It all happened so fast! Master had been opening the door, about to go inside, and then a lady in black came out of nowhere and hit him. Slugma tried to help, but then that blue lady used an ice beam and blocked her path with an icewall. Slugma tried to burn through it, but the mean lady had hit her with more ice, forcing her to fight.
Now they were in the boat, facing each other. Slugma looked her up and down, mind racing.
Killer Frost, that was her name. Well, her real name was Caitlyn, but she had a bad guy name. A supervillain. Master had spoken about a lot of them, trying to cover as many as he could, showing them the ones that had been on the news. He'd focused on the Joker, Poison Ivy, Black Manta, Livewire, and a few others. Villains who were either very powerful or very dangerous in particular.
Killer Frost was both.
Slugma opened her mouth and unleashed a stream of fire. Killer Frost… laughed.
"Oh… oh you are delicious," the fire died out almost instantly. Slugma winced at the wide grin on Killer Frost's face.
Oh… right. She had a hidden ability. Flash Fire on an Ice Type!? That made no sense!
Slugma's own body was making her stronger. That was… bad.
Slugma opened her mouth. This time, she spat out a single hardened stone, created by rapidly forming and cooling the lava within her. The rock was thrown with tremendous force, whistling through the air before it slammed into a wall of ice that sprouted up in front of Killer Frost.
"Not bad!" Killer Frost raised a hand and shards of ice flew out, turning into spikes that smashed into Slugma. The small Pokemon was sent flying with a squeal of pain as the spikes ripped through a wall behind her, her form falling into the hole.
Killer Frost smirked. "Awww. Did that hurt?"
A stream of molten fire exploded from the hole, turning the metal into dripping red liquid the almost immediately began to cool. Killer Frost's smile widened at the sight of the small lava slug staring at her with eyes alight in rage.
"There you go… burn for me."
Slugma sped forward instead. Killer Frost had enough time to be shocked at the sight of a creature the size of a cat rushing towards her before the small Pokemon hit her in the stomach.
And sent her flying ten feet back. Killer Frost crashed through a window behind her, screaming in pain, then unleashed a wave of ice as she landed on the floor. Slugma burned through the waves of chilled spikes, speeding up as the ice chopped at her hardened armor.
Killer Frost was up in time to unleash a beam that lifted Slugma upwards, snarling. The white-silver beam froze the steel rooms around them, before Slugma countered with a flamethrower. The combination of immense cold followed by extreme heat cracked the military grade steel around them, the ship shaking with the force of their clash.
When it was over, steam rose about the area, evaporating as it neared Slugma or turning into droplets of ice as it floated towards Killer Frost. The two women stared at each other, Slugma determined as Killer Frost's face was filled with a strange horrifying kind of ecstasy. Like the drug addicts Slugma had sometimes seen while helping Master.
Slugma took the breather for a moment. Then raised her body before smashing it into the floor. Cracks spread across the floor. Killer Frost's ecstasy disappeared in favor of shock.
"Wai-"
Slugma struck the floor again. The metal, already weakened, fell apart, sending the two tumbling down to the next floor, where shadows filled the space. From above, white and blue glows of light blinked into existence as red flames and brown stone clashed with them, and the entire ship began to shake once more.
—
Grace Balin/Orca
Underwater, just below the ice, Grace and Mudkip sped under the water, moving gracefully, no pun intended.
Grace, for a moment, thought on the way that Mudkip was able to swim so easily despite the immense cold. It made sense for her. Orca's were well known to frequent extremely cold waters. But Mudkip was closer to amphibians like salamanders than anything else she could think of and on Earth those tended not to deal with the cold very well.
What sort of environment did his species evolve in, to create such a hardy creature? On a team with a lava monster, rock dinosaur and ghost girl? Mudkip seemed almost normal at first.
Grace pulled back her thoughts to the battle at hand when she saw the submarine. She gaped at the size of it. She'd never seen one before. It was as big as the blimps that floated over Gotham back when she'd lived there. Similar in shape and size, with the same ponderous way of moving. Ponderous because of perspective though. It was still moving pretty damn fast.
As they approached, the sub was moving in towards the harbor. A hatch in the side opened. Grace hesitated at the sight. Was that a normal thing, for submarines?
Then three men in red armor came rocketing out into the water, streams of bubbles following them. They sped through the water like living torpedoes, their eyes hard under their helmets. Orca hesitated.
Mudkip didn't.
He rocketed towards them in turn. The water 'folded' around him, surrounding him with a swirling tornado before he slammed into one of the men. Another one turned to follow, and Mudkip let out a defiant and prideful shout as he began to battle them.
The other one moved towards Orca as she raised her hands up into a rough fighting stance.
Then she gasped as he pulled out a sword. Red swords glowing with some sort of blue energy.
Only raw animal instinct kept her from getting decapitated. Instead, the man's slashing attack cut across her shoulder, a line of red splitting her white and black skin before blood began to swirl into the water.
The pain that followed made Grace roar in pain and a slight red haze descended over her vision as she lashed out, smacking the man across the face. His helmet dented as he went spinning back, but he managed to right himself and move back in to attack.
Grace tried her best to maintain control, but couldn't help but let out a sound that reverberated through the water. The noise seemed to echo out in the direction of the red armored man, and he staggered, shouting in pain.
In an instant, several papers ran through her mind. Theories on dolphins and orcas, on sperm whales, some marine biologists suggesting that those three were among a few oceanic mammals that hunted by using sound. Emitting brief bursts of noise not just to detect prey and predator, but to attack, disorient. Even kill.
Fairy tales. But… the men were in suits of metal, filled with air. And if she hit them with enough sound, it would probably have some sort of effect right? Like a bell over your head being rung?
Grace focused as best she could. She knew that she had several new organs within her body. Some within her head. But trying to force the one that let her emit sonic blasts felt like a kid trying to shoot laser beams. A stupid childish endeavor.
So she was shocked when the water itself vibrated in rhythm with her clicking roar. The blast left her mouth, bouncing off everything around her and returning back to her. Mudkip and his opponents took it with little effect. The man attacking her screamed in pain clutching his right ear and waving his sword with his other hand, his voice echoing in the water. He desperately swung his sword at her with desperation, but she dodged the clumsy attack, desperately punching him in the gut.
The man gasped in pain, but managed to slice at her shoulder, blood spilling forth. Grace shouted directly in his face, then grabbed his arms. Whatever strength he was getting from that strange red suit, it was no match for her unnatural mutant strength. She pulled his arms apart, opening up his chest to a powerful double kick. The man's eyes bugged out under his helmet, then he passed out, floating listlessly in the water.
Mudkip suddenly let out a cry. "Mudkip!"
Grace looked over at him. "Oh shit!"
She got scraped by a torpedo that went flying past her, sending her spinning to the side before it exploded behind her. For a disorienting, painful moment she was spinning and screaming. Then a tiny blue body caught hold of her. She heard Mudkip shouting as he pulled her along, then another missile erupted.
Grace forced her eyes open. She instinctively let out a sonic burst, the sound bouncing off the area, then coming back to her. She could 'read' the sounds like a mental map of the landscape. The men Mudkip had been fighting were floating upwards along with the one she'd knocked out. But the submarine was turning to face them, and was firing torpedoes again and again. They exploded behind them as Mudkip swam, sending them bucking. Grace twisted out of Mudkip's grip to swim as fast as she could. The explosions around them buffeted the water, sending waves of force and noise echoing through the water.
God. It was horrifying. She knew the science of how different explosions underwater were from ones in the air, but that was nothing compared to the experience. The bursts of force were like something from hell, round globes of vacuum as the torpedoes exploded.
Desperate to find a way out, Grace let out another sonic burst. The mental map that returned was… confusing. The submarine. The harbor around them. The three men. Mudkip. The ice above. And, far off a pair of… missiles?
She released another burst. And the image that came was far more clear.
A pair of men, moving even faster than Mudkip and her. She twisted to look towards the submarine.
BOOM BOOM!
A pair of explosive noises echoed, steel on steel. The submarine listed to the side. Grace saw a flash of orange next to red, then blue light. Then the two disappeared into the submarine.
The vessel began to shake, sounds of fighting echoing in the water.
"Mudkip!" with that excited cry, the blue Pokemon turned and swam towards the sub. Grace quickly followed.
As they approached, she saw a large hole in the metal wall of the sub. Water was pouring into it, making it easy for Mudkip and her to get sucked in. She landed next to him on a metal floor, Mudkip swimming through the now knee-height water. She looked around.
Men and women, Silicon Dragon's most likely, were strewn about the ship like broken dolls. Some were floating face up in the water, gasping in pain, while others were laying on consoles. Apparently, they were on the bridge of the ship.
A loud shout followed by a man flying back to land in the water drew her attention.
Standing there in his iconic orange and green uniform, Aquaman smiled at the sight of Grace and Mudkip. "Hey. Kaldur, look who it is."
Turning from the woman he was choking unconscious, Kaldur, otherwise known as the Aqualad, smiled. "Grace. Mudkip. It is good to see you well."
"Uh… hi?"
Were all superheroes so casual in the middle of a fight?
Aquaman's smile faded. "We came when the US Military sent us the call. What's the situation?"
Grace hurriedly got her thoughts together, but before she could speak, Mudkip held a hand up, silencing her.
Aquaman and Mudkip met eyes. "Mudkip."
"Understood," Aquaman said immediately. "Kaldur, you, Mudkip, and Grace should head back to shore to aid the Military and civilian forces with the Dragons. There are two superhumans aiding them, hybrids like Grace, but combined with a Warthog and a Rhino, respectively. I'll head to aid Kahu and Slugma. If they're fighting Killer Frost, they'll need me. She's no pushover, and Slugma's presence might be increasing her power."
"You got all that from a single word!?" Grace asked in fascination.
"You get used to it," Kaldur noted calmly as he rushed past. "Come on. We have work to do."
—-
Kahu Kiaʻi
A sword sliced deep into my shoulder. I screamed, kicking out at the ninja chick. She dodged back, but I hadn't expected to hit her. The real reason for the kick was just to create more distance, to give me a breath.
This woman was better than me. The small cuts across my body told that clearly, but it was more than that.
Amos, while training me how to use the warclub being clenched in my sweaty hand, had shouted it again and again.
"Control the distance you retard!" he'd say as he smacked me across my arms, legs, and cheeks. "See that you little fuck? That's your shoulder meat hanging off. That's your chest stabbed. Your asshole cut down the middle. You wanna win a weapon fight? Then CONTROL the distance. Tighten it when you're ready, widen it when your bitch ass needs a minute. Distance, distance, distance."
I'd learned a lot. But this chick had clearly learned for a lot longer.
A piece of my thigh was hanging loose, spilling blood across the ice, the cold stinging my open wound. I had a hole in my abdomen that felt like it had been made with fire. My hat was gone, blood from a cut above my eye spilling down my cheek.
I raised my shield in front of me, panting heavily. We circled each other slowly. I looked her over one more time.
I'd made a mental comment earlier that she was a ninja, but that wasn't really it, was it? She was covered head to toe in clothes that hid her figure, build, and features. Only her height, taller than most women and some men, shone out to me, and she could have been wearing heels.
Which would be embarrassing, but I wouldn't be the first person in comic-bookdom to get their ass kicked by someone in impractical heels.
Point was, she was dressed in dark garb, but she was otherwise more akin to a samurai. Direct conflict the whole time, facing me equally. Sometimes disappearing, but always striking me somewhat directly.
"You're losing, Kahu Kiaʻi," the woman said calmly. Her long curved blade was still pointed at me.
I frowned. "Yeah."
She stepped forward and testingly chopped down at me. I parried it away and felt a bit of ferocious pride when my timing was perfect. She didn't seem to mind.
"But you aren't losing as badly as my tacticians suggested. Enhanced strength was a given. Your durability was accounted for. But they believed you depended on those traits to defend you until one of your spiritual creatures could aid you. Instead, you're fighting on the level of a League of Assassin member who has been in training for a full year."
What, so I was fighting on the level of a teenage cult warrior? A shitty one, considering what badasses Damien and Cassandra had been in the comics.
A gust of frost passed my vision. She disappeared in that instant.
"You got a name at least?" I mumbled. "Because I usually don't let a woman stab me so much without a first date."
A blade bounced off my shield. I still couldn't see her face, but her eyes seemed to smile. "You let women stab you?"
"You judging my kinks?" Goddamnit, was I bantering again?
"Not at all," she twisted away from my club, then spun back to slice at me again. I felt the flat of her blade smack my head, ringing my bell, then I went back to attack. "And you may call me Drakaina."
What, the female dragon-esque creatures from Greek myth?
Suddenly the entire ship shook again. I slipped.
That was the big moment of weakness she needed.
She slid past my guard. She sliced through the straps tying the shield to my arm in a quick move. I fell back as the massive shield bounced across the ice.
"Fuc-!" I didn't have time to finish my exclamation before she kicked me in the solar plexus. I felt like my heart exploded in my chest.
As I fell back on my back to slide across the ice, I felt like my whole body was wrapped in barbed wire and tossed into a cement mixer. Everything fucking… hurt. I got up slowly, only to stop when she began to approach me.
"You are somehow both more and less than I hoped for," she said slowly.
"I didn't come here to impress you," I grunted. "I came here to try and stop assholes from hurting people. And now I'm getting my ass kicked by a crazy ninja bitch."
She laughed. A genuine soft laugh that echoed in the cold air as the ship continued to bounce under us. I reached out mentally, trying to get a sense for how everyone was doing through the link Alakazam had built. After a quick update, I got to my knees.
"...Drakaina. Why are you even doing this shit?"
Her sword twirled briefly. "Honor."
"Hurting innocent people, killing people, torturing and experimenting on them!?"
"Oh no. I'm afraid that's all either a simple part of war or the actions of men and women I've already reprimanded," she kneeled down to meet my gaze. "In fact, I do have a solution. Would you like to work for-"
"Lady, seriously? Come on," I gasped out between pants for air.
She smirked. "Ah… yes, it is a bit cliche. I suppose I should just kill you."
I smirked back with a confidence I didn't feel. "Think you can?"
Come on. Come on. Keep focused on me. Focus on the big dumb guy in front of you…
She looked me over. Blood from the open wound in my thigh sizzled as it landed on the ice. My breath left in big bursts of steam as I tried to get as much air as I could. When she spoke again, she sounded almost lazy. "I believe I can. Despite your gifts… you are outmatched."
A nudge from the direction of the water behind her, a mental call. I felt like laughing but didn't have the energy. "Yeah… well. I don't doubt that. Because if you're outmatched? You can always…"
My voice lowered. I whispered slowly. She leaned in to hear. "...cheat."
The water exploded. Drakaina's eyes widened. She spun around, sword lifted. Perfect pose, ready to block anything that came her way.
A pale white hand grabbed the blade and pulled it from her hand like he was taking a stick from a baby. The other hand punched her across the face, sending her flying to her right. She landed on her back. To her credit, she immediately twisted to face us.
"Kahu," my savior, all 6-plus feet of him, said without taking his eyes off Drakaina. "Are you okay?"
Aquaman, his orange and green body suit shining in the light, blonde hair and beard glimmering with moisture from the ocean, moved over to block me from her.
"No, but that's to be expected," I stumbled up to my feet, Aquaman holding a hand out for me to grab and pull myself up.
"The Aquaman," Drakaina said calmly, looking me over. "Now that is interesting. Tell me. Was it our use of Atlantean technology that brought you here, or should I consider the Justice League a member of Kahu Kiaʻi's allies?"
My mind raced at that. I knew what she wasn't saying. If she considered the League part of this war… Well. We were fucked. I sent that message through to Aquaman. The older man, more used to mental communication than even me, spoke out loud while still mentally speaking with me.
"You used the stolen technology of my people, and you have to even ask that? Killer Frost alone would have brought my attention. This blatant attack in combination with that?"
Drakaina shrugged. "Fair enough. I suppose, then, that my part in this play is over."
"Play?" I asked. For some reason, that word stood out to me.
She smiled. "I'm sure you will find out. When we meet again."
"You believe you'll escape me?" Aquaman spat out.
"I do. And Kahu. The next time we fight, I'll need to remember your propensity for cheating."
Aquaman leapt forward. She flicked a finger outwards, and a light as bright as the sun burst from her feet. I screamed in pain at the same time as Aquaman. Blinking quickly, I tried to readjust my vision, barely doing so in time to see Aquaman clutching his own eyes while raising his other hand in a defensive stance. And no sign of Drakaina.
"...fucking ninja bitch," I mumbled as white spots continued to fill my vision.
"Gah!" Aquaman continued clutching his eyes. "Damn!"
"You okay?" I asked, stumbling over to him as my body continued to burn with pain.
"Yeah. Just… lights like that hurt. Adapted for the bottom of the ocean, you know?" he blinked quickly. "I wish you'd mentioned she was a 'ninja bitch' earlier."
"Thought the clothes would have clued you in," I mumbled as he moved over to help me stand. "And are you even allowed to cuss?"
"I'll worry about my brand later," Aquaman said, pulling me along. "I need to get you to a hospital."
"Not now."
"Kahu…"
"Slugma is fighting Killer Frost. We need to help."
"You can't even stand!"
I scowled. "Then you help! I'm not going to die this instant."
"If I leave you, she might come back to finish the job."
I laughed. "So now what?"
The ship shook again. Aquaman scowled. "Just as stubborn as the other grumpy asshole I know. Okay, come on."
Lifting me into his arms, ignoring my squawk of disapproval, he moved to enter the ship.
As he did, worry-filled me. Slugma vs Killer Frost. Was Slugma okay? Alakazam couldn't seem to connect with her. And the others were still fighting out there. The Sub was taken care of. But this fight wasn't over just yet.
Almost. We were almost done. I could feel it. Just needed one more big push.
—-
Author's Note: It has been… rough. But then, it's been rough for all of us, right?
I've had a lot of 18-hour shifts lately, so less time to write.
Thankfully, that complaint aside, I have one big thing to come.
The next chapter of any of my stories is Dial. The second book of it, to be exact. Look forward to Laura, the X-Men, and the beginnings of the next big stage of the story After that, more Eggman.
In the meantime, I hope you all enjoy. Let me know if I have anything to fix for this chapter, and have a great night!
The Dial chapter will be on my pa tr eon first, so please support me there if you'd like an early look!