Wretched Garden [Venom]

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It was a heartless feeding ground and all Black had to do to be surrounded was to deliberately step in at the wrong place at the wrong time. Otto was the first to charge the Heartless infestation, then Kay, then Miles. Elemental pillars, flares, and bolts ribboned from among the austere black as energies clashed.

Otto was the first to hit the ground, skidding when the Largebody overcame him.

"Kay - fall back and tend to Otto!"

The Audino complied without pause; Miles took her place beside Black and managed to shock a small clump of Heartless at the command of his trainer. As if nothing happened, even more heartless amassed the ranks, soldiers and Rhapsodies this time - not just the Shadows.

Miles shouldered the weight of both of his comrades while Black scouted for weak points. Neither succeeded. The thunder-type was caught by a homing fireball; Black, a shove from behind.

From somewhere behind them, Kay shrieked.

--

Black tracked out of the crystal cave and into the platform, mirroring his Pokemon’s carefulness; he looked troubled. After a silence, he turned to his team, keds crunching with the loose dirt. Then he cleared his throat, as if to speak, but remained silent, head hanging from its usual confidence.

Maybe he needed a cue. Otto barked softly to fill the space of quiet.

“...Guys, this is going to be really, really dangerous,” Black tasted the words and felt sick. Their bitterness made him want to exhaust the rest out as quickly as possible, “If things go badly, I want you to run. Run doesn’t mean hang around, or stop and stare. Even if anything happens to me; I don’t care: Run.”

Miles thought that was a reasonable command, nodded even, as he envisioned the horror soon to pour out of the rocky plains. Otto quietened heavily; Kay curled her fingers by her sides.

(We aren’t runners; we don’t run. Your life is important to us, how could you be so dumb?) the Audino protested, stepping up. Black averted her gaze.

(He just wants to keep us safe,) Shrugged the squirrel, but the Audino shook her head vehemently.

(He thinks he’s doing us a favor, but it’s a suicide plea; it doesn’t make him any braver, just plain crazy! Black, look at me!)

Black didn't. “This mission is really important. I mean it. If we fail, the Heartless will go pouring into the town. it’s already destroyed as it is, and we don’t need anymore casualties.” he presented the objects he’d been rummaging for as three shrunken, white-red spheres. “This means you guys as well. Stay close, and I can return you once things get hardy. Then I’ll run, if I can, probably.”

“Black--”

“No, Kay, you listen,” Black looked at her this time. “I’m not saying anything like this will happen; this is just the worst-case scenario. But I brought you here, and the responsibility is on me. And you guys are - really important to me, okay? So just let me have this.”

The Audino stared hard, until...she couldn’t anymore. abortively, she stared at the ground instead. At his team's mutual silence, Black nodded, tight expression unwinding. “Good,” he said, "now, let's go." And then he went ahead.--

Black couldn't reach Miles' Pokeball quick enough; a band of Shadows jumped the boy instead. Otto was shoving his way back to their trainer, with Kay in tow - and even then the healer was limping. Miles wormed from the heavy gauntlets of the Largebody after him, biting ankles as he went. Either way, nobody ran. Black squeezed his eyes shut, mustered the strength to lift himself up again. If his silly team wasn't running, who'd look out for them besides him?

Above the battlefield, a lone machine whirled through the air. The sound of its blades was like the dull roar of a thousand hornets. And yet, out the side of the helicopter, Venom Snake looked down into the area below. Heartless swarming just about everywhere and being quite a nuisance. His eye scanned through the masses before noticing that there seemed to be some sort of direction that they were taking. Not towards the town, as expected, but towards a lone boy. Well, not actually alone, it seemed. 

Odd creatures seemed to fight off the Heartless in vain, attempting to protect the boy from harm. While nothing Venom had ever seen, he doesn't really seem perturbed by the sight. Again, his eye wandered between the Heartless and the boy, as though deep in thought. Those creatures would make good additions to his collection. Then again, he was seeing some of his preferred Heartless types in the form of those casters. They weren't quite as common as one would think.

"Boss, what's the plan?" The pilot of the heli called back to the man, pulling him into reality once more. From beside Venom, D-Dog was also leaned out of the side, looking into the teeming masses. Again, Venom looked into the battlefield carefully. Pissing off THAT many Heartless wasn't exactly something he was in a rush to do. And yet, he felt a slight pang of guilt upon even considering leaving the boy there to die. He hefted himself up, swiping several chutes and grabbing an assault rifle.

"Standard assault run. D-Dog and I will be taking the express down. Try not to shoot us on your pass." The man commanded. As if on cue, Snake stepped over the edge of the helicopter and into the nothingness of the air. Behind him, D-Dog leaped along with his master with much gusto. The dive always helped him relax and the man closed his eye for a moment to take it in. The air up here was so clean and fresh, a stark contrast from how it must feel on the ground. The darkness was always just so.. stuffy. As he opened his eye, he quickly deployed D-Dog's chute before catching his own open. 

"Get to the boy and his beasts, DD." Venom commands, knowing that the Dog was more than capable of working its own parachute. His boots would touch the ground at the same moment as the wolf would get there. Off D-Dog went, weaving through the Heartless that seemingly ignored him and making a beeline for Black. Snake stood and glanced around at the assorted flavors of Heartless before lighting up his cigar using the thumb of his robotic arm. He took a nice, long drag from the cigar even as Heartless continued to swarm towards Black.

"Fire." He finally says. In what might feel like a certain sort of hellish hail, the same heli opened up on every Heartless that stood between Snake and Black with ruthless efficiency. At a strolling pace, the one-eyed man began to make his way through the battlefield and towards Black.

Over by Black, the nearby Shadows would flatten and creep around, aiming to ambush the boy. One was perfectly poised to strike, becoming whole again as it leapt at its unsuspecting prey. Likely a mistake it would regret, if it could feel such a thing. A flashing, angry ball of concentrated wolf would pounce the thing midair, strong jaws clamping down on a leg before slamming the little Shadow into the ground. The following shaking (more like mauling) that D-Dog would deliver upon the Shadow would eventually make it poof into a black smoke to fight another day. 

The Heartless didn't seem to know what to make of this new arrival as its brutal entry made them waver. However, even their most basic of minds would know that they still outnumbered this smaller group and they would again close in. And that's when the strafing run would get there. A zone of death by bullet would rain down upon the Heartless, nearly instantly extinguishing them and leaving a very open path where Black would see Snake approaching. 

"This way! Run towards me! DD run cover!" Venom shouts, a fidgetting hand ready to grab his rifle and open fire should any Heartless attack Black. Would the boy look to D-Dog, he might even hear a little sound of encouragement to get him moving.

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Black didn't really know what panic was until the sound of gunfire accentuated the bullets pelting all around him - he watched the heartless get dowsed by the onslaught and cascade into the clarity of daytime. A clean path of land extended from the teen to....wait, was that somebody up there?

A hardy snarl switched Black's afflicted stare to a creature not unlike a Stoutland -- or was it Poochyena? - that pounced for a heartless aimed at him. Like the bullets, it seemed to have distinguished sides already. That gave Black enough incentive to return his focus to his Pokemon. Kay knelt beside him and grabbed one of his arms. Otto, carrying an exhausted miles on his armor, nudged Black forcibly with his snout.

"I - okay, okay, I'm - I'm up."

Black didn't have the time to gauge whether he could really trust this stranger, aside from the hailing bullets and the ferocious mastiff, but he still took his chances and ran.

"T-Thanks," he panted as he got there. "That was a really close one - but they're not stopping." he'd expected the heartless to be colossal in numbers, but he didn't expect them to be seeming endless. It was as if they were coming back. That wasn't possible, right? He'd taken out about two hundred with his team, he wagered.

Black motioned a tired hand to the pathway to the town. "If they're not taken down, they could jeopardize everyone in town - I can't let that happen! Radiant Garden is -- my town, too."

Kay was already working to heal Miles. Otto was standing protectively close to his trainer, mouth set in a snarl at the heartless that dared nudge closer.

Black looked up at the soldier-like stranger.

"Are...you here to protect the town too, sir?"

D-Dog ran alongside, snapping at any Heartless that ventured a bit too close to the designated radius that the wolf was used to guarding. As the group approached Snake, the man would draw his rifle silently before snapping off a few shots at e nearby knight that was trying to be sneaky. Not its strong point, obviously. 

"Give me a moment, kid." He says before quickly checking over Black, doing a quick patdown on the boy. It wasn't a weapon check or anything and was more to check for any injuries that might need immediate attention or prevent Snake from doing his thing. The Heartless were quickly moving in on the group, even as the helicopter made another pass.

"Your... pets good for being airlifted out?" Snake asks. As if subconsciously, he plucked an encroaching Shadow out of mid-leap and began to strangle it even while speaking. The situation presented by Black was a bit more dire than it seemed. While Snake wasn't out to slay Heartless, he wasn't about to just let them rampage through a town. It was hardly fair to just attack villagers. He seemed to go into thought even as the Shadow wildly flailed against the headlock it was in. His gaze would shift over to Black to look him over. By the looks of the boy, he likely didn't have any munny. And likely, his beasts were the only thing of value that he had. There was always that third option however...

"Bullets aren't free, kid. But I like your gusto. Soon as I get you out of harm's way, I'll handle the Heartless." He explains. It would seem as though he had some knowledge about what the creatures he fought were. He held out a hand to Black. In it was a small disc that likely had a lot more to it than it appeared. "Strap this to your big one and all of you hop on board. And hang on." That last bit of advice was to save him the worry of maybe having to clean up a not-so-pleasant mess should Black fall.

The Fulton device would deploy a harness around Otto once Black was ready before the balloons would get them off the ground. Then the 'hanging on' part would start as a small seeking device would rush them towards the helicopter. That is, once Black is ready.

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"I-I'm fine! Honest!" Black protested, rubbing the soon-to-be-bruise on his arm. But something told him the guy wouldn't be so patient with him while they were in the middle of a Heartless war, so he ended up accepting the disc-like object with little else resistance. Strap it to the biggest one? Hop on board? Black squinted at the Helicopter that ruffled over their heads. Whatever this object was, by indication of the instructions, it apparently could eject them out of the platform and onto safety...but that meant neither Black nor his team could protect the town. Could he really trust this man to pick up the slack? He certainly looked more than ready to take on a couple of nations. And if Kay's hard look was anything to go by, Black had done enough stupid things for the day.

Black relented. He nodded hardily at the man. "Okay."

Throughout the heart-attack inducing trip, Otto was held by Black held by Kay - except Miles, who saw it fit to strap his body to Black's face. When the boy felt solid ground beneath his feet, his knees buckled immediately. He clung to Kay who fussed over him and his injuries, patted Otto's snout and ruffled Miles' head. "Thanks, guys. You did great down there."

As the poke-trio sat anxiously in their holds, Black kept his eyes down below, where the man was making short work of the little hellions. At least he was honest in that he did take care of the heartless after all. Black wondered why he hadn't seen someone like this guy back in the town. Was he a newcomer? Just how powerful was he and his helicopter unit? You didn't derive that valor by standing back and letting your aircraft shoot everything in sight. You derived it by standing in the face of death. This man was frightening.

Black had a lot of questions.

Venom took along long drag as he watched that chute make its way into the sky, watching as his heli intercepted Black and his Mon and bring them on board. That added weight meant no more runs. A slower copter was a shot down copter. His gaze settled back down on the Heartless who were starting to get quite a bit more agitated now that their primary meal was gone. The Shadow that Snake held finally went limp in his arm.

"What do you want to do, DD? Going to fight with this old Snake again?" He muses, already fully knowing the dog's answer. Another quick application had the unconscious Shadow in its own little harness and sent upwards. This balloon would go past the helicopter and towards something seemingly much higher in the sky. His hands free, Snake shifted into a more battle ready pose. Not with his rifle or any other firearms, but with his fists.

"Alright boys. Let's dance." Venom finally challenges out at the Heartless. From above, Black would see the Heartless shifting and suddenly becoming quite dead set on the man and losing interest in the town. The first to charge was a Knight, its blade whistling through the air with deadly precision. And yet, the man proved to be just as quick, catching the blade in the palm of the robotic arm and holding on. The following kick straight to the gut of the Knight sent it rocketing backwards with such intensity that dozens of Heartless poofed out of existence just from the impact. The knight would eventually dissipate as well, leaving another clean line through the swarm.

The view from above would likely be quite a spectacle as the Heartless began an all out rush at the man now. And yet, his movements were like liquid, weaving past blade, claw, and fist with surprising ease. In tandem, D-Dog would seem to flawlessly pounce on any that fell to deliver a legendary mauling upon them. It would only take another 5 minutes until the Heartless horde had dwindled down to about 20 of them or so. While it may not have seemed like it, Snake had purposely left the selected group alone.

Snake thought of what he had available at home before settling on just capturing three of them. A quick draw of his pistol and three shots later, the red, blue, and yellow mages would crash to the ground unconsciously. "Go ahead and finish the rest, DD." Snake lets the wolf run wild among the remaining Heartless, eventually leaving just the two of them and their 3 captives. That whole swarm wiped out by one man and his dog. He'd take another drag of his cigar before finally putting it away and getting to work. Little harnesses on the unconscious Heartless and sending them back to Mother Base before speaking back to the heli pilot. "We're done here. Come get us."

Descending back down, the heli would land in the open area that had once been filling with those creatures of darkness. Almost pristine looking with how clean it was now. D-Dog would hop in first, followed by a long stride of the man stepping in before it lifted off again. He was quiet as he stowed away his rifle before taking a seat back down. "So... what's your name, kid?"

Black was so fixated on how one human being could have the strength of ten of his Pokemon that he almost didn't register the helicopter descending. He strangely regarded the man settling on the seat across from him.

"Er...Black. You can call me Black. It's my codename." Gesturing to the three misfit creatures next to him, he added, "and this is my team. Where I come from, we have creatures named Pokemon. The pink one is Kay, the blue one is Otto, and the...one biting the seat is Miles. Miles, stop."

He was in a strange helicopter. He'd just witnessed a dude swoop in and seamlessly save his reckless bacon. This dude looked even more intimidating from up close. Black was still in a strange helicopter. All these must have affected Black into making a tap out of his mouth, but he didn't really realize that just yet.

"The restoration committee is underway in town, with the fixing and rebuilding and everything. An army of Heartless ran the place to the ground last time. When I heard another wave was coming, I decided to do something about it, and, well...here I am." Black rubbed his nape, laughing weakly. "That was too close, huh?

"Oh! And, uh...ahaha. I got carried away. What's your name, sir? Thanks for helping me out back there, and...nice to m-meet you."

Snake would listen to the kid, giving him time to process it all. He would recognize that type of rambling from somebody who went through a borderline traumatic experience. He was likely still panicked for a moment. His gaze would shift to each of the Pokemon in turn, looking them over. His brain was attempting to relate them to real world animals. Clearly the one called Otto was akin to a narwhal. And the biter was a flying squirrel.

"Name's Big Boss, though my call-sign is Venom Snake. Good to meet ya." He explains before motioning to the wolf that was slowly inching along the ground to get closer to Kay in an attempt to sniff her. "The sneaky pup is DD, or Diamond Dog." As he was making introductions, he'd lean over to pull the bay door closed before returning to his seat.

The heli was heading back up into the skies and towards... something big. It would only be a couple of minutes until a massive air-ship would come into view, soaring high in the sky.

"I didn't take the Heartless for ones to launch an all out assault like that without some kind of direction. I'll have a squad look into it if it helps you feel better." Snake offers. Despite his rough exterior, the man was actually quite a nice person. It might actually be a stark contrast to think he was the same person who had wiped out that swarm. He leaned back in his seat before glancing out of the window and towards the deck of the airship, where the Heartless he had captured were being herded into small cells. The yellow one even gave a protesting jolt at the nearest soldier, making him fall over before others would push it into the sealed container.

"Well, Black... welcome to Mother Ship." He finally says before swinging the door open. A blast of wind would meet them as the helicopter would descend towards the awaiting pad. Black would likely hear some soldiers running drills, as well as the general ruckus that the contained Heartless were causing. Once close enough to the ground, DD would immediately hop off and go wandering back into the base.

"Medic!" Snake would shout out of the door, grabbing the attention so Black's wounds could be treated.

First a helicopter, and now a giant ship in the sky. Even Miles and Otto were exchanging glances by the time they landed in their new grounds. Kay, on the other hand, seemed balanced out by the curiosity she shared with the dog-type, even going as far as to speak to him in a tongue he wouldn't understand, but a tone he probably would.

The medic and his prodding of sore places didn't deter Black from marveling at the ship's sheer enormity. "Wow...You must be like a captain or something. I guess this is where you get Big Boss from, huh?"

The more black stared, the more his questions kept piling up. He wondered how Big Boss would react to his overall curiosity, but then again Big Boss seemed pretty genial for someone who just swept a bunch of Heartless as easily as one swept dirt under a rug. Like Kay, Black's curiosity eventually bested his silence.

"...you know, now that I think about it, it does seem odd that the Heartless' attacks would be so focused. They seem too basic to think for themselves. I used to just think Heartless were as normal to the outer worlds as Pokemon were in my world...but, maybe they had an origin, yeah." Whatever that origin was, it was probably spearheaded but even bigger, badder heartless, kind of like the Legendary Pokemon said to hold the virtues of Black's world together...and probably just as complex. Black was never a thinker though. If anything, he liked to think where he stood.

Black fidgeted. "so, what do you guys do exactly?"

Black's fidgeting would get a frown form the medic, though the man worked pretty quickly, eventually supplying painkillers and water. Looks like it was just some bruising, though it's suggested that Black either get some rest or maybe the 'special' treatment that Big Boss and his more elite soldiers had. Eventually, the medic would get going again, needed for the experimentation that the Heartless were about to be subjected to.

"Only ranks here are me and Ocelot." Snake explains, directing Black's vision towards a blonde man who was directing the Heartless carriers to the lab. DD was currently doing laps around the other man as well. "I'll get him to check out your friends later. He's more in tune with animals than I am."

He would stay there, watching how curious that the boy was. Curiosity was a good thing, and there was very little fear there. Hell, some soldiers had shown fear when being brought here in the past. Most of the ship were humans, though some of the more recent recruits were assorted people from Traverse Town who wanted to try and make a difference.

"Back home... I formed the Diamond Dogs to show that soldiers should have the right to choose their battles. Our government was corrupt and sending soldiers to early graves for causes that weren't for the good of the people." No reason to hide his past, after all. "Here... well, we're still in the intel gathering stage."

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"Government corruption...?"

That reminded black of the contrary, but still similar, instances that went on back home. He knew more than most how rebellion was as powerful a cause as a natural disaster; except it moved people instead of mountains.

Black had been adverse to team plasma and the uprisings it initiated, so he couldn't say his opinion of the man was of uncolored judgement. Still, he was taken care of and saved, so things seemed promising so far.

"I knew a thing or two about rebellion," Black rubbed sheepishly at his patched arm. "But my scenario was a little different; it involved whether we should keep Pokemon under our control or set them free. Our society supports keeping control of them, but the people who rose against the system thought Pokemon were better off without us. Sometimes a government system can be pretty corrupt, but the rebel system has that equal opportunity too. Using force and violence to back up their beliefs...that kinda stuff was what I - we faced."

Black paused to weigh all he'd said, and frowned at the heft of it. "Anyway," he added, sitting up to fight off the feeling of flimsiness. "I noticed that you disc'd off some of the heartless on the ground, and I was wondering. Back home you fought against a corrupt government...but now this isn't your home, right? So, what about now?" He prodded carefully.

As Black speaks, Snake watches intently, nodding some to that. "By the sounds of it, these Pokemon you speak of are intelligent creatures who can make their own decisions. But since they fought alongside you, that would mean that they chose to, right?" He asks, not knowing how battling and capturing really worked. "I know that DD would stick with me even if I tried to MAKE him leave."

The man stood up after that, ready to lead Black away from the heli as the pilot did have other errands to run. He'd help support the boy if he needed aid in walking as well. "As I said, for right now, we're just gathering intel. I can't choose what to get involved in until I see the circumstances. Like yours were... a kid being attacked by uneven odds. Quick judgement calls were made." It was a simple enough mindset. Though, he wouldn't go telling Black that he would have just as easily taken him down if he had proved to be something bad. Based off of what he had learned from Maleficent, killing those Heartless didn't really 'kill' them off.

That reminded him that that's what he wanted the scientists working on. Finding out more how the Heartless worked. Until then.. he was mostly just acting as some sort of peacekeeper. Flying around, breaking up fights, recruiting the odd ally every now and then. However, Black wasn't the only person asking for the direction Snake was going. He would eventually need to have a clear cut plan.

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Nodding along, Black guessed that it was enough for him to know that Big Boss was just the type of person who picked up people and things for reasons that were good; after all, Black was living proof of this. That compelled the Unovan to allow for some trust and even thanked the brutish man for helping him across the pad. The rest of the Pokemon were seen off by the same medic with that same trust and a "they work well with potions, or just some good rest!"

"I'm kinda like you, you know," Black commented after a while, "I mean, I like to go around helping people too. Mainly I'm looking for someone important, but I don't think that will happen in worlds as vast as these...

"But," Black picked his voice back up, tucking back the memories where they belonged. "I'm a hero, first. It's what I do, and I think helping people out by fighting against the Heartless is something I'll be doing for the long-run."

He cringed when he remembered what had happened in the platform and how much he didn't want it to happen again. Since leaving his home world, Black found a lot of flaws in himself that he thought being a hero in Unova covered. His human weakness and his severe underestimation of monsters, were among those flaws.

Suddenly feeling self-conscious of both his weakness and the injuries that defined his weakness, Black peered through his visor at the more able-bodied man. "That's...kinda dumb, isn't it."

Snake would watch as those... very unique creatures were lead off towards a medical treatment area. After all, they took significantly more damage than Black had. He looked to the boy, getting a bit curious as he spoke about being a hero and fighting Heartless. However, he still has the explanation that they are mostly just like wild animals looking for food than a military.

"How would I call it dumb to fight for something you think is right? Would go against the whole principle I founded the Diamond Dogs for." Snake says with a very small smile. Truthfully, he was starting to like this kid and his determination.

"But.." Ah, here it comes. The downside. "How can you expect to fight for your cause if it's against something like that? Not knocking you, but you're not exactly... fighter material." He noticed. Sure, he wasn't holding Black up to the standard of himself or Ocelot, but he did see his own sons who were far more physically adept than Black was.

"And while I believe that your uh... Pokemon were capable where you're from, it seems that they aren't quite up to par here either." He adds on. Sure, he wasn't /trying/ to be mean, but the truth could hurt sometimes. And yet, he wanted to leave it open for Black to ask for help. Snake wouldn't directly offer to help as he didn't want to mislead that he was perfectly willing to fight for any cause.

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Fighting for what he thought was right...there was a lot of that back in Unova. It drowned out everything Black wanted to be as a functioning person in society. But it also brought out a lot of strength in Black that he didn't know he had. It was too bad that strength didn't extend to the physical.

Black deflated a little - not because Big Boss laid it on straight, but because Black knew it was all true. He glanced over his thin frame and sighed. And yeah, his Pokemon, who seemed more than capable of carrying out his vision in Unova, performed very poorly here. Especially when the Heartless came in unpredictable numbers and behaviors.

"I've never had any combat training. I mean - I kinda figured the more I fought the Heartless, the stronger I'd get. Same for my Pokemon." Black hung his head. "But that kind of backfires sometimes, because the Heartless aren't exactly sportsmanship-like, heh. They're not gonna wait for me or my team to get better at our dodging or reflex. But, sure, I understand why I'm weaker than the other folks. Some of them were probably exposed to the Heartless for years. Catastrophes...Wars, too, I guess." 

"...N-Not that war is a good thing!" Black quickly amended. "I mean, all that fighting and action must've gotten you real tough, and you look pretty ripped, not to mention you took out those heartless with killer aim! Not that I'm saying war is a good thing either because those are horrible conditions but. Aha. Okay...I'm done."

Black felt like dying.