(2400 words)
Chapter 16
Alice


"Ava, are you sure about this?" Torch whispers as Team Arrow walks through the woods. "You saw what happened to Teams Bridge. And Team Justice. And Team-"

"I know, I know," Avalanche whispers back. "That's why we have to do this. No one else can get hurt."

"You're right... But I really hope they're not here."

"Yeah. Just keep looking, we need to be on guard."

"Why are we whispering?" Alice whispers from behind.

Torch and Avalanche jump away just in time to avoid a slash from Alice's bone blade! The team looks at them in fear; their helmet is gone, showing off their grin, and their bone club is sharp and stained with blood.

"Well hello there, Team Arrow!" Alice greets. "What are you doing out here in the woods? Rescuing some poor lost child, perhaps? Or maybe looking for somewhere to have a picnic?"

"A-Alice the Human!" Torch says. "You are under arrest for assault, resisting arrest, and... um... What's the legal term for causing the apocalypse?"

"Armageddon."

"And armageddon! Surrender now or we will use force!"

"Oh come on, those charges are ridiculous! I mean, arrested for resisting arrest? That's bullcrud and you know it."

Avalanche steps forward. "You're also guilty of assault with a deadly weapon!"

"Ah darn, you're right. You know, that's such a mouthful to say..." Alice brandishes their blade. "How about we shorten it to just murder?" Alice lunges toward Avalanche with a thrust, and as they sidestep, Alice shifts their grip and bashes their face with the blunt end!

Torch breathes a stream of fire at Alice, but they avoid it with a single smooth step toward Torch, followed by a kick to the gut and a punch to the face, sending Torch down! Hearing a familiar footstep behind them, Alice jumps forward to avoid Avalanche's razor shell, landing on Torch in the process. They jump off Torch to make some distance before beckoning Avalanche closer.

Avalanche leaps toward Alice, slashing with their scalchop! But Alice parries the slash with their bone, leaving Avalanche off-balance! They grab Avalanche's arm, pull them close, and drive their elbow down-

*CRACK*

Avalanche screams in pain and falls to the ground, clutching their arm. Alice crouches down and pats them on the head. "Gosh, all that crying over just that? Get it together, you're acting like you've never been in a real fight before." Alice stands and looks toward Torch with a twisted grin.

Torch, still on the ground, scrambles backward. "Hey, no, stop! Leave me alone!"

Alice walks forward. "'Leave me alone'? That's plagiarism, silly! Well, if you're gonna use my words, then I'll respond the same way you did."

"No, please! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" They back up further, until a tree stops them.

"You're sorry? Well shoot, why didn't you just say so?" Alice leans forward, getting right in Torch's face. "In that case, all is forgiven! We can just head back to town, grab some drinks at the cafe. We'll have a good laugh about how you two hunted me down to kill me, and how I broke Oshawott's arm and stabbed your leg."

"No, PLEASE, NO!!"



Alice walks through the forest, their blade just a bit bloodier than before. They check their supplies. With the food they've looted from the hunters, they have plenty. They could hide out in a nice, hidden cave for weeks before running low. But who even cares. They grab an apple and-

The ground shakes violently, and Alice falls, the apple rolling away down a hill. The shaking stops, and Alice stands. It's getting worse. How long is left? Days? Weeks? Maybe the disasters will just gradually get worse and worse. Plants drowned in floods, or ripped apart by quakes, leaving no food left. Alice takes another apple and eats it.

Alice hears a river. Good, they could use a drink, and they need to wash up. They walk over to the shore, and they see someone drowning under the surface! They reach their hand in and...

... And slap themself. It's their reflection. But the longer they look at it, the less it looks like them. It's not Alice's reflection. Maybe it's not even Thorn's. They take a drink and leave; no point in washing when they'll just get dirty again.

Alice hears voices in the distance; more fans to entertain. But fighting two teams in one day? Sounds tiring. They hide in a bush to observe; if they look like easy prey, then Alice might-

Oh. Well. This will be interesting.



"You sure they went this way?" Gengar asks.

Ekans tastes the air. "Yup, they were here. And they really need a bath."

"Perfect! That bounty is as good as ours!"

"No doubt about that!" Medicham says. "They were barely able to beat you in a two-on-one! With all three of us, this will be a piece of-" Medicham is struck by a sharp pain in her neck, stunning her. With a kick to the back, she falls to reveal a smiling cubone.

"Team Meanies!" Alice greets, arms spread wide. "How are you this fine evening?"

"W-wha?! How'd you sneak up on us?!" Gengar says.

"Years of practice. So! What's all this about? Decided to join the good guys and become cops?"

"Not a chance!"

"Do you know what kinda bounty is on your head?" Ekans says. "We'd be rich enough to buy a castle for each of us!"

Alice sighs. "You should really give up playing the villains. I mean, I've got you woefully outplayed. Ending the world? Can't get much nastier than that!"

Gengar growls. "You shut up! We'll see how cocky you are when you're tossed behind bars and we're rolling in dough!"

"Sheesh, and you're calling me cocky?" Medicham starts to get up, but Alice stomps on her back as they approach the other two. "If you really think you'll fare any better than the others that challenged me, then go ahead. Try your luck."

Gengar throws a shadow ball at Alice, and Ekans lunges forward with a bite. Alice gracefully dodges the shadow ball, and meets Ekans' lunge with a perfectly timed backfist, knocking him aside.

Ekans lunges again, but this time surprises Alice by coiling around them to crush the air out of their lungs! Alice bites his tail. Ekans howls in pain and thrashes about, trying to shake them off, but they hang on tight, soon drawing blood. They only fall off when Gengar lands a clean punch that knocks them away!

When Alice gets up, Ekans threatens them with quick, snapping bites that leave little chance to counter, while Gengar prepares a shadow ball. As Gengar throws the shadow ball, Alice grabs Ekans by the neck mid-bite and blocks the ball with his head! He cries out before being dropped to the ground, groaning.

Gengar growls and rushes forward with a punch, but Alice dodges it and bashes his forehead with the blunt of their bone! As he reels back, Alice steps forward and punches him right in the face-

And their arm passes right through.

Gengar grabs their arm. "Kekeh! Never fought a ghost-type before?" His eyes glow, and waves of psychic power flood into Alice's mind. They pry their arm out of Gengar's grip and slash with their blade, but they're sluggish, and Gengar easily dodges, keeping up the hypnotic assault.

Alice looks away and closes their eyes, but it's too late; their mind is already slipping into sleep. They can barely summon the will to move. But in the moment before they fall, one thought screams at them: They're going to die.

Alice bites their tongue, and pain floods their mind, snapping them awake! They stumble, regaining their senses, and turn toward Gengar, who drops the rope he was preparing.

"What in the- How?! No one's ever broken my hypnosis without help!"

Alice spits out the blood in their mouth. "That's the difference between you and me, buddy." Alice dashes forward, and Gengar throws a shadow ball to stop them. It's too close; the only way to dodge would be to jump back. But they want to get closer. Alice blocks the ball with their arm, gritting their teeth through the pain! They start slashing at Gengar with their other arm. "You surround yourself with others, you need help, because you're scared!"

"I ain't scared of nothing!" Gengar throws a punch, but Alice weaves past it and bites his shoulder, making him cry out!

Alice stumbles back, smiling and panting for breath. "Keep telling yourself that. But you're scared of being alone, terrified of having no one to help you." They lunge forward for another assault of slashes. "But me? I'm the gosh darn Human, destroyer of worlds!"

"Shut up!" Gengar narrowly dodges the slashes.

"I don't need help, because I'll do anything to win! I don't need anyone! Not a spot on your team, not that wimp Cyndaquil, and certainly not that idiot Gardevoir!"

"You shut your god damn mouth!" Gengar lunges forward, ready to strangle Alice, but he's met with a clean punch to the face. He staggers backward, but before he can recover, Alice bashes him with their bone, and he falls. Alice leaps onto him and bashes his head again. And again. And one last time, and he goes limp.

Alice sits down to rest. Their arm is injured, they still taste blood in their mouth, and they're exhausted. Was it a good idea to fight Team Meanies? Of course not. But they knew that already. "Sorry to put an end to your plans of world domination. But when the world ends, and your would-be kingdom crumbles to dust, you'll know who's name to curse. Toodle-oo." Alice walks away.



Alice rests against a tree. They're still hurt from the fight, but it's been hours, and they've mostly recovered. They sit back and listen to the sounds of the forest around them; the noctowl hooting, the kricketot chirping, the wind blowing through the trees...

"There they are!"

Alice groans at the voice and stands, finding a pikachu and an skitty. "Look, guys, I'm really not in the mood. I've had enough fighting for one day, so let's wrap this up quick so you can run off to the hospital."

"Alice the Human," the pikachu says, "you are under arrest by the authority of- WAH!" Pikachu steps back to avoid a slash from Alice's blade, getting a cut on their arm.

"Sweetheart, I'm the person that's destroying the world. Do you think I give a darn about your authority?"

Pikachu catches their breath, calming down from the surprise attack. "... You-"

Alice lunges forward and drives a kick into Pikachu's stomach, knocking them down. Skitty pounces on Alice to scratch them, but Alice meets them with a headbutt that staggers them. Alice follows up with a bash on the head, making them dizzy, and bashes them once more on the side of the head to knock them down.

Alice crouches to examine their work. "... Nice, out cold in three hits. I think that's a new record. But so disappointing that I couldn't leave more of a... lasting impact." Alice turns to Pikachu and brandishes their blade. "Guess you'll do~"

"W-wait! Let's make a deal!"

Alice tilts their head. This is new. "... Go on."

"If you let us go unharmed, we'll give you all the supplies in our bag."

"I see. And what if I just beat you to a pulp and take your supplies anyway?"

"I-I... Please, I swear we'll never bother you again!"

"Okay, but I could also just break your legs, and you'd definitely never bother me again."

"I-"

"But I've never had anyone surrender so quickly, and I'm feeling generous, so eh, why not?" Alice walks over and grabs the dropped bag, while Pikachu starts carrying Skitty away.

Alice opens the bag and counts the food. Plenty of apples, a few bananas, and- An orange, score! One orange. Just one...

Alice tackles Pikachu to the ground.

"H-hey! What are you doing?! We had a deal!"

"Oh relax, little mouse, I'm not gonna hurt you. It's just that, back where I come from, we humans have a fun tradition." Alice pulls out the orange and tears a piece off. "The one who serves the food gets to take the first bite."

Pikachu's eyes go wide.

Alice puts the orange in front of Pikachu's face. "What? Something wrong? Go on, have a bite. It's just an orange, right?"

"W-wait, stop, please!"

"Hehehe, you know, that's pretty strange, right? Just a single random orange in your pack. What a funny thing to have. Ha ha, you know, if I didn't know any better, I'd have thought you were trying to kill me! That your surrender was fake, just a dirty trick to kill me in the most cowardly way possible!"

"I'm sorry, please, I'm sorry!!"

"Daww, the assassin is sorry? Are you afraid? Afraid to die? Oh gosh, I wonder what that feels like! Someone trying to KILL me! Ha! Come on, it'd be a shame to waste the orange that you so lovingly prepared!" They force Pikachu's mouth open.

"Please, PLEASE!!" Pikachu thrashes, blasting Alice with electricity, but to no effect. "SOMEONE PLEASE SAVE ME!!!"

"So let's put it to use!!" They slowly push the orange piece into Pikachu's mouth, staring into their terrified face, the tears pouring from their eyes-

"Please, save me! I want my mommy!"

... What?

"When I grow up, I wanna be cool and strong like you guys!"

"THANK YOU, THORN THE CUBONE, FOR PROTECTING OUR FRIENDS FROM DANGER."

"Oh, thank you so much Team Rose! I was so scared!"

... Alice looks at Pikachu's crying, desperate, terrified face. They've seen that fear, that despair, far too many times, in this life and their old one... They can't stand it.

Alice gets up and walks back to the bag. They toss the orange inside and pull out the matches for lighting a camp fire. They set the bag ablaze and turn back to the Pikachu, still frozen in fear on the ground. "Leave," they say, tired. "And never let me see you again."



Alice lies in a clearing, out in the open, staring up at night sky. They don't want to kill anyone. They don't even want to hurt anyone. They never did. They stare up at the big, bright moon looming above them. If their role is to play the villain, then they may as well have fun with it. It's the only thing left for them.




If you enjoyed the story, please comment! I love hearing responses to my writing! What was your favorite part?