The Siege

As she came to, she barely understood what she was seeing- the three members of Team Aerodynamic had Gon as strung up as they could manage and had shoved him into one of the open pods. She could barely make out Polnareff shouting "this damn kid is too strong!" as Gon battered the door. Still, her mind swam, and thoughts proved difficult to form. She could barely hear Danny shouting through the glass, something about stopping them, but... what were they even doing? A bright purple glow emanated from Mewtwo's misshaped hands, and it took Yellow a moment to realize that he was busy welding the pod shut while the others held it against Gon's desperate attempts at escape. When he finished, Gon would be...

*Completely trapped.*

The words were a shock to her system, a shower of ice-cold water that jolted her brain out of its haze and sharpened her senses. Right away, the difference in minds between Gon and Yellow became clear- with both Gon and Danny silently crying out for Yellow to save Gon, she chose to wait. The logic was clear- right now she was facing a 1v3, risking everything to possibly get a 2v3 with an injured ally instead. Meanwhile, the risks of such a play involved getting taken out herself, leaving Danny completely alone or in the same injured-2v3 situation, neither of which were any better than the current situation. However, if she could stall just long enough to get Danny out of his pod and phase outside of Polnareff’s range, there was a chance that they could recoup their losses and swing the situation in such a way to break Gon out and have an even fight for the first time since the round had begun. Worse in the short term, better in the long term.

Of course, selling her team on that would be another issue entirely. With few other options, Yellow backed up to the door of Danny’s pod and summoned each of her Pokemon, her eyes never leaving her opponents. What she was about to do was borderline crazy, but there couldn’t be much time left. She’d manage it.

Yellow reached out with her mind, feeling the pulsing thoughts of each of her Pokemon reverberating back to her, their hearts beating in rhythm. They trusted her unconditionally, and she felt the same. Focusing her latent psychic power, Yellow increased the strength of those reverberations, bouncing them back and forth like an echo chamber, marginally increasing the power of her Pokemon with each pulse. Normally she couldn’t handle this much of a boost, but if it wasn’t for very long, just long enough to survive…

Yellow looked back at Danny. They were about to turn on her, to fight her 3 on 1 in an attempt to leave Danny flying solo. She’d do what she could to prevent it, but she wouldn’t last forever. He needed to know the plan. Yellow pressed her back to the pod’s door and met Danny’s eyes, mouthing the words so he could hopefully make them out.

*Phase me.*

Dash dove for Yellow’s head, repelled at the last instant by Pika and Ratty. Mewtwo unleashed a psychic salvo, thwarted by Dody, Omny, and Gravvy. Kitty’s sonic screech kept Polnareff at a safe distance. None of these defenses could last for long.

The siege had begun.

Yellow’s defense was phenomenal, fending off Dash from every angle even as she fought to keep Polnareff at a distance and prevent Mewtwo from creating openings for his allies, but even the thirty-or-so seconds she had to last was too long against such a hailstorm. The first to buckle was Ratty, nowhere near fast enough to keep catching Rainbow Dash’s assaults safely. After that, Gravvy’s rock throws failed to make a difference in stalling either Polnareff or Mewtwo. When Yellow had to switch Kitty to fighting off Mewtwo, Polnareff had an opening, even as weakened as he was. Inside the pod, Danny waited patiently for his time, and by ‘waited’ he meant ‘silently freaked out’. His entrance needed split-second-perfect timing, something he simply couldn’t coordinate alone. If only there was… oh yeah.

Danny turned to the audience. He was only separated from the crowd by the cage (which he still couldn’t slip through), but sound made it through just fine. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he screamed to get his manager’s attention.

**“HERMES!!!”**

Hermes practically jumped at the sound of his name, but didn’t get the idea until Danny pointed from his head to Yellow’s. “O-Oh! Right!” Clasping his hands together so quickly they clapped, he crammed his eyes shut and shouted the words that activated his ability, anxiety shaking his voice. “I-I’d like to see you in my office!”

(...)

Being controlled, puppeted without a say in the matter, was a very strange feeling. Then again, Danny would only really be able to appreciate the weirdness in retrospect. Hermes had assumed direct control, all minds in the network forming a gestalt that knew all and had no need for communication. Danny and Yellow, cogs in the machine, each adjusted their positioning carefully, preparing for the pod’s opening. Yellow’s analysis of the situation had been given up to the network, allowing Hermes to correctly anticipate a bullrush from Rainbow Dash in the few remaining seconds before the pod opened. With the stage set and the pieces prepared, Hermes micromanaged every instant of the ensuing maneuver with pinpoint-precise motion.

The lights went dark.

Danny pressed his feet against the wall of the pod opposite the door.

Danny’s pod flickered off and on.

Danny began to charge his ghost rays, aimed directly at the back of Yellow’s head.

Danny’s door lit up.

Rainbow Dash swooped in low and to the right, coming around Pika’s area of defense to the exposed flank.

The door opened.

In the following second, Yellow threw herself backwards as Dash swung for the fences, and Dash sailed into the pod at the same instant as Danny fired both ghost rays, aimed right for the filly. Rainbow Dash took both to the face and kept going, dizzied but still moving as Danny phased through the horse, letting her slam into the pod. Danny dipped low and grabbed Yellow, phasing her as she fell, and the two peeled out of the pod at high speed and took to the ceiling, outside of Polnareff’s reach. Yellow recalled the Pokemon one by one, and a moment later, the sensation of control and individuality returned as Hermes relinquished his grasp on their bodies, his task complete.

They’d done it. Yellow had survived the siege.

***

Round 12, FreestyleKneepad