The blood that had dripped down his left arm was now a dull, rusty brown, having dried some time ago. Polnareff had sustained a wound from an unstable and territorial Snubull on Route 208- a Fire Fang in specific. He certainly was not expecting the attack, as the small Fairy type was clearly nowhere near as strong as he, it should have been common sense. Polnareff, unwisely so, had dropped one too many chastising comments to the mentally ill Snubull, and suffered the consequences. A single Bullet Punch had knocked the thing out, at least. He now had a small piece of his arm missing, and thoroughly burnt. In all likelihood the burn to the wound would stave away infection. Still, his capabilities to fight had been reduced significantly. The burn had a lasting pain upon his arm, and should he use it, the pain would cause him to subconsciously pull back a bit, reducing the effectiveness of his blow. His right arm was still just fine, as was his overall health.
This didn’t change the fact that it needed to be treated. Polnareff knew there was a city very near, deciding to make his way there. He’d not been within the city before, but it would likely have some sort of makeshift dressing for his injury, perhaps even a potion or burn heal if he was lucky. For now, the task was to arrive safely. There was no shortage of undead, but he knew how to handle and even avoid them.
Nearly half an hour later, Polnareff arrived to a discouraging sight. Corpses, seemingly fresh, rested a distance inside of the city’s boundaries, as well as at least 4 Pokemon tending to them, none looking too tough. There was a Talonflame, a Grotle, a Mankey and a Sandshrew in sight. The Talonflame was clearly the strongest, as well as the greatest threat to a Lucario. It was barking orders in the distance, the Grotle and Mankey seeming mediocre at best as they simply piled corpses in the street. The Sandshrew was young and keeping watch, although currently distracted by flowers beside the road. Not a single one of them looked happy in the slightest.
Ah, shit. He knew how to work his way in and out of a group, at least; step one would be to assist. Polnareff walked forward, over-embellishing his wound to try and earn some pity points, as well as give them a false sense of his current weakness. He stopped a good distance away when one of them noticed him and shot upwards from their task. Clearing his throat, Polnareff called out only as loud as needed.
“Do you need help??” His voice carried only a small distance, and others may be able to hear it nearby, but his concern was the forested area behind him. He turned away for a moment to ensure that his noise had not attracted any immediately nearby infected. A solid thud caught his attention back towards the town, and as quickly as his head could whip around, his legs dug into the ground to flee. For no clear reason, the Talonflame was rushing towards him, with others beginning to follow suit. Polnareff could not help but sense that his life was in extreme danger- these guys were out for blood. His condition wasn’t horrible, and he could sure as hell run. However, he was aware that he could not handle more than one enemy by himself at this moment.
Polnareff ran to his left, going between a large religious-looking structure and a house, a small alley between the two. Even if his enemies were quick, they’d have to take the main street almost a block away to intercept him. His left arm was still in pain, but he was thankful that it wasn’t his already scarred leg that had been hit instead. Polnareff clenched his right fist, looking up to see that the buttresses of the church building was low on the sides. His cursing frown shifted to a sly grin, an idea forming. Sky uppercut: his trump card for various situations and a family specialty. He’d only ever used it outside of combat in training, but knew how far it could propel him, especially in tandem with his own maneuvers. His forward movement slowed as he leaped against the wall of the house to his right, his hand and feet all touching upon it for a moment. With as much strength as he could muster, he drove his hand towards the sky as if delivering a decisive blow, pushing his legs against the house as well. He launched upwards, finding himself to be landing upon the slanted part of the building. Chunks of the walls were missing, offering a way up the towers, but that would just strand him and he knew it.
Polnareff saw the enemies approaching, though at first they knew not where he was. Even so, they would likely only search more if he stayed in place, especially considering the rising Talonflame. Exhaling gently, he hopped from buttress to buttress, moving towards another main street and small lawn located behind the church. At least this way, he had more movement options. All of which were being monitered by the Talonflame already in the air.
Damn bird… He had not taken into account the fact that the flyer was indeed capable of being airborne, something he was already cursing himself for overlooking when it was so obvious. He lept down, grunting as he landed and proceeded towards an intersection at which he turned left, spotting three more Pokemon. The road was devoid of large alleys unfortunately, but there were close packed houses lining the street. As he approached, he saw the new party’s actual forms- a Garchomp, a Krookodile, and a sylveon. They all could be rather tough actually, especially since Eeveelutions are hard to judge the combat level of. Compared to the ones giving chase, though… certainly not a party he was likely to simply plow through. About ten yards away from them was a small house with a broken window- an opportunity if nothing else, albeit a wild card.
Polnareff dug his feet into the ground once more, wincing as he shifted his momentum more than his body cared to enjoy. He ran to the house now, diving in through the window, prepared to strike. As he flew through the window, his lazily held left arm was sliced by glass that was still stuck to the wall, a somewhat deep cut. He had no time to address this, as there was actually a tiny, undead bidoof within that was missing its rear half. Were the situation different, Polnareff may have pitied the once young child, but now he could only send a bullet punch towards it, spattering his arm with blood and ending its miserable existence. He closed his eyes and mouth as he looked away, knowing the implications of injesting fluid from an infected. Polnareff checked around the small home, all the rooms except for one being open area. The only room that had a door was closed off anyways, so he saw this as his primary opportunity. The Lucario took a deep breath, standing upright at an attention stance. He stepped back, beginning a small movement form of what appeared to be a martial arts inspired set, performing basic blocks and strikes, and increasing the pace with sharp exhales each time he would strike. It looked wild, as if he were dancing with an imaginary sword in hand. This increased his attacking capability sharply by sharpening his senses and reaction time, although his left arm was still all but useless in this fight. He finished in a crouched stance, appearing poised to strike.
All Polnareff could do now was observe the situation from here, and be aware of his surroundings. He had not kept tabs on the Talonflame as he ran, simply focusing on escaping for the time being. The other group that had appeared in front of him was an unplanned encounter, though he assumed they were all part of the same gang, and wasn’t sure how to make it out of this one alive… He growled, speaking to himself in a determined, irritated tone.
"I’ll tear you all to pieces…"
