Mystic Balance: The Chaos of Gilgamarsh

This was it. This was his big chance to prove his worth. Gilgamarsh had been terrorising Fever Flats for long enough. The town and the Tabiran Guilds have all gathered up with the sole purpose of taking him down, and Jett was tired of waiting in this smelly, disgusting swamp. Besides, he needed to take down another witch if anyone wanted to take the title 'witch hunter' seriously.

His ears perked at the sound of his close friend right behind him. "Okay, the forces have divided into five groups; the Attack, Supression, and Decoy roles will be dealing with this witch, while we be coordinating with them and the Medical Team to keep things from breaking apart into chaos and get the injured out of there," his Vulpix friend listed out behind him. "We're a bit late, but I've gone ahead and gotten some of those tiny voice stones, you can relay information you hear to me, and then-"

“Come on Grace, charge!” the Sneasel yelled out, furiously running ahead.

“Wait, Jett stop!” Grace behind him ran as fast as her paws could carry her, jumping in front of the Sneasel. “You can't fight this witch, they'll tear you apart!”

“I'm a witch hunter, Grace. I've got this!” Jett said, awkwardly pushing Grace out of the way.

Grace pounced onto him, lifting her head. “You're blind. You can't take him on.”

Jett struggled out from Grace's grip, clearing off his fur. “I can do this! I just need a good sense of where he is.”

“Do you know what this witch does?” Jett shook his head, prompting an exasperated sigh from Grace. “He's a Goodra, and his... goo stuff is poisonous! You'd get sick getting a grip onto him!”

Jett let out a scoff, raising a hand. “Don't worry, we took that Growlithe before, you and me – and we've got an army fighting against this Gilgamarsh.” He then struggled out of Grace's grip, and continued running along.

“That's not what I'm worried about – your only method for fighting isn't going to work, yet you choose to take him head on.” Grace pleaded out, running alongside Jett. “Stay in the medical team, or communications with me.”

“I have to fight,” Jett said while clenching a fist. “Let me fight.”

Grace let out another sigh, looking down to the ground. “But... can you at least promise you'll stay in the decoy team, just simply keep Gilgamarsh distracted while the others do the dirty work?”

“But-”

“I don't want you getting hurt, and you'll still be directly involved.” She then put a paw on his chest, Jett raising a hand to grab her's. “Besides, this is a group effort. You don't have to get all the glory.”

Jett opened his mouth to speak, but hesitated. “You're right.” His admission was quiet. “You're right, it's not about the glory. I'll stay with the Decoy team, but you have to guide me.”

Grace looked back and forth, sliding a small stone out from her fur, carefully placing it into Jett's hand. “It's a miniature voice stone. Hold onto it and I can give you directions,” Grace said softly. “Go on.”

Jett nodded, taking the stone and holding it near his ear. “Hey, echoes.”

Grace let out a small giggle, smiling. “If you need to get to me, find someone to bring you to the top of the cliff, okay?”

Jett nodded, before turning around and charging on. Grace ran ahead of Jett, stopping him. “Gilgamarsh is that way,” she said, gently turning Jett around. He then continued charging, yelling out loudly.

Jett kept running until he found others blocking his way, slowing down and carefully moving past them. Hearing a faint noise, he lifted the voice stone up to his ear.

“...ease put the stone- oh, good!” It was Grace's pleasant voice, her voice carried in the air to the miniature voice stone. “Okay, back up a bit, and move to your right.” Jett followed along, wading through the crowd. “Bit more, bit more, there! You're free from the crowd!”

Jett then leaped out, landing on his front claws, his feathers brushing against what he assumed were rocks as he stopped his body from hitting the ground.

“Showoff.”

Jett let out a chuckle in response, standing upright. “Do I have Gilgamarsh's attention?” he asked, kind of standing still.

“No, not yet. Trying throwing a rock at him?”

“Like that's going to work,” Jett huffed, kneeling down and feeling for something. He quickly got a large, hard object, standing back up and throwing it with all his might. “How was that? Right direction?”

“WHO DARES CHALLENGE ME?!” His voice was booming, a raspy tone echoing all across the field. Jett took a step back as the ground itself rumbled, the roaring of water mixed with the soft yet constant bubbling and popping of the goo that stood on top.

“You got his attention,” Grace said quietly through the voice stone. “Run!”

Jett began charging forward, swallowing his fear down his throat. “YOU INSIGNIFICANT RAT!”

“Wrong way, you idiot!” Jett moved the voice stone away at Grace's yelling, gritting his teeth. “Jump! Tail incoming!”

Jett leaped as high as he could, tripping at the top of the tail knocked into him, landing on his side. “Hnng!” He got up to his feet, breathing softly. “Is that all you got?!”

“Run back!” Jett shook his head, raising a claw. “Run back he's swinging his tail at you!”

Jett promptly took a step back, running back away from the tail. “When do I strike?” he said into the voice stone.

“What?!”

“To hit-” he was cut off as the tail came slamming down, causing a massive thud against the ground. “To hit him!”

“I...” Jett held the voice stone closer to himself as he waited for Grace to continue. “I guess it'd be a good way to distract him.”

“Then give the word, and-”

“Jump to the side!” Jett wasted no time leaping off, the pure rage of a Dragon Breath barely missing him.

Jett was panting lightly, slowly taking a few steps back. It was then he heard a sudden voice, one he wasn't prepared for. “What the fuck are you doing here?!” Jett paused, his ear perking as he listened further.. “I thought you were a witch sympathiser!” It was that Growlithe.

“No, I'm a witch hunter,” Jett huffed, raising his claws. “And that 'witch' you were after is a Mystic, and she's helping get rid of this witch. Grace, where are you?”

After a moment of silence, Jett could hear from the voice stone again. “Just standby, I'm helping another team out!” Grace told him, before falling silent again.

Ignius let out a huff, scratching her claws against the ground. “I'd say I don't need your help, if it wasn't Gilgamarsh of all the foul beasts...”

“Well I don't need yours, you aren't even part of the Guild,” Jett snapped back.

“This is my home!” Ignius yelled out, taking a step forward. “I'm fighting!”

Jett took a step back at the loud Growlithe's response, crossing his arms. “Then fight the slug, not me.” Hearing Grace's voice faintly, Jett put the voice stone back to his ears.

“He's attacking one of our medical teams, get him! But be careful, all around him is a lake of goo, too much force and it'll break!”

Jett nodded, ducking and leaping towards the screaming witch, his claw going dark as he launched himself forward. He flew across towards Gilgamarsh, running along the goop to keep himself balanced. He then felt his claw going up, leaping up as his Feint Attack struck its target, slicing Gilgamarsh in the back. He began sliding down, the sickening goo stinging even the tip of his claws.

Marshy wasn't phased, but the creature turned around to see Jett clinging out. “GET! OFF!” He took a loud, raspy breath in as he prepared to breath a Dragon Breath right on Jett.

That is until a burst of heat went past Jett, slamming straight into Gilgamarsh. “Freeze him!” Called out Ignius's voice.

Jett nodded, his free claw going near his chest, the comforting cold generating right near him before tossing it out towards the source of the heavy breathing.

He knew his Icicle Crash hit from Gilgamarsh's unearthly screaming, his whole body shaking.

Jett quickly followed up with jabbing an Ice Shard into his back, before letting go and falling down. He was surprised to find himself in almost unbearable warmth instead of whatever goo he was on before. “You're heavier than I thought,” came Ignius's voice.

Before Jett could crawl down, Ignius began running once more, the Sneasel having to grab onto her main. “What's happening?!”

“They're firing at Gilgamarsh from the front, he's about to topple over us!”

With that came a loud crash, followed by a heavy splash from the lake below. Jett carefully climbed down, brushing some of Ignius's fur off of himself. “We did it!” Jett called out triumphantly.

“Jett?” Grace's voice went ignored.

“We killed Gilgamarsh!” Jett called out, his grin going all across his face.

“Jett?!”

“I can add a second witch slain to my repertoire!” Jett said proudly, letting out a small chuckle.

“Jett!”

“Listen to the girl, you idiot!” Ignius yelled out, before going dead quiet.

Jett picked up the voice stone, leaning in. “Yeah?”

“Gilgamarsh is under-”

Grace didn't get to finish as Gilgamarsh came roaring out from underneath their feet. Jett was flung into the air helplessly, his voice stone flung out of his hand. He did the only thing he could do. Scream at the top of his lungs.

Then it all ended as he came crashing into the lake, an intense burning surrounding him at all sides. It lasted for what felt like years, the Sneasel feebly struggling against the lake. As he fought, he felt his strength sipping away, his conciousness slipping away.

Then, before it could end, he felt a strange tug on his arm, and then like that he was above the lake once more, wheezing and coughing.

“Can you talk, dude?”

Jett lifted his head up, taking in a good dose of air. “The name's Jett...”

“Oh sorry – name's Leilani,” the stranger called out. “Did you choke on any of the water, or did you keep it out?”

“I don't know...” Jett mumbled softly, leaning against the stranger. “How did you find me...?”

“Another dude told me you were here, I surfed up to get you!”

“Another dude? What's his name?” Jett said softly.

“She said her name was Grace, du- Jett.”

“Oh, good...” Jett said softly, slumping down.

“Hey, stay awake! Jett! Come on...!”

---

He didn't even notice that he passed out, so it was quite a shock once he finally woke up, his body aching all over. “Urgh...” he groaned out, trying to lift up his body – only to find something holding him back. “H-hey!” He couldn't say anymore as he interrupted himself with a fierce coughing fit.

“Jett, you're awake!” Grace's voice kept him calm, Jett leaning back into the soft bed he was laying on. “I was so worried!”

Jett lifted up his free arm, reaching out towards the source of Grace's voice. She nuzzled her snout into his hand, Jett letting out a soft sigh. “How long has it been?”

“A week,” Grace said softly, sitting down. “Your fur's all gone, and the doctors said you might have to stay in for another week.”

Jett cursed under his breath, letting his arm fall back onto the bed. “And Marshy? Did we kill him?”

Grace let out a small sigh, hesitating for a good few seconds. “Well...”