route_1065 | You were my best friend

Who: Alphonse Elric and Wrath
Where: Ilex Forest
When: Monday, June 1st
Summary: Old walls are finally crumbling down
Rating: PG
Log:

Alphonse felt oddly groggy when he woke up that morning, curled up in the roots of a massive tree in a forest...somewhere. He's definitely far off the designated trails, but some kind twist of fate left Al a pack of supplies and an old red coat, though if it's Ed's old one or Al's later copy he can't tell. The sight of the weather-beaten garment leaves an ache in his chest, but it can't be helped.

Apparently some wishes just can't be granted.

Al stands and stretches out the kinks in his back, sighing and pulling out a Pokeball from his belt. "Alright, Clara, time to go find our way back to Olivi--"

...that isn't Clara.

A few text messages and several hours later finds Al hiking through the woods trying to find his way onto an actual trail. He's resigned himself to a few days worth of rough living, but he's starting to wonder if he's found the one stretch of actual hard terrain that exists in Johto. He's seen nothing but Pokemon and trees, and usually there's at least a few other trainers hiking along the routes. He can't be that far off the beaten path, can he?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A few mere MOMENTS ago, Wrath would have cackled like the horrible goblin child he was at the sight of blood pouring from Al's headwound. But he's not. See? ALREADY he has grown.

Actually, it's more likely that he's too distracted by the situation at hand to be a dick.

As a matter of fact, Alphonse successfully grabs a handful of the smaller boy's shirt, and Wrath's only immediate response is to look over at him, panicked.

"IT'S GONNA EAT US!"

His Pokemon seem relieved for the protection, but even Reflect can't make up for the fact that there's not a single one of them above level 25 at most. As the vines are pushed back and the front of the Tangrowth is set ablaze, it flails with its tree-trunk sized arm, grabbing at the Typhlosion with one of them. The other comes down on the ledge that the two trainers and their Pokemon are on, and Wrath's scatter like ninepins.

Lisa howls indignantly, thrashing and kicking in the thing's hold and leting out a gout of Flamethrower that...mostly hits air and little else, given her position.

"No, it won't!" Al turns to give Lisa and order, but his eyes go wide and again he grabs Wrath to protect him from the hit. They go flying along with the rest of the Pokemon, but not quite as far. Jack struggles to get up and uses Helping Hand to boost the power of Jill's Signal Beam, blasting the arm that came crashing down on them all. Fuck you, you don't get away with hurting their trainer!!

Al hisses in pain, teeth grit from the harsh impact. "Shit...Wrath, are you okay?" He pushes himself up, looking over the other boy nervously before turning back to the battle field to snap out a quick order. "Lisa, Toxic! Weaken that thing, now!"

In the Tangrowth's grip, Lisa snarls and bites hard on one of the tendrils wrapped around her, the power pumping as much potent poison into the thing as she can. It's big, and it's gonna need one hell of a dose to even begin to phase it.

Wrath had gone for a bit of a tumble as the ground underneath them quaked, but he doesn't look hurt-- just terrified.

Poor Al already has enough to deal with, and Wrath immediately screaming "DON'T LET IT PRICK YOU! DON'T LET IT PRICK YOU!!" into his ear probably will not help the poor boy's focus.

Fortunately, where Wrath isn't being particularly useful, his Pokemon (or one of them, anyway) will step up to the plate in his place.

With a growl that vibrates her entire body, Mama joins the fray, clawing and chomping at the vines binding Lisa. She's nowhere near high-leveled enough to even make a dent in the thing's HP, but it still notices.

Some of the vines slither away from Lisa's body to swipe at the Kangashkan and bat away at Jill's Signal Beam.

He mentally pushes Wrath's screams aside for now--hysterics are only going to get them hurt, and he can tell Wrath won't be calming down anytime soon. His eyes flick over the battlefield, and he curses under his breath before pulling out another Pokeball. They need more combatants, no matter what the type match-up is. "Eddie, go! Use Crunch!"

The Luxray comes out roaring, wasting no time charging into the fray and biting onto the arm that sweeps into Mama, Jack, and Jill. The attack is strong, but without a type advantage it isn't much more effective than the Signal Beam is, but he's latched on and not letting go. The Meowstic pair are struggling to get up, but they're not out of the fight yet.

Lisa, meanwhile, gnaws hard on that vine until her attack peters out--she's powerful, but she's no Poison-type. That's all she can manage to get out, and it'll have to do. Al's attention swings back over to her, and with a snapped out "Eruption!" she fair well explodes into a ball of flame, roaring and thrashing out of the Tangrowth's grip.

Between the fact that the battle is now five on one, and the EXPLOSION OF FIRE that is Lisa, the Tangrowth has officially had enough of trying to hold onto the Typhlosion. With a bugling cry that makes the trees vibrate, it lets go and takes a rumbling step back, its vines smoldering. And wilting in some places, thanks to the poison.

IT'S WORKING.

GET 'EM, KIDS!

Al grins when he sees the damage finally showing on the monstrous Tangrowth (excellent, it isn't a poison type!) and shouts out again. "Again! Drive it off!"

While Eddie growls and takes another Crunch out of the tangled vines of the arm, Jack and Jill finally find their footing again. Jill blasts it with Psychic while Jack...stares at it...very intensely. Meowstic Charm attacks, everyone. Lisa, finally down on the ground again, lets out a furious bellow and blasts herself into the thing's midsection with Flare Blitz.

Meanwhile, Al hauls Wrath up into his arms and carries him over to where the rest of his Pokemon are huddled in fear. He needs to make sure they're okay, now that the tide of the battle is turning.

As the Pokemon carry on their second wave of attack on the Tangrowth, the boys successfully make it to the patch of bushes where the remaining monsters are hiding. It's kind of hard to blame them. Pretty much none of them would be able to make it out of a battle with that thing without getting 1HKO'd.

Once Wrath is let down, Sleepy chirrups in concern and immediately starts to lick at his scraped knees. Wrath barely notices. He flops right there on the ground, eyes wide. His heart feels like it's about to come right out of his chest.

Al looks over them nervously and sighs with relief to see them all here and (relatively) unharmed. He casts a glance behind him to check on the battle before focusing on Wrath. His Pokemon (and Mama, bless her) seem to have things handled for now.

"Wrath, it's gonna be okay. It's not going to hurt you, we're driving it off! I'll keep you safe!"

He's curled in a fetal position, sides heaving like a snared rabbit.

But Al's words do seem to get through at least, and his eyes slide over to stare at the older boy over his shoulder, even as he continues to pant shallowly. Thankfully, it starts to slow before it heads into hyperventilation territory.

"... hh.... h'you..."

... Still too out of breath to talk properly, though.

"It's okay. I'll keep you safe, I promise. Nothing's gonna hurt you."

Al wraps an arm around Wrath's shoulders, smiling gently despite the HORRIBLE BATTLE RAGING BEHIND THEM. Lisa's roars are sounding pretty confident, he's not worried.

Wrath says nothing.

But considering that prior to this exact moment in time, his reaction would have been to scream angry epithets, that's a good thing.

Wordlessly, he wraps his arms around Sleepy and draws her close, still panting.

Safe.

What a strange concept.

Al hesitates a moment before wrapping is other arm around Wrath as well, pressing his forehead gently into the boy's tangled mass of hair. He doesn't say anything more just yet, just happy that Wrath is calming down and not trying to run off in terror.

Somewhere behind them, there is a great, rumbling crash that vibrates the very earth underneath them.

Through the combined efforts of their Pokemon, the great emperor of the forest had been sent back to its tangled, overgrown hibernation for the next hundred years or so.

They don't make a bad team after all.

You were my best friend

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