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The World Forge – Mountain Adjacent to Hrothofkiin, Two Weeks Earlier
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"Show me what you already know. Let me taste of your Voice, Champion of Unova." His Rayquaza's semi-mocking tone echoed throughout the volcano. For some reason, Alex could not sense the Legendary Dragon, and it made battling him much more difficult. Even Shruikan could not follow his stealthy movements through the smoke-filled magma chamber.
The inside of the volcano was largely obscured, and had Alex not spent so much time around smoke, both from the Leaf and a certain super powerful dragon, he likely would've coughed himself raw, but it didn't seem to bother him. Whatever the Graybeards had done had changed him, it seemed. He was eager to test his new limits.
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Suddenly, Alex's vision shifted, and he recognized sight through Leo's eyes, which cut through the obscuring smoke, and were all but immune to trickery. Alex gave the mental equivalent of a glance to his Luxray, who preferred to keep his eyes closed and napping.
"Teach me this 'dragon-tongue' of yours and Shruikan's. In return for my Sight Beyond Sight." Alex rolled his eyes. He was really nicknaming his ability. He wasn't the only team member to do so. Blaze echoed that he wanted to speak it as well. The fact that he couldn't speak the language of what his own species supposedly was, was irritating.
Arthur wanted in as well, and soon the entirety of their team had made their wish to understand this strange tongue for themselves known. They had second-hand knowledge of what was going on in this region from Alex's interpretation of what he saw and shared, but it wasn't enough.
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Eventually, Shruikan caved to their wishes, and shared with all of them, the trick many dragon types used to make themselves seem Legendary. Not the Hyper Voice, but the very words it used to shape reality. Tao informed Alex that he would be drawing on his knowledge of this tongue as well. It was a strangely familiar power, but it was also new and unexplored. The Dragon's Tamer could only imagine how the white scaled behemoth was using this new power. He found it odd that the Original Dragon did not seem to recall his own species' language.
Alex glanced at his disguised staff, wondering if what he sensed about Tao, and this language, was true, but he put that thought on hold for now. Tao could wait, his patience was literally infinite. It was good that he focused, for as his eyes had moved, distracted by his internal shenanigans, Rayquaza had decided to strike his distracted pupil, and his Dragon Tail, limned with purplish-blue energy, came hurtling towards Alex.
He was reminded of Lizardon's attack, and had a feeling the similarities were purposeful. Using his borrowed visual prowess, he dodged the tail, which seemed to move in slow motion to Leo's vision. It really was almost unfair how much slower everything else was to him these days. No wonder he napped so often.
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His eyes tracked the Rayquaza, and as requested, he unleashed his Hyper Voice. "Yol! Toor! SHUL!" The Rayquaza raised his brow at his pupil's choice of words as a torrent of bright flame, on par with a Flamethrower, not an ember, hit the dragon squarely in the face.
He was singed, clearly, and even had small, but still irritating burns. So much for fire not harming dragons. The burns healed instantly, but the dragon was still impressed he'd even needed his regenerative ability at all. Every human he had trained over his long life had always started with small Voices.
Then again, he realized, he had never actually properly felt the Voice of a true Dragonblooded mortal. They were rather rare. He'd been in their presence, but none had unleashed their power on him. It sent a chill through his ancient bones, bones so similar to his apprentice's attire. This power, unchecked, could devastate his fellow dragons. It had before. He grumbled inwardly. Tao had been right, the Sages were indeed crucial to dragons, and every other living thing on the planet.
They kept events like that from ever occurring again, trusting that their powerful human pupils would not, if put in a true position of leadership, abuse the powers that set them so far above most of their kin. Oranguru had told the green scaled dragon, on his latest visit to the Swamp, of the human from Unova and his potential, and so far, he had been correct. The human showed no signs of dark temptation. Yet.
He was calm, easygoing, sarcastically witty, and clever. When he needed to be. His use of this newest power would be a truer test of his right to rule. Dragonborn always had an inborn desire to lead. Power was intoxicating to them. That did not always end well for them, and more than one empire had been founded by such a person across the epochs. The lineage of the Draconids may have been shattered by Alduin, but their bloodlines continued all over the world as a result.
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"Good. Very good. You understand the nature of Fire…" The dragon eyed his pupil and Alex shrugged, smirking.
"I had the Graybeard who collected me share his knowledge of stringing a few particular words together…though, I knew what these, when combined, would do." The dragon raised his scaly brow further, and Alex chuckled once more. "Well…it was more like an educated guess."
The dragon stayed silent, hovering in the air as he usually did, resting on his coils.
After several long minutes in the sweltering heat of the volcano, he finally spoke. "I see." The ancient Legendary Dragon took another long pause, during which he sighed. Heavily. "That silly game has prepared you already, somewhat, but you must have noticed by now. The reality of using the Hyper Voice is a bit different, isn't it."
Alex nodded. The first chance he had, he'd tried breathing ice, electricity, speaking words of death, combining words of death into three-word Shouts that, in his experience, were devastating. Many had not worked. The few that did either did something completely different, or didn't have a visible effect.
Moreover, there were words in Norstad's tongue that he simply didn't recognize the origin of, though he knew the meaning. Many times, as he'd mentally examined his new vocabulary, he had noticed that there were often two words, with identical meanings, but were definitely not rooted in prior languages, like so many other languages were. The most universal was 'Common', originating from Galar, but it was standard practice to teach youngsters the language of their homeland as well as Common. In Unova's case, Common was the only tongue they had ever needed.
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Tao's voice echoed in his head again. "When your kinsmen worshiped me, and followed my guidance to govern them, they too spoke the dragon tongue…my memories of that time are…still clouded."
Alex focused on the dragon, as he was being unusually talkative. He'd sensed Tao's thoughts, more or less, through their bond, and this 'dragon tongue' was naggingly familiar to him, and bonded as they were, Alex could tell he did not like this gap in his knowledge. "I shall help you gain clarity…when I return."
He heard the Tao's chuckle echo in his skull. "If you return. You've stepped in it this time, apprentice." The human's unease swelled, but the First Dragon continued, "But, you are more or less prepared…or you will be, once Rayquaza trains you. Listen well, do as instructed, and you will find Victory again."
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The large, coiled green dragon sighed again. "You are not the first Human to have some prior knowledge of this power, but you need to listen, and listen well. This is not the Shouting you know, forget everything you were taught by your fantasy world. The real one is quite a bit different and if you continue blindly with guesses and improper verbiage, you are going to kill someone."
Alex stared at the dragon in return for a moment, and then nodded, deciding to trust Tao's advice as well. Neither of them had steered him wrong. He regarded Rayquaza again, and for the first time, sensed just how much stronger the dragon was. He was a dragon type now as well, but Rayquaza was far older. Wiser. And his looks matched his typing. Alex still appeared as a normal human, albeit one in heavy bone armor.
Alex bowed in the Unovan style, fist to palm, towards the dragon. "Teach me properly. Master."
The dragon grinned, and acquiesced.
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Over the next several weeks, Rayquaza began molding the flood of knowledge Alex had gained, giving it the structure of an actual language. The difference between learning this one and, say, Japanese, was that after each lesson he could use these new words in varying combinations. Between that and repetition, his Hyper Voice grew stronger at an alarming rate. The Graybeards would have feared such rapid progress, but Rayquaza had other fears. Nidhogg, Alduin, The World Eater, this being had many names even amongst dragons. Even with such rapid progress, he feared it would not be enough to stop the prehistorical calamity that had been sleeping for so very long now.
It was through this ancient tongue that Arceus had imbued his dragons with the ability to manipulate their world with ease that no other Pokémon type had. With naught but their Voice, they could stop natural disasters, provide water for humans and Pokémon alike, even heal. Evidently, the humans of old had also discovered it at one point, but thankfully, none had possessed the power of Hyper Voice needed to activate the Words.
The Hyper Voice, when empowered with draconic energy, had the ability to manipulate the other types, provided there was a source for them. This also included fairy energy, though it was unwieldy, and natural sources of fairy energy were extremely hard to find, well guarded, and typically immovable. Alex had then realized that his crystals could serve as such sources, and just like that, he felt the need to collect the rest. He knew he'd eventually need all of them, but had put them from his mind when Tao warned him of greed.
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With this great ability, the dragons of their world had kept the peace, devastated violent armies bent on conquest, and had even battled against the Successor's minions. But few of those yet lived, and those that did, did so in prisons no mortal was likely to find.
Unless they gained knowledge from a fairy king and flew to one such prison that happened to have a village around it.
Alduin was another subject of his training, for the human had blundered onto him, and the imprisoned dragon had finally sensed a source of raw, unrefined power that he could use to regain his own. Even when newly awakened, Dragonborn had immense power buried within them. Alex had felt it during the long hours of training under Rayquaza. The dragon warned him that his newfound strength was indeed finite, but even after hours of Shouting, he felt he could do more, if he needed to.
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To better prepare him against his foe, Rayquaza gave the human and his team a crash course in history. Not human history, full of holes, inaccuracies, lies, and agenda's, but history as viewed through the very eyes of the Sky Guardian, and his kin, over uncountable years.
He started, with Giratina. Ever since the discovery by humanity that the white Arceus both did exist and were actually clones of the true Arceus, which presumably resided within his own dimension, the rumors and legends around the ghostly dragon had only increased.
Some said he was the destroyer, the opposite force of Arceus, who brought creation and life. That could only mean Giratina was the harbinger of death and destruction, surely. The truth was much more complicated, and as they were short on time, Rayquaza gave the young human just enough to whet his appetite for the full legend.
Arceus was as much a force of destruction as he was creation. He did as he pleased. He was the Alpha. From him, he had created Guardians, or as humans called them, Legendary Pokémon. There were twenty-three other such powerful Pokémon, or so Rayquaza said, each coming from a piece of Arceus' infinite power. Despite some being older and some younger, they were all more or less matched when it came to power, but all fell short of Arceus. Twenty-three beings on Tao's level was still a lot to grasp, but Alex filed much of this information away for later. His Gruncle would love it.
Giratina had been designated the Omega, but instead of being created last, had spent much of the early ages of creation as a valued, loved, and trusted friend of the masters of reality, time, and space. Then, came his betrayal. For reasons Rayquaza had glossed over, despite loud protests from Alex and his partners, Giratina had been imprisoned.
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This imprisonment came with a cost, however. Beings that held that kind of power were not so easily un-made, as Arceus soon learned, and thus, an entire dimension had been created to imprison Giratina. From there, he could watch as creation grew ever-brighter. That hadn't been enough for Giratina though, Rayquaza had said, so he had used his dimensional prison to his advantage, infecting one world after another with the essence of his new power, acquired after falling from Arceus' good graces. Shadow energy.
All throughout creation, aberrations had begun appearing. Pokémon sometimes turned inexplicably dark, enraged, powerful, but the cost was high. Their very minds were warped by this new force, and often, those infected with the Shadow would eventually fade back into the nothingness from whence they were created. Some Pokémon possessed the ability to cleanse them, but they were usually on par with Legendary Pokémon, and as such, weren't commonly found. Much like their creator, they required long naps to keep their power from fading entirely.
This Shadow energy was not like the dark type energy some Pokémon had, and such Pokémon were not, automatically, drawn towards those with evil intentions. In reality, it was the very antithesis of existence. Anti-matter. The domain over which Giratina claimed lordship, for not even Arceus could handle the volatile substance with ease. With enough anti-matter, ghost energy, and dark energy, one could manifest the Shadow's power. The Aura Guardians of the past had abandoned such research when the Shadow had started talking to them, but the not so wise had listened eagerly, and grabbed at power as soon as they had the chance.
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Nidhogg was, in Rayquaza's own words, a 'unique' situation. As a Black Salamence, he had been extremely strong, especially amongst his own kin, and like most dragons with such an advantage, had come to rule over them. Norstad had, once, been green and lush, with marshes, ancient forests, and fertile coastal islands.
A human wielding the power of Giratina had come then, and through trickery, infused the black dragon with Shadow. Unlike the Arceans, this wielder had known what she was doing, and thus, the Shadow and the dragon had become one, a perfectly closed heart that science still could not quite replicate.
Nidhogg, then named Alduin by the locals, had entered into an unstoppable frenzy of raw emotion, a true tyrant, a second tyrant, for he first appeared not long after Arceus had Judged the primitive human warlord from Norstad, his Tyrantrum, and his army of bloodthirsty conquerors. Up until his infusion, Alduin had killed the humans that tried to slay or tame him, but otherwise let them go about their insignificant lives in relative peace. Dragons did not often concern themselves with the opinions, or lives, of humans. Many in that age had considered them lesser beings, hampered by their mortality.
Not long after Arceus returned to his rest after losing his Tamer, Rayquaza had been tasked by Tao with helping to put Alduin down once it had been devised that the Renegade's Shadow had infected him. Indeed, forces from across the planet had united, at the Sage's behest usually, and the battle had been epic…but costly. Norstad had become a frozen wasteland after that conflict. Xerneas had gone to sleep, expending her remaining energy to save her land from becoming entirely desolate, and the Dark Times began in earnest.
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Alex had been eager to know more, but his mentor would not budge. The rest of that tale was too long to speak of at the moment. He knew what he needed to know about Nidhogg. Now, he would gain the power that might suffice against his weakened, imprisoned form.
Rayquaza warned that even with the Strunzul, or Storm Voice, Alduin was unlikely to be an easy opponent. He was not at his peak, but each moment he spent free of his cage would see his dark power restored. This would not be a battle to the faint. There was only one outcome now.
In truth, they had simply not possessed the strength to end Alduin back when he was first imprisoned. He had been too unstoppable. After millennia in the Hvergelom though, he might have been weak enough for a Dragonborn to handle. Taming, subduing, and in unfortunate cases, slaying, was something they were literally born to do. A counter-balance to the dragon's powerful Voices, so that one evil minded dragon did not dominate humanity with no hope of ever unseating such a beast.
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Slowly, Alex began to grasp how to properly wield the dragon's tongue, and with that understanding came a new level of strength. The entire fiery island had quaked as he practiced his Hyper Voice, and eventually, even the sky thundered at his words. That was when Rayquaza had deemed him ready.
The red-orange scaled Rayquaza, now somewhat healed after a few items from Alex's bag helped stabilize him, had vacated the pool of blue lava in the caldera known as the World Forge. Rayquaza claimed to live here, but Alex didn't entirely believe him. His mentors were sly, and the details they gave about themselves were usually lies to avoid the question entirely. He didn't know what the Rayquaza was avoiding, but mountains were large, and he was well familiar with just how many caverns they could have.
The two dragons circled the volcano's peak, and once more, the Graybeards had gathered in their courtyard. Something was about to happen, they just did not know what, exactly. "Step into the lava." The green dragon's voice echoed in his head, and Alex nodded.
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He would've stripped, but aside from his helmet, his armor was thoroughly stubborn when it came to removal. He'd found that it would shift when he needed to badly relieve himself, but then it would reform shortly after, and once more be unmovable. As it was, he'd left his bag with Shruikan, as well as his belt.
His team watched him now, from the relative safety of the circular rock ledge surrounding the pool of strange blue lava. Whatever this was, he'd said, he would face it alone. He'd kept his staff however, and it still looked like a greatsword, strapped to his back.
He'd expected heat once he stepped into the pool, but was instead met with a tolerable, invigorating warmth. "You know the Words." His Rayquaza thundered. "Use them."
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Alex glanced at the sky then, and inhaled slowly, then exhaled. Using this attack, he'd learned, required near-perfect breath control. Something he'd long since unknowingly mastered thanks to his shenanigans with the Leaf.
He drew in a deep breath then, and the clouds darkened. His Rayquaza smirked. It was time. Alex's trained Voice rocked the skies. "Naal viilut do dii sos, faal Strun Du'ul engein wah zey!"
The clouds parted with each word of his Hyper Voice, forming a circular hole in the stormy gray clouds. Then, from the center of the hole in the dark clouds, a massive bolt of pure white lightning shot down, striking his form. As his mentor had instructed, he called upon both his psychic and dragon power for this moment. It was a good thing he had, for his form was still very much susceptible to that much raw energy, and being torn apart by it.
He looked down as the pool glowed bright with a fierce bluish-purple color, electricity sparked over it and his own body, and Alex lifted his head to the sky again through the massive pain he felt, and endured. A torrent of dragonflame erupted from the volcano as his human yell became something much deeper, a true roar that ended in fire.
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He looked down again as the pain subsided and his shout ended, but aside from a few admittedly cool looking sparks of electricity arcing over his armored façade at various points across his body, there was no physical change. Mentally though, he felt renewed. The long green form of Rayquaza, followed by the red-scaled form of his younger western counterpart, descended to the lava pool once more.
"The Storm Crown has accepted you, Dragonborn. Cherish it, for in these times, you will be challenged for it. Unique individuals are appearing all over the world lately, even in Norstad." Alex nodded, listening to the dragon carefully. Rayquaza was usually not so forthcoming with facts like this. More and more he had a feeling there was some sort of global communication setup used by Sages and other such powerful Pokémon, but he kept his curiosity in check for the moment.
"So what exactly does this 'Storm Crown' do?" The dragon sighed at the Trainer. Humans truly understood little, and always having to re-educate them was tedious. Then again, now, this one would actually live long enough to pass on this knowledge to many generations, but he too would eventually end. Dragons, while functionally immortal, could still be slain.
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"You are a newly formed Dragonborn, and while your Voice is strong, it alone is not enough. The Graybeards awakened your potential to wear this, and now that you have it, you can harness the power to bring down the World Eater. Doing so will make you worthy of keeping it upon your head." The large green snake brought his giant eye so close to Alex, it towered over him. This seemed to be some sort of 'thing' dragons did for emphasis in Tinvaak.
"I know of the Sage's reluctance to enhance your psychic potential. Dragons, however, are beholden to no Psychic Type. And you, now, are a dragon as well. As you grow older, this 'crown' will keep your body from degrading. It takes time for Humans to gain the immortality of this typing, and many Dragonborn before you have failed to attain it. Mostly because they tried building an empire too early, and were slain in the name of greed."
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Alex looked down, but even then, the giant eye was unavoidable. He started to understand. To dragons like Tao and this Rayquaza, he was a hatchling. All dragons helped younger ones, when they were this small. It was a general fact amongst their kind that their numbers had dwindled during the Dark Times. All newborns needed to be given the chance to fully mature, at least. Where they would live was another matter, but any dragon worth their scales could defend their territory from a young upstart, and if they couldn't, many simply disappeared from the world to pass on quietly, knowing their time was ending. This behavior had been observed by the humans, of course, but none had so far figured out where exactly the elder dragon types went, when their end was upon them.
Once the Pokédex became a standard item to hand out to new Trainers, many of the myths about dragon types had faded. Professor Dracaena, of Fornia supposedly, was the one responsible for discovering most of the new info on them. Nobody knew where her lab was, though, for Caleb Pravus and the Arcean Church had labeled her a suppressive heretic. For Trainers clever enough to find her, it was rumored she gave out rare dragon types.
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"So…it makes me immortal? Just like that? I don't think I believe it…" He met the eye's stare, then.
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"You were just struck by the natural fury of lightning and lived, unscathed, while standing in a pool of molten rock." The dragon smirked as he spoke.
"Good point…" Alex sighed, and Rayquaza rose again as he spoke. "Moreover, you can now summon the power of your crystals, with naught but your Voice. You won't have to rely on your partner's power alone to fire beams of energy at my Scroll Reader."
As Alex awkwardly chuckled, he noticed six bright flashes from the ring around the pool of lava he still stood in. He smirked. His team had, upon hearing this news, attempted to speak the name of the elemental type they controlled, and the result had been Mega Evolution. Supplying the power for all six was taxing, but not as bad as he'd expected.
No longer did they have to wait for him to connect them to the power. They were always connected, and as long as the Plates were on his person, they could draw from them with the right draconic word. Doing so took far more stamina than having Alex help them ascend, though. Still, it was a useful ability to have, when needed. Only Terra and Blaze had done this previously, on their own, but they'd both admitted it had been pure instinct, and had been unable to do it again.
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Alex looked up at the large green dragon once more. "This will likely make us stronger, true, but from what you told me, it took an entire planet's worth of unique and powerful Pokémon to bring Alduin down before. How are seven of us going to manage that?"
The dragon again smirked, and then, hatched a plan.
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Valaskjalf – Present Day, Norstad Region
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Folokraan and Chari launched into the air, and since Fo was still too small to ride, Jess remained on her almost red Charizard, who even then, mega evolved as they headed towards Alex, and the monstrous outline of Alduin in the clouds. The rest of her team had followed her orders, joining Connor's below against the horde of ice and poison snakes. Both Alex and Connor had warned her to never 'split her party', but she had enough partners on hand to help both of them, and she trusted her girls to do their best.
Delphi alone was making short work of the Ekans and Arbok with her cunning mind. Her flames bathed the cliffs in fire, and when that wasn't enough, she and Gar combined their power to rain fiery meteors on the lake. Along with Sophos, she was also distributing items to those who needed them via telekinesis. With the cliffs out of the fight, the snakes soon found themselves in a very large barrel, pelted from above by Articuno's Ancient Power and hit from the shore by the now reinforced team following Connor's orders. Seeing their tides turn, many fled beneath the water before ice or fire or ground attacks could make them faint. Getting her own stash of healing potions and elixirs had been the first thing Jess had done once she'd left Alex for the first half of her own final semester, and now, the decision to build up her own stockpile was paying off.
As her Charizard took her up into the dark clouds, she came upon a sight straight out of a legend passed down from her ancestors. Many Unovans hailed from the supercontinent, and in the northern parts, full of mountains, snow, and danger, the people had, in the absence of society, reverted to following the beliefs of their ancestors, preserved in stories older than any existing civilization.
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It was in this way, with a bit of help from the Old Net, that the stories of the 'old gods' as they were commonly called, lived on. Now, she saw the bone-armored form of the awkward, tall farmer next door facing down a dragon that could probably eat a mountain, and still hunger.
There was something different this time though, and as Jess took a closer look at Alex and his dragon, she sighed. He'd gotten stronger. Again. Just when she finally had an edge thanks to Delphi and Folokraan, he'd gone and unlocked something new.
Then, she saw it with her psychic gaze. His shiny new typing. He'd told her that most humans had normal as a default, and he'd never seen anyone that proved otherwise. Somehow, it seemed, he'd either gained a dragon's power, or awakened what had already been inside. Her own psychic power had given her vision akin to a psychic type's, a useful trick for someone who hadn't memorized the Pokédex. Unlike some Trainers, she'd had a social life, while her brother and Alex spent their days playing games in between bouts of extensively reading Pokédex entries. They claimed it was the best way to study. Given their top tier grades in subjects relating to common Pokémon knowledge, she couldn't really argue.
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The plan they'd cooked up rather quickly soon became void as she realized even an ice attack from Fo would do next to nothing against a beast like this. She felt her lover's focus turn to her for a moment, as his dragon continued the admittedly beautiful spectacle of dodging and weaving between Charge Beams that could likely tear apart mountain ranges. With each dodge, a Dragon Pulse would slam into Alduin's face, hitting his eyes or nose. It was full of soft parts, and breaks in the armor that was his massive scales.
"Don't worry, the plan will still work. Find Terra below. Rayquaza gave us a strategy to bring him down, and we're going to need ice." His focus shifted again as Alduin's maw lit up with electricity, and the dragon, enraged, charged at the irritating gnat with enough persistent rage to keep him attacking constantly. Seeing this, Shruikan began flying ahead of him, only outpacing the massive beast thanks to the speed of his Mega Form.
While Jess was initially worried for them, she'd felt better once she'd heard his Rayquaza returned, and had trained his 'voice'. Whatever that meant. She'd tried using Percy's knowledge too of course, but nothing had happened, and the riders hadn't taught her their songs. She looked down again, and spied the three riders that Lokra had left to keep 'Shor' confined. He was, to all appearances, still encased in ice.
Nodding to herself, she took off towards where she sensed Alex's earth turtle was patiently waiting in the cold. He'd been reluctant to come out during this adventure, as he had no desire to experience winter, and while he had Thick Fat to protect against attacks, that did little to mitigate the freezing temperatures of Norstad. He was, after all, still a grass type, and they hated the cold.
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While his lover may have been worried about the gargantuan dragon snapping at them now, it was in truth what Alex and Shruikan had been goading the Shadow infused dragon into. Blind rage.
In this way he would hopefully waste his power, enough for their final attacks to bring him down. For once, his belt was empty, as the rest of his team was positioned around a perimeter that was several miles long, and just outside the sacred forest. He'd been leading the dragon from the Hvergelom for several long minutes now, mocking him with his words with each missed bite from the massive Thunder Fangs and Charge Beams. Just one hit was likely to seriously injure both of them but Shruikan was too small for Alduin's slow attacks.
He glanced back again, and the scene had not changed. Alduin was still furious, and still using his Thunder Fang to snap uselessly at where he thought his opponent would be. He was having a hard time adjusting for the speed of Shruikan's Mega Form, and while he was smaller, he was definitely faster. Though, as their course had been somewhat straight, the massive dragon had gained more and more speed. It seemed, in a straight line and with enough build-up, a dragon this massive could indeed still be fast. Alex expected no less of a black Salamence.
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Finally, Alex took Shruikan down below the clouds, emerging right over the remains of the Arcean's ship. He felt his team sound off as they caught sight of them, and then felt the numerous reactions to the sight of an enormous Black Salamence descending right behind them from the clouds, attacking with blind fury. The massive jaws snapped shut again with an ominous crash of teeth, but both Alex and Shruikan were focused on getting where they needed to be, as quickly as possible.
"He's using a Charge Beam!" The warning came from Arthur, who had perched in one of the forest's trees. Already in his own Mega Form, as were the rest of them, he began moving towards where he felt the dragon was likely to fall. His role was the most important, for out of all of them, only he possessed a weapon capable of truly ending Alduin's rage. Or so they hoped.
Now only feet from the snow-covered ground, Shruikan turned in mid-flight, and saw the familiar build-up of the move in question. He launched his own Charge Beam into the sphere, and the cancellation of the moves caused an explosion within the beast's mouth. The dragon roared in pain, and Alex spied serious burns on the insides of his mouth. "Hmm…not so fireproof on the inside…noted."
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Pained as he was, the angry, hungry, and now wounded dragon slammed into the ground, from his perspective, out of nowhere. He let his left front limb stop his momentum, and as he slid along the frozen tundra, he made giant hills of ice and dirt in his wake. Alduin looked around, and paused as what little of his former self remained stared in horror at the wasteland his home had become. Even when he'd been locked away, it had never been this bad. What little ember of hope had remained for his homeland faded. It was all dead. Buried in snow. Gone. There was no point in holding back anymore.
The dragon's shock was short-lived, as he felt a super-effective attack slam into him. The gnat had launched a Dragon Pulse, rather than use his own electric power against his. If he wanted a battle of type advantages, that was no problem for Alduin. He raised his massive, spined tail and it began to glow with the purplish-blue energy of dragon type moves.
"Dragon Pulse!" The command came from Alex who, atop Shruikan's head, had a good view of the dragon. Shruikan, Blaze, and Chari all responded, and as the Dragon Tail came moving forward, it faltered, and the power faded as Alduin's tail was left minus the power he'd summoned. It slammed into the ground uselessly, as Shruikan once more avoided it.
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The dragon's sparking eyes looked around, but failed to find the source of the other two pulses in the kicked up snow and dust. Then, he remembered he was on the ground. His wings rose to propel himself up once more, and then stopped, frozen in place. He looked up only to find his wings lifting into a Blizzard attack, followed closely by three more Dragon Pulses. The attacks tore through the thin wing membranes, and he roared in pain. A quick look at the damage told him he wouldn't be flying for a while. That was fine. These gnats would taste just as good on the ground.
Another Charge Beam lit the area, as the dragon shot in vain at where he suspected his enemies were hiding. The massive torrent of electricity tore a half circle of destruction in the landscape just north of the sacred forest, but Blaze and Chari had kept moving as soon as they'd attacked. Because they had such useful moves, and were ranged special attackers, they were key to bringing this dragon down. Now that he couldn't fly, Alex felt victory was more realistic. When he'd seen the sheer size of the World Eater, he'd been half convinced they would fail, and everyone would die, but now…they had a chance.
As the Charge Beam faded, the Dragon Pulses came once more, from three different directions. Furious, Alduin ignored the other two, and charged the one he could see. Shruikan. Alex and his dragon had chosen their location in his eye line for a reason, though.
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The earth shook whenever he breathed, and after millennia of such things, Alduin rarely took notice of it anymore. He flew in battle, and did not fear ground attacks, he'd grown in Norstad, and did not fear the ice, and dragons alone could not hope to outmatch him. Not with the power the witch had bestowed on him. He'd been reluctant to accept it at first, but he could not, in that moment, recall why.
It was as the ground shattered that he remembered the warning of the Black Witch. If he stayed on the ground against clever opponents, he would die. She had seen it. Suddenly finding himself knee deep in rubble, and at least fifty feet below the surface of Norstad's tundra, the dragon snarled, deep and low. Deep as the hole was, his head still poked out of it, and he glared at the smaller Salamence, and his rider who were standing on the new cliff's edge, smirking at him. He was tiring of these games. This Dragonborn had more than one creature at his command, and this fight, while initially in his favor, was rapidly turning.
He saw the earth turtle with the massive Ash Tree in the center of its shell stomp out through the snow, where it was soon joined by four other Pokémon, all surrounding the new pit the turtle had created. It was large, for a gnat, and powerful judging by the size of the hole its Earthquake had caused. But that would not be enough.
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Shadows began rising from Alduin's scales, and a purple fog leaked from his mouth. He'd never gotten a chance to truly use the dark powers the witch had granted him, but now was as good a time as any. He would not be imprisoned again, and if he was truly to fall here, he would make the songs of his death worthy of his glorious life.
The dragon roared, and a foul stench filled the air, one Alex, Shruikan, and Blaze were all instinctively familiar with. They'd scented it before, though this was far more…pungent. Lizardon had given off a similar stink…right before mega evolving.
"All of you! Attack! NOW!" Using his Voice rather than telepathy, there was no hesitation. Even Fo joined in with her own Ice Beam alongside the Taijitu swirls of numerous dual-typed spheres of power that were even then slamming into the dragon. Many had a type advantage over him…and yet, they did little to stop Alduin.
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One massive black claw gripped the edge of the pit. Then another. The dragon's head rose further from it as well, into the sky, and where once there had been remarkable eyes of pure electricity, there were now only two vacant sockets leaking what could only be described as pure Shadow energy. Rayquaza had been correct then. Someone had infected Alduin with it, and now, he was benefiting from it.
Alex raised a hand, and the attacks stopped. The dragon continued to rise over them. His wings stretched once more, and blobs of shadow filled in the holes in his wings. "Umm…Alex…do something!" Jess' voice filled his mind, but he stayed motionless. They needed perfect timing. There wouldn't be a second chance.
The dragon rose further, and his horned head blocked out the midnight sun of Norstad, blanketing the upturned snowy battlefield in darkness similar, but different from the night's. The dragon opened his maw, and a ball of pure black energy formed within it. Anti-matter.
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Basic physics was a staple of any education in their world, and one did not need to be a scientist to know that an attack composed of that many antiparticles slamming into normal ones would create an explosion far greater than one caused by slamming a single regular particle into its' opposite. The ball forming in this dragon's maw could, quite possibly, literally eat the world, and at the very least, decimate Norstad. It seemed the ancient people of Norstad had been quite literal when they named him 'World Eater'.
Alex nodded at Shruikan. Now was the time. He raised a fist and shouted a word, and from the sky, a bolt of white lightning struck and illuminated both of them. "Dragon Rush!" Shruikan shot forward, sparking all over, and limned in the energy of his kind, straight towards the dragon, but as he came close, his trajectory shifted, and the attack shot past the dragon's head with no effect.
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Jess stared for a moment, shocked, awed, and then terrified. The attack had missed, and that ball of death was only growing. Yet, all she sensed from Alex was calm, and intense focus usually only required for Taijitu moves…suddenly suspicious, she glanced at the massive dragon's neck, and grinned.
While Alex wished to comfort his lover, and the few others he sensed watching this battle, he didn't have the luxury. He and Shruikan had a part to play, if Arthur was to have a chance. The electricity still sparked over them, and Shruikan held the power.
Then, with a roar of 'Dovah', the smaller dragon shot back towards Alduin. Instead of a Dragon Pulse or Claw however, his fangs were limned with the bluish-purple energy this time. They sank into the scales of the dragon's neck easily, and then, Shruikan's form began to grow. Fifteen feet…twenty…as he absorbed the millennia of built up draconic energy, Alduin rapidly shrunk. Rayquaza had not lied when he said the prison had weakened the beast. Only consuming a Dragonborn would let Alduin's body stay as large as it had been. Now, Shruikan and his rider took a piece for themselves, leaving the dragon withered.
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He was still large, almost forty feet tall, and as Shruikan's fangs left his neck, he began to plummet into the pit. Arthur, who had jumped onto Shruikan and then Alduin, suddenly found himself without a dragon to stand on.
That too however, was part of the plan. Sacred Sword alone was not enough…but a Sacred Sword attack from several stories up might be. Arthur glanced at the shriveled dragon below him. He was smaller, his muscle gone, and his skin hung on the ancient bones of his frame loosely. Their eyes met, and the World Eater closed his as the Shadow left him. He knew this was his end. Arthur smirked. His friends had given him a perfect target. Now, all he had to do was let gravity make the hit connect.
He poured as much power as he could manage into his right arm, and then combined the fighting type energy with his psychic power. Neither had an advantage, but Sacred Sword was not a normal move, and the additional psychic power only sped his form towards his target. He was a streak of blue and blinding gold in an otherwise gray sky as he shot down towards his prey with a burst of speed.
He drove the sword home, into the dragon's skull, right between his massive horns, and his Sacred Sword cut through Shadow, scale, sinew, bone, and then brain. With a final, terrible, almost pitiable cry, the World Eater departed from the mortal plane. His last act was to launch the death sphere he'd been building up towards the sky. Eventually, it would connect with something that would spark a reaction. What it met first though, was Arthur's second sword arm. Satisfied that he'd stabbed the dragon's brain, he'd launched himself back upwards at the ball of antimatter and with a perfect thrust, the ball of darkness dissipated harmlessly before the Light.
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Alex recalled the rest of his team, save Arthur and Shruikan. His Gallade floated victoriously over the pit, Excalibur raised in victory, as Shruikan landed beside Chari, Folokraan, and her rider. They had all had attacks hit the dragon, the victory belonged to all of them. Alone, they would've surely perished.
As Alex dropped from Shruikan's new lofty height of thirty feet, at his best guess, and landed on the snowy ground with a thump, he felt himself immediately tackled into it by a familiar presence, in feel if not looks. "Forget what I said earlier. I'm glad you got stronger. You had me worried for a minute…"
Alex sighed, relaxing into the snow which, against his otherworldly garb and 'enchanted' armor, felt cool, not freezing. He brushed a brown lock of hair from her face, only to realize it was mostly braided now, not unlike the other riders. Evidently, they'd accepted her into their fold quite easily. It hadn't been especially hard, as she now looked like a native, retained her beauty, and had a knack for battling. Upon hearing Unova had many female Trainers, held in just as high regard as their males, some of the riders had considered, for the first time, making use of the outside world's technology. Having multiple magical Pokémon on hand was, as demonstrated, incredibly useful in preventing world-ending disasters. Perhaps if they had held more Pokémon, then Norstad would've been able to handle this reawakened menace with its own power.
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"Pfft. No need to worry. This is what top-tier Trainers do." He let his speech switch to telepathy, which was by its very nature, far more intimate. "Besides…you should know by now, I'd die, gladly, before I let anything harm you. Even world-devouring dragons." She rolled her eyes, but her face flushed regardless, which was all he'd been trying to see, really. A few weeks apart hadn't seemed all that long, but he had, quite literally, missed her face.
Once the following session of intense kissing had ended, the two headed towards the pit, and looked down. Shruikan and Arthur joined them. Alex spoke softly, glancing down at their fallen foe. "I know he was destruction incarnate…but it's still a shame such a powerful dragon had to die like this…"
A mental voice thundered in their skulls, and the four looked up to see a pair of Rayquaza descending from the clouds, one crimson colored, and one that was jade. "Do not mourn him. His tale may seem tragic, but that traitorous egg-breaker deserved far worse than this. We will take care of his remains." The green dragon winked at Alex as he and his red counterpart used their combined telekinesis to lift the massive form from its grave. "We will bury him where he hatched. It is the very least we can do…and even that he does not deserve." As they eyed the body, Jess winced in disgust as the green Rayquaza reached a claw into the dead dragon's skull, through his eye socket, and pulled from it a small, shining orb. He tossed it to Alex, who pocketed it in his bag without a word.
Alex and the pair of Legendary Dragons had discussed what was to be done in the event of their success, namely with the World Eater's corpse. They had also made contingency plans for failure, but those were no longer needed. Alex had been the one to argue against burning the corpse. Dragons had their own rituals for death, and while he did not know them, Tao had offhandedly mentioned it during the training on his extra-dimensional plane. The pair of Legendary Dragons would set what remained of his essence to rest, and then they would make good use of the World Forge, and all that spare dragonbone.
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With the body safely handled, Alex and Jess headed back to Valaskjalf on their Charizard. Shruikan was exhausted, and needed time for his body to adjust to the sudden growth spurt. The rest of his team was tired as well, but Blaze always had strength to fly with Chari. Many of his partners had fired multiple Taijitu attacks, and Alex had no illusions that, without them, and the final Sacred Sword, it wouldn't have been enough to end Alduin.
The village was mostly intact, save for where a few of the ice snakes had climbed up. As they reappeared, Alex withdrew the orb Rayquaza had tossed to him. Jess eyed him quietly, as he'd promised to explain it later. As they flew over the Hvergelom, every eye in the village once more was drawn to the lake.
The orb in Alex's hand flared, and then shot forward, arcing over the village, and slamming into a stone wall behind the main hall. Runes appeared around it, a door became visible, and the massive stone slabs that comprised it slid open.
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For the first time in quite a few centuries, a male Voice rang through the village of the riders. "Behold, Riders of Valaskjalf! The way to Uppsalir is open once more! Your charge remains the same: guard it with your lives." Shor's Voice reached all of them, but none moved towards the shining doorway. Beyond it, even more red and gold leaves could be seen. Green, untouched grass made a path through it, but beyond that, the view was obscured by light.
Lokra's massive Articuno met them over the lake. "You…you retrieved Woden's Eye? We thought it lost forever." Alex nodded, and the Chief Flyer looked him over again, as if just then gaining a measure of true respect for him. Both siblings had spoken of his strength, but Lokra was the kind of woman that believed what her eyes told her, and the Trainer had not appeared all that intimidating when they'd first met. Strong, yes, enough for breeding, but respect was another matter entirely. "You will be sung about for all of our days…Dovahkiin."
Alex chuckled. "Thank you. I've always wanted that, honestly. Your songs will outlive all of us. They've done so before."
Lokra glanced at Jess then, and sighed. "You were right. I will not doubt your words again. All of you, despite being foreigners, did everything in your power to keep this village intact. To keep this world intact. You may consider the Riders of Valaskjalf your friends until your days end."
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Alex smirked, and enjoyed the moment, but soon, the smirk faded to a look of dark determination. "There is one more matter we must address…the changeling in your midst…"
The two women followed his eyes, and Lokra's narrowed. "Aye, you speak true. The deceiver will pay for his crimes. None may imitate the Gods, and live."
The three flew towards where Folokraan had imprisoned the 'mighty' Shor with her Ice Beam. The armored man stayed silent as they landed, and then grinned, showing blinding white teeth once he saw Alex.
"You've much to answer for, Pravus." Alex said, as he made a three-point landing from Blaze's neck. "You can't wriggle free this time. Unova knows your true colors, as does Kalos, and by now, the world. Your cult will never recover from this."
"Won't it?"
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The voice came from behind them, and not from the figure trapped in ice. Alex turned, and glared. Of course he'd escaped. Arceans always managed to slip free. "No tangible evidence exists to tie the deaths in Kalos to me, or my people. They're casualties of the mighty Yveltal…and as for Unova…well, the world knows how you people view my glorious western coastline. Your opinions will be seen as bias, and nothing more." Pravus was floating as he spoke, and the disguise was gone. His figure was outlined in darkness, and his grin was entirely too confident. "Imagine what they'll think when they hear fair, equal Unova has denounced Fornia for their beliefs."
Alex raised a brow. "We haven't-"
Pravus cut him off with his sinister, almost greasy baritone. "Oh but you have." He held up a black baton that had hung at his side, and presumably served as a base for the hammer he'd used earlier. He clicked a button just above the handle. Alex's voice came out, easily recognizable, but filled with pauses, and clearly out of context. "I- swear, I will- see- the- Arceans- fall! Their- cult will never recover from this!"
The Prophet laughed as he saw the rage in the boy's eyes. "You must thank your granduncle for me, he gave me the idea. Having recording devices on hand is so very convenient…"
"Yol! Yolos! Sook!" Though his Shout was quick, Pravus' form easily moved to the side as a spinning torrent of flames shot up around the space he'd just been floating in. "I see you've learned a new trick…irritating, but it matters not. You cannot hit me…and I have better places to be."
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He moved like Arthur did in the air, quickly, and able to suddenly adjust his trajectory. In the space of an eye blink, he was out over the Hvergelom again, and heading straight for the newly made door. Alex made a move to follow, as did Jess, but Lokra held them both back with a hand on their shoulders. "Patience, young ones. Do not think us unprepared for filth of his kind."
Alex looked at her. "He's after Xerneas! If he gets through that door, he may very well attain immortality!"
Lokra shook her head. "You should listen well to my words, Dovahkiin. I know my home better than you do. Besides…our King wishes a word with that one."
Alex and Jess shared a look. "King?"
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Faarangar, Hall of The King - Uppsalir, Norstad Region
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Pravus sailed victoriously through the gap in the stone walls. He'd discovered the spot days earlier, but had known it needed a key of some description. He'd wheedled the information from some of the more infatuated riders, about the key's location. The dragon Nidhogg held it, and had done so since his imprisonment. The way to Uppsalir had been closed for millennia, and though the riders were loath to admit it, without the Life Pokémon's power freely flowing from that sacred place, Valaskjalf would eventually suffer the fate of the rest of Norstad. Only the Articuno had prevented it thus far.
He ignored the beauty of the place, the large, gorgeous trees with their equally gorgeous leaves, the warm, green grass that seemed to invite him to lie upon it and rest. His Darkrai, ever present in his shadow, propelled him through all of it, until they came before a massive hall. "What is it? Xerneas? Why do you stop?" Pravus's words were directed towards his 'mount', but his questions were answered as thunder boomed, and lightning cracked the sky.
A massive torrent of volatile plasma arced down from the top of the hall, and slammed into the ground before Pravus's hovering form. It was a figure, male, by the build, clad in a dark brown cloak and hood. He rose slowly from the smoking crater his arrival created. A strong baritone echoed through the glade surrounding the nordic hall. "No further will ye tread here, Shadow minion."
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Pravus glared at the man. "Who are you, to bar my way?"
A light breeze blew the hood back, revealing an all-too-familiar face. Long, red hair, a long, red beard, and burning crimson eyes met his own. For the first time in a long while, fear crawled up Pravus' spine. The man grinned, letting the cloak fall behind him, and as it fell, he drew a weapon.
It was, of course, a hammer. The hammer. The true God of Thunder raised it towards the ever-present gray clouds that surrounded Norstad, and bolts of electricity arced down towards it. Electricity sparked over the God's heavily muscled and golden armored form. He gripped the hammer by a sturdy looking bit of leather hanging from the short handle. The weapon began to spin, glowing with the white-blue shine of lightning as it did, and Pravus swore, silently.