Category: Pokémon
Rating: M
Couples: Virizion/Cobalion/Terrakion/Keldeo
Warnings: Major AU, Blood, Character Death, Gore, Lime
Chapter: 11
Copyright: © characters and places by Nintendo & Game Freak; © Plot and OC's by me
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She had snuck away before any of the others had woken, gracefully crossing Unova in a matter of hours. She passed from the forests to the mountains and from there to a deep valley.
"Kyurem!" She called over the frozen fortress of the mighty dragon.
"What is your wish?" He left the cave he had slept in.
"I challenge you." Virizion carefully descended to the bottom of Full Court.
"What for?" He moved forward, regarding her with his pupil-less yellow eyes. "You are already a Sword of Justice."
"And defeated in two blows. I demand a rematch." She approached him. "My honor lies bleeding."
"A rematch?" The dragon echoed incredulously.
"If I win, I can say to myself 'See, I was defeated because I was ill.' and should you win, I can say 'See, there was no way I could have won.'. Either way, I shall be content." Virizion explained. "Surely you would not turn me down?"
He regarded her for a short while and while he said nothing, spires of the most solid ice rose from the ground, glowing with his power.
She briefly lowered her head in gratitude and stepped forward, passing underneath the gate to face the Lord of Full Court.
"I hope that this time no one will interrupt." He softly chuckled. "Ladies first, as they say."
In answer her horns glowed a bright purple for a brief moment, before she had to jump to evade his Ice Beam.
The entire ground was frozen, hindering the speed-using Sword greatly as she evaded his attacks and launched her own.
Her thin hooves, sometimes such hinder, now proved more than helpful as she skated over the frozen ground, ever graceful and unmoved.
Ice shattered in places whenever she missed, while in others it thickened as he was a split second too late to launch his attacks.
White feathers sprouted from white-hot flames, unleashing burning ice all around him.
A shining green sword formed on her black forehead, aimed at the grey and white dragon.
Yet it was as it had been the last time the Dragon had fought a Sword: Virizion missed a dodge, losing her footing for perhaps a second and was frozen solid.
As he crashed to the ground, uncaring about the dents he made and regarded the frozen form, he saw to his surprise that she was rearing up on her hind-legs, eyes burning as they regarded him from beneath a foot-thick ice. So different from her young student, who had been frozen as he ran, she had chosen to go down defiant, knowing that unlike him, she had no attack that could free her from the ice.
As easily as he had trapped her he now freed her, shattering the ice with such force that pieces flew to the mountain-walls, cracking the solid rock. Yet she smoothly returned to her quadruped posture, hooves clacking lightly as she turned to bow lightly at the Lord before her.
He returned the gesture with a light nod and returned to the cave he called his home.
"Impressive battle." A cool voice judged. Cobalion's steel words shot into her mind like arrows, surprising her.
Virizion turned, looking at where the voice had come from. The three males of their quartet were looking down upon her.
"I did not notice you arrive." She answered, jumping up in one smooth move.
"Considering what happened last time, we wanted to be careful this time around." Terrakion grinned at Keldeo.
"You started it then." Keldeo glared at the Rock-type.
"No, you did when you did not accept our judgment." Virizion reminded him. "Did you watch for long?"
"Your tracks were still fresh when we woke." Cobalion answered. "We followed."
"Well, that at least means I don't need to walk home alone." She stated, following the others out of the Valley.
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That night they slept in their normal places, with Virizion on a root, Terrakion on a boulder nearby, Cobalion between them and Keldeo next to Virizion's tree-root, but one could notice that Keldeo was resting much closer to the others now than he had ever done before save perhaps shortly after the fire of the Moor of Icirrus which had cost him his family.
What also could be noticed was his pained face, as if he was suffering from some kind of hurt. The bright flash of something blue, unseen by any of the Swords, gave a small hint as to what might be ailing the young Musketeer: Darkrai. The second test was fast approaching, the menacing phantom a herald of Arceus' upcoming final judgment.
He froze briefly when Virizion shifted, groaning softly. His influence was starting to affect her too. If he stayed longer the other two would be affected as well. After looking at the Water-type one last time he formed two legs, sinking into the shadows.
Virizion calmed again, but Keldeo remained trapped in the nightmare the Dark-type Legendary had cast him into, unable to escape.
He whimpered softly, one of his legs twitching lightly. His tail smacked at something unseen on his flank as his cream body shuddered.
His grey eyes shot open when a hoof gently tapped his shoulder. Looking up he saw the golden eyes of Cobalion looking down on him in worry. The other two were looking at him too, Virizion climbing down the root she had been sleeping on.
"That must have been some nightmare." She settled down beside him, an invitation he gladly took as he buried his face in her neck. "You want to talk about it?"
"I…" He took a deep breath when he noticed that even his mental voice was shaking. "I don't think so. I was just overreacting."
From the corner of his eye he saw that they did not believe him in the slightest. He just sighed and looked away.
