# Part 3 Dashes and cinders

Author: LPN
Tags: Adventure, Death, Kiddnapping, Pokemon, Violence

Dashes  
and cinders

"What are you doing?" Cory asked as she  
leaned over Dash's shoulder.

He had the table full of papers where he  
had drawn various strange symbols.

"I'm working on strategies for future  
battles," he explained. "As our team is now, we should probably go after a  
grass or rock pin next. If I fight we might have a shot on an electric pin."

"We are going to challenge the ice master!"

"What!? Why?"

"It's the closest one."

"Cory," Dash moaned. "You have to think  
things through more. Sure Sune will have an advantage against an ice type, but  
you will be at a disadvantage. Just like in the match against steel master  
Ruck. And what if the ice master is a dual type, like lapras who is part water  
type. Then we won't even have type advantage."

"Everest is an abomasnow. He is really  
strong but it will take about a weak to reach his arena, so we will have a lot  
of time to train as we go."

The fact that Cory seemed to have thought  
things through for once took Dash by surprise.

"Okay... then Sune's fire moves will be four  
times as powerful since he is a grass type as well, but you will still have a  
tough time," Dash told her.

 

Cory insisted that she would be okay and  
train really hard to overcome her weaknesses. At least her poison powder  
strategy would work this time and Dash had an idea that might swing the odds in  
their favour. If only he had enough time.

Later, after they had checked out of the  
inn, he and Sune were gathering supplies for their trip, Cory had said she  
needed to do something and run off somewhere. They noticed a huge gathering at  
a house further down the street.

"What is going on?" Sune asked.

"You haven't heard? Someone broke into  
Clint's house and attacked him and his family," one of the crowd told them.  
"They are all in pretty bad shape. Even his daughter."

Then they saw a ryhorn and some other  
pokemon come out of the house.

"Earp!" Dash called as he and Sune ran up  
to the lawman. "What happened to Clint?"

"Oh! It's you, kid," Earp said as he saw  
them. "It was Slitter. He snuck into town at night and attacked Clint and his  
family in their sleep. They'll live but Cathy is in severe shock. He must have  
made her watch what he did to her parents." He turned to the other pokemon who  
had come out of the house with him. "Okay boys, this time Slitter has gone too  
far! Now it's war! We'll find his lair and bring him back in chains or a  
coffin! Either one is more than he deserves."

 

With that they moved out and left the crowd  
to disperse on its own. Dash and Sune didn't know what to say. They had only met  
Clint once, but they had liked him. The people of the town must be feeling  
really uncomfortable now that the leader of their law enforcement had been  
victimised in such a brutal way.

"There you are!"

Cory ran up to them as cheerful as ever.  
She must not have heard what had happened yet.

"Look what I bought from a lilligant!" she  
struck a pose indicating a pretty pink flower next to the big leaf on her head.  
"Don't I look dashing? What's wrong? Why do you guys look so gloomy?"

It took them both all their persuasion  
skills to stop Cory from running after Earp and the other law enforcers and  
help them catch Slitter. Luckily they somehow managed to convince her that they  
would only be in the way.

To get to Drifting peak, where ice master  
Everest had his arena, they needed to cross through the mountains next to the  
village. Fortunately there was a network of tunnels that ran through the  
mountain to the other side so it would not take more than a day to cross over.

 

As they left the village and approached the  
entrance to the tunnels they met a pokemon that resembled a big red turtle.

"My name is Billy," the torkoal said. "Earp  
told me to escort anyone who passes through the tunnels since sometimes rouges  
hide in them."

"That's fine," Sune said. "Safety in  
numbers and all that."

They entered the tunnels, hoping that it  
would be an uneventful trip.

In another part of the mountain the  
peacekeepers had found what seemed to be what was left of Slitter's lair. It  
was a medium sized cave that seemed to be connected to the tunnels under the  
mountain.

"Rock salt!" Earp cursed. "I'll go back to  
town and let Billy know not to let anyone into the tunnels. That blasted fiend  
is running around there!"

The rest of the team made its way into the  
tunnels to pursue their quarry.

Farther into the mountain a charmeleon girl  
named Cinder was running to keep up with a large kabutops as they travelled through  
a cavern full of natural stone bridges and lava pools.

"Why did you have to sneak into the  
village? Now they'll be after us to the ends of the earth..."

 

She was cut off by a large talon that  
slapped across her face, sending her to the ground.

"Shut up or I'll do to you what I did to  
Clint and his rapidash bitch," Slitter told her. He then dragged her into a  
small side cavern and brutally tossed her on the floor. "Stay here!" he ordered  
and disappeared back the way they had come. Probably to deal with his pursuers.

With Slitter busy dealing with the  
peacekeepers, Cinder might be able to run away, but she immediately put that  
thought out of her head. He would find her. He had before, and he would again.  
As long as Slitter lived she would never be free. She only hoped those idiot  
lawmen had the sense not to split up.

Billy proved to be a slow walker, so they  
stopped to rest often. At each of their stops Dash found a stone and started to  
swing his tail at it. Finally curiosity got the better of his friends and they  
asked him what in the world he was doing.

"I'm trying to learn a new move," he  
confessed. "I'm not sure it will work, but if I can learn it, it will be a  
great help when we challenge Everest."

 

"There is a dojo in the next village,"  
Billy told them. "I'm sure you can find someone to help you there."

When they continued on their way, Dash  
approached Sune.

"Before, you told me that you used to  
belong to a human, but Cory and everyone else seem to think humans only exist  
in fairy tales."

"It's true," Sune replied, her tone  
indicating she was not comfortable talking about it. Still she continued. "The  
humans live in a land far south of here. Across a great ocean. When my master  
tired of me he abandoned me in a forest. I thought I would starve to death,  
when a huge flying pokemon appeared. It swept me up and carried me all the way  
here. Shortly after I met Cory."

"And we became the best of friends!" Cory  
chimed as she nudged herself between them. "You big meanie! Why didn't you tell  
me before?"

"I'm sorry. I just didn't want to talk  
about it. It was a really awful time."

"That's okay, we're still friends! But wow,  
humans really exists! I wonder who that huge pokemon was! Maybe lugia or  
reshiram!"

"Groudon is big," Billy suggested.

 

"Groudon can't fly," Dash interjected.

"How about kyogre then?"

"Anyway," Dash said, ignoring Billy. "I  
hope you realize that not all humans are bad. Just like there are some pokemon  
that can be cruel."

Sune did not reply. It would take more to  
make her change her mind.

Suddenly a large, winged figure swept down  
in front of them, shrieking liked possessed. It swept its four big wings,  
sending gale force winds at the travellers. The ground beneath Dash and Sune  
gave way and the two fell into another part of the cave system.

The crobat began biting wildly around  
itself, purple poison dripping from its fangs. Cory sent a volley of razor  
leafs at it, at the same time as Billy fired a flamethrower, incinerating the  
leaves before they reached their target.

Wayne the scyther stalked his way through  
the dark tunnel. After Earp had left, the remaining team members had split up  
to cover more ground. Not that he minded, he preferred to work alone. The  
attack came without a sound. A stream of mud and water hit the cave wall. Slitter  
stepped out of the darkness to examine his handiwork, but Wayne was nowhere to  
be seen. At the last moment he looked up and managed to block the slash from  
Wayne's scythe like forearms. A series of blows were exchanged. For a moment it  
seemed that he had the advantage but Slitter was nearly three feet taller and  
had superior reach. It was only a matter of time before he overpowered Wayne  
and sent him flying into the wall with a blast of high pressure bubbles.  
Slitter began glowing faintly green as large stones rose into the air around  
him and rapidly launched into the sealing above Wane, causing a cave-in that  
buried the peacekeeper. His work done, Slitter disappeared into the darkness.

"What happened?" asked Sune as she rubbed  
her sore head.

 

"I think the floor collapsed," Dash  
replied.

As they looked around they found that they  
had entered a lower level of the cave system. Their only option was to try and  
get back by finding a tunnel that went back to the upper level.

The magmar called Holliday entered a cavern  
with a large magma pond. If she hadn't been on duty she would have thought that  
it was a really cosy place. She didn't notice Slitter until he struck her from  
behind and pressed her head beneath the magma. The molten rock didn't hurt her,  
but it kept her from breathing and after a few moments of flailing, the  
struggling ceased and her body went limp.

The crobat had finally been subdued. As  
they got a closer look on its unconscious form they noticed a large scar over  
each eye.

"So that's why it was flailing around like  
that," Billy mused. "Poor guy was blind!"

"What do we do now?" Cory asked. "Dash and  
Sune are alone in the lower tunnels with whatever did this."

"There is only one thing to do isn't it,"  
Billy said as he manned up and jumped into the hole that had swallowed their  
companions.

 

"Cory?"

"Yes?"

"We have a problem."

"What's that?"

"I'm stuck."

"I think we're heading upwards, or whatever  
it's called," Dash said as they entered a cavern with a bundle of stone bridges  
crossing a deep chasm.

"Dash... are you certain not all humans are  
bad?"

"Positive! I know that for a fact. Don't  
get me wrong, there are pretty bad people out there, I've run into more than a  
few. But in general, most humans I've met have been nice."

As they were about midway over one of the  
stone bridges a figure rushed out of the tunnel entrance on the other side,  
coming right at them. Dash was swept aside by a huge talon, which knocked the  
breath from his lungs and his body from the bridge.

Sune watched in horror as her friend  
plummeted into the chasm. Then another talon slammed her to the ground.

"So we meet again little fox," Slitter said  
before reaching his arms over his head and delivering a final blow that turned  
Sune's world black.

Hickok had been with the peacekeepers for longer  
than Clint, and had at one time been a candidate for leadership. He knew how to  
play the game and when to play it. The old golem entered a cavern full of rock  
bridges and lava pools. He noticed movement in a small side cavern and  
carefully crept closer to have a look. Inside was a charmeleon girl who seemed  
to be waiting for someone.

 

"What are you doing here?" he asked as he  
stepped into view.

The girl sat up in a flash.

"Hide, you idiot!" she hissed. "He could  
come back any second."

"You're talking 'bout Slitter aren't you."

"Yes, you fool. Hide and I'll distract him  
for you."

Hickok nodded and pressed himself against  
the cave wall, his rock body making him blend in perfectly.

Jane made her way into a cavern where  
several natural stone bridges spanned a deep chasm. Suddenly a small figure  
came falling from one of the higher bridges. The houndoom made a running jump,  
catching the figure in mid-air, before landing safely on a lower bridge. She  
recognised him as the eevee that had spoken to Earp earlier that day.

"Slitter..." he gasped as she gently laid him  
down on the ground. "He's got Sune."

"Rest here. I'll take care of this," Jane  
said and disappeared into a tunnel, her keen sense of smell having locked on  
target.

Hickok noticed someone approaching. As he'd  
thought it was Slitter, he was dragging the vulpix girl they had met at Clint's  
house, along the floor. She was unconscious but seemed otherwise unhurt.

 

He stopped in front of the side cave and  
tossed her inside.

"Here's a new playmate," he grinned to the  
charmeleon.

Hickok saw his chance to catch the villain  
of guard and sent his boulder like body crashing into his opponent.

Slitter was knocked hard into the wall, but  
despite being obviously hurt, he swung his deadly talons at Hickok's rock hard  
hide but they did little damage. Hickok opened his mouth and bathed Slitter in  
flames with a flamethrower attack. In response the kabutops opened his own  
mouth and pelted the old golem with a spray of high pressure bubbles, the water  
move doing serious damage to the rock and ground type. He then pressed Hickok's  
mouth open and fired a mud shot straight down his throat, filling his  
opponent's lungs with thick mud.

As Hickok collapsed, Jane rushed into the  
cavern. At the sight of her fallen comrade she gave of a fearsome roar and  
charged at Slitter, sinking her fangs into his shoulder. Her jaws were not  
powerful enough to penetrate the kabutops carapace but, just as it seemed that he  
would counterattack, Slitter howled in pain as his body was struck by a massive  
electric charge.

 

As the battle raged outside, Cinder watched  
the unconscious vulpix girl before her. This was not good. Years ago, when  
Slitter had first abducted her, he also had a young blaziken named Lela with  
him. But as his attention had shifted more towards Cinder, Lela became less  
interesting to him and one day she had simply been gone, and Cinder seriously  
doubted that Slitter had let her go. Especially since his claws had been full  
of fresh dug dirt. She had no desire to chare that fate, so if Slitter managed  
to finish of the peacekeepers, it might be for the best if this new girl had an  
"accident". She glanced towards the opening of the side cave. There was a cliff  
just a few feet away from it, ending in a pool of molten lava. If she could  
make it look like the girl had panicked and blindly made a run for it... but if  
on the other hand, if the peacekeepers actually won, there would be no need to  
get rid of her, and Cinder really hated doing things she didn't need to do.  
Besides, the girl was kind of cute.

Slitter kicked Jane away from him. With  
some distance between them Jane opened her mouth, a sphere of pure blackness  
forming between her jaws. At the same time Slitter began to glow green as large  
rocks rose into the air around him. It was shadow ball versus ancient power.  
Slitter knew that shadow ball was the stronger of the two moves but he was  
launching several projectiles, the shadow ball would destroy one or two of them  
but the rest would continue on towards the bitch. But Jane did something  
unexpected, she fired at the bridge, causing it to crumble and sending the surprised  
villain crashing down onto a lower bridge.

 

Cursing, Slitter rose from the rubble and  
turned just in time to see Jane rush of from the higher bridge, bursting into  
flames in mid-air, turning herself into a living comet. The two combatants  
struck each other with a thunderclap, exchanging blow after blow until Slitter  
managed to deliver a slash over Jane's eyes, blinding her. Enraged, he  
continued beating on her even after she stopped struggling.

"Losers look up!"

The yell caused Slitter to stand up and  
look for its source. There, jumping from the higher bridge, was that annoying  
little eevee. As he fell, Dash spun around, slapping his tail across Slitter's  
head. The moment before it made contact, the tail turned into solid steel and  
struck the skull with an audible crack!

As Dash landed, he began scratching up a  
sand cloud, hiding him from view. When the cloud dissipated Dash was nowhere to  
be seen, causing Slitter, still dazed from the blow to his head, to look around  
wondering if the little pest had somehow managed to get back onto the higher  
bridges and was preparing another assault.

 

Dash erupted from the ground, this bridge  
being much wider and several tens of feet thicker than the higher ones enabled  
him to dig without falling through, and delivered a blow to Slitter's  
midsection. Wobbling, but still standing, the kabutops raised his deadly talons.  
Dash backed up to get a running start, so that he could use last resort, and  
charged at Slitter, who prepared to meet the incoming pokemon with the tip of  
his talon. Suddenly Jane's body came to life and she closed her jaws around his  
leg, sending another surge of electricity through Slitter's body. She let go as  
Dash ploughed into him, sending him slamming into the far cave wall and  
plummeting into the lava below.

"Are you alright?" Dash asked the houndoom.

"Yes," she replied, trying to stand up.  
"But I can barely see. Help me back to my partner up on the higher bridge."

Dash did as she bade. When they reached the  
end of the bridge, Slitter exploded out of the lava, latching onto the cliff  
wall and began scaling it like possessed. His body was badly burned and one eye  
was missing, yet it was as if he simply did not comprehend that he should be  
dead, roaring like a lowly beast, he crossed the cliffs edge. Jane and Dash  
prepared to face the worst, but suddenly there was a rumbling sound coming from  
above. A ton of rocks fell onto the mad kabutobs, crushing him. This time he  
would not get back up.

 

At the ledge above, Cinder smiled to  
herself. He was finally dead! And the best part was that she had dealt the  
final blow herself. Causing that rockslide had been both easy and the hardest  
thing she had ever done. But now she was free. It would probably be best if she  
left before anyone came back. She did not want to explain to anyone what she  
was doing there. It was time to start anew with a clean slate. For a moment  
Cinder considered to bring the cute vulpix with her, but decided against it.  
She would be better off with the peacekeepers. As she disappeared into the  
tunnels, she realized that now that Slitter was gone, she was the only one who  
knew where he had hidden the profits from all his criminal activities, the past  
few years. Life was looking better and better!

Remarkably, all of the peacekeepers made it  
back from the tunnels. Much thanks to Doc the magcargo, the, second to Billy,  
slowest member of the squad. He had found everyone before their injuries had  
become too serious. Naturally they were still hurt. Wayne's wings were broken  
as was his arm, though the only thing he complained about was his stubbed toe.  
Holliday's biggest injury was to her ego, having been taken down so easily.  
Jane's eyes however would probably never fully heal. She would not go blind but  
her eyesight was not what it had used to be. The most upset of all were  
probably Earp, who had missed everything while trying to get Billy out of a  
hole he was too big to fit through. Hickok would make a full recovery but was  
talking about retiring. Claiming to be too old for this. There was no sign of  
the charmeleon girl he claimed to have seen, most likely she had made a break  
for it when the fighting started.

 

As for Cory, Sune and Dash, they were  
brought back to town and nursed back to health. Cory had knocked herself out  
trying to free Billy.

Three days later three companions again  
braved the tunnels as they sat out on a quest to defeat ice master Everest.

**Epilogue**

The creature who had been known as Slitter,  
seeped through the cracks in the stone, rising to the air as black vapour.  
While it had enjoyed its excursion as a killer and petty thief, perhaps it was  
time to get back to work, and so it drifted off to find a new body, and perhaps  
ruin a few lives, before getting down to business.

Source: https://sofurry.com/s/k1V4wpjm

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