turned to see Bruce there, swirling a glass of red wine in his hand slowly.
"...Mr. Wayne," I said warily.
"Kahu Kiaʻi," he walked over to join me, confidence in his steps. To mine and Bruce's surprise, Mudkip hopped from my shoulders to his. As the little blue Pokemon curled around him, he didn't miss a beat, joining me with Mudkip resting on him. I didn't get the chance to wonder what the hell Mudkip thought he was doing sitting on the shoulders of the goddamned Batman. "You seem distracted. Not enjoying the party?"
"I prefer hanging out with people I know and like," I said. "Not that you and your dates aren't good company."
Bruce smirked. "Actually, they're more like each others dates. I think I'm a third wheel."
"Poor you," I said.
We stared out at the ocean for a bit.
"Do you feel comfortable? Working for Giovanni?" he asked slowly.
I thought about that. "No and yes. On some level, I think we don't gel well on a few things. But we have the same goals for now. And even if we didn't, I trust Giovanni's greed and intelligence. He wants money. And he's smart about how he gets it. Even if we didn't both want to take down the gangs in Hawaii, I have that."
Bruce chuckled. "Seems like a thin line to depend on."
"Seems that way. But hope also seems like a thin line to depend on. Until you hand it to someone about to fall," I said. It felt like we were both dancing around the topic we wanted to talk about. Well, I was dancing. Bruce was more like a hunter stalking the topic to rip it apart.
Alakazam had told me that Robin made a call before they left. Obviously to Bruce. So Batman now knew that a mind reader had interacted with his ward. Now he wanted to discover if I knew the truth about him. I had no idea how to tell him that.
Well, at least I had Alakazam as an excuse. Better than me telling him his world was a comic book in mine. That would have stupid as hell to admit to Batman.
Fine. I could at least tease the subject. I looked over at Mudkip as he took a nap on Bruce's shoulders. What an odd image. "I worry about him."
"This little guy?" Bruce asked. For a moment, I felt like, under the playboy exterior, something real had risen up. "I thought he was supposed to be super-strong?"
"Superman has bled," Bruce didn't respond in any meaningful way to that. "Same with a dozen other 'super-strong' types. You have a son, right?"
Bruce smiled. "Yes. I do."
"Then you know… no matter how much you teach them. No matter how strong, smart, and skilled they become. They can't be safe forever," ah shit, this was starting to sound like a threat. I continued faster. "I hate that I have to send Mudkip and my other Pokemon into battle. They want to. They asked to help. But it still scares the shit out of me everyday… I guess, in the end, that's why I'm willing to do things like work with someone I don't entirely trust, but also know will do everything he can to help me."
"So you're trying to protect them," he mused.
"Everyone, honestly," I sighed. "I didn't want to be a superhero. But it's keeping people safe, and I think I'm making Hawaii better."
The ocean waves rose and fell, moonlight rippling across the surface as that salty ocean smell entered our lungs.
"Is that important to you?"
"Yeah," oh hey. Said that without thinking about it. "It's hard, and stressful as hell. But saving people has been the best part of all this."
Mudkip stirred from Bruce's shoulders, jumping back to mine. As the familiar weight settled on my shoulder, Bruce looked amused. I don't know how much was real though. World's best detective was also the worlds best liar, actor, and a dozen other things. He may have suspected I knew he was Batman, but he wouldn't be dumb enough to confirm it.
"I think I know a bit about what you're talking about," Bruce turned around. "If you ever visit Gotham, let me know. I'll give you a guided tour."
"I'll remember that, Mr. Wayne."
I watched him leave with a bit of tension in my shoulders.
"Kip?"
"I don't know man… He's not about to attack us for no reason, but there is no way he likes that we know his identity," his real identity. In most universes, Bruce Wayne died in the alley. Batman was born in it. "We'll see how he reacts."
Mudkip frowned thoughtfully at that. I got the sense that he didn't really get it, but was willing to accept it for now.
"Also, why'd you jump onto his shoulders?" I asked, true confusion filling me.
He shrugged. "Kip!"
"Just to see if he'd let you!?"
The audacity of my Pokemon, I swear.
Still, somehow I got the feeling that my meeting with Batman went better than it could have.
At least I didn't get forced to join the Justice League or something...
------
I walked back to the party, noticing that as soon as I entered, eyes landed on me. A couple of people started walking my way, and I quickly retreated to join Giovanni. He made for a good distraction. When I found him and Lawton speaking to someone, I was almost relieved.
At least, until I saw who he was talking to.
"Fucking really?"
She was short and stout. Overweight, but in the same way a linebacker or a bouncer of a club might be. Her skin was black, hair cut short into a tightly formed afro. She had a sensible purple business dress on, a white shirt underneath, and a pair of blue orb earrings on. Her face was grim. This wasn't a woman who smiled often, not honestly at least.
Giovanni had dismissed his usual charm. Instead I could hear him speaking very professionally, business-like. "Yes, I believe I can accommodate that. I do have to make sure my product won't be simply reverse-engineered by the government of course."
"I assure you, we have no wish to do that," she said with a slight smirk. "Your products will simply be used to provide our people with the medical care they need. Our contract will include that."
Lawton scoffed. She looked over at him.
"Something you want to say, Deadshot?"
He shook his head. "Nope. Just forgot how annoying your voice is, Waller."
By then I'd bitten the bullet and joined the three of them. Waller didn't seem the least bit offended.
"If I wanted or cared about your opinion, Lawton, I would need to think it was worth more than shit under my heel."
"Seems I've come at a bad time," I said with all the sarcasm in my soul.
Three pairs of eyes landed on me, Giovanni smiling. "Not at all. We were in the midst of negotiating a sale."
I barely held in a joke about the Suicide Squad becoming the Heavily Medicated Squad. It likely wasn't a thing yet. "Good to know."
"Amanda Waller, meet Kahu Kiaʻi," Giovanni said grandly. "Hawaii's resident superhero."
Amanda 'The Wall' Waller, one of the most dangerous people alive, on a boat already full of the most dangerous people alive. Yay for me.
"Hn," Amanda held out a hand. When I shook it, she didn't crush my hand, but her grip was a lot more firm than one would have expected. "Superhero, huh?"
"I'm guessing you've met a few?" I asked. Mudkip held out a paw.
Amanda gave him a glance. Mudkip nodded towards his paw, nodding. "Mud, mudkip."
"..." looking out of her depth for the first time, she shook Mudkip's paw. When he gave her a smile full of joy and innocence, she coughed, looking back to me. "I haven't met many, but I've interacted with their other halves almost every day for the last several years. Lawton will tell you that."
"Ms. Waller is the warden of Belle Reve Penitentiary," Giovanni explained grandly. "An esteemed institution built to hold the more dangerous of society's villains."
"And you want Potions for them?" I asked sceptically. "I'm all for treating prisoners humanely, but it seems wasteful to give serial killers and terrorists super-medicine that will help little kids and cancer victims."
"Which is why I will be giving her only Potion, rather than our more revolutionary products," Giovanni chuckled. "In fact, Lawton was the one who suggested that."
I looked over at him, and he shrugged. "Most of those guys are monsters. Potion is too good for some of them."
"And it will likely be used more often on members of my staff," Amanda said grimly. "Belle Reve's reputation is good for the containment of prisoners, but my guards are in constant danger. Giving them Potion would go a long way towards keeping them safe, especially at your prices."
I got the feeling they had more they weren't saying. I raised an eyebrow, then looked at Lawton, who only shook his head.
"Well, Ms. Waller, I'll have my people reach out to finalize our contract," Giovanni held out his hand, taking Waller's and grandly kissing the back of her hand, which she raised an eyebrow at. "I have a feeling this deal will be quite lucrative for the both of us."
"I'd actually like to ask one more thing," she looked over at me. "About you, actually."
"Me."
"Yes. If I wanted to hire you for a job, would I ask Giovanni, or you?" she said with all the emotion of a stone.
Giovanni's lips flashed upwards.
"You'd ask me," I said, a bit annoyed. Giovanni was my partner, not my boss. "And depending on what you ask for, I might say yes."
She smiled at that. Mudkip shivered on my shoulder at the sight of her smile. "Kiiiip."
Yeah, it was pretty damn Salamence like. Not in shape, but the same sort of savage happiness alight in the eyes.
"That's perfectly fine. I'll reach out to you with a business proposition down the road then. Thank you for your time gentlemen, Lawton."
"Go back to your cave, Waller."
"You shoot like a bitch, Lawton."
Giovanni and I shared a confused glance as Waller turned and walked off with a powerful stride, then looked at Lawton.
"You aren't usually so… brisque," Giovanni said.
"Waller and I have a special relationship. We're very close."
Goddamn, I hoped to one day match the levels of dry sarcasm that positively OOZED from Lawton's voice.
"What a formidable woman," Giovanni looked over at Waller, watching as she spoke to Luthor. The two looked familiar with each other, at least somewhat friendly. I remember that one comic where Luthor made out with her and shuddered reflexively. "I think I should invite her to dinner one day."
"Wait, what?" I looked over at Giovanni with wide eyes.
"Just dinner, young man," Giovanni chuckled. "I think we may be able to find some common causes we find interest in. Also, you do know it's possible for adults to simply speak to each other as equals with no romantic interest involved?"
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Anyways, did you manage to get what you wanted out of this?"
"More than I wanted. While I did have to turn away those who asked for samples of Mudkip's blood-"
"Kip!?"
"I said, turned away. The rest was very above board. I was even able to secure Wayne's dates as models for the new Mimikyu line[a][b]," he raised a glass towards the two women in question. "All in all, a very profitable evening. And you? I saw Wayne walk over to speak with you."
Of course, he did. "He was just making sure I wasn't a money-grubbing showboat hero," I wonder where Booster Gold is?
"Ah, of course. Many have made the assumption," Giovanni chuckled. "I don't suppose I could convince you to wear a Rocket logo on your back."
"Dude, really?"
"What can I say? I know the power of branding."
"Half your forces got beat up by a ten-year-old…"
"But they looked impeccable as they were. Besides, the Alolan Champion had two legendaries on his team, he was no ordinary ten-year-old."
Fair. The Pokedex-holding kids of Pokemon were insane prodigies by any metric.[c] From Red and Blue, to Elio, Selene, and Hao. Not everyone with a Pokedex ended up boxing with legendaries in six months to a year, followed by becoming the Pokemon champ. But there was a pattern.
Granted, Ash took a bit longer than most on the championship thing, but he was still badass for a ten-year-old.
"Giovanni," Lawton said suddenly, eyeing Mercy across the room. "Next time you have a party, I'm gonna want more guns around me."
"Agreed," Giovanni said immediately. "And I might bring more of my own assets," aka his Pokemon. "What fun! It's been a while since I've worried about danger at one of these parties!"
With that cheerful announcement, he stepped forward. I looked over at Lawton.
"So… Waller."
"If you have any brains, this is the last time you'll ever see her," he said, mustache twitching with every word. "If you have morals, you'll never think of her again."
I sighed. "Lawton… knowing my luck, I'm gonna end up working with her out of necessity."
"You aren't wrong…"
So even Deadshot agreed I had bad luck? Damn…
At least the rest of the night was quiet.
------
Sam Mokoa
In a new office, Sam Mokoa spoke on a phone. After fighting for it for some time[d][e], he finally convinced his higher ups to allow him to take over an old base in Honolulu, a place that he'd once ran a different project out of. Not a large place, but it had room for Sam, Donald, and Ishido to fill it with everything they would need. Weapons, magical gear, jail cells. Finally, they were ready to fight back.
"Thank you for all your help," Sam said, his gruff tones making the words sound more like an insult than real gratitude. Not something he could help. Thankfully the man on the other end knew better.
"Of course, Sam," the voice on the other end took a deep drag of air, likely smoking a cigar. "Got to ask though, are you sure you wanna go so hard on this kid? Vigilante or not, it's a lot."
Sam didn't hesitate. "Yes. But not because of Kahu. He'll be a problem, but if we're going to be following him, then we'll also run into-"
"The Silicon Dragons," the man on the other end sounded uncaring. "Sam. Last time you tangled with them-"
"I know!" Sam spat. He took a deep breath. "...They're already going to increase their firepower. When we run into Kahu, we'll run into them as well. It makes sense to at least try to match them. And once we take down Kahu, I can get back to work taking down the Dragons without worrying about them up-gunning. Hopefully before they kill as many as they did last time."
The man on the other end hummed. Sam hated that. Hated the implication.
Because on some level, he was starting to feel like either the only sane man on Earth, or the last stubborn idiot. And he had no idea which worried him more.
------
Lady Dragon
In a lab on the outskirts of Pearl City, Hawaii, a group of men and women finished transporting a series of boxes, crates, and heavy equipment through a number of long marble hallways.
The leader of the Silicon Dragons watched with some interest as a set of crates was brought into a laboratory. She looked to her left.
"Will this be enough for your work, Doctor?"
The man she spoke to nodded. He was a short and thin elderly man, with a bald head, a pair of large, insect-like goggles, and a clear facemask across the bottom of his face with a pair of tubes coming out of the right and left side of it. And he was smiling. A wide smile that displayed block-like teeth. They were shaped like pale white tombstones rising out of bright pink soil. That smile didn't widen, but his eyes glittered with glee.
"It will be more than enough, Frau Dragon," he said with an extremely heavy German accent. "I assume my test subjects will be arriving soon?"
"Volunteers," Lady Dragon corrected him immediately. "I've had enough of idiot scientists cutting up innocents with no real goals beyond sadism."
"Ha!" he chuckled. "Not to worry! I am not one to torture uselessly! My procedure has been practiced many times. And with young Balin's research, I've found new ways to apply it. How goes the attempts to capture her by the way?"
"We've left them for now," she said, watching as a pair of cages were shoved into the back of the lab. "Balin is working for one of our more stubborn enemies, and has apparently taken to living with Kahu."
"And she has no family to kidnap to coerce her cooperation?"
"They live in Gotham," nothing more to be said on that.
"Ah. Shame. Well, the record of her work will do for now! I must say, I'm quite excited, Frau Dragon," he walked forward, chuckling. "In our line of work, my research has been sadly wasted! As wonderful as it has been to have your backing there is just something about watching your experiments being put to practical applications! Ah, for the days of the great wars!"
"Great wars," she raised an eyebrow. "Not the Cold War?"
"DO NOT GET ME STARTED ON THAT!" he spun around and slammed a fist onto a table, frustration replacing his grin. "Forty years of blue balls, just watching my research gather dust. Ahhhhhh."
"Dr. Helfern, I did not need that imagery in my head," Lady Dragon said with a bit more green to her than usual.
"Ah, my apologies! Hehehehe!" he shook his head. "I'm simply riled up today! Finally, a chance to apply my knowledge. And once we capture these 'spirits' that follow Kahu, we can further expand our research. Well, capture or kill. I can do as much work with a corpse as I can the living."
Good lord, he really was a lunatic. Lady Dragon sighed. Still, he was at least a good worker. Intelligent, dedicated, and willing to toe the line if need be. Compared to him, the other people she had to work with today-
"Yo, yo, the party is here!"
Were idiots. Not all of them. But the idiots tended to overpower the smart ones by the sheer quality of their stupidity.
A pair of men… a pair of children really, walked into the room. A black and a white man, both dressed like they'd stepped out of an eighties music video. They were grinning like gigantic dolls, their overweight bellies swinging with every step.
"...The volunteers?" Dr. Helfern said with dread in his voice.
"I picked the expendable ones in my army," she explained.
"Yeah, you hear that!?" the white man said to the black one.
"We're expendable! I knew we were awesome!" the black one said proudly.
They smacked hands together with loud grunts of happiness.
"Wait, do you not know what 'expendable' means?" Helfern asked, shocked.
The two men stared at him. Then at each other. Then turned back to Helfern.
"...Yo...I mean, we do, but do you know what it means?" the black man said with all the cunning of a brick.
"Ya, do you?" the white man said.
"...They're perfect," Helfern said with a wide smile. Tombstones flashing within his facemask once more.
------
Lex Luthor
As men and women across the island began their preparations for the future, one man was just leaving Giovanni's party. Luthor entered a limo, Mercy slipping in to sit next to him. As the limo headed off, Luthor pulled out his phone and quickly made a call. After a brief wait, the person at the other end answered.
"Yes, it's about our Hawaiian plan," Luthor said casually. "We should be good to continue. I'll make the arrangements to reach out to the Dragons about security, they'll want a free shot at Kahu Kiaʻi. Let Ms. Frost know that she may continue as scheduled," Luthor smirked. "It should be interesting to watch…"
All across Hawaii, men and women made preparations. And the Light began preparations of their own.
------
Author's Note: Next chapter will be July 4th 2010, the events of the first episode of the Young Justice show. Finally we are caught up with the main timeline. For reference, the last couple chapters took place on June 29th.
Anyways, the Killer Frost arc[f][g] is going to be FUN. See you guys there.
[a]Is this dresses/outfits which Mimikyu helped design? That would be pretty cool not to mention really gratifying to her
[b]That was my idea :D I imagine she's going to be super excited about it as well.
[c]I'm not sure I understand this sentence
[d]After some serious bureaucratic fighting (blood was shed, so many paper cuts)
[e]This made me laugh my ass off :D
[f]Are we going to get and see her as more than a throw away cameo character? And since SI knows she has connections to a supervillain conspiracy he could choose to imprison her in his base instead of handing her over to be let out/break out
[g]I'm planning for her to be more of a problem than she was in the show. That said, in the show, she was specifically supposed to get caught. Whereas here, well... plans change.
Chapter 34
July 4th, 2010
Kīlauea, Hawaii
It had been a quiet few days since the Gala on Giovanni's boat. Which surprised me. What, with Batman, Robin, Luthor, and Amanda Waller all showing up on the same day, I'd expected Joker and Darkseid to show up next.
Instead, things went right back to normal. Well, except for a couple things. On the morning of July 4th, I stood next to Mimikyu and Tyrunt in the kitchen of our base, watching as Mimikyu lifted a piece of cloth and wrapped it around his head. He looked up at me, waiting.
"...Yeah, it looks great."
"Tyyyyyy!" he wiggled happily, his new mask wrapped around his eyes. It was an inky-black, covering most of the area around his eyes, a pair of short 'tails' coming out of the back of it.
Ever since meeting and fighting alongside Robin, Tyrunt had gotten worried about one thing.
How was he going to hide his identity without a mask?
Yeah. I tried to talk to him about it. I explained, multiple times, that he didn't need to hide his identity. He was the only Tyrunt in all of Hawaii! No one was going to think 'oh wow, who was that masked Pokemon, a Snorlax?' He literally couldn't have a secret identity!
Well, as one could tell, I had not been successful in convincing him otherwise.
"Mimikyu?" my tiny fashionista asked.
"Ty," he rubbed his head against her in affectionate thanks, getting a hug in return.
"So you finally gave up?" Grace asked as she walked into the kitchen, wearing her lab equipment.
"I don't fight impossible battles without good reasons," I explained. "How goes the science?"
"Slowly," Grace said with a small smile. "Between my serum and my research into Pokemon, I'm having trouble deciding what I find more interesting. That said, I haven't found a way to reverse the effect my serum has on people."
"You'll get it. I know you will," I said with more confidence than I expected.
We shared a brief smile as she poured some coffee.
------
Sam Mokoa
In the FBI offices in Honolulu, Sam opened up a crate, looking inside of it. "...These are normal guns."
"Were you expecting laser guns?" Ishido asked, the Japanese man walking up to lift one of the military weapons out of the crate.
"I was expecting something effective. Most of that kids spirit monsters-"
"Pokemon," Ishido interrupted, the Japanese man grinning.
"Whatever. A lot of them are bulletproof. Or at least bullet-resistant. I need things that can capture or turn them away, block their abilities. Guns are just paper toys in comparison."
"I wouldn't say that," Ishido lifted up a gun for himself. "Like you said, bullet-resistant. Means enough might put them down, or wear down their invulnerability. At the least, physics means a bullet can push them aside if they're light enough. And in the end, they're an option."
"An option, but we need something more robust," Sam looked behind him. "David. You got anything?"
Behind them, David Fite sat in the center of a large pentagram. The outer edges of the pentagram had elegant script written with rock salt. Arabic, Latin, Chinese, Haitian, Runes. All circling each other in spirals until they ran up against a ring of iron surrounding it all.
The tall black man's eyes opened slowly. "Not just yet. But I'm new to this city. I need to build my information network, find out more about the politics of the situation, before I can really start digging."
Sam appreciated David for how he explained things. He avoided mumbo-jumbo talk, avoided trying to sound mystical. For such a spiritual man, he tended to take a very practical stance on the nature of magic.
"What about weapons?" Sam asked.
"What, you want blessed bullets?"
Sam was about to get angry, only to hesitate when he realized David hadn't sounded sarcastic. "I… can you do that?"
"Sure. Make them more effective on spirits and demons. I doubt we'd need those though," David shrugged. "Sorry Sam, but until I can interact with Pokemon personally, I can't promise anything."
Sam sighed, unable to argue with the logic.
"You should bless the weapons to be more effective on humans," Ishido noted.
David hesitated. "First, in that case I would be cursing them. Second, why?"
"The Silicon Dragons. We might end up fighting them, right?"
Sam shuffled uncomfortably. Magic-enhanced weapons against the Silicon Dragons… Fine.
"Keep it low-level if you can," Sam grumbled.
If he noticed Sam's reluctance, David didn't show it. He only nodded slowly. "Anti-Human. Well, I have some fur from Primate Mur- no, that's a bit too much. Maybe some uranium, a bit of cyanide. Bit of mercury for the mental component. I can figure something out. Oh, and human blood."
"Human blood?" Ishido asked.
"Nothing on Earth or the universe, nothing in all the plains, is as good at killing humans as other humans."
------
Giovanni Giovanni
Giovanni took a sip of his water, listening to his lead scientist speak.
"We've been pouring over the data for days. These samples you've given us are pretty incredible-"
"Can you do anything with them?" Giovanni said, cutting the scientist off.
The man hesitated. "Maybe. There are thousands of papers on DNA of alien origin. And your notes are pretty useful. But it might still be years before we could do anything with them."
"That's fine," Giovanni leaned back in his chair. "Just keep at it. I'm a patient man, as long as work is being done."
Giovanni waved his hand. The lead scientist nodded quickly, leaving the room, dodging around Lawton and Roxy as they came in. Giovanni looked up at them, sipping his water, only to freeze when he saw the looks on their faces.
"What is it?"
"Somebody is making a move," Lawton said seriously. "A big one."
Roxy held out a tablet. "This is current as of five minutes ago."
Giovanni took a hold of the tablet. Then he rose to his feet, pulling out his phone and calling someone. The phone rang for a moment before the other end answered.
"Kahu."
"Giovanni," the man on the other side said. "I'm on my way there."
"Good. Do you require assistance?"
"Not from you. You need to stick to the shadows. We'll do our best. Just be ready in case this becomes an Avengers level threat."
Kahu hung up. Giovanni didn't mind. He simply looked over at Lawton.
"Choppers ready," Deadshot said instantly.
"Good. Let's move," Giovanni started walking, two questions on his mind. First, what the hell was going on? Second, what was an Avenger?
------
Sam Mokoa
Sam, David, and Ishido ran through a garage, carrying guns and wearing bulletproof armor, Sam growling as he ran.
"Have they ever done something like this?" Ishido asked, opening a car door and entering quickly.
"It's her," Sam growled. "Or fucking Kahu. Or just some outside fucking agent. Whatever it is, we need to go!"
"Well, you're driving, put the pedal to the meda-AAAAH!!!"
As Ishido screamed, and Sam peeled out of the garage, he looked over his shoulder at David. "You better get to blessing those guns for Anti-Human."
"I told you," David lifted an assault rifle and quickly bit his thumb, blood spilling before he began to inscribe something. "This is a curse."
------
Kahu Kiaʻi
So much for getting back to normal.
I grabbed a large riot shield designed for me off the weapons rack by the door, putting it on my back with the straps, then grabbing a flat metal club of sorts, strapping that to my waist.
"What is even going on?" Kalini asked, watching as Orca came up wearing a bulletproof vest and military pants sized for her. The large man looked befuddled. "Someone explain?"
"There's been an attack," I grabbed the remote to the tv and turned the flatscreen on.
"-our ongoing report on the attack on Pearl Harbor," a news reporter said, looking panicked. "Killer Frost has frozen over the harbor and is currently joined by a small army of Silicon Dragons, who have taken over the area. Military forces are fighting back, but we have no word on-"
"An attack on Pearl Harbor…" Kalini whispered, horrified.
"We're ready!" Alakazam barked in our minds. My Pokemon were there.
Orca and I ran over. "Pokeballs, now, everyone but Al."
"Al?"
"Not the time," I told the affronted Pokemon.
Gurdurr swung his I-Beam onto his shoulder, Mudkip chuckling just a bit. Mimikyu gave me a hug before moving to help Tyrunt wrap his new mask around his eyes. Slugma, a teardrop-shaped rock hanging on her neck, wiggled slightly in place, waiting patiently as I pointed my Pokeballs at all of them.
My Pokemon turned to flashes of light, flickering and entering their Pokeballs. Once done, Alakazam placed his hands on Orca and my shoulders. In a flash of light, we were in Honolulu.
"We're about 5 miles from the battle," Alakazam said as we looked around. We stood in a large garage, with cars and motorbikes of all shapes and sizes, a few without license plates. "This was the closest place Giovanni had to Pearl Harbor. A garage he allowed me to create a teleport point in. It should have vehicles to accommodate all our needs."
"It's fine. Head out there, see what you can do to help and get the lay of the land."
"I will. Drive safely."
"What are we riding?" Orca asked as Alakazam flew out of the room.
"That," I ran over to a beast of a motorcycle in the corner. "You ever ride one of these?"
"No," she looked nervous as I straddled the motorcycle.
It was huge. Made to carry say, a Conkledurr or a giant metahuman woman, with a human piloting. Giovanni wasn't a man to avoid planning ahead.
"Then get on the back."
To her credit, she only hesitated for an instant before sitting on the back. She pressed against the metal slab on my back, wrapping her arms as best as she could around me. I revved the motorcycle, and we drove out of the garage doors Alakazam had helpfully opened up for us.
"What's the plan!?" Orca yelled in my ear as I revved the cycle, driving around cars and rising to 80 miles per hour.
"We need to find out the basic layout of the fight!" I yelled back, moving around a Chevy truck that had broken down while a man with a Boston accent made fun of the driver. "But Killer Frost is the priority!"
Killer Frost. Damnit, what did I know about her? A frost villain who fought Batman, maybe? Well, no, she was more of a… what, Firestorm villain? Or were they dating as a Bat/Cat thing? Didn't matter.
What did matter was that she was powerful. More dangerous than Firefly? Maybe, depending on the version.
"What about the Silicon Dragons?" Orca asked.
"They're the same problem as always. Adapt to whatever they're bringing to the field, take it down, move to the next pro-JESUS!"
I twisted aside from the SUV that suddenly went spinning out of an alleyway. For a moment, just a moment, I thought it was an attack. I pulled up next to it.
And Sam Mokoa was sitting in the drivers seat. We stared at each other, the look of shock on his face likely matched by mine. For a moment, I could see the calculation on his face. Me, on a bike, no Pokemon. He'd never get a better chance.
Then he turned his head with a grimace, focusing on the road. I did the same.
"Kahu-!" Orca shouted, pointing at him.
"Leave it, we need to focus!"
------
Sam Mokoa
"Sam-" Ishido said, pointing at Kahu.
"Leave it. We need to focus," Sam grumbled. A part of him wanted to scream. He was right there!
But the attack took precedence. Sam pressed on the accelerator.
The heroes and the officers of the law charged for the harbor.
------
Crystal Frost/Killer Frost
Killer Frost stood atop a boat, watching with a smirk as ice covered the bay entirely. Pearl Harbor was under siege. The entirety of Battleship Row was stuck solid. From the USS Nevada memorial, the shipyard, and out to the East Loch, a massive portion of Ford Island behind her covered as well. The ship she stood on was a military vessel sitting next to the USS Arizona memorial, which she'd already turned into a giant icicle. "I love Hawaii. Nice and warm."
"I'm sure you do," the voice drew Killer Frost's eye behind her.
A woman in dark green clothes stood behind her, the outfit wrapped around her like the robes of an ancient assassin. She wore a simple bandana on her head and was smiling just a bit. "Strange. My grandfather spoke of the attack on Pearl Harbor when he was a boy. I never thought I would be repeating such a thing myself."
"Having second thoughts?" Killer Frost asked. She tried to be confident.
She wasn't.
She could usually sense people. Like small points of light around her. Sources of delicious heat.
But from this woman? Nothing. And something about her was… unnerving. This woman was dangerous.
"Not at all. I'm simply acknowledging it," she looked out across the river. There, the sounds of gunfire could be heard, along with more esoteric noises. "My target should be here soon enough."
"The guy with the stuffed animals?"
"..."
"S-Sorry," Killer Frost flinched as she heard the woman walk away. But she couldn't feel any heat from her.
------
Author's Note: So there are the pieces coming together, baby. A simple fight between AquaDuo and Killer Frost that she loses on purpose is now going to turn into a whole lot more than that, to say the least. Hopefully, I make it fun, rather than dumb. Or dumb fun, right?
Chapter 35
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 whales 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.