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Nicole giggled, one hand moving toward her lips when she did. "Agree?" She re-entered her stance.

"No, you are putting your life on the line to save this scum here. You either kill me, or you get her killed. That is the price of war. If you cannot accept these terms then do not fight. Run away and live."

"I'll ask once more. Why do you fight me?" She stepped forward as she said this, right hand swinging her sword toward Jonah's head, the left going low for his shins.

The blast gave Nicole the momentum to spin around for a wide slash, from side to side toward Jonah as she used the spin to step toward him during the second half of it.

"But why risk your life?"

((Nicole's ability/ultimatum = yes))

Big Stadium: South Entrance

Odin took note of Goldberg’s cue, but chose to ignore it. He wasn’t going to call himself the Small Man in front of his enemies. His moniker was far less intimidating, after all.

The bloodsoaked boy simply turned around and jumped up, hopping on and over Goldberg’s shoulder to head back inside. “No time to waste,” he told The Tall Man.

After jumping behind Goldberg, he’d make to run into the stadium. Circa sprinted forward. “We can’t let them escape!” he shouted to Zack as he rushed towards Goldberg. He was sure The Tall Man would try to stop him, but he still had to try to get past.

When he got close enough, Circa planned to vault upwards and grab onto the arm of Salaca, who flew above him, and glide over to the South Entrance.

Big Stadium: Ruined Stage

Salieri

With Inner Focus, Liuye kept track of all the fireworks within the range of striking Salieri. He leapt into action, slicing them apart before they exploded. Coupled with Salieri swinging the meteor hammer above her head to deflect whatever fireworks she could hit, the two of them were unharmed.

The Battle Girl disliked that she couldn’t get in close to Pachi to hit her herself, but stayed back to let the Petal Dance do it’s thing. That’s real strong…

N

N reeled Henrietta into a bear hug, turning his back to the fireworks as they came in. The crystal armor that coated them both mitigated much of the damage, and N’s body kept Henrietta from harm. The entire back of his body suffered from small scattered burns, but he smiled through the pain at Henrietta to reassure her. “Thank you,” he said as he let go.

Zero would have defended N if she were close by. But she had snuck around to Salieri’s side, disguised as another TK. Why TK? Well, there were already two. A third one wouldn’t hurt.

Pachi

Pachi didn’t turn around to face Daphne when the Lilligant came in hot with a Petal Dance. She didn’t feel the need to. There was a good reason she hadn’t considered the Quiver Dancing to be a threat before and prioritized attacking Ronin first.

Another portal was summoned at her back, coming to being in less than a blink of an eye just like the others as soon as Daphne bypassed the fireworks. From the portal came an eery, high pitched “Oma!”, and a thick, black fog that poured out into the ruined stage at point blank range to Daphne. The Haze would have three effects.

The most obvious would be that all stat boosts within range would be reset. This would slow down and depower Daphne, as well as Iron Hide and Frate. The second effect would be that the Haze provided perfect cover for Pachi to drop into a portal on the floor. Letting her avoid the now much weaker and slower Petal Dance that Daphne was stuck doing for at least another turn. The third effect was that the cameras broadcasting the battle wouldn’t be able to see what was going on.

Kai’s debris destroyed three of the ten portals over the fireworks cannons. The others were still intact, and a second wave of fireworks would fall from above once again. This time the wave was slightly smaller, but the portals were spinning in the air, making the fireworks even less predictable than before.

Pachi now stood on the solid side of a portal that hovered high above the Haze. With her vantage point, she could make out Wayne below. Another portal formed, this time right under Wayne’s feet.

The trainer, unless he was moved, would fall into it and then out the bottom of the portal platform Pachi stood upon. The fall wouldn’t kill him, but it might take him out of commission.

Either way, as long as fireworks continued to occur, the Legends Crew would have their focus split. Stalling was simple for her at this point.

Salieri

Shivers ran down Sal’s spine as the portals continued to form. She closed her eyes. Her sight was nearly useless with the Haze, so her sixth sense would be what she would rely on.

Liuye continued to slice into the fireworks as they rained down and exploded. The sent of sulfur loomed among them all. Sal opened her eyes and could make out the figure of Wayne in the distance. Right where another portal was forming.

“Grab on!” she yelled as she hurled the meteor hammer’s metal end his way. If Wayne could get a grip on it, she would yank him away from the portal before he could be swallowed by it and catch the trainer in her arms.

Harmony's ETA: 1 minute 30 Seconds

Stadium Lane

Nicole

Nicole raised her left arm over her head, moving her body in a way that Jonah's slash cut through the ribs on her left side and no further. And then she turned to face him as she stepped back to create distance.

"Gah!"

Viper held her side, her left side, the torn clothing and quickly spreading blood said she had been hit. By Jonah - when he hit Nicole.

And Nicole was unflinching despite her own injury.

"You're correct. Nothing is gained without risk." Nicole kept her pleasant smile as she watched Jonah carefully. "But you never told me why. You've dodged the question consistently - and that leads to the conclusion. Your reasoning is faulty. Those with faulty reasons will only destroy that which they seek to protect." A sword pointed at Viper to indicate her.

"As this fight draws on, your swords and mine can hurt each other, but they will also hurt her. Risk is something that should only follow true conviction. And even then, there are sacrifices. I had a friend named Beddy. A nickname because he could never manage his hair, it always looked like bed head. His had a wife and he has kids. The Government took his wife from him, at one of these peaceful demonstrations you're fond of. Because they challenged are great ruler. Anyone who challenges the president dies. That is simply how this world works."

She recalled the image of the fighting inside the stadium when she looked at it on her way to the south entrance before. "Beddy died fighting to overthrow the government that took his wife away. We don't use these methods because we're evil - we use these methods because it's the only way to fight the government, a government that responds to reason with force. All they need do is call us terrorists and people like you, half hearted and unsure of your own self, rush to aid them. I wonder how much they will need to take from you for you to see our side of things - for you to even be willing to listen."

“Harmony has the mark. ETA is two minutes. Be here sooner.” this came from Nicole's ear piece. "Our duel ends here. Careful, she might kill you for interfering in Government business."

Using her natural infusion augmented speed she took off for the stadium, moving around for the East Exit to avoid running into Circa and Zack.

Viper

"She's half right," Viper said as she pulled her rifle around, struggling to brace it against her shoulder as she aimed at Nicole through the scope. The Girfarig had also run off, so she was safe.

Sandslash arrived soon after, beaten up but okay, carrying a bag. He tossed it over to Viper who quickly loaded a single round into the chamber.

"Unchecked Aura ability like that, I should be detaining you. But-" she groaned as she forced her slashed arm to work with her. "you helped me out kid. Now run along home." With Nicole in the shot - she pulled the trigger.

Big Stadium: South Entrance

"Come on! That was the perfect set up!" The Tall Man called as he chased after Odin. Rather, he sprinted with Circa's speed to reach Odin and grab him up to make a run for it. "Hey," he said in a low whisper, "I really could use a smoke break soon." His ribs were probably more mush than anything. His tone said he was serious.

"We'd die if we fought those guys, Odin. Don't get yerself killed. Yer too young t' go dyin' on me. I'm tryin' t' help you have fun, not let ya die."

Zack followed after them as well. A Metagross was currently blocking their path. And soon after that, the Steelix that Salaca thought it had dealt with rose up, wavering and weak but present.

Six more gun shots went off, crashing through the roof to stand on the roof itself were several more Pokemon. All heavy, all dangerous to take on, all blocking the path.

All clearly expendable. Soldiers helping with the retreat, and The Tall Man was their leader. That was the type of relationship they had.

[s**t] groaned Steelix [probably dead.]

[We'll retreat when they get out of here. These guys hardly ever kill Pokemon, most people leave us unconcious.] Metagross prepared itself.

Big Stadium: Ruined Stage

Wayne

Wayne heeded Salieri's call as he turned toward the meteor hammer and grabbed it as his body began to descend. The battlefield was sheer chaos, a multitude of attacks firing off at once. Wayne could feel the heat of them, could feel fresh burns but he didn't falter. "We've gotta destroy the debris!" Wayne shouted to Salieri.

The Aerial Ace split the haze before it could reach Daphne, and her feet twirled as her dance continued. A moment later the smog would meet its match in the second wave. The force of the petal dance would tear apart the smog, or rather, disperse it, force it further away and apart, rendering it useless.

The ground, the debris, all around Daphne was breaking away, breaking apart into small and smaller pieces as her dance lead her toward Pachi once again, this wave breaking a line toward the woman.

Henrietta

Henrietta wrapped her arms around N as the second wave came and she pulled her down, her elbows attempting to keep him there as her swords rose into the air. She wore an air of confidence as she did this, not clear reaction, not even a blush, as her pull would essentially put N's face between her breasts.

She was only focused on one thing. Protecting them both. Her sword smet overhead, crystals forming amongs them and she pulled them apart, weaving a shield of crystals to block the overhead fireworks. The ones that managed to catch her from behind would find burns replaced with crystals as the girl did not so much as flinch.

"N," she began in a whisper. Her voice was pained, tired, "destroy the portals she's using for the fireworks, if we can stall until the cannons are destroyed we'll be okay."

Frate moved with Iron Hide. With Roast on Daphne's side, it meant that these two were partners. That's how he'd rationalized it. Moving alongside Iron Hide, he was prepared to take out any portals that attempted to stop the Pokemon.

Stadium Lane

The shot missed, or rather it was more accurate to say that Nicole deflected it into the wall at the entrance. The section vibrated from the aura infused bullet until the wall came down, blocking off the entrance.

"s**t," Viper cursed. The South Entrance was blocked off as well. Narrowing her eyes, Viper ran toward the only remaining entrance, intending to cut Nicole off before she could make her escape.