Remnants of the Great War [40]
The 1 year anniversary for this fic totally crept up on me, honestly thought I'd have finished the first major arc by now! Thank you to all who have read this far!
Land of Rota - Tree of Beginning
Greninja's prone body smashed into the ground and rolled to a stop beside Lord Vandrick's feet, its tongue splayed across the grass unmoving.
"Tch," he said, before recalling it.
Blood dripped down his arm from an Ice Shard from Glaceon that his Sylveon hadn't managed to fully protect him from, and the moment he replaced Greninja's pokéball back on his belt, he clutched his arm painfully.
Garchomp's fin was still outstretched in front of him from delivering the final blow, and he growled with resolute satisfaction.
Cynthia stood behind him, sporting only a shallow red scratch on her forehead from one of Chesnaught's rogue thorns. Lapras had managed to almost completely block the attack, but minor injuries were inevitable against such a ruthless and powerful opponent. Though powerful as he may have been, being AZ's right hand, Greninja was now the fourth pokémon of his to fall to Garchomp. They'd been trading relatively evenly, but once Cynthia released Garchomp, it was like he'd hit a brick wall.
"I'd thought myself at least competitive with the Champions… This has been a sobering experience," Vandrick said grimly. "Then again, you aren't quite like the others, are you?"
"That remains to be seen," Cynthia said coldly.
Vandrick sighed and rested his hand on another one of his pokéballs, though he did not pull it from his belt. "Either way, I've failed in my mission. I've been stalled here for far too long. And given this sudden downpour and the chaos unfolding to the south, it seems my master has long since engaged Sir Aaron."
Garchomp took a threatening step forward. If the battle was over, then he intended to act on their victory. Vandrick eyed him, and his grip tightened around his pokéball.
"I hope you don't think I'm going to let you get away after everything you've done."
"Ah, but that's precisely what I'm lamenting. I haven't actually done anything."
"Hurting one of my precious subordinates is more than enough to incur my wrath." Cynthia's gaze was ice-cold, without a hint of amusement.
Vandrick nodded, as if accepting his fate. Over the course of the battle, his suit had become wrinkled and dirty, and his formerly pristine black hair was unkempt on his head. He looked defeated. "That would spare me from having to face my master, dishonored," he mused.
"If you're done fighting, then there is one thing I'd like to ask," Cynthia said. "I've been told the weapon your master used during the Great War has been fired again and is on its way here. How long do you think it will be until it arrives?"
The corners of Vandrick's mouth twitched, and for a moment it looked like he'd smiled, though his face conveyed no mirth. "Ah, so you already know about that. Well, pardon me, Lady Champion, but I must correct you. That weapon was never used during the Great War. It was fired for the first time today."
Cynthia's brows furrowed. "But the Calamity—"
"Not my master's doing. History is written by the victors, as it were. With a world torn asunder after the Calamity, humanity needed a villain to despise." He hesitated. "Personally, I'm not surprised the Guardians pinned such a disaster on my master. He certainly desired their annihilation either way, and still does. But to answer your question, I couldn't say how long it will take for that weapon's payload to reach Rota. It's never been tested, after all."
Despite the circumstances, Cynthia's mind raced. Her Pokétch had been blowing up during her battle with Vandrick. Interpol's satellites had caught the mass of energy moving west and predicted it'd reach Rota within the hour. But N and Zinnia had reported a far more accurate and chilling time limit.
Ten minutes.
In ten minutes, Rota would be razed from the surface of the earth.
Yet despite that, her current focus was on Vandrick's answer to her question. Specifically, on the party responsible for the Calamity. If it wasn't AZ, then it must be what Albrecht had told Ash and Sabrina… He'd said a pokémon of infinite light and a pokémon of infinite darkness, seeking the Plates, would destroy the world. But Sir Aaron was called a hero for sacrificing himself to end the war… Everything she'd learned over the past month…no, everything she'd learned since she'd first started studying the secrets of this world that those in power seemed so desperate to cover up, came to the fore in her mind. The Paragon Organization… he reacted when he heard me say that name, but not because he'd known of us. Could it be…?
Cynthia's eyes flicked back at Vandrick to make sure he was still there, and luckily he was.
If I want answers, then at the very least I need to survive this battle! According to Sabrina, Cameran Palace had been fully evacuated, but the fighting in front of the Palace still persisted, seemingly with neither side knowing that it'd been. Ten minutes to get them all away!
Her entire body suddenly spasmed as the ground beneath her feet trembled, sending vibrations up through her feet. A colossal bang ripped through her ears behind her, and she wheeled around. Garchomp had already leaped over her protectively, but even he was speechless at the sight before them. A blazing nova of white energy had erupted within the forest, blooming skyward, directly where Sir Aaron and AZ had been fighting.
That's electricity… That couldn't possibly be Ash, right?
Garchomp growled, snatching her attention. Though he was still protecting her, he was looking back at where Vandrick was.
The man was gone. Clearly, he knew how to use a distraction when one presented itself.
"Shit!" Cynthia cursed. She almost considered going after him, but the ten-minute time limit remained at the forefront of her priorities. She gritted her teeth. Saves me the trouble of having to watch him. He's a known entity in Kalos so the only place he can go now is underground. She mounted Garchomp's back before he'd even finished crouching down. "Get back to the palace! All of Rota is in danger!"
Garchomp obliged, bulleting into the sky. The blaze of electricity was beginning to die down, and as much as she wanted to make sure Ash was alright, Cynthia pressed onward toward the palace.
The imminent apocalypse was more than enough to make her forget that this was her first time outside in a whole month.
Land of Rota - Cameran Palace
Sabrina's eyes snapped open, her pupils quickly dilating to accommodate the stormy darkness Rota was steeped in. Though the Guardians had been able to hold the bridge, Guardians still raced to and fro in front of her. None paid her any mind, basked as she was in the shadows of a large oak.
She stood up. She hadn't been sleeping or anything and she wasn't particularly fatigued. But it was easier to perform her job without distractions.
Through her telepathy, she had found Anabel and Cynthia's Lucario and routed them toward the evacuation point along with the rest of the citizens of Rota. Due to Albrecht, or rather, Sir Aaron's fissure that encircled all of Rota, the evacuation was moving slower than it otherwise should have, since the Guardians needed to help everyone across. She had to wonder why Sir Aaron had created such a thing since it was clearly intentional. Was it really just a massive strategic blunder on his part?
In any case, now that Anabel had already moved beyond Rota's borders, she could breathe a bit easier. However, that feeling of relief was easily eclipsed by a report she'd gotten from Sylvester. A mass of energy, the size of a skyscraper at least, was currently heading west, and each minute that passed by only lent more credence to the theory that its target was Rota.
And the most recent message from N gave a far more harrowing assessment. They only had ten minutes to evacuate all of Rota before it hit.
By the sounds of it, the weapon had fired enough energy to vaporize a city. Yet Rota was far smaller than the average city. What could thousands of people possibly do in ten minutes to save themselves from such a sweeping fate? Most didn't even know what was coming. There were still one or two hundred Guardians engaged with the enemy in front of the palace!
And Ash was still with Sir Aaron and AZ. With each passing minute, the battle only seemed to worsen. The explosions only got brighter and louder. The latest one seemed to decimate an entire section of the forest. Luckily, she could tell he was still okay. Or, at least, alive. Her needle hadn't vanished yet.
Now, she needed to decide what to do next. Cynthia was on her way here, but it would take her several minutes to get here. And with less than ten minutes to spare, she couldn't simply stand back and wait for orders. She needed to make her own move, now.
Now!
Right now!
Just do something!
Sabrina clenched her teeth, yet she didn't take one step forward.
Decisive action had never been her forte. And when she did take decisive action, the decisions she made tended to be wrong.
Like a month ago, when Cynthia had whisked her and Ash back to Paragon Island. What had she done in response? Oh yeah. Almost killed her.
Now she stood here pitifully waiting to receive a command from that same woman.
Her usual What would Ash or Anabel or Zinnia or N do exercise seemed hopeless too. Right now, she was far too shaken, or rather, far too paralyzed to come up with anything. Even giving up wouldn't work. She could sit back down and accept her death, but that would mean hundreds dead along with her. But even that was nonsensical, since she could easily teleport herself to safety.
It occurred to her now that she was extremely good at coming up with excuses. How long had she just spent indulging in self-criticism and wallowing in despair? At the very least, she knew her fellows in Paragon would never be doing what she was doing now in a situation like this. They'd be trying to do something, no matter how fruitless it may have seemed.
This was even more self-criticism. Wasn't it about time she turned her mental knives on someone, or something, other than herself? As it happened, there was a massive problem approaching Rota right now that could use another knife or two sunk into it.
At times like these, it was easy to assume she was alone. Despite her existence as a psychic, she was still surprisingly blind and dumb. She only ever saw what was right in front of her.
Reaching around to the back of her belt, she unclipped her third pokéball. Though strictly speaking, this wasn't a Poké Ball.
It was a Master Ball.
She released its inhabitant into the world, and the creature swooped through the air in front of her. No matter how many times she shared its presence, she could never not feel overwhelmed by its power. Every time she saw it, she couldn't help but feel a bit of fear, knowing she could not best it.
But she was its trainer. And that came with it a host of responsibilities. One of the most important of all was gathering the necessary information needed to issue a judicious command.
Sabrina's psychic awareness spread across all of Rota. She suddenly became conscious of each and every soul that still resided here, be they Guardian, enemy, or pokémon. She couldn't differentiate one from another, but she could pinpoint their rough locations. It was accurate enough for what she wanted to do. There were three hundred and sixty-two people or pokémon still in Rota right now. Most were concentrated in front of the bridge to Cameran Palace, still battling it out. Though the existences of AZ, Ash, Sir Aaron…and Sir Aaron's Lucario?—burned like fire in her mind.
She spread to consciousness even further out to encapsulate the evacuation point, and thousands more instantly populated her mind. They were still too close to Rota. They needed to move too.
A sharp pain throbbed throughout her head, but she ignored it. This was certainly stretching the limits of her capabilities, especially with both gauntlets still activated. If she survived this, she'd probably be knocked out for a day or two. At the very least, she'd probably lose her vision for the better part of a day once she awoke. Oh well.
It was the duty of a trainer to make their pokémon's job as easy as possible, right? While a pokémon fights against the opponent before them, its trainer has a scope of the entire battle and can use their superior sight to issue the most intelligent commands.
Even though her pokémon was more than capable of doing what she just did, and better too, probably, Sabrina still felt like this was her task to complete. It was the least she could do.
She transferred the psychic map over. Then…
"Use Teleport, please."
Land of Rota - East of Cameran Palace
"Ash! Ash! Get up!"
Ash felt his body jostle as a firm hand shook him from his stupor. He was on the ground, but he pushed himself over.
Riley's face stared back down at him, knit in concern. "Ash!" he said with relief once he realized the younger man was alright. "We need to get out of here now!"
"Riley," Ash mumbled, standing.
Immediately, he realized that the clearing they'd been fighting in had been completely decimated. Not a single blade of grass or shard of wood could be found across its entire expanse; all that stretched out before him was scorched dirt.
Luckily, that made finding Pikachu easy, and Ash ran over to his fallen friend, lying on the ground in front of him. "Pikachu!" The mouse was still breathing, but he was completely spent, unconscious as if he was the one that'd been defeated.
Ash grimaced and pulled out his pokéball, recalling him. It wasn't something he had to do often, and he always felt a bit naked without Pikachu on his shoulder.
Riley glanced around the clearing warily as he moved toward Ash. "Something terrible is headed for Rota right now, Ash. Sabrina told me about it. After I helped Queen Ilene escape the palace, she instructed me to come here and extract you. If we stay any longer, we'll be destroyed by AZ's weapon!"
"Wait," Ash said.
As he did, two more bodies began to stir. Beside them, Sir Aaron's body flickered, and he raised himself. Across the clearing, in a crater of blackened stone, AZ's gnarled hand dragged across the ground.
Of course that didn't finish him…
Riley just now seemed to notice his liege, and he ran over and knelt by his side. "My King!" His hands stretched out to support him, but horror seeped upon his face.
Sir Aaron looked like an old man. Despite his form being made entirely of Aura, age saturated his every feature. His hair was long, gray, and tangled. Wrinkles covered his face, and his limbs were thin and weak. With weathered eyes, he looked up at Riley as the young man cradled him. "Sir Riley," he wheezed, his voice barely perceptible.
"I'm here, my King. We must leave this place immediately."
An animalistic grunt echoed across the clearing from the other side. "And what makes you think I'll allow that?" AZ snarled, limping toward them. His chest was covered in black soot and his hair hung wildly around him, yet rage still burned in his eyes. "You haven't killed me yet. I still have enough strength to put you down."
Ash jumped to protect them, but his stomach turned at the sudden movement, and he almost pitched forward. He was in no condition to fight anymore.
Before he could pull another pokéball from his belt, Sir Aaron locked eyes with AZ. He raised his hand, and a gleaming chain of Aura suddenly shot from his middle finger and wrapped itself around AZ. AZ growled and tried to break free, but before he could, more chains lashed themselves around him. They snaked and tightened around him, forcing him to his knees, burying themselves into the ground to lock him in place. He roared, and the chains trembled against his strength.
Azure light glowed in Sir Aaron's eyes and his hand remained outstretched to keep AZ restrained. He glanced over at Ash. "Come here, Ash."
"Sir Aaron," Ash breathed.
"We do not have much time. I, even less so. This is as far as I go."
"My King!" Riley cried, anguish burning on his face.
"Listen to me, Ash. There is so much more I haven't yet told you, but there's no time to convey it all. Here, at the end, I'll tell you this." He locked eyes with Ash, forcing his attention away from the seething beast AZ across the clearing. "I told you I'd been watching you for a long time. That I was a fan of yours. The truth is, I've been watching you ever since you set out on your pokémon journey at age ten. Always from afar, but I watched you closely to see if you were the one I've been looking for."
Ash frowned and glanced over at Riley, but the Guardian was listening just as closely.
"Hope turned to conviction after I met you at Cameran Palace all those years ago. That you are the man I've been looking for."
"What do you mean?" Ash couldn't help asking.
"The war I told you about. The mad scramble for the Plates. The Great War was just one aspect of that eternal struggle. After meeting you personally, I have come to believe that you will be the one to end this war."
"But…"
Aaron stared up at him, resolve blazing in his azure eyes. "You have one Plate now, but you must seek out the others. Across the world in the wild, and from other Platebearers. Only when the Plates are united will this conflict finally end."
"My King," Riley said. "The unity of Arceus' Plates… Do you speak of the incarnation of Arceus himself?"
"That's right. Only Arceus can end the war. But he cannot do it alone. To that end, he must have a champion." Sir Aaron locked eyes with Ash again. "That champion is called the Origin Child."
Ash could only stare back at Sir Aaron in disbelief. Harnessing the power of one Plate was hard enough. But he was to bear all of them?
"I know it sounds like I'm forcing this fate on you. And in a sense, I am. It is my own personal desire that you rise to this destiny. For three thousand years, I sought the Origin Child, yet no others snatched my attention like you did. Your heart, your talent, and indeed your ambition, shine with a fury unlike any other. For now, all I will give you is the goal, the endpoint. But it will be up to you to decide what to do next." Sir Aaron shifted to face Riley. "You'll help him, won't you?"
Riley wiped tears from his eyes. "Of course, my King," he choked out.
"The road ahead is surely perilous, and the Origin Child will need all the help he can get. This is a duty of the Aura Guardians. The legacy of our order is inextricably tied to the path of the Origin Child. Sir Riley."
Riley nodded.
"It is most fortuitous that you are the Guardian to witness my end. What I am about to do may seem unthinkable, or even blasphemous to the rest. But I am entrusting you with my memory. At the very least, I want the Guardians to understand why I will do this."
Confusion leaked through Riley's anguished expression, yet he stayed quiet and kept listening.
"If the path I've foreseen is true, then one day, you will be faced with a choice. I only ask that when you make your choice, you do so on your own terms. Now…"
Sir Aaron pushed himself from Riley's hold and stood up. Standing up, he somehow appeared even older. It seemed like he'd continued to deteriorate while he was talking. His long gray hair pooled on the ground, but he stood tall. "Ash. The path ahead is yours to choose, but I can give you a headstart."
With his other hand, he summoned a small sphere of Aura. When the glow of the sphere faded, a crystalline flower of azure rested in his palm.
"As I told you before, I once bore three of Arceus' Plates. But I cast them aside shortly before the Great War and hid them in a place no one could ever reach. At least, not without this Time Flower." It seemed to glow even brighter in his hand. "This is what I retrieved from my Vault of Secrets. This flower will reveal my Plates to you." He held it toward Ash. "Use it only within the company of those you trust absolutely."
Ash took the flower carefully and held it close.
"Now for one final order. You and I have known each other for a long time, and we've spent many years at each other's sides. I don't think there are any words needed between us. Take these two to safety. I will hear no protest…Lucario."
Ash frowned, then his eyes widened, and before he could say anything, he felt a strong arm, like iron, wrap itself around his torso. Lucario grasped him tight in one arm, and Riley in the other.
"No, wait!" Ash screamed.
"My King!"
Lucario soared into the stormy skies with a single leap, without one glance back at his master. Lightning flashed above, but Lucario was gone before its thunder had even rolled across the valley.
AZ roared, tearing the last of the chains from his body and crushing it into an azure mist in his palm. He glared at Aaron as he shrugged them off and stalked toward him through the mud.
Aaron made no move, and AZ came to stop an inch in front of him, towering over him.
"Summon your blade," AZ spat. "I'll not have it said that I killed a hapless old man. Die with your sword in hand."
Aaron panted, with even the weight of the rain falling on him seeming to be too much to bear. With his hair now long and gray, he did not look so different from AZ.
"My years have finally caught up to me," he whispered. "I've had enough. I'm tired of fighting you… I'm tired…of the war."
AZ's eyes twitched, and he lunged, before catching himself and recoiling back. "Arghhh! Gutless bastard!" He circled around Aaron incessantly, barely able to contain his rage. "Do you think I'll spare you? As you are now, you can't stop what's coming! Yet even still, you would deny me my dignity!"
Aaron looked up at him with sorrow.
AZ stared down at him, looking for a reply. But when it was clear he wouldn't be getting one, he turned away angrily. "I ended the Great War by accepting my imprisonment. Not once in those three thousand years did I attempt an escape. Yet in breaking your promise, so too did you shatter my acquiescence. And for what? For that boy?!"
Aaron stood firmly despite AZ's prowling, and now he fixed the giant with a stern gaze. "He is the Origin Child."
"How can you be sure?"
Aaron closed his eyes and glanced away. "I'm not certain. But just like when I sacrificed my body to the Tree of Beginning, this too is a gamble of mine. But this time, I've wagered far more than just my body."
"So you unleashed my wrath on a mere chance?" AZ snarled. "Many Platebearers have come and gone throughout the ages. What makes him so special?"
"Many things…and nothing. In time, perhaps you'd come to see him as radiantly as I do…but then again, it isn't all him. The timing is also right."
AZ frowned, pausing in his tracks.
"Did you know? The Mew, who lives within the Tree, has disappeared? She's been missing for some time now."
"So what?" AZ spat. "The Tree is of no interest to me. It is the Tree that repelled the Paragons. Even I am not foolish enough to impede its continued existence. It is the rest of Rota that will be swallowed by my weapon."
"You should care. The meaning of Mew's disappearance should be obvious to you, even if you never intended on hurting the Tree."
"The end of an era," AZ growled.
"And the beginning of another." Aaron met AZ's gaze. "What will you do once I'm dead, and your revenge is complete?"
"I'll finish what I started. The Paragons are still out there. And the Platebearers. The war continues. Until the day peace reigns, the war continues. I'll kill anyone who gets in my way." He licked the blood off his hand. "After you die, I will truly be alone in this world. There are no others with which I ever shared a connection. Though perhaps even that never truly existed to begin with."
Aaron opened his mouth, then closed it. But a second later, he seemed to decide to speak. "That's…not exactly true, is it? If I recall, there was another. With whom you shared a connection."
"Don't." AZ's eyes flashed dangerously.
"Someone who loved you even more than I did." His eyes narrowed as he forced AZ to meet his gaze. "Floette."
AZ's body trembled, and he spun away. "You're wrong. That creature disappeared before the war even began."
"Only because she could not bear to witness what you had become, I'm sure."
"Then she hates me too!"
"She could never. From what I saw, there's no doubt in my mind that she's been praying for your redemption every single day since that slaughter."
"Nonsense!"
"She loved Azett, not the monster that twisted itself out of his body."
"SHUT UP!"
"Certainly, even now, she is watching you."
AZ sank to his knees, his hands balled into tight fists. He slammed against the ground. "Damn it! Damn it! Enough! Not another word! Arrrghhhh!"
As he roared, the skies above brightened, searing away the storm clouds, and lightning cracked furiously overhead. Aaron glanced up and took a wary step back.
"Floette!" AZ howled to the hellish sky.
A small light, somehow more blinding than the bleached sky, burst through the forest, crying out in a high pitched scream. As the light receded, a crimson flower peeked out of the fading gleam. Sparkling tears fluttered in the air.
AZ choked, and his hands trembled as he raised them in front of him. "H-How is this possible…?"
Floette chittered before him, swiveling in the blustering air.
"Floette," AZ sobbed. "I'm so sorry… I…I abandoned you…all this time… I've disgraced your love."
He lowered his hands before Floette could nestle within them, burying them in the ground out of reach. His body heaved as he cried. "Why did you come here, you silly girl? You'll die…My weapon will kill you… By my hands, you'll…" He jerked around, locking eyes with Aaron. "Aaron… Aaron, please! Please help me! Somehow…somehow…"
Aaron looked at them both with pity. "Your weapon cannot be stopped. It's too late."
As if to prove his point, the sky hissed and rumbled, and brightened even further. The clearing became basked in a blinding light, and an otherworldly roar thundered ever closer.
"No… No, no, no, no! Floette… I'll—I'll protect you! Hurry! Come here!"
"I'm sorry, Azett," Aaron said, stepping forward. "I can't let you leave this place."
AZ whirled around and Floette floated beside him curiously. "What? Aaron…there's no time."
"Now is the time for redemption."
Aaron raised his hands skyward for the final time, and Aura blazed to life around him. His gray hair whipped behind him as his wiry arms became wreathed in azure light.
AZ's eyes widened. "Wait…what are you doing? You couldn't possibly—"
A cacophonous crack blasted across all of Rota, shaking the forest to its very roots. The light above spasmed and spat, morphing into a gleaming sapphire blue, and the ground shook with an intensity that eclipsed that of any earthquake. The mountains across Rota spilled avalanches to the ground below, and the ancient protections carved into the land's foundations glittered azure in the sky as they fought to protect Rota. Yet, it wasn't long before one shattered, bursting into azure sparks.
"No!" AZ roared once he realized what Aaron was doing. "Stop!" He picked himself off the shaking ground, and raced toward Rota's king as fast as he could.
A whirlwind of Aura churned around Aaron, so thick it was like water. Aaron spared him a glance through the storm as he approached, though unlike him, his feet were rooted firmly to the shuddering ground. Just as his eyes met AZ's, his whole body trembled, and he grit his teeth as he shoved his arms forward.
As the power of AZ's weapon came crashing down upon Rota, impossibly, limned in the azure of the Guardian King's Aura, the mass of energy changed course in midair. It churned and roiled as it slid across the tortured sky. It groaned as it moved, flashing its depthless power across the land. But, by Sir Aaron's legendary power, its trajectory changed. Now, it shot northward.
Directly toward the towering Tree of Beginning.
"No!" AZ howled, lunging at Aaron.
Aaron raised his hand and Aura flashed on his fingertip. AZ froze as Aaron's Aura punctured his chest, directly over his heart. He stumbled back.
"What…is…this?" AZ coughed, clawing at his chest. He glanced over at Floette, who surged toward him.
"I told you I can't let you leave this place," Aaron responded, his voice hoarse, yet somehow carrying over the deafening roar of the heavens. "Goodbye, Azett." A single tear fell from his eyes.
As the power of AZ's weapon impacted against the Tree of Beginning, the entire world ruptured and went white.
Next — Chapter 50 : Aftermath
PARAGON
Remnants of the Great War Arc [40]
Chapter 49 : Sir Aaron Albrecht, King of the Aura Guardians
Remnants of the Great War Arc [40]
Chapter 49 : Sir Aaron Albrecht, King of the Aura Guardians
Land of Rota - Tree of Beginning
Greninja's prone body smashed into the ground and rolled to a stop beside Lord Vandrick's feet, its tongue splayed across the grass unmoving.
"Tch," he said, before recalling it.
Blood dripped down his arm from an Ice Shard from Glaceon that his Sylveon hadn't managed to fully protect him from, and the moment he replaced Greninja's pokéball back on his belt, he clutched his arm painfully.
Garchomp's fin was still outstretched in front of him from delivering the final blow, and he growled with resolute satisfaction.
Cynthia stood behind him, sporting only a shallow red scratch on her forehead from one of Chesnaught's rogue thorns. Lapras had managed to almost completely block the attack, but minor injuries were inevitable against such a ruthless and powerful opponent. Though powerful as he may have been, being AZ's right hand, Greninja was now the fourth pokémon of his to fall to Garchomp. They'd been trading relatively evenly, but once Cynthia released Garchomp, it was like he'd hit a brick wall.
"I'd thought myself at least competitive with the Champions… This has been a sobering experience," Vandrick said grimly. "Then again, you aren't quite like the others, are you?"
"That remains to be seen," Cynthia said coldly.
Vandrick sighed and rested his hand on another one of his pokéballs, though he did not pull it from his belt. "Either way, I've failed in my mission. I've been stalled here for far too long. And given this sudden downpour and the chaos unfolding to the south, it seems my master has long since engaged Sir Aaron."
Garchomp took a threatening step forward. If the battle was over, then he intended to act on their victory. Vandrick eyed him, and his grip tightened around his pokéball.
"I hope you don't think I'm going to let you get away after everything you've done."
"Ah, but that's precisely what I'm lamenting. I haven't actually done anything."
"Hurting one of my precious subordinates is more than enough to incur my wrath." Cynthia's gaze was ice-cold, without a hint of amusement.
Vandrick nodded, as if accepting his fate. Over the course of the battle, his suit had become wrinkled and dirty, and his formerly pristine black hair was unkempt on his head. He looked defeated. "That would spare me from having to face my master, dishonored," he mused.
"If you're done fighting, then there is one thing I'd like to ask," Cynthia said. "I've been told the weapon your master used during the Great War has been fired again and is on its way here. How long do you think it will be until it arrives?"
The corners of Vandrick's mouth twitched, and for a moment it looked like he'd smiled, though his face conveyed no mirth. "Ah, so you already know about that. Well, pardon me, Lady Champion, but I must correct you. That weapon was never used during the Great War. It was fired for the first time today."
Cynthia's brows furrowed. "But the Calamity—"
"Not my master's doing. History is written by the victors, as it were. With a world torn asunder after the Calamity, humanity needed a villain to despise." He hesitated. "Personally, I'm not surprised the Guardians pinned such a disaster on my master. He certainly desired their annihilation either way, and still does. But to answer your question, I couldn't say how long it will take for that weapon's payload to reach Rota. It's never been tested, after all."
Despite the circumstances, Cynthia's mind raced. Her Pokétch had been blowing up during her battle with Vandrick. Interpol's satellites had caught the mass of energy moving west and predicted it'd reach Rota within the hour. But N and Zinnia had reported a far more accurate and chilling time limit.
Ten minutes.
In ten minutes, Rota would be razed from the surface of the earth.
Yet despite that, her current focus was on Vandrick's answer to her question. Specifically, on the party responsible for the Calamity. If it wasn't AZ, then it must be what Albrecht had told Ash and Sabrina… He'd said a pokémon of infinite light and a pokémon of infinite darkness, seeking the Plates, would destroy the world. But Sir Aaron was called a hero for sacrificing himself to end the war… Everything she'd learned over the past month…no, everything she'd learned since she'd first started studying the secrets of this world that those in power seemed so desperate to cover up, came to the fore in her mind. The Paragon Organization… he reacted when he heard me say that name, but not because he'd known of us. Could it be…?
Cynthia's eyes flicked back at Vandrick to make sure he was still there, and luckily he was.
If I want answers, then at the very least I need to survive this battle! According to Sabrina, Cameran Palace had been fully evacuated, but the fighting in front of the Palace still persisted, seemingly with neither side knowing that it'd been. Ten minutes to get them all away!
Her entire body suddenly spasmed as the ground beneath her feet trembled, sending vibrations up through her feet. A colossal bang ripped through her ears behind her, and she wheeled around. Garchomp had already leaped over her protectively, but even he was speechless at the sight before them. A blazing nova of white energy had erupted within the forest, blooming skyward, directly where Sir Aaron and AZ had been fighting.
That's electricity… That couldn't possibly be Ash, right?
Garchomp growled, snatching her attention. Though he was still protecting her, he was looking back at where Vandrick was.
The man was gone. Clearly, he knew how to use a distraction when one presented itself.
"Shit!" Cynthia cursed. She almost considered going after him, but the ten-minute time limit remained at the forefront of her priorities. She gritted her teeth. Saves me the trouble of having to watch him. He's a known entity in Kalos so the only place he can go now is underground. She mounted Garchomp's back before he'd even finished crouching down. "Get back to the palace! All of Rota is in danger!"
Garchomp obliged, bulleting into the sky. The blaze of electricity was beginning to die down, and as much as she wanted to make sure Ash was alright, Cynthia pressed onward toward the palace.
The imminent apocalypse was more than enough to make her forget that this was her first time outside in a whole month.
Land of Rota - Cameran Palace
Sabrina's eyes snapped open, her pupils quickly dilating to accommodate the stormy darkness Rota was steeped in. Though the Guardians had been able to hold the bridge, Guardians still raced to and fro in front of her. None paid her any mind, basked as she was in the shadows of a large oak.
She stood up. She hadn't been sleeping or anything and she wasn't particularly fatigued. But it was easier to perform her job without distractions.
Through her telepathy, she had found Anabel and Cynthia's Lucario and routed them toward the evacuation point along with the rest of the citizens of Rota. Due to Albrecht, or rather, Sir Aaron's fissure that encircled all of Rota, the evacuation was moving slower than it otherwise should have, since the Guardians needed to help everyone across. She had to wonder why Sir Aaron had created such a thing since it was clearly intentional. Was it really just a massive strategic blunder on his part?
In any case, now that Anabel had already moved beyond Rota's borders, she could breathe a bit easier. However, that feeling of relief was easily eclipsed by a report she'd gotten from Sylvester. A mass of energy, the size of a skyscraper at least, was currently heading west, and each minute that passed by only lent more credence to the theory that its target was Rota.
And the most recent message from N gave a far more harrowing assessment. They only had ten minutes to evacuate all of Rota before it hit.
By the sounds of it, the weapon had fired enough energy to vaporize a city. Yet Rota was far smaller than the average city. What could thousands of people possibly do in ten minutes to save themselves from such a sweeping fate? Most didn't even know what was coming. There were still one or two hundred Guardians engaged with the enemy in front of the palace!
And Ash was still with Sir Aaron and AZ. With each passing minute, the battle only seemed to worsen. The explosions only got brighter and louder. The latest one seemed to decimate an entire section of the forest. Luckily, she could tell he was still okay. Or, at least, alive. Her needle hadn't vanished yet.
Now, she needed to decide what to do next. Cynthia was on her way here, but it would take her several minutes to get here. And with less than ten minutes to spare, she couldn't simply stand back and wait for orders. She needed to make her own move, now.
Now!
Right now!
Just do something!
Sabrina clenched her teeth, yet she didn't take one step forward.
Decisive action had never been her forte. And when she did take decisive action, the decisions she made tended to be wrong.
Like a month ago, when Cynthia had whisked her and Ash back to Paragon Island. What had she done in response? Oh yeah. Almost killed her.
Now she stood here pitifully waiting to receive a command from that same woman.
Her usual What would Ash or Anabel or Zinnia or N do exercise seemed hopeless too. Right now, she was far too shaken, or rather, far too paralyzed to come up with anything. Even giving up wouldn't work. She could sit back down and accept her death, but that would mean hundreds dead along with her. But even that was nonsensical, since she could easily teleport herself to safety.
It occurred to her now that she was extremely good at coming up with excuses. How long had she just spent indulging in self-criticism and wallowing in despair? At the very least, she knew her fellows in Paragon would never be doing what she was doing now in a situation like this. They'd be trying to do something, no matter how fruitless it may have seemed.
This was even more self-criticism. Wasn't it about time she turned her mental knives on someone, or something, other than herself? As it happened, there was a massive problem approaching Rota right now that could use another knife or two sunk into it.
At times like these, it was easy to assume she was alone. Despite her existence as a psychic, she was still surprisingly blind and dumb. She only ever saw what was right in front of her.
Reaching around to the back of her belt, she unclipped her third pokéball. Though strictly speaking, this wasn't a Poké Ball.
It was a Master Ball.
She released its inhabitant into the world, and the creature swooped through the air in front of her. No matter how many times she shared its presence, she could never not feel overwhelmed by its power. Every time she saw it, she couldn't help but feel a bit of fear, knowing she could not best it.
But she was its trainer. And that came with it a host of responsibilities. One of the most important of all was gathering the necessary information needed to issue a judicious command.
Sabrina's psychic awareness spread across all of Rota. She suddenly became conscious of each and every soul that still resided here, be they Guardian, enemy, or pokémon. She couldn't differentiate one from another, but she could pinpoint their rough locations. It was accurate enough for what she wanted to do. There were three hundred and sixty-two people or pokémon still in Rota right now. Most were concentrated in front of the bridge to Cameran Palace, still battling it out. Though the existences of AZ, Ash, Sir Aaron…and Sir Aaron's Lucario?—burned like fire in her mind.
She spread to consciousness even further out to encapsulate the evacuation point, and thousands more instantly populated her mind. They were still too close to Rota. They needed to move too.
A sharp pain throbbed throughout her head, but she ignored it. This was certainly stretching the limits of her capabilities, especially with both gauntlets still activated. If she survived this, she'd probably be knocked out for a day or two. At the very least, she'd probably lose her vision for the better part of a day once she awoke. Oh well.
It was the duty of a trainer to make their pokémon's job as easy as possible, right? While a pokémon fights against the opponent before them, its trainer has a scope of the entire battle and can use their superior sight to issue the most intelligent commands.
Even though her pokémon was more than capable of doing what she just did, and better too, probably, Sabrina still felt like this was her task to complete. It was the least she could do.
She transferred the psychic map over. Then…
"Use Teleport, please."
Land of Rota - East of Cameran Palace
"Ash! Ash! Get up!"
Ash felt his body jostle as a firm hand shook him from his stupor. He was on the ground, but he pushed himself over.
Riley's face stared back down at him, knit in concern. "Ash!" he said with relief once he realized the younger man was alright. "We need to get out of here now!"
"Riley," Ash mumbled, standing.
Immediately, he realized that the clearing they'd been fighting in had been completely decimated. Not a single blade of grass or shard of wood could be found across its entire expanse; all that stretched out before him was scorched dirt.
Luckily, that made finding Pikachu easy, and Ash ran over to his fallen friend, lying on the ground in front of him. "Pikachu!" The mouse was still breathing, but he was completely spent, unconscious as if he was the one that'd been defeated.
Ash grimaced and pulled out his pokéball, recalling him. It wasn't something he had to do often, and he always felt a bit naked without Pikachu on his shoulder.
Riley glanced around the clearing warily as he moved toward Ash. "Something terrible is headed for Rota right now, Ash. Sabrina told me about it. After I helped Queen Ilene escape the palace, she instructed me to come here and extract you. If we stay any longer, we'll be destroyed by AZ's weapon!"
"Wait," Ash said.
As he did, two more bodies began to stir. Beside them, Sir Aaron's body flickered, and he raised himself. Across the clearing, in a crater of blackened stone, AZ's gnarled hand dragged across the ground.
Of course that didn't finish him…
Riley just now seemed to notice his liege, and he ran over and knelt by his side. "My King!" His hands stretched out to support him, but horror seeped upon his face.
Sir Aaron looked like an old man. Despite his form being made entirely of Aura, age saturated his every feature. His hair was long, gray, and tangled. Wrinkles covered his face, and his limbs were thin and weak. With weathered eyes, he looked up at Riley as the young man cradled him. "Sir Riley," he wheezed, his voice barely perceptible.
"I'm here, my King. We must leave this place immediately."
An animalistic grunt echoed across the clearing from the other side. "And what makes you think I'll allow that?" AZ snarled, limping toward them. His chest was covered in black soot and his hair hung wildly around him, yet rage still burned in his eyes. "You haven't killed me yet. I still have enough strength to put you down."
Ash jumped to protect them, but his stomach turned at the sudden movement, and he almost pitched forward. He was in no condition to fight anymore.
Before he could pull another pokéball from his belt, Sir Aaron locked eyes with AZ. He raised his hand, and a gleaming chain of Aura suddenly shot from his middle finger and wrapped itself around AZ. AZ growled and tried to break free, but before he could, more chains lashed themselves around him. They snaked and tightened around him, forcing him to his knees, burying themselves into the ground to lock him in place. He roared, and the chains trembled against his strength.
Azure light glowed in Sir Aaron's eyes and his hand remained outstretched to keep AZ restrained. He glanced over at Ash. "Come here, Ash."
"Sir Aaron," Ash breathed.
"We do not have much time. I, even less so. This is as far as I go."
"My King!" Riley cried, anguish burning on his face.
"Listen to me, Ash. There is so much more I haven't yet told you, but there's no time to convey it all. Here, at the end, I'll tell you this." He locked eyes with Ash, forcing his attention away from the seething beast AZ across the clearing. "I told you I'd been watching you for a long time. That I was a fan of yours. The truth is, I've been watching you ever since you set out on your pokémon journey at age ten. Always from afar, but I watched you closely to see if you were the one I've been looking for."
Ash frowned and glanced over at Riley, but the Guardian was listening just as closely.
"Hope turned to conviction after I met you at Cameran Palace all those years ago. That you are the man I've been looking for."
"What do you mean?" Ash couldn't help asking.
"The war I told you about. The mad scramble for the Plates. The Great War was just one aspect of that eternal struggle. After meeting you personally, I have come to believe that you will be the one to end this war."
"But…"
Aaron stared up at him, resolve blazing in his azure eyes. "You have one Plate now, but you must seek out the others. Across the world in the wild, and from other Platebearers. Only when the Plates are united will this conflict finally end."
"My King," Riley said. "The unity of Arceus' Plates… Do you speak of the incarnation of Arceus himself?"
"That's right. Only Arceus can end the war. But he cannot do it alone. To that end, he must have a champion." Sir Aaron locked eyes with Ash again. "That champion is called the Origin Child."
Ash could only stare back at Sir Aaron in disbelief. Harnessing the power of one Plate was hard enough. But he was to bear all of them?
"I know it sounds like I'm forcing this fate on you. And in a sense, I am. It is my own personal desire that you rise to this destiny. For three thousand years, I sought the Origin Child, yet no others snatched my attention like you did. Your heart, your talent, and indeed your ambition, shine with a fury unlike any other. For now, all I will give you is the goal, the endpoint. But it will be up to you to decide what to do next." Sir Aaron shifted to face Riley. "You'll help him, won't you?"
Riley wiped tears from his eyes. "Of course, my King," he choked out.
"The road ahead is surely perilous, and the Origin Child will need all the help he can get. This is a duty of the Aura Guardians. The legacy of our order is inextricably tied to the path of the Origin Child. Sir Riley."
Riley nodded.
"It is most fortuitous that you are the Guardian to witness my end. What I am about to do may seem unthinkable, or even blasphemous to the rest. But I am entrusting you with my memory. At the very least, I want the Guardians to understand why I will do this."
Confusion leaked through Riley's anguished expression, yet he stayed quiet and kept listening.
"If the path I've foreseen is true, then one day, you will be faced with a choice. I only ask that when you make your choice, you do so on your own terms. Now…"
Sir Aaron pushed himself from Riley's hold and stood up. Standing up, he somehow appeared even older. It seemed like he'd continued to deteriorate while he was talking. His long gray hair pooled on the ground, but he stood tall. "Ash. The path ahead is yours to choose, but I can give you a headstart."
With his other hand, he summoned a small sphere of Aura. When the glow of the sphere faded, a crystalline flower of azure rested in his palm.
"As I told you before, I once bore three of Arceus' Plates. But I cast them aside shortly before the Great War and hid them in a place no one could ever reach. At least, not without this Time Flower." It seemed to glow even brighter in his hand. "This is what I retrieved from my Vault of Secrets. This flower will reveal my Plates to you." He held it toward Ash. "Use it only within the company of those you trust absolutely."
Ash took the flower carefully and held it close.
"Now for one final order. You and I have known each other for a long time, and we've spent many years at each other's sides. I don't think there are any words needed between us. Take these two to safety. I will hear no protest…Lucario."
Ash frowned, then his eyes widened, and before he could say anything, he felt a strong arm, like iron, wrap itself around his torso. Lucario grasped him tight in one arm, and Riley in the other.
"No, wait!" Ash screamed.
"My King!"
Lucario soared into the stormy skies with a single leap, without one glance back at his master. Lightning flashed above, but Lucario was gone before its thunder had even rolled across the valley.
AZ roared, tearing the last of the chains from his body and crushing it into an azure mist in his palm. He glared at Aaron as he shrugged them off and stalked toward him through the mud.
Aaron made no move, and AZ came to stop an inch in front of him, towering over him.
"Summon your blade," AZ spat. "I'll not have it said that I killed a hapless old man. Die with your sword in hand."
Aaron panted, with even the weight of the rain falling on him seeming to be too much to bear. With his hair now long and gray, he did not look so different from AZ.
"My years have finally caught up to me," he whispered. "I've had enough. I'm tired of fighting you… I'm tired…of the war."
AZ's eyes twitched, and he lunged, before catching himself and recoiling back. "Arghhh! Gutless bastard!" He circled around Aaron incessantly, barely able to contain his rage. "Do you think I'll spare you? As you are now, you can't stop what's coming! Yet even still, you would deny me my dignity!"
Aaron looked up at him with sorrow.
AZ stared down at him, looking for a reply. But when it was clear he wouldn't be getting one, he turned away angrily. "I ended the Great War by accepting my imprisonment. Not once in those three thousand years did I attempt an escape. Yet in breaking your promise, so too did you shatter my acquiescence. And for what? For that boy?!"
Aaron stood firmly despite AZ's prowling, and now he fixed the giant with a stern gaze. "He is the Origin Child."
"How can you be sure?"
Aaron closed his eyes and glanced away. "I'm not certain. But just like when I sacrificed my body to the Tree of Beginning, this too is a gamble of mine. But this time, I've wagered far more than just my body."
"So you unleashed my wrath on a mere chance?" AZ snarled. "Many Platebearers have come and gone throughout the ages. What makes him so special?"
"Many things…and nothing. In time, perhaps you'd come to see him as radiantly as I do…but then again, it isn't all him. The timing is also right."
AZ frowned, pausing in his tracks.
"Did you know? The Mew, who lives within the Tree, has disappeared? She's been missing for some time now."
"So what?" AZ spat. "The Tree is of no interest to me. It is the Tree that repelled the Paragons. Even I am not foolish enough to impede its continued existence. It is the rest of Rota that will be swallowed by my weapon."
"You should care. The meaning of Mew's disappearance should be obvious to you, even if you never intended on hurting the Tree."
"The end of an era," AZ growled.
"And the beginning of another." Aaron met AZ's gaze. "What will you do once I'm dead, and your revenge is complete?"
"I'll finish what I started. The Paragons are still out there. And the Platebearers. The war continues. Until the day peace reigns, the war continues. I'll kill anyone who gets in my way." He licked the blood off his hand. "After you die, I will truly be alone in this world. There are no others with which I ever shared a connection. Though perhaps even that never truly existed to begin with."
Aaron opened his mouth, then closed it. But a second later, he seemed to decide to speak. "That's…not exactly true, is it? If I recall, there was another. With whom you shared a connection."
"Don't." AZ's eyes flashed dangerously.
"Someone who loved you even more than I did." His eyes narrowed as he forced AZ to meet his gaze. "Floette."
AZ's body trembled, and he spun away. "You're wrong. That creature disappeared before the war even began."
"Only because she could not bear to witness what you had become, I'm sure."
"Then she hates me too!"
"She could never. From what I saw, there's no doubt in my mind that she's been praying for your redemption every single day since that slaughter."
"Nonsense!"
"She loved Azett, not the monster that twisted itself out of his body."
"SHUT UP!"
"Certainly, even now, she is watching you."
AZ sank to his knees, his hands balled into tight fists. He slammed against the ground. "Damn it! Damn it! Enough! Not another word! Arrrghhhh!"
As he roared, the skies above brightened, searing away the storm clouds, and lightning cracked furiously overhead. Aaron glanced up and took a wary step back.
"Floette!" AZ howled to the hellish sky.
A small light, somehow more blinding than the bleached sky, burst through the forest, crying out in a high pitched scream. As the light receded, a crimson flower peeked out of the fading gleam. Sparkling tears fluttered in the air.
AZ choked, and his hands trembled as he raised them in front of him. "H-How is this possible…?"
Floette chittered before him, swiveling in the blustering air.
"Floette," AZ sobbed. "I'm so sorry… I…I abandoned you…all this time… I've disgraced your love."
He lowered his hands before Floette could nestle within them, burying them in the ground out of reach. His body heaved as he cried. "Why did you come here, you silly girl? You'll die…My weapon will kill you… By my hands, you'll…" He jerked around, locking eyes with Aaron. "Aaron… Aaron, please! Please help me! Somehow…somehow…"
Aaron looked at them both with pity. "Your weapon cannot be stopped. It's too late."
As if to prove his point, the sky hissed and rumbled, and brightened even further. The clearing became basked in a blinding light, and an otherworldly roar thundered ever closer.
"No… No, no, no, no! Floette… I'll—I'll protect you! Hurry! Come here!"
"I'm sorry, Azett," Aaron said, stepping forward. "I can't let you leave this place."
AZ whirled around and Floette floated beside him curiously. "What? Aaron…there's no time."
"Now is the time for redemption."
Aaron raised his hands skyward for the final time, and Aura blazed to life around him. His gray hair whipped behind him as his wiry arms became wreathed in azure light.
AZ's eyes widened. "Wait…what are you doing? You couldn't possibly—"
A cacophonous crack blasted across all of Rota, shaking the forest to its very roots. The light above spasmed and spat, morphing into a gleaming sapphire blue, and the ground shook with an intensity that eclipsed that of any earthquake. The mountains across Rota spilled avalanches to the ground below, and the ancient protections carved into the land's foundations glittered azure in the sky as they fought to protect Rota. Yet, it wasn't long before one shattered, bursting into azure sparks.
"No!" AZ roared once he realized what Aaron was doing. "Stop!" He picked himself off the shaking ground, and raced toward Rota's king as fast as he could.
A whirlwind of Aura churned around Aaron, so thick it was like water. Aaron spared him a glance through the storm as he approached, though unlike him, his feet were rooted firmly to the shuddering ground. Just as his eyes met AZ's, his whole body trembled, and he grit his teeth as he shoved his arms forward.
As the power of AZ's weapon came crashing down upon Rota, impossibly, limned in the azure of the Guardian King's Aura, the mass of energy changed course in midair. It churned and roiled as it slid across the tortured sky. It groaned as it moved, flashing its depthless power across the land. But, by Sir Aaron's legendary power, its trajectory changed. Now, it shot northward.
Directly toward the towering Tree of Beginning.
"No!" AZ howled, lunging at Aaron.
Aaron raised his hand and Aura flashed on his fingertip. AZ froze as Aaron's Aura punctured his chest, directly over his heart. He stumbled back.
"What…is…this?" AZ coughed, clawing at his chest. He glanced over at Floette, who surged toward him.
"I told you I can't let you leave this place," Aaron responded, his voice hoarse, yet somehow carrying over the deafening roar of the heavens. "Goodbye, Azett." A single tear fell from his eyes.
As the power of AZ's weapon impacted against the Tree of Beginning, the entire world ruptured and went white.
Next — Chapter 50 : Aftermath
Most egregious has to be her out-of-nowhere command that Paragon return to Paragon Island without actually explaining why. That was another thing that I knew I wanted to have happen but did not come up with a good enough reason for why it should have. Her reasons for withholding certain information seemed comically nonexistent at times, up until the end, and even if she had her "reasons," in the end, I should have considered the readers' perspective more when it came to her. At this point, what's done is done, but I may try to salvage and sanitize her image as best I can. You have been warned