Another punch hits one of the Magmar right in the snout, it reaches for Larry violently but grabs nothing but air as Larry shoots back down underground. His hand is extinguished the second he digs underground, as the flame is snuffed out without the sufficient oxygen levels.

  He digs over a few steps, where he can feel the reverberations of their steps above ground. He swirls the sandstorm just a tad, then digs a few steps to the left before shooting back up. He reaches for a stone on his way up, his Type-Energy Reserves are practically empty already, but he squeezes out just a tad of Rock-TE, imbuing it into the rock.

  He reels back for the throw as he spins in the air, feeling for the Magmar in the storm. Then he throws, hitting another Magmar in the back of the head.

  Then it's back underground.

  ‘These fucking idiots…’ Larry fumed as he dug back around for another sneak attack, stirring the storm just another tad as he felt for his next target. Even before his daring last stand, his TE was already practically running on empty, and by now, the constant digging and usage of Sandstorm had brought him to the point of almost fainting outright several times, but he’d just have to bear through it and keep going. They had to pay somehow, they attacked an innocent girl!

  Dark-TE came to his mouth and Larry felt the magical set of teeth grow on top of his normal mouth, he surfaced without a jump this time. Instead, he rushed towards another Magmar’s foot and chomped down on it, eliciting a cry of pain from the Pokemon.

  Through the veil of sand and dust, another Magmar shot a quick Ember at his partner's foot, but Larry was gone before the attack hit, back underground.

  Suddenly, two strong reverberations rushed into the Sandstorm from the ranger's side. Larry felt himself finally breathe a sigh of relief when both Lairon and Graveler appeared in his Sandstorm, ‘Good thinking…They won’t get hurt by the storm…’

  Graveler rushed around the sandstorm in a Rollout, crashing into people before they could even see him coming due to the storm's bad visibility. Lairon meanwhile seemed to take the role of bait, using Metal Sound aboveground to bring the Magmar's attention to him and then using Protect.

  ‘Did he get some healing?’ Larry didn’t think that Lairon would’ve been able to keep fighting. The sight of the two fighting in the smogged-out storm invigorated Larry, even in his weakened state, ‘They’re working so hard…I gotta keep going!’

  Jumping out again, Larry went straight for the Patriarch's arm, but the Magmar had learned his tricks and dodged to the side. With Ground-TE still coating him, Larry landed and pivoted, stomping the ground with Ground-TE-empowered feet angrily. The earth shook underneath him as ripples reverberated outwards violently and forced all the Magmar in the sandstorm off balance.

  Graveler rushes back around, crashing into one of the Magmar and finally managing to hit the thing squarely in the back. It crashes into the walls on the edges of the walkway, completely knocked out. Graveler simply continues, gaining speed all the while.

  Larry is back underground before the Patriarch can attack him, this time he has a grin on his face, ‘That's a new move AND one of the Magmar knocked out the fight!’ He’d just managed to learn Stomping Tantrum by sheer coincidence and willpower, ‘I’ll give it another shot. Let's just hope it doesn’t bring the cave down on top of us…’

  Thinking smartly, Larry distances himself just a bit from the gang of Magmar. Through the Sandstorm he sees Lairon retreat out of the Sandstorm. It probably knows that without Graveler and him there as a distraction, it can’t hold them back alone. He surfaces just a bit behind them, where they won’t be able to see him, and once again pushes the Ground-TE from his arms and mouth where they were for digging into his legs.

  One stomp and the earth ripples outwards under his feet, Larry pulls his legs back up for another stomp, and the earth billows upwards like a blanket being flattened. Pulling his foot up even further, the third stomp ripples outwards, and the earth cracks along the ripple like French Onion Soup to a spoon, cracking and breaking apart the Magmar's footing even further.

  ‘It's like a miniature earthquake!’ He raves to himself mentally.

  Through the Sandstorm, Larry feels two of the remaining Magmar lose their footing entirely, landing on the ground on all fours. Again, Graveler rushes into the storm in a Rollout, crashing straight into the head of one of the Magmar which was still on all fours. The Magmar gets launched by the attack, flying backward and skidding to a stop just next to the high shoulders of the walkway.

  ‘Just three more of them!’ Larry whoops internally, but that Stomping Tantrum took more out of him than he expected and he feels himself lose control of the Sandstorm. It slowly swims to a stop as Larry takes a moment to catch his breath, the Smokescreen leaving with the Sand and Dust.

  ‘Damn…It hurts to just stand…’ Larry couldn't even move his legs anymore. Graveler finally spotted him without the storm obscuring his vision and rolled up to him. Stopping in front of him protectively and standing between him and the Magmar, “You ok?”

  “I-I’m done…” Larry leaned against the Rock-Type's back, fighting to even stay upright.

  Graveler looked around anxiously, they were behind their enemies and too far away from their trainers.

  “Well, well. Look who finally ran out of steam!” The Patriarch sneered at them with his two remaining companions as it clapped, “You had a good run, little runt, but now it's finally over for you.”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Larry's entire body hurt, his ears burned, and he felt like he would collapse at any moment, but he still managed to stare back defiantly at the Magmar from behind Graveler.

  “Your mother was a fool,” The Magmar criticized, “due to her stupidity, over twenty of my kin died during her fight, and you still believe yourself to be in the right?”

  “You…” Larry fought to get the words out, “You know this isn’t about right or wrong.”

  “Indeed,” It nodded, “the strong prosper and the weak perish.”

  “It's hunt or be hunted…” Larry repeated the first lesson he’d learned in his new life, only for Magmar to nod back.

  It approached the two threateningly, coating its arm in flame, “So just be happy to finally join your mother.” Larry's gaze traveled further behind Magmar, to Valerie, still laying on the ground in pain, with Lairon and Arcanine standing before her and the ranger team protectively.

  Just then, the earth rumbled, everyone's gazes naturally traveled up, expecting the worst, but no, the cave wasn’t collapsing.

  Like an out-of-control tire, a giant wheel launched itself over the bank on the side of the walkway. It crashed down just next to the Patriarch and smashed into his side with all of its pent up momentum. Launching the Pokemon into the opposite wall, with a loud CRASH!

  Larry could hardly believe his eyes, his gaze traveled from the completely unconscious Magmar Patriarch back to the middle of the walkway, where Donphan stood in a standoff with the two remaining Magmar.

  “Donphan!” Larry cried out, happier than ever.

  “Oh my, it's Larry! Hi Larry!” From the top of the bank, Larry saw a blue little Phanpy wave down at him adorably with its trunk. It curled into a wheel and rolled down the banking clumsily, rolling to a teetering stop just before Graveler and looking at him with a shocked expression, “What happened to you?! Are these guys not nice?”

  “They aren’t.” Donphan spoke, still in a standoff with the remaining Magmar, “You stay back too, Phanpy, I wouldn’t want you to get hurt.”

  “Who you?” Graveler asked threateningly in its caveman accent, “Enemy?”

  Larry tapped on Graveler's back with a smile, “They're friends.”

  The Magmar looked not just panicked, but like they were staring down death. They slowly took a few steps back, but before they could flee, another Pokemon climbed the bank on the sides of the walkway.

  “Can you please slow down, Donphan? I can’t- Oh, Larry!” Ursaring looked back at him from the top of the bank.

  The sight of the two brand new combatants seemed to seal the deal for the last two Magmar as they quickly turned around and fled, eliciting a sigh of relief from Donphan.

  “How are you, Larry?” Ursaring climbed down the bank as it watched both Donphan and Phanpy surround the Larvitar worriedly. As she approached, it became clear why. Larry was covered in bruises and had minor burns all over his body, with his arms and legs looking far worse off than all the other parts of his body, “You don't look too well.”

  Graveler standing before him protectively didn't look much better off, but it was used to a fight and still seemed on edge at the three newcomers, “Back!”

  Once again, Larry tapped on Graveler's back, “I’m ok, Ursaring…They’re alright…Graveler.” Larry looked barely coherent as he swayed from side to side, “They're…friends…”

  With his adrenaline finally fizzling out and before the situation could be cleared up, Larry finally tapped out and tumbled to the floor, completely passed out.

  Behind them, Lairon, Arcanine and the rangers were slowly approaching their group, with Valerie slinging one arm over top of Maxie's shoulder. They looked unsure of how to handle the situation.

  Ursaring tapped Donphan on his back, “Ugh, you go ahead and handle the humans. They hate Ursarings.”

  “Fine…” Donphan grumbled as it approached them.

  …

  Larry awoke to the delightfully warm decadence of red Arcanine fluff enveloping his body. He turned his head, pushing his face further into the warm pelt, “Mmmh, perfect…”

  “Thank you, Maxine takes good care of it.” Came back as a response, and Larry opened an eye to see Arcanine's giant head staring back at him as he was cradled in its pelt, “Good Morning.”

  Blushing almost immediately, Larry raised his head, “Ah, good morning…”

  Everyone had hunkered down in a camp together, Graveler and Lairon sat next to him on his left, with Ursaring and Donphan on the opposite side, each of them had a small bit of Pokechow in bowls before them. Across from him, the rangers sat on the cavern floor in front of their trusty electric lantern. Valerie was laid down on a tarp in front of them, her right shoulder carefully bandaged up.

  Larry hopped off of Arcanine and immediately rushed over to her side, crashing into her good arm, “Valerie! Are you alright?!”

  Valerie whipped her head around, she was tearing up as she looked at him, wincing as she raised herself off the tarp to caress his side, “Larvitar! I'm so glad you're alright. How are you? Hopefully alright?” She caught the meaning of his exclamations, “I’ll be alright, Larvitar. It's only first-degree burns, it’ll heal in a few weeks.”

  The commotion got everyone's attention as they all looked over at them.

  Finally releasing his hug from Valerie, Larry was beginning to realize that he wasn’t hurting anymore. He looked down at himself, Larry found most of his physical bruises to be completely healed, “Huh? How in the…”

  “Potions, Larvitar,” Maxie cut him off as she shook around two almost empty spray bottles, “and Burn Heals, of course. We're really lucky we stocked up on so many beforehand. Else we would've been forced to go back.”

  She looked down at Valerie critically, “Though, Valerie, you know I still want to.”

  “I want to as well, but we're so close!” Valerie complained as she slapped the floor with her good arm, “We can’t just go back now! I can still walk, you know? You're just being a drama queen here, Max!”

  “Excuse me? Who was it that was screaming bloody murder when she got hit by that attack?” She pointed back accusingly at Valerie, she was about to retort before Maxie cut her off, “And cried her eyes out when we put the bandages on her? You know your dad's probably going to kill me because I let something happen to his daughter, right?”

  “You're stupid lucky our ranger jackets are built that tough, Val,” Nicholas mentioned, “You wouldn't have gotten away with only first-degree burns on your shoulder from that if it didn't have to burn through all those layers beforehand.”

  “Yeah,” Arin agreed, joining the finger-pointing, “don't try and play tough.” He quickly turned his hand around and pointed a thumb in Donphan, Phanpy, and Ursaring's direction, “Anyway, we're gonna need to clear the air. Who are they, Larvitar?” Pointing at the Donphans troupe, he continued, “Your friends?”

  Larry turned with a nod, he was busy being crowded by the overly affectionate Phanpy, “I'm so glad you're alright, Larry!” He gripped him like a vice using his powerful trunk.

  While he wasn't in any obvious pain anymore, Larry still felt very sore and exhausted, “Oof! Give me some space, Phanpy! You're crushing me! I’ll explain everything!”

  Donphan spoke, quieting the commotion in their camp instantly with its deep rumbling tone of voice, “You got caught, didn't you?”