PARAGON
Remnants of the Great War Arc [32]
Chapter 41 : Fated Failure
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Land of Rota - South of Cameran Palace
“Get back, Sarah!”
A burly Guardian wrapped in a tight-fitting indigo tunic and bandages lunged forward, Aura blazing in his palm, which he thrust into the face of an approaching acolyte. The acolyte yelped and recoiled, but the Guardian didn’t stop to admire his handiwork. His cloak swished behind him as he wheeled back on his young compatriot. “You’re supposed to be assisting with the injured! What’re you doing here?”
“The Queen is evacuating the Palace!” Sarah bit out, her Lucario standing beside her protectively.
Rain fell in sheets from the darkened sky, a cloying mist bathing all the combatants in its humid oppression. Despite being right next to each other, the two Guardians could scarcely hear each other over the din of the war and the storm.
“What?! Why? We haven’t fallen yet!”
His Machamp caught up a Golem barreling toward them in its arms with a grunt, and its feet sunk into the ground as it held the massive boulder back. Its master took a quick glance at the situation, but turned back to Sarah.
“AZ made it to the palace, but King Aaron stopped him and has engaged him to the east!”
“Then the battle is as good as won!” the Guardian growled.
“No, it’s the opposite! It means he won’t be able to help us repel their army!”
The older Guardian stopped to think for a moment, frowning. He glanced back up at the quarrel between Machamp and Golem, and the Aura on his hand flared. An azure shroud fell over Machamp, and it began to push the fearsome rock-type back.
The Guardian surveyed the chaos around them. AZ’s men outnumbered them two to one right now, but more kept pouring from the forest and soon it would be three to one. Slowly but surely, they were being pushed back onto the bridge connecting Cameran Palace to the mainland.
Suddenly, electricity crackled to life around the Golem’s fists, and it shoved Machamp back with a baleful screech. The fighting-type buckled as the rock-type slammed its Thunder Punch into its chin, sending it flying across the grass. Poised to deliver another blow, the Golem hunkered down and charged.
Sarah’s Lucario leapt forward and kicked the rock-type back, wincing slightly as Golem tried to claw at her foot. It flew back, and though its trainer tried to dodge, its rotund body clipped him, sending him flying to the ground in an awkward heap.
“Thanks,” the Guardian grunted. “Alright, I gotcha. I’ll tell the others. Just promise me you’ll stick more to the evacuation than the fighting! Your mother…no, Sir Riley will kill me if anything happens to you!”
Sarah bowed curtly. “I’ll try! Thank you, Master!” she called, zipping back toward the bridge to assist with the injured. Cameran Palace’s twin bridges were an invaluable defensive feature, but it also increased the difficulty of the evacuation tenfold. There were only two ways in and out of the palace. They were sending as many as they could out of the northern entrance, but that meant having to circle back south around the perimeter of the lake to get to the evacuation point in the west. It’d be much faster if they could secure a route out of this entrance too…
Her master was a strong Guardian, but even he had sustained injuries against this force, though, refusing to stay down, he’d taken back to the battlefield.
Your boyfriend is taking on that Dragalge all by himself! Like hell I’m gonna stay here just to bleed! he’d said.
He wasn’t her boyfriend, but if Sir Riley had decided to embrace an enemy like that all by himself, then it was something her master and the others stood absolutely no chance against.
Please be safe, Riley, she prayed as she ran back toward the bridge, her Lucario in tow.
As she cleared through the last line of Guardians and emerged onto the cobblestone viaduct, her Aura-enhanced eyes caught something in the far distance. In front of the thunder-laced storm clouds and through the pelting rain, a tiny object sailed out from above the trees to the right of the palace. At first she thought it was a pokémon, but it was clearly inanimate as it arced downward and disappeared into the lake below.
What was that?
She was halfway across the bridge when the water beside the palace suddenly gurgled and belched.
That’s where that thing dropped…
An icy chill ran through Sarah and she shuddered. Maybe it was just the battle raging around her keeping her on edge, but a terrible feeling suddenly flooded her stomach.
A massive white and black column burst from the surface of the lake, three smaller columns extending from a yellow rim around the very top. It stretched nearly as high as the palace’s highest tower.
Sarah’s jaw dropped.
The lake trembled, spitting foam, as the column bent back to land, slamming down on the edge of the island, crushing a copse of golden maples beneath it in an instant. An otherworldly groan echoed through the valley as the rest of the creature’s body rose from the lake. Its other hand gripped a tower on the palace as it hauled itself out of the water. Red, blue, and silver light cascaded from the six eyes on its chest, slicing through the stormy darkness, scanning the palace with its invasive sight.
“Regi…gigas,” Sarah mumbled, to the sound of terrified screaming behind her. “…How?” A tear fell from her eye, but it instantly washed away by the rain. A traumatized chuckle escaped her horrified lips. “This is the end of Rota.”
Regigigas bellowed its cries to the heavens as it climbed. It was the same size as the entirety of Cameran Palace, far larger than the venerated automaton at the Snowpoint Temple in Sinnoh.
Now that she thought about it, the old kings of Kalos had been said to have vaults upon vaults of pokémon, including those of mythological power and scale. Such was the vastness of their wealth and influence before the Great War. But those stories had always been exaggerations, right? Something like this, right before her, couldn't possibly be real. Right?!
Snapped from her stupor by her own disbelief, she smacked her cheeks, and started to run again, toward the giant. Cameran Palace had protections imbued in its foundations, so Sarah hoped that there wasn’t too much internal damage. But this thing was just so big, and it had already defied logic once just by being this size. Either way, Queen Ilene was right to have issued the evacuation order. She must have sensed something dangerous approaching. Or perhaps she was one of the few left in Rota with a sober head, and had assessed that the Guardians were going to lose.
As Sarah crossed onto the island, she shuddered as she ran into Regigigas’ shadow, the behemoth towering over her. She wanted nothing more to do now than to run and hide under her covers like she’d done when she was a kid, but the Queen needed her. Her people needed her.
Please, save us, Riley, she thought as she ran, but it was a childish wish. This was war, and Riley wasn’t even close. Perhaps the Guardians had grown too used to peace. In their quest for harmony, they’d unwittingly forgotten about their blood-drenched legacy accrued during the Great War.
As she ascended the marble steps, she took note of the massive oaken doors, blasted open by some overwhelming force, and her heartbeat quickened. What happened here?!
A throng of Guardians were gathered in the entrance hall, with some injured, and others helping the injured evacuate. But they had all paused in place to look up. The lights flickered overhead, and Regigigas’ massive body blotted out any light from the windows on one side.
“What is that?” one of them murmured.
“Why is it so dark outside all of a sudden?” another asked.
“It started raining out of nowhere!”
Sarah cleared her throat and inhaled. “Everyone, please listen!” Luckily, her shrill voice cut through the fog of everyone’s worry, and she quickly got everyone’s attention. “We need to evacuate the palace as fast as possible! Everyone who is able, please head to the northern entrance as soon as possible, and follow the border Guardians to the safe point!”
“But what about the southern way?” a younger Guardian asked. “Don’t tell me…are they coming across the bridge already!”
“Don’t be silly,” his master snapped, yanking his ear. “Of course that’s not the case,” though he did sneak Sarah an inquisitive glance, which she answered with a discreet shake of her head.
“Please, hurry to the north,” Sarah pleaded, cutting in before they could interject again. “We haven’t fallen, but the fighting is still ongoing, so this exit isn’t safe yet!”
The Guardians murmured in worry, but they trusted her, and started to exit the room. Sarah watched as they helped each other out, but her attention never left the behemoth climbing up the palace outside. Luckily, most of the gathered had forgotten about the monster outside once Sarah had given them something else to focus on, but she noticed the young Guardian’s master had stayed behind.
“Tell it to me true, Sarah,” he said grimly. “What is that thing atop the palace now? Surely that is the true reason you won’t let us leave from the south.”
Sarah hesitated, but nodded. “That’s right. It’s a giant Regigigas out there, as big as the palace itself.”
The Guardian cursed. “This will be the end of Cameran Palace.”
Sarah furrowed her brows and looked up. “Where’s the Queen?”
The older Guardian frowned. “Did you not hear? The Queen and Captain Magnus engaged AZ personally.” He flicked his head at the ruined door. “The worst surely would have happened if King Aaron had not arrived in time. Last I heard, the Queen was tending to Captain Magnus’ wounds personally.”
“What?! She needs to leave!”
The Guardian closed his eyes. “We’ve tried to impress that upon her, but she refuses to leave while even a single Guardian still remains in the palace!” He clenched his fist, and it was clear he was just as frustrated as she was.
Sarah cursed in her head, her mind racing. She knew how stubborn the Queen could be when she wanted to be, so there was no point in continuing to try and convince her. “How many are still here?”
“When I was last in the throne room, the floor was still half covered in wounded. That was around twenty minutes ago. I suspect less than ten percent now? Though perhaps that is an optimistic guess.”
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So it’s not empty yet…which means we need time. She glanced back over at a window, covered by Regigigas. The palace shook and dust fell from the ceiling as it took another step up, and she prayed the others wouldn’t stop to let their curiosity run wild.
“Don’t tell me you’re thinking of fighting that thing.”
“I’m not,” Sarah said, and she was being honest. She knew there was no way she could take it down, or even harass it, for that matter. But there may be someone who can. Ash Ketchum, the former World Champion was here, as was his friend Sabrina, a legendary psychic. If anyone could defeat that titan, it’d be them. “Please evacuate now, Sir!” she said, withdrawing a pokéball.
“Wait, where are you going?!”
Sarah thumbed the release on her pokéball, and a brilliant Pidgeot materialized onto the royal floor, her plume fluttering from in the wind passing through the doors. “Pursuing hope,” she said, climbing onto her bird’s back.
With a clap to the neck, Pidgeot rocketed out of the palace, back outside beneath the stormy skies. Warm rain blurred her vision, and she rubbed her eyes furiously. Pidgeot angled around, giving Sarah a vantage to observe the Regigigas. It was halfway up one of the towers, and despite the fact that the giant dwarfed it, it did not collapse beneath its weight. Surely this had to be one of AZ’s personal pokémon, old and powerful as it was. Likely, it was meant as a distraction just as much as a genuine destructive force. The number of Guardians remaining in the palace hardly necessitated the use of such a monstrosity, but AZ’s hatred for Sir Aaron and the Guardians was also incalculable. Even if it didn’t end up killing a soul, bringing down Cameran Palace, which had stood as a sanctuary for the Guardians for many years even before the Great War, represented a symbolic victory in and of itself.
Sarah urged Pidgeot back down toward the southern defense line. King Aaron had begun his fight with AZ, which meant Ash was presumably free to return to the palace. And their defense hadn’t broken yet, which meant Sabrina had likely destroyed the portal as well. Sarah just hoped she’d be able to find them in this mess.
A colossal flap of Pidgeot’s wings knocked over a group of AZ’s men and their pokémon as she landed, and Sarah fired a few quick Aura Spheres herself to keep them down for good.
Now, where could you be?
Luckily, she didn’t have to wonder for long. She caught notice of a particularly violent part of the clash, and after heading over, she found an Annihilape kicking his way through AZ’s fighters from behind, carrying Sabrina in its arms bridal style. The sight was absolutely ridiculous, and it was the best thing Sarah could’ve asked for.
“Sabrina!” she called, pushing her way through the chaos, Pidgeot stomping after her.
The psychic noticed her, and forced herself out of Annihilape’s arms, covering her face in embarrassment.
“Sabrina!” Sarah said once she’d caught up to them. “Thank Arceus you’re here.” She frowned and glanced around. “Is Ash with you?”
“Yeah,” Sabrina said, turning around. “He’s right behind…” She trailed off. Suddenly, her eyes seared and she whipped toward the east. “No! He’s—“
He’s gone off to fight AZ, I’m sorry to say, a telepathic voice cut through the din.
A foul Slurpuff was launched back, and a Lucario pushed his way into the conversation. Hello, I am Lucario. Ash Ketchum’s Lucario, that is. I understand there are many here, but—
“He’s the one who said we should come here!” Sabrina shouted. “So why is he—“
I’m sorry, Miss Sabrina. He said that only to assuage you. He released me and told me to guide you back to the palace. He trusted you alone would be enough to handle things here.
Annihilape roared and snorted, stomping the ground furiously as steam shot from his nostrils. He glared at Lucario, then at the forest to the east, then back at Lucario.
Yes, he told me to pass along a sorry to you too, Annihilape, for leaving you behind. He also wanted to extend a thank you to you for getting Sabrina here safely, and focusing so much on the task that you didn’t even notice him separating from you.
That only seemed to enrage Annihilape further, and for a moment, it looked like he was about to charge off after his trainer.
“Please, Sabrina!” Sarah clapped her hands together and bowed. “Please help us defeat Regigigas!”
For the first time, Sabrina seemed to notice the giant golem, ascending the palace walls through the pouring rain. She swallowed, and her eyes gleamed, seemingly studying the creature from afar. Sarah watched her expectantly, and when Sabrina glanced over at her, she bowed her head again.
“Yeah, I can take care of it,” Sabrina said flatly.
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Land of Rota - Southeast of Cameran Palace
Steam billowed from Mega Lucario’s outstretched Force Palm.
Teetering on its frost-blue feet, Aurorus tipped back and fell to the ground, shaking the earth with its tremendous weight.
Now that his enemy was defeated, Lucario swung his arm around, shattering the ice that had frozen on his shoulder. Normally, he was immune to trivialities like this, especially in this state. But this was no ordinary Aurorus.
AZ recalled his pokémon, though he wore a satisfied smile. “Ah, that’s my last pokémon. How unfortunate.”
Sir Aaron took a step forward, the obsidian crumbling beneath his boot. “Enough of this! Call off your forces and stop this madness!” he pleaded. “If it’s me you want, then I’ll gladly go with you! But leave the Guardians out of this.”
“How can I? You were supposed to have abandoned them, yet you wear their colors all the same,” AZ snarled. “No matter. We’ve done things your way up till now. Now, it’s time to do this my way.” He stepped forward and shrugged out of his silken shirt. The muscles on his chest throbbed, rain dripping down his tightened skin. Lightning flashed above, illuminating his battle-lusted visage for a moment, twisted in hatred and pleasure. He raised his hands, then beckoned with his fingers.
Sir Aaron shook his head slowly. “Please, don’t.” Lucario growled, standing between AZ and his master.
“Impotent,” AZ spat. “If you will not fight, then you leave me no choice but to attack first!” With an expression of gleeful mania, he launched forward with a leap, his arms trailing behind him.
“Step aside, Lucario,” Aaron commanded, his voice echoing. Aura bled into his eyes and across his arms, and his entire body seemed to shimmer, excising itself from the stormy reality around it. His entire form became limned in a vibrant blue.
AZ planted his feet in the ground and his arm shot out, but a blinding flash erupted out from the point of impact. When it faded, he frowned. Aaron’s arm, pulsing with Aura, had blocked his strike. As Aaron’s leg swept out, AZ leaped back and conjured a roiling sphere of pure white energy in his palm, nearly half the size of his body. At the same time, Aaron summoned an Aura Sphere of a similar size, and a moment later, they both thrust them forward.
The twin spheres slammed into each other with a violent shriek, and sparks flew as they battled for dominance. Stray shocks of energy blasted the ground apart, crackling and barking their errant power across the clearing in indiscriminate bolts. However, eventually, they both collapsed at the same time, exploding in a searing wave of heat and blasting glittering smoke outward.
As the smoke faded, Aaron frowned. AZ was gone. Not a moment later, his body jerked as he was tackled from the side. They rolled over the ruined ground, but AZ ended up on top, clutching Aaron’s neck in his massive hands. His eyes burned with rage as he tightened his grip.
Lucario roared, but his voice was swiftly cut off as AZ choked Aaron out even further. He gasped and fell to the ground, grabbing at the phantom hands around his iron neck. Mega Evolution had led to a swift victory against AZ’s Aurorus, but now it was a liability, as AZ did the unthinkable: besting his fabled master.
Aaron grunted beneath the giant, his face contorted. AZ pressed his hands into the ground, burying Aaron’s neck, and Lucario twisted in agony behind them.
A long knife of Aura blazed to life between the two men, and Aaron swiped it across AZ’s bare chest. He finally released his grip and stumbled back. Aaron rubbed his neck as he rose, but seeing as his body was made purely of Aura, it’s not like he needed to breathe. Lucario, on the other hand, coughed and wheezed, sucking in air greedily as he rubbed his abused throat. However, Aaron’s body flickered ever so slightly as he sent a pulse of stabilizing Aura throughout himself. AZ had just come dangerously close to destroying this vessel.
AZ touched his chest, then rubbed his fingers together. The rain quickly washed it away, but even in the darkness, the red was unmistakable. “Impressive,” he intoned. “So you can harm me even without a Plate. As expected of Rota’s king.”
“Stand by for battle, Lucario,” Aaron ordered.
“Not enough blood yet.” AZ licked his lips and hunkered down once again. “There’s still plenty more to spill.” However, instead of charging, he hesitated and glanced up at the sky. “Hmm. It should be time.” His eyes flashed as the Fairy Plate fed him intelligence, and he grinned. “Ha ha ha. You truly have a wonderful eye for talent, Lord Vandrick,” he said.
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Kalos Region - Beneath Geosenge Town
Finally, finally, N emerged from the seemingly never ending hallway of stone into a wider chamber. It was quiet and empty, the stacks of crates lining the dimly lit room abandoned by their possessors. However, it wasn’t completely empty.
“Shit, you almost gave me a heart attack!” Zinnia cursed. She was sitting on the ground, leaning back against her Salamence.
“Sorry,” N said, gasping for breath. His face and neck shined with sweat.
Zinnia smirked. “Did you seriously run all the way here? How many miles is it between Cyllage and Geosenge?” Then she frowned. “Where’s Reshiram?”
After taking a few more breaths, N patted his bag. “Resting.”
Zinnia’s eyes remained thin as she stared at N’s bag, seemingly unable to believe the legendary dragon had been bested. “So you got attacked too then, huh?” she eventually murmured. “I wonder how they’re doing in Rota.”
N straightened himself and glanced around the chamber. Strange machinery and piping scaled up the ancient walls, layering old and new together. The air stunk of mildew and sour smoke. “I talked to Sylvester a bit before our call cut out. Rota has been attacked as well, and AZ is there, as is Cynthia.”
Surprisingly, Zinnia didn’t overreact. She simply raised an eyebrow and scoffed. “Lucky them.”
N frowned. “Are you alright?”
“Never better,” Zinnia said dismissively, crawling toward the wall. An ornate stone pillar sat basked in the shadows just beside her, and she moved toward it.
“When did you get here?” N asked.
“‘Bout ten minutes ago.”
“Has anyone entered this room since you arrived?”
“Nope.”
N scowled and glanced around again. Where did he go?
“Why, what’s up?” Zinnia asked, noticing his discontent.
“I fought a young trainer around your age working for AZ,” he explained, beginning to pace around the chamber, checking nooks and crannies and scanning the shadowed darkness. “We defeated him, but he slipped through our fingers. He was heading back here as fast as he could. He even left his pokémon behind.”
Zinnia clicked her tongue. “How did someone so young get mixed up with AZ? No good.”
“No good indeed,” N agreed, his search becoming more frantic. “There must have been another path he went down…a hidden side path I didn’t notice in my haste to get here. As one of AZ’s loyalists, he would know this place far better.”
Zinnia nodded, standing up slowly. She clutched her side and grunted quietly as she rose.
“You’re hurt…” N said.
“Don’t worry about me,” she said curtly. “We need to find this lost man of yours. I’ve been looking at this thing for the past ten minutes but I still have no idea what it is.” She thumbed the stone pillar next to her, and N approached it.
He hadn’t noticed before, but it was no pillar, nor was it made of stone. It was made of some sort of crystal, thick layers of the jagged stuff compressed and curled into an eerie spire whose peak was obscured in darkness at the top of the chamber.
“Aster got bad vibes from it,” Zinnia continued. “If your guy ran off like a coward to get here, then I’m guessing he was after this.”
N placed his hand on it, but the crystal was cold. It felt just like a normal rock. “Perhaps I can wake Reshiram to have a look.”
Salamence suddenly grunted, and a noise escaped his mouth that sounded like choking. Both N and Zinnia’s heads whipped in his direction. A ring of metal was lodged in his mouth awkwardly, and he stumbled back, crashing into the crates behind him.
For a split second, the dragon’s head passed beneath a dim shaft of sunlight that sheared between a crack in the ceiling above, and N’s eyes widened at what he saw.
It was a Klefki in Salamence’s mouth.
“Zinnia!” he roared, but he was half a second too late.
Caleb emerged from the shadows and slammed his fist into Zinnia’s injured midsection, and she cried out, crumpling to the ground. N surged forward, but Caleb tossed two pokéballs in his direction. Before he could react, they opened, emptying out the defeated bodies of Pangoro and Barbaracle. They collapsed in front of him, still unconscious, but their large forms impeded his path all the same.
From behind their slacken arms, N could see Caleb sprint over to the crystal spire. He scowled and clambered over the defeated pokémon. The youth glared at him as he approached, but he barely had time to turn before N tackled him to the ground and planted his arm across his neck.
Caleb coughed and squirmed beneath him, but when it was clear he couldn’t get away, he smirked, drool leaking from the corner of his mouth. “It’s too late.”
The spire lurched, shaking the chamber, and it began to rise. It burst through the ceiling, showering them in dirt and shattered stone, and N squinted at the sudden flood of sunlight. Some sort of metal contraption pushed the spire higher and higher with cacophonous clanks and whirs until it had fully unburied itself. N couldn’t see it too well now, but he could hear it. It released an otherworldly hiss, a deep suction sound, and the wires lining the mechanical plinth it rested on began to glow a harsh azure. The entire structure began to tremble, before a lancing light exploded skyward, blinding everyone within.
Though he couldn’t see, N made sure to keep Caleb in place beneath him. He cracked open an eye after a few seconds and saw Zinnia shifting in place, dirt falling from her hair. Seeing her okay, N refocused on Caleb. “What did you just do?!” he shouted over the keening roar of the spire.
Caleb grinned, his breathing unsteady. “For…my…master,” he bit out.
Next — Chapter 42 : Fury
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