Errant Sword [KtK RP Thread; Mission 1]

[Seren]

Well, now she'd seen everything.

There were numerous pokemon that wielded a weapon of some kind, but makney was not typically one of them. Kirsten recognized the blades they carried, as well - members of the honedge line. Ghost types. The realization struck her with a wave of dread; she was all too familiar with ghostly possession.

But upon closer inspection... something was wrong. The swords themselves looked as worn out as the wielders. As someone had already pointed out, honedge were known to drain the life force of their holder... but if that were the case, wouldn't they look healthy? These ones certainly did not.

Aaaand the group decided to barge in and start blasting. For all she knew of other worlds, this could be some kind of ritual or custom for these mankey. The idea to paralyze them all, at least, seemed... if not reasonable, then the least destructive, but it still involved charging in blind. "Doesn't anyone have a sleep move, or...?" she started, but the attack had already begun.

Drapion was stomping at the ground, grunting, and clicking his claws in irritation. Kirsten sighed. "...Fine, go then, just... try to make sure none of ours get injured." A noticeably more excited grunt followed, and then Drapion was off.

When the large primeape carrying a doublade addressed the party, Drapion plopped himself directly between the angry pokemon and his trainer, crouched low and ready to pounce. Kirsten, however, had a more diplomatic mind. "Forgive us for intruding, we mean no offense. We had reason to believe that you might have been fighting each other unwillingly. As some have said, we were brought here to find, and perhaps assist, Keldeo. That speck is our guide. Would you be so kind as to enlighten us as to the purpose of your... combat?"

 

[kyeugh]

It was a little difficult to talk with a sword in your mouth. Mightyena glanced around and found the meditite not too far from her, watching with avid interest. She dropped the sword in the dust in front of him, said, "Take care of this for me," and then turned back to address the bad-tempered primeape.

"Whoa! For real?" Sun exclaimed as Mightyena deposited the sword unceremoniously in front of him.

"Be careful, Sun-lu," Ferry said, unable to keep the apprehension out of his voice. But Sun didn't seem to notice him.

The sword might have been taller than Sun himself, but he hefted it with surprising ease. He thought he might have heard some voices in his head coming from it, but there was too much going on in his little mind for him to pay them any mind.

"I usually prefer to fight with a staff, but I bet I can mess 'em up with this thing too!" He twirled the sword acrobatically with an almost lazy mastery.

A careful listener might have heard Ferry mumbling, "What the fuck," under his breath.

"Okay, Primeape, let's do it monkey-to-monkey!" Sun cried out, lunging forward with the relatively massive blade. "Sword punch!!"

 

[Flyg0n]

"My goal was to end this as quickly as possible. We apologize for the interruption. Unfortunately, though under other circumstances we might have joined your sport as fellow warriors, it might run counter to the completion of our objective. But if any of you want to cross swords with a Sword of Justice, you are welcome to join us!"

Someone from the crowd seized the opportunity and lobbed a fruit, the Primeape's Doublade reacted, blocking it.

A Mankey, staggering under the weight of an Aegislash, gave a mighty cry of anger. "Intruders. I was about to win!" The Aegislash it carried rattled in annoyance. "I was," it corrected in a cold voice.

"Tressspassers." The voice hummed from the Doublade with the Primeape, like metal singing against metal. "Interrupting...." The Doublade rattled ominously, and the others in the crowd too. The air hummed with tension.

« What are you fighting for? » she spoke up, moving a couple of steps forward as she gripped her spear tighter.

« What is the meaning of this fight?»

"She chipped my blade." An Aegislash in the crowd called out.

"You hit me!"

"You hit first!" Another Primeape retorted.

"You scratched me!"

"I want to win."

"He bit me!"

"Because she's pathetic and I'm better!"

"I'm the strongest! You all suck!"

More angry quibbling came from the assembled group as they lobbed varied accusations at each other, though the sentiment seemed the same all around. Apparently, every pokemon of the group had some reason or another to hate the other, or no reason at all. Or just wanted an excuse to rip into the other. Whatever semblance of decency might have once regulated their fights seemed long since gone.

A cracked Honedge rattled in the grasp of another Primeape. "All that maters is who winnns. And that will be me."

"No it will not." The Primeape growled. Its lip curled, revealing missing teeth. "I'll rip apart every one of these fools. Whatever it takes," Dark fury colored his tone.

Growls and angry clanging rippled through the crowd, and the tension seemed to grow, as if the group were nearly ready to fight again.

"Forgive us for intruding, we mean no offense. We had reason to believe that you might have been fighting each other unwillingly. As some have said, we were brought here to find, and perhaps assist, Keldeo. That speck is our guide. Would you be so kind as to enlighten us as to the purpose of your... combat?"

"I am willing to slice every one of these welps limb from limb!" A Honedge cried.

The first Primeape stomped the ground. "The purpose is the same as any fight. To destroy the weaker opponent." Its gripe on its Doublade tightened. The responses felt similar all around, eerily so. Malicious tones, cruel looks, and vindictive attitudes. Yet the behaviour clearly felt stiff an unnatural, as if smething were affeting them. Amping up their anger and desire for victory, turning them blindly cruel.

So that was it then. Fight to win, and care about nothing else...

Clink shivered and shifted back. "This isn't what battling is about," they muttered.

"Quiet, speck. Battles are about winning. Sport and honor are tools of the weak."

Chef Flygon scowled, surveying the group. "Distasteful and a disgrace-"

The rest of the Mankey began screeching and the Honedge and Doublade and Aegislash rattled their swords together. Somewhere in the back of the crowd, a few Mankey and Doublade began squabbling again.

The Aegislash ripped itself away from the Mankey struggling to wield it. It spoke in and equal cold and ruthless voice. "Mercilessness paves the path to victory."

Before any more arguements could be made, a cry broke the tension.

"Okay, Primeape, let's do it monkey-to-monkey!" Sun cried out, lunging forward with the relatively massive blade. "Sword punch!!"

A wild snarl split the Primeape's face. "I'll wipe the floor with you!" he lunged, swords at the ready, and swiped right for him.

 

[System Error]

Pachi’s cheeks spark as another Pokemon leaps in and aggravates things. “Say the word, Nori!”

Part of him wants to. But no. He forcefully shakes his head. He didn’t really care for Pokemon battles anyway; any he took part in were by necessity. There was no need to get goaded into this.

“You know what, guys?” he turns around and slowly says to everyone sane. Which notably includes the cavewoman and the Winged King; he gives them a nod. “I’m thinking we just leave these guys to have it out among themselves. The ones among us who are clearly just looking to pick a fight for the sake of it included if they’re not willing to leave.” He gives Sun, and Nate’s Mightyena a look of disgust, then snaps up as a realization shoots through him. His expression changes to one of concern. “Wonder if they’re getting affected too?”

It could be. It made sense, right? If it could affect these Pokemon, it was only logical that it could affect them. At least for his part, he wasn’t feeling anything like that. So on the other hand, those two could just be stupid.

One hand goes to his hip. “Anyway, if we beat Keldeo, they might go back to normal. And I know, I know! But the situation’s more clear now.” He looks away while sighing. He proposed the ambush to stop them, he is fully aware of that. It just didn’t go as planned. “Even if we do help them, we need to find the source of what’s causing this. Whether it is Keldeo or whatever else here. Any ideas?” He glances at Shou'An, Lumen, and the Codex of Truth particular. A Psychic-type might be able to figure it out is what he figures.

 

[kyeugh]

The clear tone on steel rang as the blades met. Sun grunted with exertion, pushing hard against the enemy blade to stop it from striking himself.

“I’m thinking we just leave these guys to have it out among themselves. The ones among us who are clearly just looking to pick a fight for the sake of it included if they’re not willing to leave.” He gives Sun, and Nate’s Mightyena a look of disgust, then snaps up as a realization shoots through him. His expression changes to one of concern. “Wonder if they’re getting affected too?”

“Of course not, dummy! I’m a pokémon! When a pokémon sees another pokémon raring to go, there’s only one thing to do! Agh…” Sun’s back foot slid a little, kicking up glittering sand. “He came with a sword for crying out loud, he’s not here to talk! Are you gonna keep being mad about it or help?”

Ferry inclined his head. “I defer to the little one.”

Teeth gritted, Sun pushed a little harder. He couldn’t keep this up forever, but the primeape was so stinking big and strong. For now, he waited for an opening, hoping to duck and roll, sweeping at his foe’s legs with the honedge…

 

[Negrek]

Lunging for the primeape wasn't exactly what Mightyena'd had in mind when she'd told the meditite to take care of the sword, but it turned out he was way better with a blade than she'd expected! Whether he had any psychic powers or no, he obviously knew his way around punching.

It was hard to watch him go up against such a huge opponent alone nonetheless. Mightyena made a quick scan of the crowd. Was that... a mankey trying to heft an aegislash over there? That was perfect! She sprang towards the smaller pokémon, once again intent on wrestling the weapon away from them. She didn't know if she'd be able to make much use of the aegislash herself, but it seemed eager enough for battle that she hoped it would do most of the work. Hopefully taking some slices at the primeape would at least distract him from the meditite.

 

[System Error]

“Of course not, dummy! I’m a pokémon! When a pokémon sees another pokémon raring to go, there’s only one thing to do! Agh…”

“That isn’t true!” Pachi shouts out to the Meditite. He flashes his front teeth and waves an army. “You do have to fight sometimes, but not all the time! A friend of mine named Demon learned that!”

Ferry inclined his head. “I defer to the little one.”

Nori cracks a smirk and a giggle. “I also defer to the little one!” he proclaims, crossing his arms with a grin. He glances at Pachi, who simply nods in understanding. Of course they would take action if someone got in serious trouble, but he didn’t say that overtly. The boy simply turns back to the others who aren’t keen on having it out with who-knows-how-many Mankeys and Primeapes. “So like I was saying, any ideas?”

Meanwhile, Pachi can’t help but notice an irony. That Mightyena was hoping they would distract them so she could play with the swords. Now they were kind of using her as a distraction while they planned to go after what was making all these angry monkeys like this. She and Sun were actually helping in that sense! He slouches, feeling a little bad about it, but he also didn’t disagree with Nori.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Codex saw the amount of iron flashing about and, after briefly considering a few angles of attack, decided it best to hold off getting iron-burnt before the main event. They’d spare some heal pulses for those less inclined to hold back.

The hiatus could also be an opportunity to pick the brain of a member of the phonetic species during the break. Those ones seemed to be holding back, at most issuing commands to their partners.

This one seemed irritated, which wasn’t necessarily ideal for conversations but was, given the circumstances, both understandable and relatable. “Say. You need an excuse to take your mind off all this for a moment? I would appreciate it if you’d let me indulge my curiosity for a moment, given I’d rather like to know what sort of creature I’m going to be fighting alongside. Once we get to the legend, and past all these steel species everyone’s swinging around. I know the name of your species, even if I can’t pronounce it. Re you lot some sort of… ‘animal’ is the closest word I can think of, even if you’re more intelligent. No spirit energy for moves, you know what I mean. I’m not sure what to expect of you in the fight.”

 

[Hanafuda]

Josie took a second to listen to what the battle-hungry Pokémon had to say. She sighed and shook her head in disappointment. "Guess there's no use arguing with them. Maybe we should move on."

 

[System Error]

This one seemed irritated, which wasn’t necessarily ideal for conversations but was, given the circumstances, both understandable and relatable. “Say. You need an excuse to take your mind off all this for a moment? I would appreciate it if you’d let me indulge my curiosity for a moment, given I’d rather like to know what sort of creature I’m going to be fighting alongside. Once we get to the legend, and past all these steel species everyone’s swinging around. I know the name of your species, even if I can’t pronounce it. Re you lot some sort of… ‘animal’ is the closest word I can think of, even if you’re more intelligent. No spirit energy for moves, you know what I mean. I’m not sure what to expect of you in the fight.”

Nori blinks and rubs the nape of his neck. Was he being addressed? “Oh, um. Awkward time to ask, but okay.” It would be a small distraction. He paused to consider this. How do you even explain something that’s given knowledge to most in your world? He takes a deep breath and gets into it. “Well, besides our Pokemon partners, we have things called ‘weapons’ that we use to fight. Like swords that aren’t alive, or her spear,” he says, gesturing to Sada. He picks up a stick on the ground and twirls it in his fingers. “Or even this could be a weapon. Some of us know how to fight with just our bodies. I’m actually--”

He pauses at what he was about to say. It would take a lot of extra explaining, but not to Codex. Well, trailing off would just need more explaining to him. So he swallows and goes on. “There’s…things called guns, too. They shoot bullets. They’re really strong.” A long beat, in which he awkwardly drops the stick to the ground. “I…sort of…know how to use one…it’s nothing weird, it’s part of my job! And it’s just a tranquilizer!” he quickly adds, waving wildly at his fellow people in case they get any weird(er) thoughts about him. “But I don’t have it yet. So aside from Miss Sada here, most of us will be using our Pokemon. And most of us,” he says, eyes briefly going to Nate, “Work with them as a team. We think up strategy and our Pokemon carry it out. Sometimes, like with me, our Pokemon do some of the thinking too.”

He smiles. Taking his mind off it did help him calm down a little. “Does that help you?”

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"Huh?"

Codex of Truth snapped around to look at this tiny human. Their tendril flickered with faelight in surprised, but they resisted the urge to let it manifest into anything threatening. (They'd already startled at one person today. They didn't need to do it again. And by any measure, this was likely a child!)

Those words translated into wretched images in Codex's head, beasts spilling the ironblood of beasts. Violence in the purest sense of the work, not like any kind of battle Codex had ever experienced. And, hopefully, the likes of which they'd never see. Codex had mistaken it for a blunder on Clink's part to summon so many of this species for a battle not befitting the likes of animal strength. They understood now that they were mistaken. If the fur-swathed human could withstand that, then it was no wonder she'd commanded the respect of a dragon like Winged King. No doubt those trained by their ilk would be far more efficient in taking down Keldeo, if it came down to a fight and not a normal battle. It was what their mentors were built for.

"That's great, thank you for the clarification!" Codex stammered in a rather sarcastic tone.

And that was what this child considered to be normal? Even if they weapon they were anticipating wasn't a means of exerting violence like other guns and weapons of that species, it certainly didn't strike Codex as... well... an ideal childhood. They really believed in withholding judgment from species they didn't understand and they were trying, they were trying to here, but this was just a lot to take in.

[[ooc: forgot some people here don't have discord, sorry. Negrek and I were coordinating a Nate/Codex interaction there.]]

Codex turned to whisper to the human they'd initially been trying to talk to, seeking some kind of reassurance or stability. "They're not all like that, are they? With the... 'weapons'?"

 

[Negrek]

For whatever fucking reason, Mightyena'd chosen to go charging straight into the thick of the mankey's little get-together. Nate couldn't help himself--he dashed to the edge of the group, as close as he dared, and watched Mightyena prance around with a sword, apparently enjoying every second of this. Fuck. And she liked to accuse him of being reckless.

He was so engrossed that he hardly noticed the hatterene come up alongside him; he assumed they were talking to someone else--not his problem. But he started when they whispered right in his ear, blinking like he was coming out of a dream. What was...?

"I mean, no," he said after a moment, not sure why they were whispering but too nervous to ask. "Not guns, especially. But, well, any kind of weapon..." Well, most people, at one point or another in their life, had to defend themselves, right? Even if it was just with a big stick or something, whatever they had to hand. It wasn't like there were a ton of serious pacifists around. "If you live in a world where most things can shoot lasers out of their eyes or whatever shit, you've gotta have some way to defend yourself, right? Not... not everybody uses them, but. You know. A lot of people. When they really have to."

Shit. He was making a real fucking great case for humanity, wasn't he?

 

[Flyg0n]

He couldn’t keep this up forever, but the primeape was so stinking big and strong. For now, he waited for an opening, hoping to duck and roll, sweeping at his foe’s legs with the honedge…

Primeape, so intent on overpowering Sun with brute force, paid little attention to what the Meditite was doing. As he shifted his grip on his Doublade, it gave Sun the exact opening he needed. A slightl decrease in presure and swwwiiiish! rolled right around Primeape, slicing his legs. Primeape howled and staggered, infuriated, while the Honedge Meditite Sun held rattled in delight.

"Oh how interesting..." the Honedge sung, clearly delighted at Sun's technique.

Primeape caught himself and turned, hooting furiously. Quite suddenly, one of the Primeape at the edge of the group swung its sword and sent of spray of dirt right at Sun's face. A dirty trick, a way to blind him. And technically, two gainst one, which while unsurprising,wasn't very fair.

---

She sprang towards the smaller pokémon, once again intent on wrestling the weapon away from them. She didn't know if she'd be able to make much use of the aegislash herself, but it seemed eager enough for battle that she hoped it would do most of the work. Hopefully taking some slices at the primeape would at least distract him from the meditite.

At nearly the same moment, the Mankey staggered as it felt the Aegislash being tugged from its grasp. "Hey hey hey!" she shrieked. "Give that back!"

Aegislash seemed less amenable to the situation than the Honedge had, but perhaps still intrigued. It thrashed uneasily in Mightyena's grasp, then abruptly jerked and turned on its own Mankey, smacking it soundly. Mankey shrieked in shock, then threw a mushy berry at Aegislash and Mightyena before turning and fleeing. Aegislash gave a gleeful cackle. "I only fight to wipe out my opponents. So let us wipe them out together!" It said to Mightyena, its voice edged with cruelness. "Unless you are a coward."

---

Chef Flygon surveyed the group and snorted. "So you lot are all just fighting to destroy each other and nothing more? No rules? I think you're the weak ones."

That a got the attention of a few of them. Several Honedge and Mankey turned to glare at him. A few others looked put off by the accusation.

 

[Nekodatta]

The various replies from the creatures - or "Pokémon", as another human had called them - left Sada... disappointed.

Her eyes widened, and she gripped her spear tighter.

« So... you are only fighting to "win"? This is not some... Ritual fight to decide the next leader of the pack?» she asked.

It had been her first thought, and the one that had made the most sense to her. She had seen some "Pokémon" move in packs. They usually followed the oldest, or the strongest in the group, for a simple reason. It meant you had the most experience of them all, and experience in what to do and how to react kept you alive. It was as simple as that. People were the same after all. Her tribe all deferred to the village elder, simply because he was the one that had survived more hardships.

But this...

« This... this is idiotic. » she spat out. Winged King, who had been looking more than ready to go and join the fight, growled and lowered his head, apparently ashamed.

« So you just want to "win", and then what? What do you do when you have defeated everyone here? What's the point? Winning is the only thing that counts when it's for something!» she exclaimed.

« You win to survive! To get food! To get better, even! To-»

Memory of a broad shouldered human, tall as a tree in her memories of being a little girl and grasping a spear identical to the one she was currently holding flashed through her mind-

« ... To protect your loved ones...» her voice wavered for a second, then she took a big breath and pointed her spear towards the Primeape who seemed the more battle crazy of the group.

« Your fur is covered in blood. Your blades are rusting to nothing. What's the point in "winning" if it costs you your life?» she bitterly looked to one of the lone Mankey who had decided to chuck its weapon and escape.

« That one is the smartest of you all. »

 

[EonDuoLatios]

"I don't think they care about what you say, Madame." The tone of Shou'an's voice was, now, lower, filled with a sort of menace, as he advanced toward the large Primeape, his attack replaced by the Meditite's advance and sword fighting. He had pulled back and allowed Sun to engage in battle against the beast solo, but now, it seemed that the young Meditite needed some help.

He swooped in, diving downward in an attempt to prevent Sun from taking any more hits, and giving him some time to recover, before baring his draconic claws on both paws, cleaving one of them toward the Primeape who sprayed dirt toward the Meditite, attempting to directly claw its eyes, while using the other to shield his own from the staggering Primeape, who may get up and recover at any time.

"They are barbarians. Sometimes, individuals -- scum -- like them attempt to come to Tianxia to cause chaos there, too. They never listen to us, for they are uncivilised by nature, and the only thing that can be done to them is to beat them down, teach them a lesson."

He then turned toward the group of monkeys, levitating slightly above them.

"I am the King of All Under Heaven, do you understand? You do not get to make demands to anyone!"

 

[System Error]

“You’re welcome!” Nori says with total earnestness, even adding a polite and peppy bow. Though he only chuckles a little when the Hatterne just goes and talks to someone else; he didn’t expect the Pokemon to help with finding the source of this after, but was sort of hoping. Oh well.

The talk put him in a better mood, because he turns around and faces the group of angry Pokemon at Chef Flygon’s accusation. As a Pokemon Rehabilitator, his job was to help those that no one else could or would. Not the best trainers, not care facilities, not even diviners. They weren’t his to train. But he could do something. Those words seemed to make them take pause. Could talking it out really work? He was running out of ideas, and really wanted to avoid all-out conflict.

That is, until he lets out a sharp sigh as Shou'an floats up and tries to threaten them. “They weren’t making any demands…” he points out. Just saying what their thoughts on fighting were. Not to mention all the other problems with it. Was he projecting that Tia…place’s problems on these or something?

But he doesn’t get dissuaded. No, he had to still try. He steps forward. If they were taking pause by being accused of weakness, then. “From what I’ve been told by the speck,” He flashes an assuring smile and winks at Clink. He didn’t mean it, he was just using their words. “You guys weren’t always this bad. Is it really what you want? We think something might be affecting your minds. This world’s gone a little crazy ever since Keldeo showed up. Think back to before! Are you really going to let whoever it is do that to you? Don’t be weak like that. Be strong mentally too!” He urges them on with a small clap.

“Nori's right!” Pachi agrees. “I love fighting and winning too! But you gotta know your limits! There’s other ways to be strong, too!”

Spoiler: OoC

[[ooc: forgot some people here don't have discord, sorry. Negrek and I were coordinating a Nate/Codex interaction there.]]

Happens, thought it was him since Nori was pretty irritated too! :P Feel it was a happy little accident though, Nori and Nate accidentally tag teaming to give Codex a poor image of humanity, heh.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"I mean, no," "Not guns, especially. But, well, any kind of weapon..." "If you live in a world where most things can shoot lasers out of their eyes or whatever shit, you've gotta have some way to defend yourself, right? Not... not everybody uses them, but. You know. A lot of people. When they really have to."

Codex sighed. “I suppose you’re right. But your kind doesn’t have any other protection from attack, so you?” (They didn’t have any sort of spirit so it would make sense, and it would match how Winged King described his partner.)

“Are other species trying to maim you when they attack? I can’t imagine it’s possible to have a sporting battle with someone who’ll be injured on the first move. Sounds like a harrowing situation.”

Codex sighed, seeming tired. They were tired, honestly. Always experiencing some form of burnout or another. “Glad some people are able to avoid situations like that, at least. Can’t be all rough, if that’s the case. Hope you’ve got a decent life back home, at least.”

 

[Negrek]

Mightyena let out an affronted growl when she saw the spectating primeape kick dirt into the meditite's face. Well, now at least her getting involved would make it even!

A few members of their group had taken issue with that, and with the brawl as a whole. Mightyena had to agree, but--"Smnf fffgh nmff!"--she still wasn't in a position to be talking right now. That was okay. They could handle the talking. Right now her place was to fight.

She hefted the aegislash the best she could and ran at the big primeape, making a swipe for his arms. If she could knock one of the doublade out of his hands, she bet he'd have a lot more trouble. She needed to give the meditite time to recover.

---​

The hatterene seemed so... tired. Disappointed. Nate couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt, but what was he even guilty for? All he'd done was tell the truth.

He tried to focus on what the hatterene was saying, over and above the chaos going on around them. He could see Mightyena in his peripheral vision, still waving that ridiculous fucking sword around, so that was all right. "Yeah, humans ain't got much we can do on our own. That's why we make tools to help us out with shit. Weapons and whatever else." He gave the hatterene a faint smile. "Ain't as brutal as all that, really. People can still fight for fun, it just ain't as intense as a pokémon battle. That's what they call 'sports.' People still get hurt, yeah, but it's mostly by accident. As long as people follow the rules, it's pretty safe."

As for Nate's own life, well... He didn't think the hatterene would really enjoy hearing about his own personal experience with violence. "It ain't all bad, for sure. And I do the best I can." His smile was all teeth. "What about you, though? Sounds like you come from somewhere really different. I'm kinda surprised, like... Wherever you are, there's gotta be people who come at you with more than friendly battles, right? When people really want to hurt you, or kill you, and not just fight for fun. That's the same kinda thing, ain't it, whether you're using thunderbolts or guns?"

 

[Flyg0n]

« So you just want to "win", and then what? What do you do when you have defeated everyone here?

At this, there was a noticeable shift among the group, growls and soft hoots and grunts of consternation and doubt bouncing among them. It almost seemed as if in their anger fueled fever, they had never considered what they would do after they 'won'.

What's the point? Winning is the only thing that counts when it's for something!

"It's obvious!" A Honedge called. "We fight to win.... to win..." Her voice faded as she could provide no proper answer.

A Primeape grunted sourly. "Wining is everything. Who cares why." Yet she sounded less confident, as if she sought to convince herself.

« Your fur is covered in blood. Your blades are rusting to nothing. What's the point in "winning" if it costs you your life?»

A Doublade pulled away from the Mankey wielding it. Perhaps the idea of dying or getting hurt in a pointless fight wasn't so fun, now that it was actually thinking about it. The Mankey themself dropped her aggressive stance, some of the malignant glow in her eyes dulling.

Several of the other blade pokemon seemed particularly moved by the mention of the condition of their weapons, as if finally realizing the damage they'd done to themselves.

---

He swooped in, diving downward in an attempt to prevent Sun from taking any more hits, and giving him some time to recover, before baring his draconic claws on both paws, cleaving one of them toward the Primeape who sprayed dirt toward the Meditite, attempting to directly claw its eyes, while using the other to shield his own from the staggering Primeape, who may get up and recover at any time.

Primeape-Doublade had been prepared to followup his sand tactic with another blow when a flash of white and blue interrupted him. Rage filled his eyes, but Shou'an struck before he could gather himself. He screeched and staggered back, briefly blinded.

She hefted the aegislash the best she could and ran at the big primeape, making a swipe for his arms

Doublade moved of its own accord this time, blocking the blow with one of its rusted blades. This left another chip in its already damaged blade, which elicited an eerie shriek from the weapon.

"I am the King of All Under Heaven, do you understand? You do not get to make demands to anyone!"

"I see no kings, only winners and weaklings!" Doublade jerked free of Primeape and shot forward. The two rusted blades swiped, one right for Shou'an's head, and the other at Mightyena. Yet the movement was weak, slowed by obvious wear and exhaustion.

And it left themselves open to counterattack as they seemed to sag in the air from weariness. Primeape still rubbed at his eyes, trying to regain his composure. It seemed all their constant fighting had done nothing but overexhaust the group...

"Get them now, destroy them!" Aegislash demanded to Mightyena, gleeful with bloodlust. "Cut them down!"

The Honedge, still in Sun's grasp, rattled in delight. "Now little knight!! Strike them while they are down! Finish them and shatter their blades."

It seemed the two swords had little care still for their opponents...
(( @kyeugh ))

---

“You guys weren’t always this bad. Is it really what you want? We think something might be affecting your minds. This world’s gone a little crazy ever since Keldeo showed up. Think back to before! Are you really going to let whoever it is do that to you? Don’t be weak like that. Be strong mentally too!

A few Mankey and a Primeape clustered together stared at Nori, first with undisguised anger, then confusion. "Strong... mentally..." they murured amongst themselves for a few seconds. "Mentally..." It seemed they were testing the word out, or perhaps remembering the concept.

"Before..." an Aegislash said, softly, as if to himself. "Yes before we used to spar to hone ourselves, not... harm." They brushed a ghostly cloth tendril against their shield, which was dented and chipped in several places.

“I love fighting and winning too! But you gotta know your limits! There’s other ways to be strong, too!”

"A break might be nice..." They glanced around, for the first time looking more tired than angry.

One Mankey scratched its chin. "I don't feel like I've even gotten any stronger..."

"Then stop this!" Chef Flygon slapped the ground with his tail for emphasis. "Your desires are being corrupted. To fight for understanding and growth of the soul, discipline of the body is all well. But you are behaving like common beasts! And learning nothing and gaining nothing."

More murmurs of doubt began spreading as the hostility began to ebb, save for the brawl still ongoing with the Doublade-Primeape.

 

[Hanafuda]

Josie was ready to defend herself and Pachi in case any enemies came close, but now that she noticed Chef Flygon, Nori and the cavewoman with the professor coat trying to speak some sense into the crazed Mankey, Primeape and ghost swords, she started to relax and take it all in. Honestly, she never thought this would happen. At least they were making progress.

“Yeah. We fight. All of us Pokémon hatch with a fighting spirit already in us. We just don’t know it until our first battle. To be honest, fighting is really scary, especially when you’re as tiny as me. You always run the risk of getting squashed and having your life suddenly end like that. I fight to avoid that; and so that I can go back to my Trainer. But here and now, I fight to help everyone here calm Keldeo down. It’s okay if you don’t join us for that, but Nori and the others are right! What good comes out of fighting if you’ll just end up fighting again and again until you can’t do it anymore?”