Shirona finally understood the mechanics of what had happened.

The Monster Ball had successfully captured that being called Nurarihyon. But there was one clear rule that even Shirona could grasp - only one entity can be contained within a single Ball.

There were two beings inside that one. So while it had trapped one of them, the other was still able to resist and break free from within, shattering the Ball to escape.

Understanding this, it still took time for her to fully accept it. Such a phenomenon had never occurred before. It showed that their opponent was fundamentally different from any previous enemy they'd faced.

"How fascinating. Truly fascinating." The old man leaned against the bridge railing, arms folded as he studied Shirona intently. "Mmm...fascinating indeed."

But it wasn't him who moved. It was the woman. Her form vanished from sight.

Shirona couldn't react. She knew the abnormal speed at which the woman was approaching, yet her feet felt rooted. All that occupied her mind was the realization that this presence matched the nightmarish entity she had seen so many times before.

Anzu started screaming a warning cry. She couldn't get the full shout out. The woman's arm transformed, a sharp blade extending straight towards Anzu's throat.

"Fufu...the weak are useless."

Shirona felt the rush of wind. A familiar blue body leapt in the way, knocking Anzu aside while its fist slammed into the woman's face.

"Wauf!"

Lucario barked out a cry before pressing his attack. His appearance was slightly changed - the eye covered by a cloth wrap looked painful, blood seeping from it. He had likely been through intense battle already. Yet his movements showed no sluggishness, only increasing speed.

The woman fell back, eyeing Lucario consideringly. Then clutching her abdomen, she leapt off the bridge. Lucario seemed to understand the lure but didn't give chase, instead retreating back towards Shirona and the others.

The woman landed below the bridge and ran deeper into the area beyond, as if fleeing. As her form receded into the distance, Shirona felt her composure returning.

"Lucario..."

Lucario extended a paw towards Anzu who stood up, letting out a small reassuring sound to check if she was unharmed.

"Thank you. I'm sorry, I've been..."

Lucario cut her off with his pawpad, fixing the old Nurarihyon with a sharp gaze as he approached the middle of the bridge.

"I don't recall hearing about there being two of you."

George had already recovered enough to stand, the emergency treatment from Togekiss staunching his bleeding for now, though his crushed hand looked beyond use. His suit was also near its limits.

Shirona took a deep breath and re-gripped her X-Gun. "We have to defeat that thing while we can."

The bespectacled man, who had been closest to the enemy, was being cradled and carried by Oniteng. Togekiss swiftly flew over - he seemed barely conscious but still alive.

"What are you doing?"

The icy words came from the vixen, Kyukon. She fixed Nurarihyon with an intense glare. "What are you doing to our master?"

"Oh?" With that casual utterance, Nurarihyon's head burst apart.

Shirona leveled her X-Gun at him as well. This didn't seem to be the end - his body showed no signs of falling despite the grievous wound.

"Fire!"

Kato and George's weapons let out activation tones. But by then, Nurarihyon had nearly regenerated his entire face. Still, before he could make another move, his body began disintegrating from the barrage of X-Gun fire striking him repeatedly. Chunks of flesh sprayed outwards.

Her trigger finger trembled, the impulse to keep firing not subsiding. He had surely suffered mortal wounds by now - this was entirely one-sided. They should be able to defeat him like this.

"Indeed, very good."

At an unbelievable speed, Nurarihyon fully regenerated his entire body. This rate of recovery far outpaced even the stone effigies they had fought before. Destroying what should have been a critical area like the head didn't put him down - perhaps he had some other vulnerability.

Kyukon faltered then, ceasing her attacks and retreating back towards the bespectacled man. She truly seemed like a Pokémon, prioritizing her master's safety above all.

Nurarihyon lightly dodged sideways as Oniteng's iron staff came swinging down where he'd been standing. The tengu let out an intimidating roar.

"Fascinating." He murmured that same word impassively while evading Oniteng's blows.

Two strikes.

Three strikes.

"Come on, then."

To Shirona, it seemed he merely extended his arm. Yet with just that simple motion, Nurarihyon's fist easily pierced straight through Oniteng's massive torso.

The tengu retaliated, his iron staff shattering the left half of Nurarihyon's body. But it had no lasting effect - Nurarihyon spun and kicked, sending the giant form flying back, regenerating the destroyed portion instantly.

Oniteng seemed to have leapt back intentionally, mitigating some of the impact before taking up a defensive stance before the bespectacled man, blood was dripping from his mouth.

"Hohoho."

Nurarihyon started advancing with apparent amusement. His body was riddled with holes in an instant from Shirona's X-Gun barrage combined with Aura Spheres from Lucario.

George tried to make a run for the heavy ordnance lying further along the bridge. "The Z-Gun..." But he had to stop short.

"I see."

Nurarihyon stood unperturbed, his attention now focused on Lucario. While evading Shadow Balls from Roserade and Gastrodon's Water Pulses, he extended one hand palm-out towards their group. The stance was hauntingly familiar - it perfectly mirrored Lucario's stance for his own Aura Sphere.

From that outstretched palm, flesh began extruding and coalescing into a spherical mass. Tubing trailed behind it, connecting the projectile back to Nurarihyon's hand.

"Well now? Like this?"

Boom!

The fleshy orb fired out at tremendous speed.

Lucario reacted flawlessly, kicking the incoming projectile to deflect its trajectory. But the malleable sphere moved in an unnatural arc, curving back unerringly towards Nurarihyon's controlling hand. He was retracting it via that tubing tether like a yo-yo - and reshaping the projectile into a clear imitation of Lucario's Aura Sphere.

"Get the injured away from here, please!"

Shirona called out to the stunned looking Sakurai and Sakata behind them. Although wounded themselves, they managed to follow her instructions.

The second flesh-sphere came hurtling in.

"Powah!"

Yamada was the target. Gastrodon leapt to intercept, the projectile detonating against her body. While robbed of its velocity, it still gouged out a large chunk of Gastrodon's mass.

A gruesome sight, but far from fatal - she rapidly regenerated the lost portion. Their side possessed similar resilience, thankfully.

Or so Shirona tried desperately to reassure herself, struggling to keep her pulse steady. Fear could undermine even a winnable battle. She needed to remain calm.

Mikaruge halted the third projectile with Psychokinesis, holding it immobile for Lucario to blast it apart with an Aura Sphere.

Shirona stole a glance back towards those being evacuated. She couldn't let them get too distant - that woman who had vanished might try targeting them.

Her eyes found Oka, being carried over Sakurai's shoulder. She refused to let the nightmarish future she'd witnessed come to pass. Oka would not die here. They would defeat this enemy themselves, alongside their Pokémon allies.

The woman stood atop the bridge railing. Her eyes glowed crimson. Before Shirona could even register the jarring sight, searing agony lanced through her body.

"Ah...kuh!"

Her X-Gun disintegrated into shards that were promptly crushed into dust motes. The hand clutching it was stripped away, flesh rending and bones cracking - the devastation rapidly consumed her entire arm up to the shoulder.

Mikaruge interposed itself, likely countering some Psychokinetic force, only to be swatted away by the old man's Nurarihyon form right after.

Shirona remained upright through sheer force of will, even as copious blood poured out. The sheer overflow of pain robbed all sensation, an encroaching lightness drifting into her consciousness.

Togekiss frantically flew over, already using Drop of Life. But its healing effects did little against such a catastrophic wound. An entire arm pulverized was beyond the capacity of that move. Yet it helped anchor her awareness for the time being.

"Togekiss!"

Nakayama screamed as the woman's blade pierced Togekiss's chest. The fairy was flung away, Nakayama stumbling after it before being bisected herself. Only her severed upper torso rolled forward.

The woman turned her gaze elsewhere as Kato cried out in realization. "Get down!"

Her bladed appendages extended in an instantaneous lash.

How many could have possibly reacted to that sudden lethal threat? After so many incomprehensible events occurred in rapid succession, who could swiftly process such dangers?

Shirona could only watch helplessly as the resolute determination filling her mere moments ago shattered into pieces.

"Gastro...don..."

By chance or misfortune, she remained unscathed.

Gastrodon had reacted with remarkable speed for her species, interposing her body between Shirona and Yamada- just managing to get in the way in time.

"Weak...so weak..."

The woman taunted with a mocking laugh as her bladed limbs pierced straight through Gastrodon.

And Yamada behind her, the blade transfixing her chest as well despite the obstruction. Spinning the blade with contemptuous ease, it bored a widening hole that spilled Yamada's insides out.

The woman briskly retreated a few paces - not out of any wariness, but simply to allow distance. To let her prey fully grasp the inevitability of their demise before delivering the deathblow.

Her gaze fixed squarely on Shirona. That haunting speed only increased further, an incomprehensible blur as the woman closed the distance in an eyeblink despite the separation that should have allowed ample reaction time.

Dialga. Palkia.

Shirona's mind grasped at words that should have been meaningless delusions.

Yet in that moment, a sobering realization dawned. The reason those two had persistently shown her premonitory nightmares - the true meaning behind repeatedly impressing that vision of Oka's death. It was one or the other. Either Shirona or Oka would inevitably die.

Bam!

The woman casually kicked Lucario's head aside before consuming the severed remains of his left arm in a single swallow.

One of them was doomed to perish, an inescapable fate. Which path offered better prospects to secure victory?

The answer was self-evident. Shirona lacked any martial prowess, while Oka had repeatedly survived through his own resourcefulness.

But she couldn't accept that resignation. Being manipulated by some unseen scheme sickened her. So she swiftly drew her sword from its hip sheath, thumbing the activator to extend its blade with trembling determination.

‘I’ll defeat this...no matter what.’ As her gaze bored into the woman, something appeared amiss.

That distended abdomen was shrinking, the taut abdominal muscles becoming more defined. The pronounced swelling from before had vanished completely. She had given birth. Her temporary departure had been to complete that process.

In the next instant, Shirona felt all strength leaving her body.

"Hyohyohyo..."

Laughter sounded by her ear as a man materialized behind her. Middle-aged features with shallow creases around the eyes. He extended fingers to prod at the meter device affixed to Shirona's neck.

The third Nurarihyon incarnation. Her body became unbearably heavy as his fist simultaneously pierced straight through her torso.

The woman's visage filled her fading sight, those slanted eyes glinting with sadistic satisfaction.

Fleeting images of her Pokémon flickered across her mind's eye.

Gastrodon. Roserade. Milotic. Togekiss. Mikaruge. Lucario. Garchomp.

Finally, the fuzzy-haired male's face expanded to fill her vision.

“I'm sorry,” Shirona silently apologized. “Keep fighting.”

 

Thank you for the Ratings/Likes and Comments. Your support is the greatest encouragement for me!

Become a member at:
https://www.patreon.com/ZenpaiTrans