Sorry I’m a week late! Busy week at work last week and I didn’t want to rush out a subpar chapter.
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PARAGON
Remnants of the Great War Arc [14]
Chapter 23 : Old King
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Sabrina rolled to the side as a blistering Flamethrower swept across the ground she was standing on moments ago. The opponent’s Delphox was relentless in its assault, but it seemed to inherit that trait from its master.
“C’mon hit her once, I thought Flamethrower had a hundred accuracy!” the young man yelled. “I don’t care if you have to burn this whole forest down, just kill the trainer!”
He attacked with a ferocity that took even her psychic wherewithal by surprise. Sabrina had watched AZ appear in the clearing from a distance, but before she could reveal herself, she’d found herself in the crosshairs of this boy and his Delphox. Even after deploying Minior, every attack it fired off had still been aimed at her.
Ancient Power.
Minior shuddered and spun through the air, and the ground rumbled as it pulled several boulders up from beneath the soil. Another gout of fire shot from Delphox’s wand, but Minior shifted a boulder in front of it to protect its master. Delphox growled and conjured a glimmering shield before itself, and the boulders cracked harmlessly against it.
Who is this kid? Sabrina thought as Minior tried to slip around Delphox to attack it from its side. Is someone this young really working for AZ?
As it happened, she had the faculties to find the answer herself. She closed her eyes. It’s for the greater good, she thought, but the justification fell like sand over her conscience, worth nothing.
Nevertheless, her gauntlets began to glow and spin. Across the way, through the trees, the young trainer frowned, noticing her gauntlets for the first time through the nighttime darkness and the chaos of battle.
I’m sorry, Minior, but I need you to draw its attention while I do this. Meteor Beam.
Minior quivered in the air, and a bright light began to escape from the cracks in its rocky shell.
“Yeah, right! Like we’re just gonna stand here and let you charge that! Psychic, Delphox! Throw it away!”
Delphox’s eyes glowed blue, and a light of the same color engulfed Minior. It raised its wand to cast Minior away, but suddenly its eyes flashed and its full attention turned to Sabrina. Without warning, it scrawled a flaming kanji into the air and flung it at her. It spun through the air, trailing black smoke.
Sabrina recoiled, but Minior was faster, and it abandoned its attack and flew straight into the inferno.
“No!” Sabrina breathed.
When the flames cleared, Minior hung in the air weakly, its carapace blackened by the attack. Despite its resistances, Sabrina could immediately tell its true form within the meteor was burnt.
“I see what’s going on,” their opponent sneered. “You’re a psychic. Your pokémon seemed like they were acting independently, but really you’ve been talking to them telepathically this whole time, right? And just now, you tried to read my mind, didn’t you?” His glare pierced the darkness and rooted Sabrina in place. “Well, nice try you piece of shit. Don’t you know Delphox can sense a psychic attack as obvious as that?”
Sabrina pursed her lips. There was nothing obvious about that! Who is this boy? Her gaze shifted to her pokémon, who was steadily dropping closer to the ground and seemed to be struggling to lift itself again. We need to take Delphox down, Minior. Can you do it?
They needed to end this quickly. She could hear Ash facing AZ alone in the clearing a short ways away and every second she remained stalled here was one second closer to more blood on AZ’s hands. Ash’s blood.
Sabrina heard agony from her pokémon, but beneath it, resolve.
Thank you. Use Earth Power. I’ll keep it in place.
She raised her arms and her gauntlets began to spin again, faster this time. Minior took a second to gather its strength, then shot into the sky above Delphox. Delphox raised her wand, but its body suddenly stiffened, and it hissed, whipping its gaze at Sabrina. A pulsating emerald light shimmered on Sabrina’s outstretched hands.
Minior’s burned shell cracked apart and its fragments fell to the ground, revealing a pale violet body underneath. The tips of its spikes glowed, and the ground beneath Delphox gurgled.
Delphox squealed as the ground beneath it started to heat up and crack apart, and it struggled furiously, but couldn’t move.
“Stay calm, Delphox!” the boy spat. “Use Psychic.”
At its trainer’s words, Delphox calmed its struggle, and forced its power into the tip of its wand. Minior’s Earth Power reached full charge, and a moment later, the ground erupted.
A shaft of orange lava burst from below, but to Sabrina’s shock, Delphox flew skyward with it, flipping its legs into the air until its wand was pointed directly down at the attack that should’ve defeated it instantly.
It used the momentum of the Earth Power to shoot itself into the sky?! And used Psychic to protect itself…wait!
Delphox flung its arm outward in an arc, and the lava from the Earth Power came with it. The oozing mass of lava stayed suspended in the air for half a second until Delphox locked eyes with Minior and hurled it straight at its unprotected form. It hit the meteorite point blank, and both attack and attacker hurled to the ground. The hot slag of the Earth Power hardened on the ground and Minior’s body fell onto it, then rolled off of it, unconscious and smoking.
“Don’t fuck with me, bitch!” the trainer screamed. “I’m basically a Champion! Who the fuck are you?”
Sabrina grit her teeth as she recalled Minior. Arrogant as he was, Sabrina could tell he wasn’t lying. Their battle was evidence enough. Once, she’d been hailed as an unbeatable gym leader. But she’d never taken much of an interest in battling, relying mainly on her psychic powers to repulse trainer after trainer from the Saffron City Gym. But after retiring from her post and joining Paragon, it wasn’t like she was suddenly interested in battling. Her skill level was basically still at the level of a standard gym leader, if not lower.
If anyone else in Paragon were here, they’d have beaten Delphox. She was sure they’d come up with some stratagem that she could never hope to see. She simply didn’t have the aptitude for it, or interest in it.
A colossal bang and an inhuman roar shook Sabrina from her thoughts. It came from the clearing.
Ash…! Her eyebrows furrowed and she clenched her fists. Her eyes flicked over at her opponent and she started walking forward.
“The fuck? Okay,” he scoffed. “Flamethrower, Delphox.”
“Dark Pulse.”
An oozing darkness burst out from Sabrina’s body and mauled Delphox. The fox didn’t even have a chance to react before the darkness swallowed it whole, inking out its silhouette against the backdrop. It quickly succumbed to the attack and fell to the ground.
“What?!”
Sabrina walked right up to the boy, who stood before her, frozen in shock and horror.
“Hypnosis.”
Sabrina’s eyes turned black, pupils and sclera all, and Gengar wafted out from her head, his arms outstretched. The boy could only gasp as Gengar leaned forward, cackling silently, and devoured him. His ghostly body passed through the boy, but when he withdrew, the boy’s eyes rolled back in their sockets and he collapsed to the ground. With a satisfied grin, Gengar shrunk back into Sabrina’s head, and her eyes returned to normal.
She shuddered and rubbed her temple. Another boom drew her back toward the clearing, a worried expression on her face.
“Ash!” Taking one last look at the defeated trainer, she took off into the forest, heading toward Ash's aid.
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“Arghhh!” Ash yelled, as another he crossed his arms in front of him and caught another of AZ’s blows. The giant bore down on him, hammering punch after punch onto him, and it took all he had just to keep track of AZ’s fists so he could defend himself.
Venusaur and Glalie were both unconscious, and Lucario was slumped against a tree wheezing, expending all of his remaining energy on forcing oxygen into his battered lungs beneath his shattered rib cage.
All of Ash’s pokémon were effectively defeated, but he didn’t even have a moment to recall them or summon new ones. Though even if he did, he figured they’d likely end up the same way.
AZ roared and his fist glowed white for a moment before it connected. The punch hit Ash like a truck, and heat began to blossom against his chest. His eyes widened as AZ launched him back, and he flew through the air, slamming against the ground multiple times as he bounced away. He eventually came to a stop at the forest’s edge and groaned in pain.
AZ exhaled and cold vapor passed between his lips. He slowly lowered his fist, but it remained clenched.
He’s so strong, Ash thought as he staggered to his feet. That last hit had sent his head spinning, and he struggled to get his eyes to focus on the man in front of him. His fingers dug into the soil as he heaved himself up. His arms were numb from all the hits, but he moved them to his belt on autopilot and pulled off another pokéball. Keeping his gaze forward, he thumbed the release, and Emboar emptied out beside him. His beady eyes quickly scanned the situation, and upon seeing AZ, he snorted, sending a flurry of embers into the air.
“We’ll…attack him together,” Ash panted. “Stay strong…as long as you can.”
Emboar bellowed, and Ash smiled weakly. You know what to do, too.
Together, they bolted toward AZ, Ash going left, and Emboar tromping right. AZ grinned and lowered himself to welcome the assault. Just as Ash entered striking distance, he slid down. “Now!”
Gengar emerged from Ash’s shadow with a grin and disappeared into AZ’s body. When he did, AZ’s entire body went rigid, and he spasmed uncontrollably, unable to protect himself from what came next.
Emboar jumped into the air, his hands clasped together. AZ’s eyes locked onto the fire-type just as it brought the hammer down right on his head. AZ snarled in defiance, but his resistance broke and his legs buckled. From below, Ash’s eyes sizzled as he cloaked his fist in electricity. As AZ’s head sunk under the weight of Emboar’s hit, Ash struck his chin with an ferocious uppercut, sending him skyward. His back arched, and against the white moon, Ash saw black blood fly from mouth.
But suddenly, AZ twisted in the air, and his gaze burned down at Ash. At some unseen change, Gengar forced himself out of AZ’s body, clearly smaller and damaged in some way. “It’s a beautiful moon tonight!” he hissed. A curtain of bright light opened between his fingers, and before Ash could react, he hurled two blinding columns of energy from his hands.
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Moonblast! Ash glared up at the fearsome attack, but it was coming far too quickly to dodge.
Suddenly, his body was jerked to the side and dragged across the grass. The Moonblasts hit the ground with a grand release of energy, sending dirt flying in all directions on currents of howling wind, and AZ dropped back to earth, landing on his feet. He raised his head slowly. “What’s this now?”
Sabrina stood behind Ash, her eyes glowing jade. Without taking her eyes off AZ, she released her Alakazam.
Ash once again pulled himself off the ground. “He has the power of Arceus’ Fairy Plate within him. He’ll take no damage,” he said, gathering his resolve once more, “except from me.”
Sabrina frowned in confusion as Emboar and Gengar rejoined Ash at his sides. He was breathing heavily, but he wasn’t finished yet. Even if he couldn’t defeat AZ here, he refused to let AZ escape without exacting a price first.
“Same plan as before,” Ash continued. “We’ll flank him. I’ll take front, you attack his back. Try and keep him still if you can.”
Sabrina nodded and Alakazam raised its spoons.
“Another trainer, then,” AZ commented, rolling his shoulders in their sockets. “This night becomes more and more entertaining. Perhaps I underestimated the warriors of this age. Either way, this has been an enlightening experience.” His hair blew in the wind, and against the dark backdrop of the forest behind him, he appeared like some sort of mythical monster out of a fantasy. He raised his arms.
Ash sprinted forward once more, his pokémon in tow. Sabrina faltered for a moment, seeing Ash join the charge with his pokémon, but her gauntlets whirred and her expression tightened, and she and Alakazam both disappeared, reappearing a second later behind AZ.
AZ swiveled on his feet to take them both on at once. His hand shot out to catch Alakazam by the neck, but it teleported out of his grasp. From above, Gengar’s mouth opened impossibly wide and he shot down to consume AZ, but the giant snarled and sidestepped, unwilling to get caught in his Imprison again. A gleaming shock of moonlight burst from his open palm and consumed Gengar. Despite his resistance, battle was not his specialty, and his body vanished in a smoky haze, burned away by the scalding moonlight.
A fiery punch from Emboar roared in from AZ’s left, but he caught it in his outstretched hand and flung him away like a ragdoll. But through the embers he left in his wake, Ash charged forward, electricity coursing across his hands.
Pikachu jumped into the air, and his entire form turned a blinding white. AZ grunted and closed his eyes instinctively, but opened them a moment later after realizing the attack had meant to blind him.
He glared ahead to take Ash on, but suddenly found himself unable to bring his arms forward. His head snapped around and he saw Sabrina floating in the air behind him, her gauntlets spinning about her outstretched hands. His wrists were cuffed in fractals of emerald light, and he frowned, trying to yank them free. Not a Platebearer, but this is clearly her doing. What is she? He pooled his monstrous strength in one arm and pulled with all his might, trying to break free before Ash reached him.
Sabrina’s eyes widened as she was suddenly pulled forward, and AZ’s uneasiness melted away. Upon realizing she wasn’t strong enough to hold him, he smirked.
But she’d done her part. AZ’s face was illuminated gold before he even had a chance to finish turning around. Ash smashed him straight in the chest. He groaned as thousands of volts flooded his body, before shooting backward past Sabrina, tearing up dirt as he went. He stopped on his back, his body smoking, and across the clearing, Ash heard him cough. Immediately, Sabrina and Alakazam appeared at AZ’s side, and the air seemed to sag as they dumped wave after wave of psychic energy upon him.
“Now, again,” Ash breathed. As he limped forward, Gengar reformed at his side and promptly disappeared back into his shadow. “We…just…need…to…” With one more step, he doubled over and collapsed.
Pikachu squeaked in concern at his side, his tiny eyes darting back and forth between his trainer and AZ, who was slowly getting to his feet. Sabrina and Alakazam were both clearly exerting themselves, but AZ’s raw physical strength appeared to be prevailing.
“No,” Ash groaned, forcing himself up, but his vision swam, and he clutched his face. It was wet. He pulled his hand away. Even with black spots dancing at the edges of his sight and in the darkness, he could see the dark smear of blood in his palm. His was bleeding from both his nostrils.
A guttural scream escaped AZ’s mouth, and he shattered through the psychics’ hold. Fast as lightning, a thin beam of light shot from AZ’s finger and hit Alakazam, sending it shooting back into the forest with a painful wail. Sabrina’s eyes widened, but AZ rounded on her, his dark visage smoldering, eyes blazing with bloodlust.
A high pitched keening suddenly rang across the sky and AZ looked up. Indigo meteorites were raining down from above. He blasted one of them apart with a Moonblast, but the rest slammed against the ground between all three combatants, blazing with dragonfire.
Streaking between the falling meteors, was a Latias. Ash craned his head up, but the Draco Meteor burned his vision. None of the meteors fell on Ash or Sabrina, but they all seemed to curve toward AZ like gravity was pulling them, and he was soon buried beneath an avalanche of flaming rock.
Latias whipped through the inferno and found Ash. Anabel disembarked and ran toward him. “Ash!” She knelt down next to him, and upon seeing his bloodied face, horror flashed across hers. “Oh my goodness, what happened?”
Sabrina teleported beside them, Alakazam’s pokéball in her hand, having just recalled him. Sweat beaded her forehead and matted her hair against her neck. Fear dripped from her every move and twitch, undeterred by Anabel’s arrival, and she took short, quick breaths, her whole body shaking.
“Help me up,” Ash coughed.
“We need to leave now,” Anabel said, lacing her arm under his. “Do you even realize where we are right now, Ash?”
“He has the Fairy Plate,” he said, ignoring her. “That’s why he’s so powerful.”
A flaming boulder launched toward them and AZ’s arm clawed its way out from beneath the burning rubble, but Latias shattered it with a Dragon Pulse. He knocked the remnants of the Draco Meteors aside, emerging completely unharmed. “Another one,” he hissed.
Anabel stood, and Sakura spiraled to her side. Ash got to his feet and glared at AZ, Pikachu at the ready at his feet, ears perked up and ready to fight. Sabrina’s gauntlets spun erratically, but they were dark now. She trembled as she reached around to pull a pokéball off her belt.
“Three against one,” AZ said, and his voice cut through the din of the conflagration. “Delicious.”
“Ash and Sabrina, on my mark, split for the forest. I’ll draw his attention—“
Az raised his hand, and with that one small movement, he ended everything. A tremendous bang, like the birth of a star, suddenly lit up the entire forest. The hair on Ash’s skin burned off as he was cast backward. Pikachu fainted instantly, and Sabrina didn’t even have time to deploy her next partner before a gale of searing wind voided her senses. Sakura surged in front of Anabel, but the dragon’s eyes rolled back in her head, and Anabel was quickly buried under the slacken body of her own pokémon.
When the light finally faded, AZ sighed and lowered his hand. The bodies of his opponents lay on the ravaged ground, the flames and rocks of the Draco Meteor completely gone. The entire clearing was now blackened and burned, and the trees at the edges were singed. Amidst the fiery decimation, AZ stood tall, utterly unfazed by the licking flames and roar of destruction.
How disappointing, he thought. Even the Platebearer lay unmoving, blood trickling down his face. You are nothing like the Platebearers I faced in the Great War. Arceus would weep if it could see what’s become of its soul. He lumbered over to their fallen bodies and shook his head. Then, a sneer curled onto his face. “You really thought you could fell me, who survived the Calamity, with that?” He raised his arm over the body of the Platebearer. “Die.”
A dark blur streaked across his periphery, but before he could turn his head, it dropped below his line of sight and he felt his legs get swept out from under him. The air around his enemies warbled, and an invisible veil appeared to dissipate. The visage of his defeated enemies melted away, and in its place, a different reality played out.
Ash was hunched over Sabrina’s prone form, a handful of pokéballs in his hand after recalling his fallen partners. Anabel stood tall, but Latias was already back in her ball.
“Take Sabrina and run, Ash!” Anabel barked. “Hydro Pump, Magic!”
As AZ got back on his feet, his eyes found the Umbreon that had knocked him over. Cloaked in darkness, it’d been able to evade his senses until it was right next to him. But as it primed its attack, something peculiar happened. Its black fur bristled and began to recede into his skin. At the same time, its body began to turn a vibrant turquoise, and aquatic fins stretched out across its limbs and head.
Vaporeon? He threw up his massive hand and the water blasted against it. For the first time since the battle had begun, he demanded an answer from the Fairy Plate. His eyes snapped open wildly, like a beast gifted intellect, It can change forms! It used its powers as an Espeon to create an illusion around them, then shifted into Umbreon to attack me!
“C’mon, Anabel!” Ash screamed. Dragonite shimmered into being at his side and he gently lifted Sabrina into his arms.
“Get out of here, I’ll be right behind you! Spirit Shackle, Sophia!”
Decidueye swooped down from above, an arrow smoking with ghostly energy already nocked in her arm.
“No, it won’t work, get back, Anabel!”
AZ blitzed forward and the arrow snapped and broke against his body. Decidueye’s eyes widened, but it was too far away from its trainer to stop what came next. AZ’s arm came down in a vicious arc just as Anabel turned to dodge. His sharpened hand caught her right arm and cleaved it from her body like a hot knife through butter.
Anabel tripped back, blood dumping from the wound, and she fell to the ground, eyes wide. Decidueye and Vaporeon both shot toward AZ, but he grabbed them both and slammed their heads together, then tossed them aside.
“No!” Ash roared, and a blazing thunderbolt as tall as his body tore toward AZ.
AZ crossed his arms, and the gargantuan bolt shattered against him. “You’re next!” he snarled.
A Dragon Pulse from Dragonite washed over him harmlessly, and he bunched his legs up and bulleted toward Ash, his arm pulled back, ready to impale him.
A deafening screech, like grinding metal, stopped him in his tracks, and just as a storm of curved steel blades flurried toward him, he leapt back, landing all the way at the other side of the clearing.
A hulking Corviknight landed between Ash and AZ, digging its talons into the black soil, and it spread its wings protectively. A man in a white suit climbed off its back.
“Albrecht!” Ash exclaimed. “Please get back, he’s extremely dangerous!”
Albrecht ignored him and pulled another pokéball off his belt, tossing it out. A Nidoking, oozing just as much threat as the Corviknight, emptied out.
“Fissure.”
Nidoking released a low bellow and slammed its fists together, before leaping into the air and smashing the ground with its herculean strength.
Ash almost fell over, if not for Dragonite steadying him, as the ground began to shake furiously. It felt like an earthquake, and his bones rattled painfully within him. Dragonite hovered into the air, glancing nervously between his trainer and the newcomer.
Between Albrecht and AZ, the ground tore apart, and a yawning chasm opened, before spreading outward in both directions. It cut through the forest, swallowing trees, rocks, and entire hillsides. Even after it’d sheared through the clearing, completely out of sight, the seismic shaking never ceased or diminished in intensity.
Ash fell back against the ground, and the shaking caused his body to bang against the turbulent ground repeatedly, but it was better than trying to stand. He simply closed his eyes and prayed for it to stop soon, before a tree could topple on top of him or Dragonite.
The earthquake continued for nearly a minute until the ground finally stopped moving. Ash’s whole body was numb, and he opened his eyes slowly. The ground now curved upward into a hill, as if pried apart forcefully, and Albrecht stood at its top. Dragonite cautiously lowered himself, and Ash got up and limped over to the World Champion.
“What…,” he breathed. A giant canyon had opened before them, so deep and wide he couldn’t even see the bottom.
On the other side, AZ stood unfazed, directly opposite Albrecht. His gaze was smoking, and it never left the World Champion. “Do you think a measly crack in the road can stop me?”
“You’ll have to forgive me. Violence was never my forte like it was yours.”
Ash glanced back at Albrecht. His visage was resolute, but his eyes held a sadness that shook Ash to his core. As unpredictable as Albrecht was, he never expected to see this, not from a man like him.
“Three thousand years, and still, all you have for me is scolding,” AZ scoffed. “You haven’t changed at all.”
“I’ve changed,” Albrecht countered. His fists tightened. “Against my wishes, everything has changed.”
“Oh? Do tell. How are the others doing anyway?”
“Most of them are dead. Only the strongest remain.”
“Ha ha,” AZ laughed dryly. “Is that what you’re supposed to be?” After seeing Albrecht’s expression remain unchanged, he continued. “So, are you here to kill me then, old king? Those three who came before you didn’t offer much of a challenge.”
Corviknight and Nidoking hissed at either side of him, but Albrecht put up a hand. “And yet I see you’re bleeding.”
Behind AZ, a cowled figure emerged from the forest on shaky legs. “Your Grace!” Upon seeing the canyon, he stopped and fell to his knees. “Ahhh, t-the World Champion. How…?” He shook his head and bowed toward AZ. “Y-You’re Grace, with all due respect, we’re out of time. We must leave now!”
AZ didn’t move, and neither did Albrecht, both sizing each other up. Finally, he grinned, his face twisting into a hellish tapestry of rage, bloodlust, and amusement. “Let’s postpone our battle. I suspect the both of us still need time to properly gather our forces. I’ve waited three thousand years to kill you. Another month or so is nothing.”
Without a second glance, he turned and lumbered back into the forest, disappearing into the dark.
Ash watched him go, and extended a groggy hand forward. “No… wait…” But dark spots danced in his vision, and a wave of nausea bubbling up from his chest was the last sensation he felt before blacking out.
Next — Chapter 24 : Mankind’s Greatest Desires
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I am aware that I did a lot of head-hopping this chapter, but I hope it wasn’t too immersion-breaking. I wanted to get into the heads of a lot of characters, and a pseudo-omniscient POV seemed like the only way to do that. I will try not to do this in the future, though.