HERE WE ARE AGAIN, MY GOOD READERS! WAIT… WHAT THE… KIRLIA, TURN OFF THE CAPS LOCK!
Kirlia: SORRY!
Well, that's better. Here we are, ready to witness the second part of Berserker Vs. Paladin. I have no doubt many of you already guesses what the name of Sir Lionel's skill was. If Sir Ruber's was the Berserker, then Lionel's was the Paladin. The question you might have is what is the Paladin? And what does it do that will kill Ash? If you want to know, you better read on!
Latias: What did you say about Ash dying? *A smoke cloud in the author's shape is seen instead of him* COME BACK HERE YOU COWARD!
Garden of the Lati.
The Petalburg gym family, A.K.A the Maples; and Dawn watched in shock as Ash underwent a transformation similar to Max's. His Aura flared up around him, and began turning pure white. The armor looked like standard knight armor, the ones seen on museums, but the helmet was different, it was a human face, unlike the Berserker's, which only has the skull. His armor wasn't as big as Max's, but exuded more power. A lot more power. The Berserker growled when it saw the newcomer.
"We… Meet Again… Paladin"
"So it seems, Berserker. I feel bad for this boy, though. He knew perfectly well that if he summoned my power he'd lose his life… and yet he did it to save his family. So honorable…" There was a big difference in the voices of the Berserker and the Paladin. The Berserker's voice sounded cold and menacing, and hard as steel. It was such a horrible sound that those who heard it tremble in fear. The Paladin's voice, however, was the exact opposite. It was calm, almost regal, and brought comfort to those who heard it. Before anyone could react, the Berserker launched itself at the Paladin. The paladin only had to twist his head to the side to avoid the blow. "You certainly haven't changed since we last met. You still try to overpower your opponents instead of planning ahead. Then again, the ritual that created you did tear apart your actual sentience. I'm surprised that you can even talk." This threw the Berserker into a deeper rage, and it began to throw punches wildly, and the Paladin simply dodged all of them. "Are we really going to go through this again? We have fought at least once every generation, the outcome always being the same. Why do you want to keep getting beaten?"
"AS LONG AS I'M NOT CONTROLLED, I'LL KEEP FIGHTING YOU, UNLESS SOMEONE ACTUALLY HAS ENOUGH WILL TO CONTROL ME!" It said, before launching a right hook to the Paladin, followed by a left uppercut. He dodged the hook easily, but the uppercut caught him off guard.
"What the hell? That's the longest thing he's ever said! How come this time he's actually smarter than our previous encounters…? Not even the incarnation Kaylie and I fought was like this, and the host was the smartest doctor in the entire country! Just what is different this time?" When he said that, the answer hit him in the face. Oh no wait, that was the Berserker's fist. It was strange though. The Berserker seemed to adapt to the battle strategy of the Paladin. According to all records and legends, that was next to impossible, the Berserker was supposed to be a mindless beast. He didn't have time to use the Aura annihilator, the technique that would stop the beast, sadly killing both hosts in the process. "I guess I'll have to do what my current host was famous for, time to improvise!" The Paladin stopped trying to activate the Annihilator, and began to fight the Berserker hand-to-hand.
The Berserker tried to do a head-kick, but it was blocked by the Paladin. The latter responded to the attack with a left-right-uppercut combo, scoring himself three strong hits. He followed the combo with a strong kick to the Berserker's chin, sending him flying towards a tree. The audience of the fight was watching intently, the Maple's to shocked to say anything, while Dawn was screaming at the top of her lungs
"YEAH! GO DRAGON! BEAT HIM ALL THE WAY TO NEXT WEEK!" She cheered as she waved a pair of pom-poms made of fire. Even the Berserker sweat-dropped when they saw her. "W-what are you all looking at now?"
"Miss Dawn… you do realize your hands are on fire, right?" Asked the Paladin.Dawn looked at her hands, noticing the Pom-poms and a smirking Typhlosion. She began to run around trying to douse the flames. "How our hosts manage to withstand her is beyond my under… GAGH!" Taking advantage of the distraction, the Berserker struck the Paladin in the chest with a spike made of Aura. "So that's how you wanna play, huh? Then LET'S PLAY!" He created an Aura Claymore (not the bomb type, a kind of dual-handled, big blade that is extremely powerful)
The sword clash could only be described as a clash of the titans. The Berserker's spikes were a good match for the Paladin's blade. Ironically, it was just like with their normal swords: Max's having sharpness in the tip and Ash's having a full edge. The Paladin swung down his blade in a vertical arc, colliding with the Berserker's chest. A small wound was formed, but it healed as quickly as it had appeared. The Paladin, however, could've sworn he saw a patch of green cloth underneath. Before he could think if what he saw was real or not, the Berserker tried to stab him. The cut seemed to have returned it to its normal, idiotic beast mind, roaring as it swung its spike wildly. The Paladin was having trouble blocking all the blows, since his sword was heavier and thus, slower. Even with all his skills, a few strikes struck home. They were nothing serious, but one of them had come dangerously close to the Paladin's weak spot. You see both the Berserker and the Paladin have a weak spot in their armor. The Paladin's weak spot is a crest on its shoulder, the crest being the Kanji for dragon. As for the Berserker, no one knew; which is why Paladins have to resort to a technique that would kill them to stop it. If the weak point is compromised, the armor is dispelled, yet it leaves the host alive.
"Puny Paladin, your strength has diminished since our last encounter. I want a real fight… perhaps I have to convince you to take me on seriously." The Berserker aimed his hand at Dawn, who had finally gotten the flames doused (And Typhlosion beaten up) and fired a Red Aura beam. She feared for the worst, she had seen what that beam had done before. She closed her eyes in fear, but the Paladin was standing in front of her, an Aura Shield blocking the beam. "Good…"
"Are you ok, Miss Dawn?"
"Y-yeah… but why did you save me?"
"I protect the innocent, that's my duty as a Paladin." He noticed the Berserker charging up another beam, but this one he didn't even think about blocking. May shrieked in agony as the beam struck her right hand, filling her body with the foreign Aura and obliterating the Aura Network in her hand.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU HELP HER!" Asked Norman, full of rage when he saw his daughter's destroyed hand.
"I said I protect the innocent. That woman has deceived and betrayed a family bond. Innocent is a word that can no longer describe her." Before Norman could answer, the Paladin jumped back into the battle. "Berserker… I'm afraid this is the end of both of us… yet again."
"GRAAGH!" Once again, it had reverted into a beastlike mind… or so it seemed. When the Paladin flew up and began to charge the annihilator, the beast jumped after it. Once it was eye-to-eye with the Paladin, it held on to its shoulders so hard the armor cracked, and one hand was on the crest. "No, Paladin, this time, it is only YOU who will meet the end…GRAAAAAAAAAAGH!" The beast roared as it gripped the crest harder. The Paladin began to scream in agony as the crest cracked. "FAREWELL, YOU PEST!" And with that, he ripped out the crest.
The Paladin screamed once more before dispelling, leaving an unconscious (and slightly bleeding) Ash in its place. Ash began to fall to the ground, but was caught by Typhlosion. Dawn ran up to see if he was ok.
"ASH! Ash, say something! I don't want Latias and Ritias getting angry at me!" Ash groaned something that mysteriously sounded like 'Shut the hell up'. A vein popped up on Dawn's forehead. "What did you say, Dragon?"
"I said shut up… I'm tired…" And that's when it hit him. "Wait a minute… why am I still alive?"
"The Berserker dispelled the Paladin. It said something about the Berserker being smarter this time than on their previous encounters…" Ash sighed tiredly.
"On the bright side, I don't die with my insides torn apart… on the bad side…" The Berserker fell down to the ground, forming a small crater in what used to be a flower bed. "We're all gonna die… even if it's stopped Latias will have my head for using the Paladin… and because the Berserker just destroyed her favorite flower bed…" The Berserker looked at them before chuckling. The sound was so awful that all the Pokemon in the area shuddered.
"The Mighty Paladin has finally fallen… Berserker has won…" It was clear that the Berserker was returning to its primitive mind. It kept repeating those two phrases until, instead of talking, he was growling. "Growl… growl… growl…" it turned towards the remaining humans. "GROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARGH! It began to charge the ultimate attack of the Berserkers: The Aura Beast. It uses 50% of the Hosts Aura and 50% of the Berserker Aura, creating a deadly beast-like Aura incarnation that could rip apart anything. The Maples were all hugging closely, crying out of fear of death. The Guardians simply closed their eyes. Ash had been trained not to fear death, but to embrace it when the time came, and he had trained Dawn and Max into it as well…
"Max… STOP PLEASE!" A psychic voice rang in all their heads. The Berserker's eyes widened for a second, the Aura Beast dispelling. He snapped around, looking for the origin of the voice. "Max… please, stop it, this isn't you. You must fight it!" Kirlia came out of some bushes, her arm bleeding a bit, and her eyes full of tears.
"Kir…lia?" To the amazement of the present, her voice seemed to calm down the Berserker. It suddenly clutched its head, screaming and howling, almost like it was suffering of a great headache (which he was). The white, pupil-less eyes in the helmet were widened beyond believe. He was doing it; Max was fighting off the Berserker. The problem was, this caused the Berserker's mind to become sentient again. "NO! I WILL NOT BE SUBDUED!" In a last attempt to keep Max from control, it lunged at Kirlia, intent on taking her out for good. The plan was simple but useful: If it destroyed Max's will to fight, then he'd be in full control. When it reached Kirlia, it swung its clawed right gauntlet down in a vertical slash which would tear her to ribbons…
*CLANG*
Not a single pair of eyes could believe what just happened. Just as the claws were about to hit Kirlia, the left arm turned from blood red to forest green and intercepted the other arm. The Berserker, its mind sentient, was nearly speechless. A voice rang out from the armor, the reverberations making it sound everywhere.
"You…will…not…"
"NO! THIS CAN'T BE! NO ONE HAS BEEN ABLE TO RESIST ME!"
"YOU…WILL NOT…TOUCH HER" The voice was stronger now, clearly ordering. "YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HER!" The green part of the armor began to extend, absorbing all the red. The words 'you will not touch her' were echoed around somehow.
"NOOO! NOT WHEN I FINALLY GOT OUT, NOT NOW!" And with those last words, the helmet was consumed as well. The entire set of armor glowed, before settling down to the green, the eyes gaining a pupil of the same green color. "I have done it… I have controlled the Berserker!" Said the creature with Max's voice, before Kirlia jumped up and hugged him, crying.
"MAX! YOU'RE BACK!"
"Yes, Kir… I'm back and I'm here to stay…" he returned the hug as best as he could, trying not to hurt her with the spikes on the armor. Ash noticed the armor had changed; the helmet to be precise. It was now more vintage looking instead of the skull. (A/N Think of Al's armor/body of FMA) All of them were too busy looking at the couple to notice May sliding her good hand down to her shoe.
'Now's my chance to take them all out… starting with that Kirlia.' May pulled out a small gun, a Velo-dog 5.75mm pocket gun. She aimed it at Kirlia and squeezed the trigger before anyone could react…
…HUGE mistake…
The second the sonic boom of the weapon was heard, the pupils in Max's armor vanished again. In a single, lightning-fast movement, he shielded Kirlia with his armor, the bullet disintegrating on contact. He then lunged at May, grabbed her arms, put a foot on her back, and began to pull. May screamed in pain as her arms were being ripped off. Norman and Caroline tried to pry their son off, to no avail. Ash and Dawn only stared, knowing that she deserved it…
"Max, stop it." Max stopped pulling, his pupils reappearing. He let go of May's damaged hand, and gave the good arm one last pull, dislocating it. "Max, you're not a killer, nor are you one to hurt another for revenge… just let it go… I'm alive, so are you… no need to fight…" Max closed his eyes as Kirlia talked, the armor starting to dispel. Once it was completely gone, He just stared into her eyes, and she stared back. And then, out of the blue, he planted a kiss on her lips. That moment was when two of the present relaxed, while the Maples tensed up. The moment, however, was ruined when Latias came in flying.
"ASH, DAWN! WE GOT A PROBLEM! KIRLIA TELEPORTED AWAY! SHE'S RIGHT…there…" She laughed/cooed nervously when she saw that Ash and Dawn were glaring at her. "I ruined a moment didn't I?
"Yes, Latias, you did…" Ash couldn't help but to sweatdrop at his wife. He was about to ask about Ritias's location, when Max stepped towards his old family.
"It has been twice now that Kirlia has saved your sorry hide, woman." May cringed at what he called her. "And yet I'm pretty sure your view of my relationship hasn't changed, if the feelings of disgust coming from your Aura are any sign. And you…" He said, his gaze switching from May to Norman and Caroline. "…Some family. Tell me something, did it come to your mind that I would've blown up the gym if you euthanized Kirlia? Or, moving to a simpler question, that I wasn't brainwashed? Didn't you notice that I always came back abnormally happy from the 'training sessions' with Kirlia? And please, humor me, why did you really come here for?" Max's voice had lost any sign of the respect he once had for his father, any sign love for his mother, and any sign of fraternal bond he had with May, though the latter had been severed a long time ago. Norman stood up and answered his son.
"We're here to take you home, my son, back to your family." He extended his left arm towards Max. The boy slowly reached out, raising the hopes of the Petalburg gym leader. These hopes, however, were smashed to tiny bits when Max swatted his hand away.
"There's a problem with that. I am home." He turned over his heels and walked towards Ash, Dawn, Kirlia, Typhlosion, and Ritias (who had once again appeared out of nowhere) "And I am with my family"
And CUT! There you have it, readers. Hope the fight scene wasn't too loose for your likes. And also, sorry if it seems a bit too cheesy for you, but simply couldn't find something that would fit so well there like Max and Kirlia's first kiss. Hope you like it, see you again next week. BladeOfThePoet, logging out.