The city was in ruin. Its people were either dead, dying or fleeing as the flames of war-ravaged the buildings and streets. An emergency vehicle was attempting to make its way to the last known location of a transport truck that held various escapees trying to flee the city, tasked with overseeing its transportation out of the city limits.
They were separated when debris from roadside buildings had collapsed onto the road, forcing the vehicle to take a detour after urging the truck to carry on the agreed transport route.
"Come on come on!" The driver of the vehicle urged the car to go faster, stepping on the gas as the car tore down what remained of the motorway. Various cars, vans and lorries were left abandoned on the side of the road. Some of them only showed minor signs of damage. Others were utterly totalled, crushed by other vehicles impacting into them at speed or hit by moves with the intent of destroying them.
The tires screeched as the driver made a sharp turn down off the main motorway at high speed, narrowly missing a car that had slammed into the railing on the road edge. Suddenly there was a loud boom, echoing in the distance and the earth itself shook and quaked.
"Dialga's damned!" the driver swore as they fought for control of the speeding vehicle, the sudden earthquake had caught the driver off guard and added new complications to the task. Debris from the various roadside buildings started to tumble and shift onto the road, large slabs of concrete and metal rods slammed into the tarmac as the vehicle swerved from side to side to avoid the worst of the landslide, it was nearing its destination.
Turning one last corner, still travelling at speeds that generally wouldn't be considered safe, the driver finally spotted the target, the transportation truck.
"No, no no!" something wasn't right; the truck itself wasn't moving. Suddenly there was a loud crack as a section of building started to topple sideways onto the road. The driver tried to swerve to the side, slamming on the breaks only to find that the vehicle had flipped.
One of the front wheels had it hit a large gaping hole in the road, and as the front of the car dropped suddenly, the back kept coming, slamming the front straight into the ground. The momentum carried the vehicle over, flipping it on to its roof as its skidded and screeched into a loud crunch as the car slammed into the massive pile of debris, fallen onto the road moments prior.
There was no movement; the only sounds to be heard were the echoes of screams and shouts from around the city as the war raged on.
Four minutes or so after the crash a radio started to crackle into life, it's receiver hung down loose having been abandoned in the back of the sizeable transport truck rush to escape.
It laid abandoned in the middle of the road. It's driver and passengers having decided they could move quicker on foot. Since the way ahead was inaccessible to the vehicle, scattered everywhere were large rocks and boulders, some of which were jutting out of the road itself.
"...can read me?! I repe… can anyone… me?!..." A voice crackled through the heavy static of the radio, the voice barely readable through the buzzing, the radio beeped as it locked on to the new frequency as the next sentence came though, it came out much clearer now with only some minor static.
"This is Marshtail ... can anyone read me, we are pinned! I repeat we are pinned! Krrrrrr grwwwwoooollllll!!! "A radio was still crackling at times, but it came out clear enough before a gut-wrenching roar blasted it's way through the radio, the echoes of it ringing through the city itself.
"Arceus! Damn it. The hell did he come from?!? SHIT, INCOMING!!!" A thunderous boom rang out through the city as the radio went silent. A couple of seconds later, something or someone stirred amid the wreckage.
What appeared to be a young girl slowly crawled her way out from under the wreckage of the emergency transport vehicle. She was the driver and only occupant of the car.
The girl groaned as she opened her eyes in a squint, smoke that was emitting from the broken engine and the burning city was stinging them, disorienting her vision, as she inhaled she drew in ash into her lungs off the ground. It clung to the inside of her mouth and throat, serving a near-constant reminder of the destruction around her.
She moved her left arm in front of her face to get a more precise look at her bracelet on her wrist. The screen flashed into life, displaying a green bar with numbers underneath, showing her current HP and status. Current HP, 244 out of 287.
The crash hadn't done much damage to her HP overall. While she had been driving around 70 mph, the impact from the collision had only done 43 points of damage, according to the information on her bracelet's screen anyway.
It still hurt though, parts of her chest were on fire where the seat belt was covering, and her head throbbed slightly from the impact against the headboard. The pain would quickly fade away as it hadn't done actual damage to her body.
Her ears were ringing loudly as various explosions went off in the background. She had barely registered the radio, but she had heard it.
She lifted herself onto her feet, grunting at the effort as she tried to take stock of the situation around her.
Looking around, however, the girl could only see the remains of the city burn and crumble as bright vermillion flames slowly consumed anything remotely flammable. The walls, roads and buildings shook and crumbling as the war continued in the background, far away from her current location.
Spotting the radio, she started to shuffle slowly towards it. Upon reaching the receiver she grabbed onto it with one hand, using the other hand she flicked the switch from receive to send before speaking slowly into it, desperation clear in her croaky voice.
"...this is Second-Chance, can anyone hear me?" she had to stop after that to cough, the ash and smoke making it hard to speak clearly. She flicked the radio back into recieve as she tried to clear some of the ash out of her mouth, taking water from a bottle fished from her belt. She swirled the clear liquid around in her mouth before spitting it out to give the radio another go, but the receiver had sparked back into life.
".....I hear you Second-Chance, damn I'm guessing we don't have a choice now do we?"
The girl was briefly stunned by the voice, but she did recognise the voice, she had worked with the person for the last four years. Usually, she would reply immediately, but all she could at that moment was stay silent, biting her lower lip in both pain and frustration.
She knew what she had to say, but it was hard to say. 'I should have travelled back further. I should have warned you earlier. I could have stopped this, all of this, none of this is your fault, it's mine…'
"...I am sorry…" that was all she could bring herself to say, her guilt and frustration at the situation they were all stuck in was holding back the other words, she turned and had to cough and hack as the ash and dust still clung to her throat.
The voice on the other end of the radio called back with a bitter sounding laugh. The speaker had known that this was the end of everything they had stood for; he was being forced to accept the reality of everything. It wasn't easy to admit that the city and everyone in it were dying.
"Haha… well, I kinda assumed the worst after Groudon showed his ugly skull here, but if you replied, then your vision came true after all..."
The girl slowly lowered her head as tears started building in the corners of her eyes, she hated knowing the fact she was powerless to stop it all from happening, despite working out what was going to happen.
She felt guilty knowing she had lied to them all. It wasn't a vision; it was a fact. The destruction and purge of the city of Prosperity, the metropolis turned to legend. Prosperity, it was believed to have never existed in the first place, a hoax, an ideal. In reality, however, it was hidden from history by the ones that caused the city's destruction, ensuring that no one ever remembered even existed.
"I'm sorry, but I can't save you… not this version of you at least" silence was the girl's reply, the person on the other end seemed to contemplate the choice of words.
The voice's reply came finally, more a murmur than a proper voice.
"Can't save this version of me huh… that's probably for the best kid. I don't think this reality deserves to be saved" the voice is cold, numb to the destruction happening all around the city.
"This is Tyrant-Ruler, calling out on all frequencies." The voice echoed around the remains of the city as every stereo, radio, intercom and tv unit in the city that still worked played the announcement at maximum volume.
"Second-Chance is lost, I repeat, Second-Chance is lost. The city has fallen. Prosperity has fallen..." the voice echoes into the day. The girl knew what that meant; it meant that there would be no more chances for success; there was nothing more that could be done; the city was doomed.
The girl started to cry, tears dropping off her face as she tried to hold them all back, but they still came out against her will. She knew what had to happen now; she would have no choice; she had to go back.
To stop this from happening, prevent a war from happening, stop the lives being lost, stop the destruction. The girl had grown attached to the city, to the people living there, everything. The radio next to her sparked back to life.
"Second-Chance can you still hear me?" The girl's head shot back up in shock before she brought the receiver back to her mouth to reply, her voice slightly hesitant and cracking slightly.
"Yeah, I can still hear you, Tyrant-Ruler."
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"I know this is going to be hard for you, but you are the only one that can change any of this, you know that I know that, no future vision can be this accurate, but the memory of the past can be, you travelled through time, it's the only explanation, but you need to go back, back even further, through whatever method you managed it last time-"
"Time jump you mean..." she whispers into the receiver, the radio went quiet, Tyrant-Rule realised what that meant, a moment later the radio conveyed Tyrant-Rulers voice once more, it was colder than before as he realised who the girl was.
"...yeah, that." The girl felt guilty and a little hurt by the tone of voice he used, but she knew full well why he was cold when he said it. After all, the destruction of the city was caused by legendaries, just like her.
She could pretend to be someone or something else, but she was and would always be a legendary pokemon, she knew that. A kind of curse that would never leave her...
"...I will do my best, you have my word, as a legendary and as a person, I will do my best to avert this destruction!" Tyrant just sighs through the radio, before giving his reply.
"I don't really have much choice but to believe you do I? Even if you succeed, I will have no knowledge of it whatsoever. -sighs- so be it! Do whatever you need to do, we will keep them occupied as long as we can."
"You will die, you know that"
"Either way we will die might as well go out with a bang!"
"... you're mad, aren't you."
"I am, but maybe next time you will stop me from becoming mad… keep him alive if you can..." Tyrant's voice seemed to break when mentioning his former lover. He had become the Tyrant of Prosperity shortly after that certain man's death; he had gone on a rampage killing his enemies in a fit of rage, the event had acted as a partial catalyst for the current destruction.
"I will do my best, but I can't decide your actions, I can only try and hint you towards doing something different, you know that"
"That's true, but enough talk, get going!"
"...okay" The girl had stopped crying for the moment anyway, she paused before brushing away the remaining tears left in the corner of her eyes. She turned her back to the radio and instead turned her focus onto the overturned vehicle that was lying behind her smoking, motor lubricant leaking out the suspension and brakes. She hurried back over before dropping onto her knees once again and started to crawl back into the wreckage, searching desperately for her backpack.
Her backpack was her lifeline, a simple looking brown bag on the outside. It was only openable by her and her parents, DNA locked and with Hoopla tech inside, the technology that warped space to grant increased storage capacity on the inside.
The backpack had everything she would need for her time jump back. Money in the currency of the current period in time, clothes that matched the average fashion of the time, books from the future detailing critical historical events that a time traveller would want to see. Finally, a method of obtaining a city pass and identity so she could fit into any technologically advanced city or town without suspicion. All essisical for a time traveller like herself. It was a present from her parents on her 18th birthday, the day she became old enough to travel back in time, should she wish to. A new addition to the backpack, however, was information about any significant events that happened in and around the city dating back ten years from this point in time, a failsafe in case the worse happened, which did happen.
She quickly found the backpack; it had been flung into the front during the collision, having grabbed it in one hand, she instantly crawled back out of the wreckage. Throwing the backpack onto her back, she ran to the centre of the road to find a clear space. She started to focus her will on her powers, pushing the power in onto itself, compressing it in, more an instinctive thing than something you learn from others. However, it was still difficult to fully control even to the most experienced users.
Time jumps always sound easy in theory, but it was like jumping into a hole with your eyes closed, you can aim roughly for where you want to go and when, but the result is still a bit random if the user doesn't have the experience of doing it yet, a problem for the young girl as it was only ever her second time doing a proper time jump…
DINNNGGGG, the first bell-like sound rings loud and true out of the girl's body, the invaders in the city snap around recognising the sound, they don't know why it sounded out here and now but they know it cannot be good. Still, before any of them can move to intercept, Tyrant-Ruler burst out onto the scene, smashing into the Groudon, energy gathered around his body in swirling vortex. He slams into the hulking goliath with a Giga impact, roaring so he could so he would draw the attention of the various legendaries on to him and him alone. It works, the blow causes the giant pokemon to faint from a single blow. The invaders felt the chills of fear looking on the Tyranitar who was a juggernaut in their eyes, green body covered in the ash and dust of his city, a mad smile decorating his face as he raised his left fist to the sky. It glowed a bright white as energy condensed around it before he swung his fist down like an executioner's blade down towards the head of the downed Groudon, the resulting impact shattering its head open like a melon, killing legendary instantly…
DINNNNGGG, the next bell chime broke the invaders woke from the stupor, charging at the killer of their kin who just laughed matching their charge, high of the power he boosted himself with, a madman driven by grief and wrath, nothing left to live for, nothing to lose. But everything to gain, so he fought, his steps pounding into the ground, shattering rocks and rubble in his path.
DINNNNGGG, as the invaders surrounded him, the Tyrant burst into laughter, grabbing something from around his neck he raised it high above his head bellowing out
"MEGA!!!".
The rock burst into light, the light instantly covered his body, causing it to grow more robust and durable. The invaders became wary, they weren't expecting to fight a mega-evolver, they were powerful and sure and they were legendaries! But they weren't stupid, no one goes into a battle with a mega-evolver without a proper plan, but they didn't have one, the Tyrant, however, did.
DINNNNNGGG, the light broke apart but the Tyrant wasn't there, he was stood beside the Suicune, his fist smashing her in the side of the face as a sucker punch, the water legendary fainted on the spot and the Tyrant followed up with a second mega punch on to her exposed back, her vertebrae splintered from the impact, internal organs rupturing, he turned to move on to his next target, the Entei, leaving the Suicune to die a slow, painful death. The other legendaries shouted and screamed in rage, firing beams of fire, lightning, ice, solar energy and shadow.
DINNNNGGG, the moves hit the Tyrant, but they didn't stop him from slamming against the Entei, the fire legendary, however, used the impact from the tackle to be launched out of the tyrants attack range, tumbling as he landed he sprung to his feet and charged off in the direction of the noise, the other legendaries closed ranks to stop the rampaging pokemon from following, this, in turn, enraged Tyrant further by this so he bellowed out loud as slabs and shards of solid rock lifted into the air and fired themselves towards the legendaries blocking his path, most missed their target. Still, the Articuno received a slab of solid bedrock a meter in diameter straight to the chest, knocking the wind out of it making it fall directly into the remaining stone edge attack, knocking it unconscious, being four times weak to the move.
DINNNGGG, Entei was now entirely out of sight. Still, the remaining legendaries were taking heavy casualties, two of their own were dead or dying, and another two were in no condition to fight anymore. The Tyrant charged once more, the remaining legendaries scattered, Zapdos dragging his fallen brethren behind him in a bid to escape, Tyrant leapt into the air following the airborne legendaries aiming to cripple and kill them, but enemy reinforcements had arrived. The 4 Tapus arrived just in the nick of time, Tapu bulu slamming into the Tyrant with a wood hammer, smashing the pseudo-legendary back to the ground with a crack.
DINNNGGG, the Tapus surrounded the fallen Tyrant as it climbed back to his feet, damaged but not near-fainting levels yet due to its boosted defence stats. Grinding his teeth, the Tyrant bellowed
"Why this destruction?! Why do you attack us?! Because we do not follow under one of yours?!!! IS THAT WHY?!"
The Moltres called back to the Tyrant.
"We attack because of the crimes this city has committed. You know of the ones we speak of, the experiments, the triads, all of it! We have watched as this city committed unspeakable sins, so must be purged before they spread to the other cities of the world!" as the Moltres spoke, the other legendaries ready their moves. Fireblast, hydro pump, moon blast and thunder were all aiming the Tyrant.
DINNNGGG,
"So for the crimes of the few, the many must die, what kind of Tauros dump logic is that!" the Tyrant screams back. Moltres is silent, as other legendaries eye the firebird as if questioning its reasoning as well. They all had different feelings on the subject, but the situation had forced their hands.
"The kind of logic that saves many more lives then it ends, NOW!!!" The legendaries launch their attacks at the Tyrant, he tried to jump, to avoid the worst of the attacks, his sucker punch still is on cooldown, but he found that his leg was trapped in a grass knot. BOOM!
DINNNGGG, the dust settles as the Tyrant stands upright, his mega-form gone, the only thing keeping him from fainting is the increased stats. He coughs, and blood sputters out of his mouth, crimson as the blood coating his fists, his eyes wavered as the legendaries approached him to finish him off.
"Well, I guess this is it..." he murmurs to himself, his last thoughts wander to a pokemon with brown and cream fur, he was glaring up at him as if frustrated that his final thoughts are about him.
"...maybe things will be different… I hope it will be..." he closes his eyes as he crushes the single-use move item he held in his right palm.
"As hard as rock..." Where his final words as the move explosion engulfed both him and everything else in a 100-meter radius.
DINNNGGGG, DINNNGGG, DINNNGGG, the bell-like sounds come more rapidly as the time jump nears completion, pulses of pale blue energy erupting from the girl's body, eyes squeezed shut trying to concentrate on the specific time and place she wants to jump to. She didn't hear the invader approach until it was too late...
"I think that's enough, Miss Celebi" her eyes ripped open as the Entei strolled towards her, his pressure suddenly barreling down on her, causing her concentration to waver. He was standing in his human form, standing upright with his hands behind his back, looking down upon the girl with a surprisingly depressed look on his face.
DING! With one last bell toll, a pale blue orb formed just behind the girl; it slowly started to expand into a portal, a gateway to the past, three steps, that was all that stopped the girl from escaping back in time, giving her the chance to stop this madness from ever happening.
The Entei know that too, his eyes started narrowing as he lunged towards the girl who turned on her heel, stretching her arms out towards the portal. Her fingers were mere millimetres from touching the portal before she was yanked backwards by a clawed hand pulling at the back of her shirt, a low cold tone of voice sounded out, yet it was still sympathetic somehow as if the Entei understood her plight.
"No you don't, what's happened has happened, you cannot change what has already been done, it will only hurt more trying to change it" the girl shudders, looking back all she can see is the sombre face of the legendary.
"You caused this. You wanted this to happen..." stuttering out the words. The Entei growls lowly as his hand grabs the girl by the back of her neck, lifting her with ease into the air, letting her squirm and writhe around helplessly he watches with wild anger burning in his eyes, his face distorting in a fury.
"Of course, I wanted this to happen! I helped fund the research for the experiments. I know what happened in this city, but it was never meant to go so far! Lesser pokemon like that pushed the taboos, and now everything needs to end! To be destroyed!! Let it BURN GIRL! Let this city die!"
"You monster!" the girl screamed, sending spittle flying everywhere as he slowly applies pressure to her neck, she could feel the damage stacking. Knew once she has run out of HP, it will be her body taking the actual damage, she started to struggle, trying to kick, punch, use her moves, but the pressure he is giving off prevents her from using anything.
"Me? A monster? Young women pokemon like the triads are the real monsters of this city, they and lesser pokemon like that damned FREAK are the ones that came up with such nightmares. We are nipping a problem in the bud, killing the sins of the city before it spreads, you should know that let this city be an example, so none follow in its footsteps."
"Somehow geezer, I don't think that will happen whatsoever" A new voice joined the conversation suddenly, the Entei snapped around just in time to see a wall of brown water, 8 foot high crash into him. The muddy water knocked the pokemon to the ground; he dropped the girl in the process however the wave ended up pushing both of the pokemon away from the portal, the newcomer rushed over to help the girl back up on to her feet before ordering her,
"Get to the portal!" Before he turned back to face the now drenched legendary, he was trying to act as a blockade between him and the girl. The Entei rose slowly, coughing up a mouthful of water, he glared at the newcomer with pure rage in his eyes burning bright.
"You will pay for that, you damn lesser being!" he roared in a fury, the water coating his body evaporating in a cloud of steam as fire erupts around him.
"Such as shame every city on the world just heard what you did, funding and backing the experiments, I wonder how other cities will react, well, are reacting right now" the newcomer, a Quagsire who was decked out in a police uniform simply scoffed at the enraged pokemon. Seemingly unafraid of the fire, he pointed to a camera resting on his left shoulder, the camera made a small whirring noise, and a red light flashed on top of it. Signalling it might be transmitting the video data, possibly giving a live feed to somewhere.
The Entei's face paled, the girl would have laughed if the situation wasn't so bleak, but regardless she stopped to watch the pokemon's face twist in sheer disbelief and fear on hearing the news that the whole world now knew his involvement in such dark things. This brought the Quagsire all the time he needed.
"Celeste catch and run!" the Quagsire threw the girl a small USB drive that he disconnected from the back of the camera, she fumbled but managed to catch it. She took a moment to realise what she just caught and more importantly, what is on it, it hit the girl in a sudden burst of realisation.
The Entei however also realised what is on the drive, the terror evaporated as the rage returned tenfold as he realised that he had been tricked. Still, the Quagsire was quicker, using his other arm he threw a mud bomb straight into fire pokemon's face before turning to yell at Celeste, he was angry she had just stood there rooted on the spot.
"Arceus sakes, Cel, run!"
Remembering the situation she was in, Cel turned, the USB drive clutched in her hand as she bolted towards the portal. The portal itself was starting to fade, Cel realised she only had around 30 seconds, probably less before the portal collapsed.
She sprints the remaining distance between her and the portal. Behind her, she heard the Entei roar as he tried to get past the Quagsire, the former trapping him temporarily in a rock tomb. Upon reaching the portal Cel paused before looking back to her rescuer, tears returning to her eyes as she reached her arm out, calling for him to join her in the time jump.
"Vaal!" the Quagsire in question turned, stared and simply shook his head before turning back to the Entei, who had broken out of the rock tomb. Enraged the legendary launched himself at the water type, who braced himself and took him on, buying his friend the time she needed to jump.
Knowing this, Cel turned back to face the portal, she took a deep breath and leapt into the portal. The last thing you hear is the cry of despair from the Entei, the shout of victory from Vaal, but they faded away, as sound, light and everything else faded away leaving nothing but darkness in its place. The girl closes her eyes and lets the power take her where she needed to go, or at least; she hoped, as close as she could get to.