With Giovanni gone, things were at least more straightforward. Only one target there... or two. But Darkwhite--Sword--wasn't what they were trying to defeat here, and whatever the fuck the Eternatus thing was sure as hell wasn't something they could ignore. But even as the attacks flew and the battle churned the dune into a storm of blowing sand, something kept nagging at Nate.
He had to pause after what felt like the thousandth hydro pump, grimacing and turning his face out of the worst of the wind. He was
so fucking done with deserts.
"He said he'd get her when this is over," Nate growled. "Just like he did with fucking Joule. We can't let him do that. What's the point of even trying to reach her when that bastard's just going to show up and drag her off again to, I don't know, fucking upgrade or whatever?"
Rocky was naturally cheering Darkwhite on, leaping up and down and punching the air like if she just got a bit more pep she'd be able to shrug off the Eternatus thing that had fucking burst out of her skin, but after a few seconds he noticed his partner was standing around, muttering to himself. "Umm, shouldn't you be attacking?"
"We could set some kind of trap for when he gets back. All jump him at once, before he has a chance to figure out what's going on. He's so fucking
fast, though. At least we have to do something about pokéballs. What the fuck have we got that can stop a pokéball?"
"Hello?" Rocky squatted down, peering at Nate. "We're supposed to be fighting, you know?"
"I'm thinking, fuck off!"
"Maybe you could try thinking... after the battle?" Rocky asked nervously. The ground rumbled, sand sifting away down the side of the dune as some attack touched down worryingly close.
"If we could stop him giving orders, whatever that device is. Or some kind of psychic bullshit?" Nate didn't even flinch as one of their teammates charged past, wreathed in a haze of energy. "Have to stop him from... reaching her..." A cold feeling was stealing over him as options withered and fell away under scrutiny, leaving behind the one he sure as fuck didn't want to think about.
"Okay, well, I'm going to keep actually helping Darkwhite over here," Rocky said when Nate had been staring at the ground in front of him for a solid thirty seconds. "I hope you're thinking really important thoughts! Even more important than winning the battle!"
Nate closed his eyes and took a deep breath, sinking further into the cold. The sounds of battle and Rocky's cries of
You can do this! Fight them off you know you can! faded into the distance as Nate reached for the ball of deep shadow he knew was still down there somewhere. Somewhere he shouldn't have to look at it anymore.
Yeah, he could do this. No problem. He sure as hell hadn't forgotten how.
The air around Nate darkened, and Rocky paused. "Wait, what are you--?" The familiar yelped and jumped aside to avoid a coiling burst of darkness aimed at the thrashing Eternatus-creature.
Nate used Shadow Isolate!
"I don't think that even did anything," Rocky said after a moment, watching the weird finger-heads splayed out around Darkwhite hiss and blast energy beams in all directions, exactly as they had been before.
"Yeah, well, it usually takes some work to put fuckers like that down." Nate said, sliding into a lower stance so the sand was piled up around his knees. His shadow wavered, smoky black tendrils starting to rise from the sand around him. Nate smirked, and the expression felt too wide for his face. "But what do you know? I'm probably the most stubborn bastard on this whole shitty world."
Nate used Shadow Isolate!
