Staring up at the Noctowl, I wasted no time on further banter and shot upward at its figure like a bladed rocket, combining the force of a leap from the treetop with the upward thrust of the Scyther form's wings. Perhaps I would have fared better if I had taken full advantage of the surprise of my transformation to attack rather than taunting it first, despite the benefit it had on my temper to do so, but the Noctowl maneuvered mid-air to evade the initial slash of my bladed arms.
Pidgey was still flying nearby, but she hadn't made any moves to join the battle. Staring at the much-larger figure of the Noctowl, she seemed too nervous to engage even when I was already starting to battle myself. "Wake up! Come on and help me out here! He'd have attacked you if I hadn't pushed you out of the way, so what are you waiting for!?" I called out to try and jolt her into participating, "Screw playing fair, hit 'em from the other side!" That was enough to at least set her moving around, flying in circles around the opponent as if looking for an opening to take advantage of.
In the meantime, the Noctowl wasn't just waiting for us to get our act together. After it evaded my initial leaping Slash, I had to let my momentum carry me back down to glide back down toward one of the nearby treetops. Scyther had the capability to fight in the sky, sure, but it was much more suitable to brief, quick attacks. It left my back presented to the owl as I flew past, and it landed a sharp, energy-enhanced wind across my back.
I cried out in pain from the force of the impact, my back still feeling the pain of the previous attack when I had been in a Pidgey's form. While transforming had removed the actual scratches of the injury, it did nothing to remove the fact I had already taken a hit. I could transform to as many forms as I wanted, but if I did so while I was hurting, I was going to be just as badly off in the new form as I was in the last. At least I still managed to land smoothly on the treetop I had been aiming for, twisting in place to face my opponent again.
Locking stares with it, the inner glow in the Noctowl's eyes redoubled, and I felt a sheen of foreign energy coating my body. A pressure built up as the energy settled in, before starting to yank against my body, feeling like it was trying to pull different parts of me in different directions. I jerked my body in opposition to whatever psychic force was trying to manipulate me, but that only served to make my muscles cramp up further in protest. I had been worried about trickery like being hypnotized or put to sleep, as I knew that Noctowl possessed some level of psychic powers, but I hadn't expected it to use them for direct attacks instead.
My saving grace was Pidgey driving forward and slamming her beak into the back of the Noctowl's neck as it was locked in its intense stare at me. I felt the energy release its grip on me as an angry hoot drifted from the predatory bird, trying to twist about and peck at Pidgey in return. "Hang on!" I called out, forcing myself to focus rather than immediately repeat my earlier attack in my haste to help my friend.
Either one of us would be outgunned by our opponent, so we needed to work together to deal with it. I needed a way to take it out before it could handle my approach, and with the innate knowledge the form provided me, I already had an idea on how to take care of the problematic bird. I just needed to avoid giving it enough time to react to my approach. I closed my own eyes briefly, feeling an unfamiliar inner energy coursing through me. Following the body's instincts, I focused my energy on my muscles, feeling them flex and tense. It helped to undo the pain of the psychic pulling earlier, but it also felt as if my energy lingered in my musculature, leaving it feeling stronger and more reactive. I always wondered why Agility was classified as a psychic-type move, but this really seemed to be a case of 'mind over matter' actually working.
Chirps of pain rose in the distance, alongside noises of heavy wind picking up even as I tried to focus. Faster. Faster. I urged the energy into my body as rapidly as I could, unable to tell exactly how well Pidgey was faring in the moments I needed to boost my speed.
As soon as I finished the preparations, I leapt forward again at a much quicker pace, a green-hued blur flashing through the air toward the beleaguered figure of Pidgey as she was blown around in a miniature tornado of wind that seemed to be under the Noctowl's control. I hooked my scythed arms around the Noctowl's sides from behind, grabbing onto its back just beneath its wingspan. I wasn't trying to land a serious blow to end this, I just wanted to hurt it and see if I could drag it down to the ground where I would have more of an advantage.
"Bothersome insect!" The Noctowl hissed, even as I could tell it was wincing from the pain of being 'grabbed' by the scythes. It twisted and jerked in the air, bucking and swaying to try and throw me off, but it only served to dig in the bladed arms against its sides all the more. I was doing my best to avoid letting go, relentlessly clamping down so every motion the owl made inflicted further damage. There was a pause as I heard the Noctowl take in a heaving gasp of air, and then a deafening shriek of noise blasted into me. It was absolutely deafening, like someone had somehow put the discomfort of nails on a chalkboard with all the intensity of a flashbang grenade. My mind blanked for a moment, and my muscles went slack, letting the owl slip free from my grasp even as it kept up the shrieking sound-attack.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Even Pidgey was affected by the shrieking, struggling to remain in the air with an erratic listing to the side in her flapping. I felt like the soundwaves were slamming into me like a physical pulsing impact as I tumbled down toward the ground below. The Noctowl swooped around, the cacophony of noise reverberating through the peaceful woods and echoing off the trees around us. It was hard to focus, my posture unsteady as I landed firmly on the ground, barely managing to stay on my feet. I felt like I was seasick, like the ground underneath me wobbled with every step, even if the rational part of the back of my mind was saying I had my balance affected due to distortions to my inner ear from the intense sound-based attack.
Lifting my head up, I threw myself aside with a complete lack of grace as I narrowly avoided a dive-bombing attack from the Noctowl's talons, landing in a crouch alongside the base of a nearby tree. The owl regained altitude after its failed pass, and Pidgey took the chance to land down on the branches just above my head. "Maybe it'll give up?" She suggested, sounding hopeful as we both peered up, seeing the silhouette of the owl in the moonlit sky overhead.
"Doubt it. Seems pretty pissed. And honestly, I'm still wanting to beat the hell out of it for trying to eat me." I spat the words out, the anger in my voice clear. I didn't care that I was at a disadvantage, or that the owl was only being pressured because the two of us worked together to retaliate when it focused on the other. All I could think about was the terror I felt in that moment, the sickening feeling in my stomach returning as I remembered that hungry stare.
The moonlight seemed to be drawn to the figure of the Noctowl, and it began to lighten and glow. What was it doing? Was it trying to recover? A pinkish ball of energy formed around the Pokemon's beak, and then a malicious stare aimed down at the spot we were both resting at. I realized what was coming only a moment before the ball of energy launched at us, shouting "Get away!" to Pidgey, watching as she took to wing again and I dove forward away from the tree, back toward the open grass. Moonblast, a rare fairy-type attack, and arguably one of the most powerful ones. The energy impacted the tree trunk and detonated like a small bomb, turning the base of the tree into a splintered mess and toppling the entire tree over with a resounding crash.
I ran my scythe blades against one another with a rasping, grinding sound. Energy shone along the blades, and they seemed to gleam all the more dangerously in the moonlight after each pass of one blade across the other. Left across right, then right across left, over and over. Sharper. Sharper. Sharper. I was glaring upward, daring that Noctowl to approach for another move as I honed the edges of my scythes to an absurd degree. Similarly to the treatment I had given my muscles earlier, the energy was soaking into the blades, redoubling how effective they would be. I wanted to end this the next time I had a chance at a move.
"Come on then! Weren't you trying to make me dinner? Come down here and get it, I'll make sure you choke on it!" I called out in a taunt. I wasn't just trying to sound cocky, I remembered the lessons of the Murkrow who had mocked me in the past, a dark energy coursing through me and carrying forward along with my voice in a proper Taunt-attack maneuver. Hopefully it should keep the owl from staying in the air and using dirty tricks to harass us or trying to hypnotize us. I wanted it to fly down and get physical, putting things at my advantage. That, and if he was angry enough at me, he might not pay attention to what Pidgey was doing to one side.
"A bigger bug is still a bug, I'm going to squash you!" The Noctowl called out in an infuriated retort, sky-blue energy glowing across its entire body, yet focusing around its beak as it began a dive-bombing strafe directly toward me. I readied my scythe blades in front of me, crouching down slightly like I was preparing to take the impact. I glanced aside, and when only a few feet remained between us, I shouted "NOW!" before twisting to my left.
Pidgey threw out a double talon-full of sand straight into the Noctowl's flight path, making it clench its eyes shut and interfering with its aim on its final approach. It made it harder for the Noctowl to track my sudden twist to the left, using my turning momentum to cleave both blades straight into the bird's path. As much as I had reinforced my scythe blades earlier, the shrieking squawk of pain it elicited from the owl was satisfying in a rather dark way. It left the Noctowl crashing into the ground in a heap and it didn't get up again afterward. I was left panting for breath, glaring around the area and looking for further danger.
"We need to leave. Right now. If those trainers I saw earlier heard any of that, they're going to be here to check it out any minute now. That fight didn't take that long, but we made way too much noise." The adrenaline still pumping through me kept me alert and pushed me to take further action immediately, glancing over at Pidgey as she perched on the grass near me.
"Are they...?" She began, trailing off and staring at the crumpled, injured heap of Noctowl lying on the grass a short distance away. They weren't even twitching or groaning in pain, but I couldn't bring myself to feel any pity at first. Still, as I continued to stare, the realization of just how harshly I tried to end that fight sank in, and I felt like I was tensing my entire body to avoid trembling or shaking. I swallowed nervously, and took a few steps over, nudging the Noctowl with the side of a scythe to try and prod it for a reaction. There was a faint rasping of breath from the slightly-parted beak.
"Pretty hurt. But he attacked us first! He deserves it! But... we... we gotta go! If those trainers show up and catch him, it's his problem! We can't do anything to help even if I did want to, and honestly, I don't!" I was firm as I said it, despite the churning in my stomach. I felt guilty. Did I go too far? But they weren't going to back off, I had to put it down hard enough to end the fight! There wasn't anything else I could do... right? "Come on! I... I don't want to transform again, I don't think I have another one in me after today and the battling. I'll follow you on the treetops. Can you lead the way from the sky?"
Pidgey gave one more glance at the collapsed Noctowl, then looked back at me with a nod and took to the air. I leapt to the top of a tree after her, and we resumed our journey back toward Mable's pasture in silence.