PARAGON
Remnants of the Great War Arc [31]
Chapter 40 : Sir Aaron vs AZ
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In spite of the war raging around them, just beyond the dark oaks that surrounded them, Sir Aaron and AZ both stood still, with naught but the wind and rustling leaves as accessories to their showdown. They both held a pokéball in their hand, but neither moved to release their companions. Instead, their eyes remained locked, unblinking, Aaron’s blues on AZ’s blacks.
“I’m surprised you can restrain yourself. The scene at the World Prison was a painting of rage and blood. Didn’t you leave that masterpiece because you were on your way to kill me?” Aaron asked, his face as flat as his gaze. “To tear me apart with those same hands?”
Several seconds passed before AZ responded. “That is what you’d like, isn’t it? If I come at you like a beast, I will confirm everything you’ve thought about me since the start of the war.”
“I didn’t think you cared about something like that. At the very least, it didn’t stop you from enacting this violence today.”
A laugh escaped AZ’s lips. “Oh, this? This was nothing more than a provocation. Isn’t that what you did too?”
Aaron’s eye twitched, and his jaw tensed up.
“Nothing to say? So you know you’re scum.” AZ’s face twisted into a malevolent grin. “Surely you were wondering why I waited so long to escape. I bet it’s kept you up every night since the end of the war. One hundred years…five hundred years…a thousand years. You must have thought I’d forgotten about you. Perhaps you thought I’d forgiven you, when even after three thousand years, I had yet to resist my incarceration! So you decided to test me.” He locked eyes with Aaron again, but the Guardian looked away, and he sneered. “You broke your promise.”
Aaron shook his head ever so slightly and exhaled. “It had nothing to do with you,” he said quietly. “And I didn’t do it for my own sake either.”
“You’ve had three thousand years to think of an excuse, and that’s what you give me?” AZ said in disbelief. “You promised you would never show your face again. That you would divest yourself from this world. That you would abandon everything precious to you, just like I had to! But what did you do, hm? What did you do?!” AZ roared, his outburst blowing gales across the clearing.
Aaron didn’t reply, but his spiky hair fluttered from AZ’s shout.
“World Champion,” AZ spat, in a mocking tone. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out?”
AZ’s breaths came in incensed heaves, but Aaron remained calm.
“Now that it’s come to this, I wish you hadn’t,” Aaron finally said.
“So that’s it, then? I pay for my crimes, but you get to be remembered as the spotless ‘hero of Rota?’”
“Since you’re standing before me once again, it seems my sins have finally caught up to me,” Aaron said, speaking louder. “Out of everything I bear on my shoulders, all the things that I did and didn’t do that I regret, my greatest sin will always be you, Azett.”
“Damn you,” AZ growled, his pokéball creaking in his hand. “I have atoned for three thousand years. It’s time for someone else to pay the price!” Without warning, he launched his pokéball forward, and it curved through the air before snapping open.
Aaron took a step back, and then another, as AZ’s partner coalesced into the world. The temperature flared, and the trees closest to it immediately caught fire, flames engulfing their leaves completely. The grass at its feet disintegrated, and a shadow fell over the entire clearing. Wild pokémon squawked and fled, taking to the skies and scurrying away as fast as their legs could carry them.
As its massive arms raked the air, Groudon leaned back and unleashed a deafening roar.
A bead of sweat hung above Aaron’s brow, and he smiled nervously. “Of course you still have that monster.”
He hurled his own pokéball forward, and when it opened, the air suddenly became humid, and heavier. As Groudon sized up its opponent, it snorted hot smoke, and stamped at the ground, causing the whole clearing to shake.
Kyogre floated just above the ground, massive and powerful, like the entire volume of the ocean itself had been compressed into one singular entity. With every breath that escaped its serrated mouth, a plume of mist floated skyward.
The sky above churned and thundered at the arrival of the two titans. The sunlight scorched through rapidly forming storm clouds, but it didn’t burn them all away, and a hot rain began to fall over all of Rota, creating even more foggy mist.
Aaron ignored the rain, his focus having never left the former sovereign of the east. Across the way, he saw AZ grin.
“Precipice Blades!” he roared.
“Origin Pulse!” Aaron countered.
The ground ruptured, and jagged pillars of magma-stained rock burst forth, pushing the grass and soil apart with no abandon. They began in front of Groudon and stabbed their way forward, completely destroying everything in their murderous path. Before Kyogre could react, three sharpened spears exploded from beneath it and skewered it from below, two of them stabbing through either wing, and the other burying itself in the oceanic legendary’s underbelly.
Kyogre’s eyes gleamed with hatred, and it opened its depthless maw. Sparkling energy gathered between its army of teeth, forming into a blinding orb. With a colossal roar, Kyogre fired its attack. The entire clearing turned white, the remnants of Groudon’s destruction disintegrating in its wrathful light. The Precipice Blades shattered and crumbled into nothing and slammed into Groudon’s chest. The titan braced itself against the onslaught, but it shrieked in pain, hot blood cascading down its mottled chest.
As the light faded, Kyogre wretched itself from the impaling pillars of rock, cerulean blood dumping from the wounds, but it simply snorted in indignation, breaking the spears with a prideful bash of its body. Across the clearing, Groudon looked up at its enemy, then brushed his chest with a clawed hand. It was scorched black, and there was a depression where Kyogre’s Origin Pulse had burned its impenetrable flesh away.
Groudon stood on a stone plinth, the ground having completely vanished around it, and an orange glow wafted up from the depths. Kyogre floated above the void, and the rain sizzled as it poured down onto the lava below.
AZ stepped out from behind his monster, his boots cresting just over the edge of the chasm. He crossed his arms. “It seems the passage of time has made us weak!” he called over the cacophony of the newly formed storm. “Those children you sent after me weren’t even strong enough to get my blood flowing! Surely you can provide a better challenge!”
Like his pokémon, Sir Aaron floated above the ground beside Kyogre. “You seem to be mistaken. The Platebearer and his friends have nothing to do with me.”
Surprisingly, AZ’s brow raised, and his eyes flashed. Then, he nodded. “You tell the truth. No matter. I can deal with them and whoever sent them after I destroy Rota.”
Aaron’s eyes narrowed. “You possess the Fairy Plate, I was told. Is it through its power that you judge the truth of my words?”
AZ smiled and spread his arms. “Indeed! Unlike you, the truth is all I know! The Fairy Plate grants me omniscience over the entire natural world!”
Aaron swallowed. “I see,” he said quietly. “So the truths revealed to you by this Plate are the source of your delusions of apocalypse.” He glanced up. “How pitiable that a Plate of Arceus would corrupt you so.”
“Does it disappoint you to learn that you serve a creature of such depravity?” AZ mocked. “You Guardians defend Arceus’ will without ever knowing anything about it. But I do. I touched his soul and saw within. And now, his power is mine!” He clenched his fist closed.
Aaron sighed. “No. This war is not Arceus’ will. If it is as you say, and the Fairy Plate allows you to know all the truths of this world, then you should know that I am being honest about bearing the Plates of Arceus once myself. And his will revealed to me at that time is nothing like this bloodshed you so savor.”
AZ’s eyes flashed once more, and he glowered at Aaron. “You surrendered your Plates…? But to think you would leave them there…” He smirked. “Now you certainly must die today. You and your entire pitiful clan.”
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“I will do my duty as a Guardian. No more, no less.”
AZ’s lips curled into a grin. “Try and protect this place if you can, King.”
This time, Aaron seized the initiative. “Alpha Sapphire!” he commanded.
“Omega Ruby!” AZ bellowed.
As the two legendary titans charged their next attacks, Aaron and AZ’s eyes remained locked through the storm and mist, both shining with a new determination to crush the opponent that stood before them.
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Ash suddenly froze in place, sweat flying from his face, and his eyes widened. Pikachu and Annihilape both stopped in their tracks, wheeling around toward their trainer. The wind whistled around them like a pack of bloodthirsty hyenas. Slowly, Ash stood up straighter.
AZ had moved.
He’d made it to the palace. Aegislash and the others had stalled Ash just long enough to allow him time to slip past. But after remaining there for only several minutes, he’d suddenly flown back the way he came, back into the forest, away from Sir Aaron.
The dark leaves beckoned him toward the gloomy beyond with their curled, chlorophyllic fingers.
“He’s there,” Ash muttered. “Right there.” He raised his arm and pointed directly past the bunch of trees before them.
Annihilape snarled, beginning to stomp over in AZ’s direction. Pikachu whined cautiously, glancing between his two friends.
“Wait,” Ash said.
If AZ was back here, it surely wasn’t of his own volition. Which meant Aaron Albrecht had finally taken to the field.
If that’s the case, do I even need to get involved? I mean, this is Sir Aaron we’re talking about…
By all rights, he had failed in his task of keeping AZ away whilst Sir Aaron was in the Vault of Secrets. But it was almost as if AZ had gone out of his way to avoid him, taking a longer route to Cameran Palace that would allow him to bypass any fighting. If AZ could sense his presence as a Platebearer, like Ash could for him, then it was possible. But…
When I first encountered AZ outside of Rota, he somehow knew he was being followed, but he didn’t know I was a Platebearer until I stepped out in front of him… Can he sense my presence or not?
“Gah!” Ash shook and head and hit his temple with the heel of his palm. What did it matter now? Right now, he needed to figure out where he was needed most, and fast. Unlike the others, he’d literally gotten lost in the weeds, finding himself separated from any divisions of AZ’s main attacking force. And although AZ had only spent mere minutes at the Palace, there was no telling how much damage he may have already done.
Ash closed his eyes. Use Sabrina to communicate with each other, he’d said.
Sabrina! he shouted in his head.
Not a moment later, the quiet psychic teleported next to him. Her eyes were bloodshot and she looked out of breath.
“Sabrina!” he said breathlessly, surprised that that’d actually worked. “Are you alright?”
Sabrina sucked in several breaths. “It’s not good. AZ’s army has almost made it to the palace. They’re fighting through the last line of defense, the Guardians in front of the bridge. You should go there as quickly as possible— actually I can take you there.” Her words came out in a jumbled mess, tripping over themselves as they spilled from her mouth. “We need to move quickly. The Guardians are still evacuating civilians from the town. And there’re so many injured. They need—”
“Slow down, Sabrina,” Ash said, putting a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up at him. “Take a deep breath. You’ve been using your power nonstop, haven’t you?”
Sabrina nodded unconsciously. “I have to. If I don’t, then—“
“One thing at a time,” Ash interrupted. “Did you disable the portal that AZ’s men were coming through?”
Sabrina paused for a few seconds, then nodded. “It was Alakazam.”
“Okay, great. Did you get a call from Sylvester?”
Sabrina shook her head, then she perked up. “Cynthia’s here! She spoke to me. She told me she’d protect Anabel, and to hurry back to the palace. But Riley needs to know, so I had to—“
Ash frowned. “Isn’t Anabel at the manor?”
“She was at the Tree of Beginning!” Sabrina wailed. The dam holding back her emotions was beginning to crack. “She…she was fighting someone. And her wound reopened, so I couldn’t teleport her to safety without hurting her. So Lucario is carrying her back—“
“Sabrina,” Ash said, clutching her shoulders gently. He looked at her until she met his gaze. Tears hung unfallen in her eyes, and she blinked them away. “You’ve done wonderfully. Really.”
Sabrina’s lips quivered and her nose twitched. With his hands still on her shoulders, Ash could feel her body loosen up slightly, and she slumped as she exhaled. She nodded absentmindedly.
“Were you able to tell Riley that Anabel is being taken care of?”
Sabrina nodded.
“So he’s on his way back to the Palace too?”
Sabrina nodded.
“Okay,” Ash breathed. “That’s good. That’s good. And it’s all thanks to you.”
Sabrina nodded, wiping her face with her sleeve. Then she frowned, hardening herself.
“Just over there,” Ash pointed, “is AZ.”
Sabrina followed his finger, and her eyes glimmered. “Albrecht is there too.”
Suddenly, a deafening roar blasted through the forest, nearly knocking them both off their feet. Annihilape snorted in shock, and Pikachu grit his teeth. The earth shook as something massive crashed down upon it.
At the same time, Ash winced as the temperature noticeably increased. He squinted up at the bright sky, and the rapidly fading clouds upon it. However, raising his head up brought the creature responsible directly into his line of sight, as it towered above the treeline.
“Holy,” Ash breathed. He flicked his head in its direction, the same direction where AZ was. “It’s Groudon.”
But before Sabrina could find the great red beast, the temperature spasmed again, plummeting, and clouds once again rolled across the sky at an otherworldly speed, though these were dark. Lightning cracked down from above and rain began to fall, dripping through the roof of leaves overhead.
Pikachu squealed in alarm, jumping away from a draft of white mist that had begun snaking out from between the trees.
Beside Ash, Sabrina coughed, and she covered her mouth. “What is this?” she choked. “It’s hot!”
Ash opened his palm. “So is the rain.” He closed his fist and looked back in the direction of Groudon and AZ. “So this is a battle between legends.” He turned back to Sabrina and his pokémon. “Let’s go to the palace. There’s nothing we can do here, not like this. And I’m afraid Sir Aaron and AZ’s battle may extend back there if things get out of hand. Rota needs another line of defense. Let’s go give them one.”
Sabrina nodded, and his pokémon agreed.
“I can take us,” Sabrina said.
“Not a chance,” Ash said. “You’ve done plenty already. The palace is just beyond these trees. We’ll be there in two minutes. Annihilape, carry her.”
Sabrina opened her mouth to protest, but before she could, Annihilape had already slung her over his shoulder with a brusque grin.
“Be gentle!” Ash scolded. “Alright, let’s go.”
As he ran, Ash glanced back at Sabrina. Truthfully, he was pretty sure she could’ve teleported them there. She didn’t seem like she was at her limit, not even close. But something had happened to her that had reduced her to this stuttering mess. Finding out Anabel had been in danger would’ve upset her, but not like this. After all, she’d been with Anabel the entire time this past month, and she’d slowly grown accustomed to her friend’s new reality. There was something she hadn’t told him. Whatever she’d encountered after they’d parted must have done a number on her mentally. Ash felt bad for even thinking it, but he almost wished she’d been taxed physically instead. He still didn’t know much about her past, or about her in general, but the one thing he did know was that it was extremely painful for her. There were few things that could shake Sabrina Natsume, and beyond seeing her friends hurt, her past was certainly one of them.
Ash resolved to ask her about it once and for all once this war was over.
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Groudon slashed downward, raking its claws over Kyogre, and the oceanic mythic bellowed. A shaft of lightning twisted off of Groudon’s head, blasting his scales apart and leaving a scorch mark. Kyogre leapt into the air, casting a shadow over the forest around it, and unleashed a steaming column of water. It splashed over the earth mythic, and doused the entire clearing, and beneath the deluge, Groudon sank to its knees with a thunderous crash.
Aaron watched the carnage play out with narrowed eyes. They had mutilated the entire clearing. Countless trees had fallen under their legendary feet, reduced to nothing more than piles of ash. The sinkhole created by Groudon had been filled in with freshly cooled slate and obsidian, that had then been cracked and decimated further by the ongoing battle. Black soot covered the abused ground, leaving not a speck of color, and the haze of white mist had risen, leaving the entire clearing slightly obscured in a mirage that further accentuated the spectacle of this legendary battle.
The rain was as blinding as it was unceasing as it pounded down, and the low growl of thunder had yet to abate from the tortured sky. The air stunk of hot smoke, and if a normal human had come near, their nose would probably start bleeding immediately.
As Kyogre glided over Groudon’s head, the red titan hand shot out and grabbed its fin. With a herculean roar, it slammed Kyogre against the ground. As it stomped over, it leaned down and sunk its claws into the ground, before withdrawing with a spear of jagged obsidian. It clutched the spear in both hands, raising it above Kyogre’s head.
The runes on Kyogre’s body illuminated, and its eyes glittered with fury. As Groudon brought the spear down on its chest, Kyogre’s gullet flashed, and a spear of ice pierced Groudon’s midsection, its eyes widening. At the same time, the spear of obsidian plunged through Kyogre, and it released a pained screech. The lights in both of their eyes flickered. Groudon pitched backward, before slamming down to the ground. Likewise, a terrible wheeze escaped Kyogre’s mouth, and it collapsed, its wings splaying out across the ground. Even after a few seconds, neither moved again.
AZ was the first to recall his companion. As his pokéball sucked Groudon back inside, Aaron assessed the man himself. He stood confidently across the clearing, having moved not even a single inch from where he was when their battle resumed. Aaron’s brows furrowed, and he returned his own partner, thanking it silently.
“That was closer to the battles I remember,” AZ said, pleased. “You did well protecting this place as much as you did. Such a shame, though. Surely you’d be even stronger if you didn’t have to worry about keeping the damage to a minimum. That is no way to wage war.”
“By your design,” Aaron lamented.
AZ smirked. “This battle is the least of your problems. Very soon, you’ll count yourself lucky that I am the only one you have to deal with.” He reached into his coat. “It was wishful thinking on your part to think you could actually contain me.” He pulled his hand out, holding something between his fingers.
Aaron frowned.
Only when AZ enlarged his pokéball did it become clear what he was planning. But before Aaron could stop him, he reared back and threw the pokéball with a strained grunt, over the trees and into the darkness beyond.
Straight toward Cameran Palace.
Next — Chapter 41 : Fated Failure
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