[attr="class","skullbody"]The slice on Knuckles' face sent boiling blood shooting right into her eyes. But it didn't matter that she couldn't see. It didn't matter that the sniper had sent out a Pokemon to try and Intimidate her away. What mattered was that she could feel his craven aura, and she was going to make him suffer the same fate his gun had endured.[break][break]
It turned out that a hardened, trained operative and a blinded, weakened berserker were actually a fairly even match for one another. Tense knifepoint diplomacy below the ridge was backdropped by the savage brawl between man and beast above. It was little more than violent spectacle; brutal opportunists seeking any opportunity they could to hurt each other.[break][break]
Everyone had their role on the battlefield but Isaac. Life Dew eased the wounds on his body, but nothing could ease the hole in his soul. Since Kiryu had fallen, he had become little more than a ragdoll, being dragged from point A to point B by his own Pokemon. Ash was making moves, ranting and raving words that Isaac could no longer understand. His team was fighting their hearts out, triangulating every corner of the battlefield, protecting their allies, and devastating their enemies.[break][break]
But Isaac? He was just a shell-shocked remnant of a war two sizes too big for him.[break][break]
He didn't know that the sniper had been defanged, his Pokemon still a threat but his truest strength rendered a broken mess at the hands of his own wayward Pokemon. He didn't know that the councilwoman's resolve started to waver, recalling her Pokemon one by one in the face of overwhelming force and a blade at her throat. He didn't know that, through a combination of gutsy moves, relentless pressure, and sheer happenstance, they had won the day.[break][break]
All Isaac knew was that Kiryu had fallen, and with it so had his heart.[break][break]
Duster shot Ash a curt nod of understanding, and then returned to Isaac's side. Knuckles, feeling the change in auras, rushed to follow. She thrust a last, furious
Meteor Mash towards the sniper, his Mawile, and whatever other craven tricks he threw in her way, and then dashed down the ridge to follow Duster's lead. Toto, relieved by their presence, allowed fatigue to take him and collapsed upon the grass.[break][break]
Isaac could barely regard them, even as Duster's eyes met his own and Knuckles rushed under his shoulder to brace him.
"Duster . . . you're back?" he asked, voice hazy and dreamlike.
"Knuckles . . . is . . . is that really you?"[break][break]
From his wobbly stance to his glazed over eyes to his hollow voice, Knuckles could tell that her trainer wasn't well. Her fist clenched hard enough for aura to spill between the gaps. Her teeth clenched into a furious snarl. Part of her wanted to hunt that sniper to the ends of the earth and break him over her knee. Another part of her wanted to do anything in her power to ensure that Isaac was okay.[break][break]
And to that, they needed to get out of here. They were worn down and wounded. They had made powerful enemies. And they were in no condition to see what their foes would do once they rallied. Not while Isaac was like this. Knuckles took the Pokeballs from Isaac's belt, recalling a slightly peeved Duster and an all-but-spent Toto. And then she grabbed his wrist and ran for the wind.[break][break]
"Huh?" The sudden jolt shook Isaac from his reverie. He looked towards Ash, fading further from him moment by moment.
"Did . . . did we . . . h-hey! Knuckles, wait! Knuckles, I have to-!" There was no dissuading her. The Lucario shifted gears into
Extreme Speed, prepared to drag Isaac halfway across the mountain if that was what it took to keep him safe.
"I-I'll come for you! I promise! I-!"[break][break]
Any remaining words were lost along the breeze.[break][break]
Isaac hadn't been able to hear the councilwoman's parting words through the fog in his head, but he could feel them. As he and Knuckles fled for safety, he turned them over and over and over in his head. Did Rocket care little for him? Perhaps. But the League showed how much they cared when they answered in sniper fire. No amount of honeyed words from a desperate, fearful politician could change what their actions had shown.[break][break]
The next person to encounter Isaac would be his enemy. And if that meant throwing away his life? Oh well. Not like it had much value to begin with.[break][break]
Not without her.[break][break]
TEAL DEER;[break]
Joining Penny in retreat / thread exiting.[break]
Though Knuckles sneaks a final salty punch in first.[break]
Isaac is not having a good day in the slightest.[break]
Dramatic ironies for the thread with Annalise? Check![break]
[break][break]
[break]
Heat swelled in her heart as anxiety clawed at her throat, turning it red and raw. A muffled buzz split her ears and melted her vision to a blur. 
