Azelf: The Being of Willpower
Part 1.
Lake Valor, one of multiple lakes in the Sinnoh region, was under a great threat.
You, of course, wouldn't know this by looking at it. After all, the area is teaming with life from corner to corner of the land mass. Trees decorated the land with tall grass and moss growing on fallen logs and between large patches of roofed forests. The sun spotted the surface of the woods as splices of sunlight peered through the gaps in the branches and leaves but not enough to grant complete vision through the vast trees. Various pokemon populated the area with tree life as well as the water pokemon living in the water surrounding the chamber in the center of the lake. The water was resting accompanied by spontaneous flips and flops out of the water by Wooper or Magikarp hopping into the air only to be grabbed by gravity and sucked back into their natural habitat. Starly and families of other bird pokemon zoomed from tree to tree or simply stay put in the higher branches away from Ursaring and other hungry pokemon at the surface. Caterpie would spit silky webbing to create hammocks to rest in the blinding sun until dinner or until bed time came. Souring high in the sky were Swablu and Altaria joined by Pelipper and Wingull spiraling around the water to hopefully catch some lunch.
Unfortunately, the lake was under attack. This time, you can tell just by looking at it.
Team Galactic, a team of crooks wishing to change the world by introducing a new one... a team lead by a man and his dreams along with the willpower to accomplish them was posing the greatest threat the region has ever seen. With a grand scheme that outshines even the brightest stars in the universe, Cyrus had deployed his only male commander joined by a battalion of troops all carrying out their only order...
To seize the legendary lake pokemon known as Azelf.
The pokemon who controlled willpower at the flick of a wrist. Known for giving as well as taking the willpower and discipline out of a human or pokemon, this pokemon was rarely seen outside of its cavern where it rests until called upon by an outside force. With immense psychedelic abilities and a monstrous speed, very rarely did a human or pokemon alike get to challenge such a beautiful lake spirit. That, was about to change forever.
"Stay out of our way... if you know what's good for you, child." Saturn grumbled with his back turned to the trainer behind him. Deciding that turning around was pointless since it was obvious who was behind him - the trainer who was responsible for fighting back against Team Galactic exceptionally well - Saturn avoided the action and simply waved two fingers from his right hand. Following that action, six Team Galactic grunts stepped out from the tree line around the entrance into the lake itself and formed a parallel line until the formation shifted to a V-Shape and completely trapped Karen even as she looked around to see for any sort of weak point. "Our goals here are far too large for you to understand."
"What is Team Galactic doing here... in Lake Valor?" Karen asked quietly, doing her best not to set off the grunts standing around her. Only then did she notice each was holding a single pokeball which meant they were just waiting for the trigger to get pulled... metaphorically, of course.
Disfavored, Saturn turned halfway around to face the teenage girl behind him. How foolish it was to consider acting as if she had any authority here given she was outnumbered seven to one. Any movement to object would be child's play and would likely be handled like so.
"I'm sorry, child... Karen, is it?" Saturn said as he turned around now fully to face the teenager behind him, his arms folded behind his back as if he was standing at attention. "I've heard your stories from the commanders back at headquarters... You're quite the trainer. If only it wasn't so... useless, at this day and age."
Gritting her teeth but hidden from sight, Karen was on edge. He was playing games with her and she knew it. It was a stalling tactic that she had seen from Team Galactic before. However, Karen knew very little as to what they were up to. Acting now would only cripple her knowledge and slow down her progress on shutting them down. Miserably so, Karen had to play to his level whether she liked it or not.
"Pokèmon are anything but useless... Only a dense-close minded man like yourself could say such a cruel thing!" Karen bellowed, clenching her fist in her right hand while her left felt for a pokeball, hidden by her light grey cardigan. "You're just poll-"
"Polluted? By Team Galactic?" Saturn finished her sentence for her with a snicker before turning back to the lake front. Taking a couple of steps forward, he rested his boots on the side of the shoreline and no longer faced Karen. Still, the grunts seemed as intense as ever. "Please..." He scoffed. "Pokèmon and people together are polluted by emotions... we lack the knowledge... the willpower."
"You're not here for the lake..." Karen realized as she felt the need to toss out the pokeball she was tracing her fingers over. "You're here for Azelf! The lake spirit!"
"Congratulations are in line, Karen." Saturn said while slowly clapping. "I was wondering if you were going to make the connection. However, not only were you too late to catch on! You were too late to stop it."
Letting her anger go, she realized that she was heavily out numbered and out gunned - all seven foes around her were waiting for the go ahead to completely annihilate her along with any pokemon she attempts to set down. Instead, it was time to compromise. To use her head.
"I see... What could Team Galactic possibly want with the lake trio?" Karen asked as she stepped forward slowly, showing her hands to make sure she wasn't attacked. The men and women around her were so intense that they were ready to attack on the movement of a fiber in her body. It was incredibly risky just moving forward an inch so the movement to Saturn was delayed heavily. "You obviously don't believe in emotion and... knowledge and willpower are your forte for sure. What could Mesprit possibly hold for you?"
Saturn hesitated as Karen appeared at his side while looking up at the sky. However, things were looking futile for the woman so he very well could lay out the truth without worry so long as she doesn't escape.
"You see... Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit are all the frames of a bigger picture. As you know, these pokemon are the lake trio of Sinnoh." Saturn started as he closed his eyes with images of all the lake spirit's floating in his mind. "Mesprit, the being of emotion... It is rumored that any living creature that calls upon Mesprit with the correct moral code can befriend such a power entity... While Uxie, the being of knowledge can give the answer to any question a truly determined being can ask." He stopped for a breath as he lowered his eyes to the resting water of Lake Valor. "Finally, we have Azelf... the being of willpower. Any trainer or pokemon with desires that surpass any force of evil or corruption can earn the heart of the legendary pokemon and use the power to his or her full extent. As I said, however, they are all a part of a bigger picture. One that you will get to see for yourself right now..."
As if on cue, several Garchomps and Salamence appeared all being either transported via machine in the air or by their own wings. Fluttering above the lake area, the Salamence charged up several hyper beams as well as the Garchomps. In a flash of blinding light, every member of Team Galactic and Karen herself had to cover their eyes as the rush of wind and force from the explosion of every single beam of energy collided and redirected into the chamber of Lake Valor. In a large explosion, tital waves rushed up from the explosion area and smashed into the shoreline of Lake Valor.
"Now! Empoleon, I choose you!" Karen yelled as she used the flash as a disguise to throw out her first pokemon. Shortly afterwards, the grunts responded by throwing out their six golbats who hovered high above Empoleon. Finally recovering from the blast completely, Saturn turned to face Karen with a bewildered look, shocked by her sudden act of graciousness. Still, the area was devastated by the blast and the entire top of the cavern was blown off and into the water where it floated and sunk shortly after. Smoke protruded from the impact zone and acted as a smoke screen for the surrounding area. Yet, another tactic she would have to learn to use at such a sudden time.
The pokeball exploded open and revealed the final evolution of Piplup, an Empoleon who stood several inches taller than Karen with steel fins at his side ready to attack.
"Truly foolish of you, girl. Attack!" Saturn ordered his grunts who all commanded a supersonic attack from the golbat. Unfortunately for Empoleon, these attacks had such a low chance of missing since the pokemon using them could locate their enemy with sound alone.
"Whirlpool, Empoleon!" Karen supplied her pokemon with a move order as the water pokemon brought a fin up into the air and charged up a massive pool of water all swirling around the axis of the Empoleon fin. Slowly at first but faster soon after, Karen thrusted her hand out as did Empoleon as soon as the water left their control. Somehow, the pool of water absorbed the supersonic moves and continued rotating, colliding into two of the golbats before exploding and shooting water everywhere. Now that this was going on, the Garchomps and Salamence were alerted to a glowing presence protruding outwards from the cavern they had just decimated brutally. The glowing light was very bright but still didn't catch the attention of Karen who was turned away from the cavern.
"Huh...?" One of the grunts hummed before capturing the attention of the other grunts who all turned to face the blinding white light exploding out from the cavern. The smoke hadn't quite gone away and acted as a dramatic haze around the orb of light which was now rising higher into the surrounding area. Still, somehow Karen avoided the topic and was ready to finish off the now distracted opponents.
"Hydro Pump! Do it, now!" Karen shot one of her feet to the right, kicking up some dust as she was getting into the battle entirely. Following commands, the Empoleon took a deep breath in before firing a large burst of highly compressed water that shot each Golbat out of the sky into the ground. Only then, did she become aware of her surroundings. "Azelf..." She mumbled before her body almost froze.
The glowing orb of light dimmed completely now as a small, two tailed, blue and grayish white pokemon hovered some thirty feet above the water and stretched out. Saturn noticed right off the bat that Azelf was completely oblivious to why this was happening.
"At last! The willpower fueled legendary pokemon! Azelf! Your presence is most appreciated, my friend." Saturn spattered as he opened his arms out wide at his sides. "Cyrus will be more than pleased once we're finished here."
Karen stomped behind him, her eyes narrowed in frustration. How was this man going to arrive here and disturb the peace here at Lake Valor? All for a plan that she wasn't even fully sure of yet. "I can't let you capture Azelf! I won't! Not if I can help it!"
"Do you even know what you're fighting for?" Saturn interrupted her outburst as he turned to face her. "I know what I am fighting to achieve... but you. I have wondered that since the day I heard of you. Team Galactic isn't here to torture or capture Azelf nor Uxie or Mesprit, no. We need them briefly for a plan that... well, you wouldn't be able to comprehend!"
"I'm smarter than you think I am, Saturn! If you think kidnapping pokemon from trainers just because you feel they deserve better makes you a wise man then you're perfectly mistaken! I won't let you disturb of the peace of the legendary pokemon - of Sinnoh!"
Azelf hovered over to the two of them, As the grunts and Garchomp/Salamence watched intensely. Azelf fluttered with the wind almost, before looking at Karen with deep eyes.
"A-Azelf...?" Karen muttered, her speech choked by the overwhelming confidence she felt coming over her skin and bones. It was like a fire was burning within her body and was heating up her powers to come up with a plan. This plan came to her instantly - like the flash of a lightning bolt.
"You really are... something else." Saturn muttered as he stepped back away from Azelf. "The willpower pokemon... trusts you with its life! How are you so much more special than Cyrus? You lack the experience - the emotions!"
With a smooth grin, Karen looked up at Saturn to reveal that her body was in a different state of being. This was confirmed when Azelf turned to look at Saturn as well, revealing that they had very similar eyes now. Both eyes were a dark brown instead of Azelf's normal look. Not only so, but Azelf's tail and forehead gems were glowing brightly.
"You were right when you said I lack emotions... because what I lack in emotions, I push through with the image of what I want! I have the willpower!" Karen explained as she casted her right hand to the right, outwards towards the Garchomp and Salamence in the surrounding treeline across from the lake. "Empoleon, Aqua Jet! Azelf, Extrasensory!"
Empoleon darted into the water and dove very deep into the water before erupting upwards and smacking into one of the Garchomps on the ground and knocking it over. Azelf, surprisingly listened to Karen and began glowing, using the psychic powers to control one of the Salamence and throw it towards another one. This created a domino effect, launching one into another and into a Garchomp which took care of half of the problem.
In response, one of the Garchomp snagged Empoleon and threw him up into the air. From there, a dragon pulse was being charged. Quick high speed, the attack succeeded and shot Empoleon even higher up into the air.
"Aqua Jet back downwards!" Karen ordered her Empoleon who darted downwards after recovering from the dragon pulse injury. In high speeds, the Empoleon recovered and smacked into the dragon and ground type pokemon, dealing normal damage. "Follow it up with Flash Cannon!"
Empoleon put two fins together and fired a bolt of metallic energy that casted towards the Garchomp. In response, the Garchomp simply cut the attack in half with a dragon claw.
"No way!" Karen exclaimed as Saturn stepped beside her.
"No matter what you do, here... you're doomed. Neither you nor Azelf could handle just what is about to happen." Saturn said with a grin as he turned around. After all of the explosion and madness, Karen and Saturn turned and spotted the man... the person responsible for the entire ordeal approaching with two women at his side.
Immediately, Karen recognized the man as Cyrus and the women were Mars and Jupiter. Both women had such devilish grins while Cyrus looked as lifeless as possible.
"Karen! Good to see you!" Cyrus shouted from his distance but Karen knew it was forced. "I see you've made quite the mess of things here. Come, now. Give Azelf up and we'll let you go, really."
To be continued...