Chapter sixty two: Black Hole (Act three- Shadow Era End)
PREVOUSLY ON LEGENDARY PKMN:
"I'll have to go now, while I still have control…"
"You… ruined everything!"
"Change of plans. Let's go all out now."
"Lugia decided long ago to not make anyone suffer from his curse-
in the event that a cure was never found, Lugia would kill himself."
Blake Hall sat in his darkened office, watching his computer intently. Though the feed was fuzzy, he could get images of the fight between Darkrai and his Sinistrio. Toyman had just been brought into the fray, and all his forces were after the prince of darkness.
"To think he was this strong." Blake mused.
"He's even stronger." said a voice from the shadows "Which is why I need you there as well- once Darkrai defeats Toyman, then you have to control him with your golden armor. Only then will he be subdued."
"Remind me mister…" Blake trailed off, not remembering his name.
"Just call me Escodia." grinned the figure.
"…Mister Escodia. Why on earth would I need to appear in person with my primary weapon when clearly my men have the situation under control?"
"Because that was our agreement, remember?" replied the silhouette in the dark "My conditions may be strange, but it is all necessary for the ritual to commence."
"Ritual?" Blake raised an eyebrow. The figure waved at him.
"None of your concern. All you need to worry about is perfecting that tower of yours. I will happily lend you my power towards your goal of world domination, but only after my conditions have been satisfied."
"Hmph." Blake snarled at the big shot "If Darkrai takes off Toyman's mask, then I will consider flying there personally."
"Fine. Just be ready when it happens." and like that, he was gone.
"A legendary council member, hm?" Blake mused to himself. He wondered what the agenda of that man was. It was clear this 'Escodia' had a plan in mind, but what it was he couldn't be sure. Blake Hall did not trust this man, which is precisely why he had taken countermeasures against the pokémon.
Escodia thought he was all powerful? Power meant nothing next to undying subservience. And with the golden armor around Blake's body slowly taking over the mind of the pokémon, he would be Blake's slave before long.
He cared not about the agenda of that man. In the end, Blake Hall would stand atop the heavens themselves once the tower was completed.
"Zero!?" Deoxys spoke "What do you want?"
Zero looked at himself, eyes blinking "Oh... I thought I had shed this disguise already. One moment..."
Like some sort of paint, Zero's form began to melt off of himself, until what remained was a golden ribonian who looked like he was built for speed. Cytosine of the Four Stars. He had taken the form of the world's most feared human in order to not draw attention from other pokémon, until he got to Deoxys.
"Cytosine." said the red and blue psychic.
"I need to talk over with you." said the gold colored man "…I'm starting to wonder if you may be right."
"About…?"
"Arceus…" said Cytosine, "Our hated enemy, the one Helix will destroy… and yet you vouch for her innocence."
Deoxys blinked. She had her evidence- none of what the ribonian massacre did added up. Arceus clearly felt anguish from murdering two billion of them in cold blood, and hated the fact that it turned her best friend into her mortal enemy. Plus, what Giratina had said about secrets… it was clear that the God had more of them than anyone else.
"I haven't found any new evidence since I've been away from the Hall for so long… but I'm working on it."
"That's what I came to talk to you about." said the rational minded Cytosine "I found something..."
He beckoned Deoxys to sit as he telekinetically summoned some old logs for them to sit upon. Cytosine had a confused look in his eyes, and when Deoxys pried he told his story.
"At first I thought you were insane. But I was curious. So giving you the benefit of the doubt, I did some research on Arceus…" said the golden colored alien "…You know how she destroyed us, right?"
Deoxys blinked. She didn't "No, must be my old amnesia acting up."
"She destroyed us with her greatest attack- Ultimate Judgment…" said Cytosine "An attack so powerful that the sheer energy of it warps space-time in its vicinity. It destroyed nearly a tenth of our planet, about the size of the country Unova."
"…" Deoxys waited. Cytosine looked downwards.
"…I decided to visit the blast site. You know how her attacks work right? They get concentrated into a specific area. At the epicenter of the site, there is a huge hole that goes down for kilometers. I went down it to do some exploring." the gold alien paused "I don't know what I was looking for, but I found it. Look."
Cytosine tossed Deoxys something. She caught it and glance downward- it was a badge. The badge was rusted and old, silver in color with an X on it in the shape of an unwound helix.
"I'm sure your amnesia makes you forget… so I'll tell you what that is. That's a Xylph badge. As in, Xylph, the evil organization that used to control half the planet before your mother took over..."
Instantly Deoxys clutched her head. The name Xylph was bringing back more of her memories. She remembered herself in history class on Ribos. She was only fourteen years old.
"There used to be a terrible group called Xylph." explained her teacher as Deoxys wrote down notes "They had conquered half the planet with their technology, and were always seeking to conquer the other half. The fact that they were so powerful was one of the reasons our Supreme Queen went to Earth- because the Earthlings may have been able to help her."
A couple comments from others- saying how going to Earth was a huge mistake because of the massacre. The teacher told them to be quiet.
"Xylph was an elitist organization. In reality a few hundred members reigned supreme over the one billion members of their group. They mistreated their group horrendously- performing experiments with the Berserkgene to create an army while sacrificing sanity would be merely one of the terrors they wrought.
They fought with our side, then known as Clinolim, frequently. They rarely listened to reason and so peace was often unstable. Finally, after many years of this off and on war, a final confrontation was staged. At the country of Myrri, a vast army by the Clinolim around two billion invaded to finally find the Xylph base and put an end to their atrocities.
… it is not known where the base was, since the Clinolim never found it, but what is known is that two days after invading, Arceus, the God from Earth, launched a horrendous attack against us. It wiped out everyone indiscriminately, Xylph and Clinolim alike. The country of Myrri as you know, is nothing but a charred wasteland thanks to her."
"I remember…!" Deoxys was sweating as the memories flooded her brain "The Xylph! Myrri!"
"Good. That makes my explanation shorter…" Cystosine said "I found that badge while I was down in the hole. And you know what else I found? The Xylph base."
Deoxys' eyes were widened "Yeah, I found the secret base that our ancestors couldn't find after looking for thirty years. Turns out it was deep, deep underground the entire time. It's all trashed now, but there are about one or two structures still standing."
"…What are you trying to say…?"
"…After looking at maps a dozen times, I realized a shocking conclusion: The epicenter of Arceus' blast was the Xylph organization's base. Do you realize what this means…? She shot her deadly attack directly on top of the Xylphs…!"
The girl's eyes became wider. There was only one thing this could mean: Arceus didn't choose a random location for her attack. Instead, she had picked the exact location of the Xylph heartland, and struck there.
"She was… aiming for the Xylphs…!?" Deoxys knew that this was the only conclusion after all Cytosine had done. The golden alien lowered his head "That's the only thing I can think of… it's too much of a coincidence that the brunt of her attack landed directly at the Xylph headquarters.
She was aiming for them all this time… and our own guys just happened to be in the way…"
This in and of itself was a shocking truth. Arceus, from what Deoxys had known, was a careful and deliberate person who hated the idea of unnecessary sacrifice. She had to have known she would have killed billions of ribonians on that day. And yet she still chose to do so. Why?
There could only be one answer. Something had scared Arceus. The Xylph organization, for whatever reason, had scared Arceus into murdering two billion under some sort of threat.
But what could possibly scare a God?
Deoxys didn't want to know the answer to that question.
"How the hell is he still going on!?" yelled Lavanna above the conflict. The dark type had diverted all of his power to being speedy- as such he was dodging literally everything that they threw at him.
Even with three Stylers and three replicas of Toyman attacking him at once, the prince of darkness had evaded mostly every blow. Here and there he would occasionally attack their Stylers, but the damage was minimal at best.
Considering his level of skill this wouldn't have been surprising, except for the fact that he had kept this routine up for thirty minutes. He should have been exhausted by now, yet he continued to defy them with every step.
"Indeed, how can he still be this fast?" Toyman mused, launching a Coil Cannon from his arm at Darkrai. The electric attack fazed right through him. Another Double Team Clone.
"DARK PULSE!" Darkrai shouted, bringing his palms together and blanketing the room in black. The attack hit everyone, but was too weak to do any real damage. The Toymen resumed attacking, firing off Discharges just to hit Darkrai even once. Unfortunately, one of them actually hit, which paralyzed Darkrai for a split second.
"Attack now!" Ice commanded "Sinister Formation!"
Akin to Zero's Octagonal Alcatraz, the Sinistrio could utilize a multi-Styler attack to subdue their opponents. In this case, combining all three of their powers they formed a triangular symbol above the ground, then slammed it into Darkrai. While this occurred, the three Toymen each launched Coil Cannon's from their arms to aid the Sinistrio, resulting in a massive concentrated attack that hit the prince directly.
An explosion of debris was shortly followed, then all was quiet. Eventually the dust settled: Darkrai lay on the ground, unmoving.
"We… we did it!" Ice smiled "We took down the man who beat Zero!"
"Hah! In the face!" Heath grinned. The Toyman quickly observed Darkrai's EP: it was less than a thousand, meaning he was unconscious.
"Excellent." one of the Toyman said "He's out cold. He put up a good fight, but sadly there were six of us and only one of him."
"Get the spare pokeball, we'll take him back to the tower." commanded the blue haired dark ranger. As the three pulled out pokeballs, a thought occurred to the Toymen: why did Darkrai last for so long relying on nothing but speed?
Now that they had free time, they scanned the area looking for clues. They then saw something curious: a faint trail of energy leading from the three unconscious pokémon the Sinistrio had brought, leading to Darkrai himself.
"The three pokémon that were knocked out earlier?" one of them asked. Suddenly it hit them all at once. It was a trap.
"Go! Poke-ball!" Lavanna threw the spherical device at Darkrai just as the Toymen screamed not to do so.
Before the poke-ball reached Darkrai, he leapt out of its way straight at the Sinistrio. First was Lavanna: Darkrai quickly crushed her Styler with his bare hands and then lightly tapped her, bringing the girl into a nightmare. Ice and Heath began to react, and Darkrai shot precise Shadow Balls at their Stylers, blowing them across the room and crushing them as well. He then touched both Ice and Heath at super speed, and the two were out.
Darkrai stood over them, staring at his remaining opponents the Toymen.
"My word…" said the mechanical pokémon, gaining new respect for Darkrai "…you used the three pokémon from before. You were sapping their energy whilst they were sleeping with a Dream Eater attack!"
"Yep."
"And then you purposely lowered your power level to fool us into thinking you were unconscious."
"Bingo." Darkrai had learned something else from Victini: that he had a knack for controlling his EP very well. With training and learning to be more efficient, Darkrai was a master of his own energy- lowering it was a simple task.
"My. You have vastly improved." murmured one of the Toymen "Sadly I've just cancelled the effect of your move with a seal, you won't be draining their energy any longer. And with the three of us, you are sure to lose."
"About that…" Darkrai began "see, I've found out that humans are really frail. Literally one tap and they're out cold. I don't like killing people, so I've had to suppress my powers so that I wouldn't accidentally send them into a yearlong nightmare, or worse."
"…what are you saying?"
"I've been holding back." in an instant, Darkrai's fist had penetrated the armor of the nearest Toyman. The blow send cracks throughout the upper body's protection, and soon his chest armor was crushed leaving nothing but wires and microchips.
"I still am, since my sister wants you to join the Council." Darkrai looked down, his fist had not made contact with anything resembling skin or fur. In short, this Toyman was a robot. Darkrai sent a wave of energy through the machine and it was sent flying into the cave until it collapsed from being broken.
"Y-You!" Toyman shouted nervously. The two of them fire off Coil Cannons at Darkrai, but the massive electricity was simply absorbed by Darkrai's Dark Void. He then zoomed up to another Toyman "What IS under your mask?"
Darkrai ripped off the metal mask, only to reveal that it was a generic robot archetype. Then, the Toyman literally exploded. The blow was so unexpected that Darkrai took the surprise attack dead on. The second Toyman then attempted to imitate the last: it too was detonated but this time Darkrai was able to run away fast enough.
On the wall directly opposite, Darkrai heaved. His body was bruised, but not too bad.
"So what the hell, he was a robot this whole time? How does that mean he can't join us!?" asked Darkrai angrily. Only silence answered him. Cracking his neck a bit and sighing, the prince of darkness made his way over to the shadow crystal, where he stood next to it and promptly sat down. It had been defended.
"And where did that bastard Victini go? I sure could have used his help this time!"
Suddenly the cavern began to collapse. All around a rock slide took place, sending boulders coming down this way and that. Darkrai realized that their battle must have caused a cave in, so he quickly formed a Dark Void barrier around himself and the shadow crystal, as well as the three humans.
The upper layer of the cave collapsed for almost a minute when Darkrai looked up, he saw a giant gaping hole where the ceiling was. The sky was clearly visible, Darkrai ended his attack.
And then, something fell down: a gigantic automaton, red and silver in color. It had six legs and two arms, it held a double sided lance in both. A pair of eyes lurked behind a grinning mask.
"…whoa…" said Darkrai, in a rare moment of awe. The thing was almost two times bigger than him in terms of height, and much larger when length was considered. It probably weighed more than three tons.
"Let's try this again." said the voice in the suit or armor, no longer mechanical "I am Toyman. I was hired by the Sinsitrio to defeat and capture you. As of this moment I will begin to get serious with you."
"Bring it on." Darkrai said defiantly, "But if I win, then you take off your mask."
"…" Toyman was silent "No one can see my face…" He pointed his lance at Darkrai and charged. Darkrai summoned a Shadow Ball and charged back.
BOYLELAND VOLCANO
With Mewtwo's old personality distracting the Digimon (distracting = murdering), Gallade and Gardevoir were able to sneak around and enter the volcano.
Inside the heated, still active volcano, the two psychic types made their way through the maze of boiling lava. Helping each other explore, the two walked further and further down the chasms. Without much difficulty, they arrived in the hearth of the volcano.
It was a simple layout, a singular path leading to an island surrounded by lava. In the center was a dais created by humans long ago. And atop the ancient piece of architecture was the luminous crystal itself. In the shape of a typical fire symbol with red coloring, it glowed magnificently in the dimly lit area.
"There it is." said Gallade, "Let's take it."
Unfortunately, one rumbling later and from the pierced ceiling fell an orange colored digital monster. In between them and the crystal, its glasses were cracked and its mouth in a terrifying frown. The two psychics tensed.
"You… you messed wit' de wrong monsta's!" Agumon growled at them "Ya tink we'd be defeated by jus' dat!?
"Well it was worth a shot." spoke Gallade. He looked downwards and saw a 'full' sign on his pokeball like contraption, meaning 'Mewtwo' had been defeated.
"YA WILL BE DEAD! DIGIVOLVE!" suddenly Agumon was enveloped in a bright white light. The circling light spun around his form until it shattered off, revealing a much more fearsome monster:
Agumon's transformed state was much larger, and orange in color except for carbon black armor around his head, arms and legs. He had digivolved to the powerful Greymon. The terrifying five meter tall T rex glared at them angrily, but the two psychics were unafraid. Gardevoir summoned some light swords from thin air, and Gallade extended his blades and took up a defensive stance.
"You think that scares us?" Gardevoir asked rhetorically "Compared to nearly losing Darkrai to Kurades, that means nothing!"
The digital tyrant said nothing and instead roared, which activated yet another transformation; the white light came back and encircled him, causing him to obtain another new form. This time when the light shattered, he had turned into his Ultimate form; Wargreymon, a massive winged tyrannosaur with armor all around his body. Cannons sat atop his head, wings and forearms.
"…Th-that's still not scary!" Gardevoir laughed nervously "No matter what you change into, you'll never make me back down!"
In response yet another transformation occurred as he digivolved to his Digi-Ultimate form. This time when he emerged from the chrysalis the digital monster was ten meters tall, with twin wings and missile launchers on his back, covered in blackened armor. Laser cannons were on every side of his body, even his spines were composed of laser cannons. Now called Mega wargraymon, his roar shook the entire volcano, resonating with his ultimate power.
"…Okay this is getting really old, not to mention cheap!" Gallade had to say it "We only mega evolve once, but you've done it like three times now! That's stupid!"
"IT IS NOT!" bellowed the massive dinosaur "Just for that I'm going to do it again!"
And once again Mega Wargreymon digivolved to another more ferocious form. Now as his Digi-mega-ultimate-hyper-hybrid form, he was at 15 meters tall, covered from head to toe in every single weapon invented by the human race. His wings were made from laser cannons and revolvers, his arms from nuclear warheads and assault rifles. His legs were made from intercontinental missiles and pop guns. He had now become… Ultra Gearsofmodernwarwithblood7mon. Ultra Mon for short.
"…Okay now you just look silly with all those weapons." Gallade had to say. Having no more forms left (we hope), Ultra Mon decided to finally attack his arch enemies: the tyrannosaur cocked once which loaded all of his 4,444,444 weapons, then aimed all of them upon the two pokémon.
"Shield us!" Gallade shouted. Gardevoir formed a Light Screen shield just as he fired all of his deadly arms upon the two psychics. With the shield distracting him, Gallade swerved around the rocks and stones, leaping to and fro until he had reached the top of the cavern. Straight above the digital monster, Gallade focused his energy to his arms and fell as a Swords Dance was created.
"Close Combat!" immediately before he hit Ultra Mon, Gallade raised his fists and began pounding on the digital monster's head with several concussive blows. Ultra Mon stopped firing and roared in pain as Gallade kept his attack coming. One Close Combat fist after another slammed into the blackened beasts head, causing him to recoil.
Seizing the opportunity, Gardevoir leapt up and fired the biggest Psychic she could at the body of the machinated monster, while at the same time using Thunder Wave to freeze his legs to the ground. The result was as expected: gravity took effect and with the blows from the two psychic hitting him so hard, Ultra Mon fell down.
Gallade and Gardevoir landed back on the ground and paused for an instant to see if it was done. It wasn't, and they were nearly hit with a stray missile.
"You guys will pay for dat!" the metal man got back up and began firing laser beams at them. There were about a dozen in total zooming from his fingertips and wings. Gallade and Gardevoir danced around avoiding contact with these flesh piercing blasts while at the same time Ultra Mon stepped up his game. For a brief instant, all the laser beams stopped firing.
"Take this- DIGI ULTRA LAZER DETONATION BURST!"
The nest second, everything went blue as Ultra Mon fired off laser beams from every single facility of his body, aimed at every direction at once. It was an unavoidable attack, and Gallade and Gardevoir found themselves overwhelmed in an instant. The laser blasts hit their bodies and they screamed from the pain, while the other lasers hit everything around them. Rocks fell down, only to be incinerated by the lasers, the ground quaked from the release of power, everything seemed to be in chaos as Ultra Mon's attack continued for a solid minute.
When it was finally over, Ultra Mon saw that Gardevoir had yet again formed a shield around herself and Gallade. However they were injured from his attack, as the shield only came in the last thirty seconds of the move. The shield collapsed and Gardevoir with it.
"Ya canno' win ya stupid knock offs! Digimon are superior to Pokémon in every way!"
"No they aren't!" Gallade said defiantly, helping Gardevoir back up "All you guys do is speak in a Jamaican accent and add Digi to the beginning of everything important! Plus all you guys have names ending in 'mon' and that's lame!"
"NU UH, we do NOT add Digi to everything! Just the Digivice, the Digidestined, the Digi world, the Digimon, the Digidrink, the Digivolution, Digipads, Digiplanes…" Ultra Mon paused.
He fired off more laser blasts at the duo. This time Gallade reacted in time and with Gardevoir in hand, ran up the walls by leaping on top of rocks. They needed to regroup and think of a plan.
"Not good, not good!" Gallade cried as he dodged the missiles, laser beams and bullets.
"Gallade, I have an idea!" Gardevoir said, getting off of Gallade and dodging with him "We have to hit his weak point!"
"What weak point!?" blared Gallade, "All I see are shotguns and nukes!"
"No I mean- he's a digital creature right? That means he's steel typed right!?"
"…uh…"
"I AM DATA TYPED!" roared Ultra Mon in rage.
"Okay so he's Data typed! What's supereffective against that!?" Gardevoir tried.
"Uh…" Gallade could not think of anything "Wait, I remember something! One day while I was playing computer, I punched it and it broke! That means he must be weak against attacks that do a lot of damage!"
"So in other words, his weak point is us hitting him harder!" Gardevoir smiled.
"DATS DA STOOPIDEST TING I EVA HEARD! DERE'S NO WAY IT'S A-GONNA WORK!" said the relatively smarter digital creature.
Gallade and Gardevoir responded to this accusation by charging up their attacks and hitting the machine with everything they had. For Gallade it meant Swords Dance boosted Close Combats to the belly, while Gardevoir used her light powers to both blind and assail Ultra Mon with swords. Unable to react to this assault, the two psychic put their psychic powers together by joining hands.
"Psychic!"
"Psycho Cut!"
A massive Psycho Cut formed in front of them, then surged towards Ultra Mon by a Psychic. The digital monster was instantly hit with the blade of psychic energy, cutting him and making him fall backwards from the sheer impact it had made.
"Let's get him before he comes up again!" Gallade shouted.
"R-Right!" Gardevoir replied, they two zooming in on the monster.
"DAT'S… ENOUUGGGHHH!" before the two psychic launched their respective attacks, Ultra Mon launched several dozen missiles at them. By remotely detonating the weapons, he managed to deliver severe blows upon the two psychics.
This time, they were hit harder than ever before. Gallade sprang up, but immediately cringed from the backlash his body gave him. His partner Gardevoir was shaking, trying to get up but failing. Gallade ran over to her, working his way through the pain "Gardevoir! Gardevoir get up!"
Ultra Mon extended his body, transforming himself into a monster composed of as many weapons as possible, loading them all in a rapid fashion. Gardevoir was on the ground, lamenting her weakness while Gallade tried to think of a way out of this.
Suddenly, he saw something on the ground: a small, spherical stone. Teal, pink and grey in color, it shined with magnificence. Previously buried deep beneath the earth where it was formed, Ultra Mon's attacks had caused it to surface, and just in time for their salvation.
A Gardevoirite. A mega stone.
"Gardevoir!" Gallade immediately snatched the precious stone and hurried over. If Gardevoir could mega evolve, then they still had a chance "A mega stone, please Gardevoir, use it!"
The green and white psychic, with what little strength she had, reached up and grabbed the stone from Gallade. She had been preparing for this her whole life "Mega… evolve!" she shouted.
A strange colored light surrounded Gardevoir. Enveloped in its brightness, a shield formed around her, then disappeared in an instant, where Gardevoir was revealed.
She had not transformed.
"Wh...What?" asked the female psychic in a hesitant voice. She had gone through all the motions, she had even activated the stone. The stone responded by trying to transform her… and it didn't work.
"What are ya' doin over der?" Ultra Mon asked "Whateva, I'll attack ya' now!"
He launched dozens of missiles at the two green psychics. Gallade was the only one who could move- he furiously shouted for Gardevoir to transform as he single handedly blocked the missiles. While Gardevoir tried to change, Gallade used his fencing prowess to knock most of the missiles away. Some of them still hit, and Gallade was near unconscious from the effort. He collapsed on his knees, but still gave a defiant glare.
"Ya tink ya can still win!?" laughed the abomination a few meters ahead, "I've ben charging all my weapons wince da beginning! In T-minus one minute, ya all is gonna be blown ta bits!"
Gardevoir had activated the mega stone three times, and yet she was still in the same form as always "How…? Why!?"
And then it struck her why she couldn't transform. Now that she had thought of it, a foreign power had been blocking her transformation at the last second, because a part of her wasn't a gardevoir at all. Her light powers… her mysterious abilities to manipulate light energy were making it so she could not mega evolve.
"Gallade… my light powers…! I can't do it!" Gardevoir shouted.
"T-minus 45 seconds! But let's send some more missile at ya!" Ultra Mon fired more missiles at the pair, and Gallade widened his eyes as he realized he could not move.
So Gardevoir did. She leapt in front of Gallade and shielded him from harm as 26 missiles hit her. She was protected by a last minute Light Screen, but it did hardly anything to lessen the damage.
Gallade shouted in agony, and Gardevoir gave him one last smile before fainting.
Ultra Mon laughed at their peril. Gallade, in desperation, grabbed the mega stone from Gardevoir's hands "Mega Evolve!" he screamed. The mega stone rejected him. He wasn't of the gardevoir genus, so the searing energy pulsed painfully within his hands and dropped to the floor.
Gallade bit his lip and picked it back up "MEGA EVOLVE!" again, the stone rejected his genetic makeup and again the searing pain in his hands was back. But Gallade did not give up. He screamed from the pain it caused him, but he kept trying to activate it.
"You listen to me!" Gallade shouted at the mega stone, its energies becoming increasingly volatile "My friend is in danger! I'm similar enough to a gardevoir aren't I!? So you will obey me!"
The stone refused to yield, harming Gallade even more. The pain shot through his entire body as Ultra Mon counted ten seconds until they were wiped off the map. The noble fighting psychic hung on "I won't lose her! Not here, not now, nor ever! You will give me your power and I will win!"
"FIRE!" laughed the digimon. At that very instant, a thousand missiles, laser beams and bullets were fired all at once from every orifice of Ultra Mon's body. The sheer size and scale of the assault blinding everyone in a flurry of grey and red. Everything that Ultra Mon had his sights set on was obliterated instantly.
The side of the volcano, five meters thick, was turned to dust in an instant. The ground became cracked and broken. The shockwave from it all was enough to cause a miniature eruption from the volcano, spewing lava in a few places. Ultra Mon looked at the carnage and frowned.
"That'll teach ya ta mess wit us." he said to his deceased opponents. The fog began to clear.
Gallade stood over Gardevoir, having protected her throughout the entire ordeal. His arms had become immensely thick and silver colored, forming an impenetrable shield around both himself and his beloved.
"What!?"
Gallade's arms began to shrink, and his form was revealed. He stood slightly taller, and was now clad in armor. His chest, shoulders and lower half of the legs were protected by the sturdiest of steel. Gallade's forearms had turned into giant gauntlets, and even his hair had turned grey as a result, resembling a helmet. A blue ring surrounded his amber eye.
By some fluke, be it Gallade's impressive will to protect or the fact that his species were genetically identical to Gardevoirs, Gallade had succeeded in mega evolution.
Gallade slowly walked up to Ultra Mon, as the latter began to frantically fire everything he had upon the transformed mega pokémon. Gallade either ignored it outright or blocked his projectiles. Soon enough, the steel type was face to face with the digimon.
"This joke has gone on long enough."
With one punch Gallade sent Ultra Mon flying back to his own universe. His single punch shook the very foundations of the air and delivered a cataclysmic blow to the stomach of the machinated monster. Gallade had so much power behind the blow that he even shocked himself once Ultra Mon was out of sight.
Immediately afterwards, Gallade's transformation receded. With a light, he was back to normal. He found the small mega stone clenched in his hand. Gazing at it for a moment, he turned to Gardevoir and gently woke her up.
"Hey… we won." smiled Gallade, "Let us get the gem."
"…okay." smiled Gardevoir "…thank you for saving me…"
The male psychic gave her a warm smile in return. He picked up the injured Gardevoir and carried the girl upon his back. Then, he walked towards the flame shaped gem.
Mercifond was face to face with her secret boyfriend, now turned into a mega pokémon. Somehow, she would have to defeat Lucario without Malispite's help to retrieve the teardrop shaped gem on the dais.
The white bat stood a good chance in Lucario's normal forme, but now that he was a mega… the odds were not in her favor.
"Stand down Mercifond." warned her boyfriend, "I need a steady job, and I can't let you ruin it."
"Not even if the fate of the world were at stake?" she replied.
"If it were, my boss would tell me to hand it over. He hasn't, so no." said the blue jackal calmly. Mercifond's sources on the other hand, indicated that there was danger. However, Lucario was strong. This begged the question: could it be that they could just leave this gem to him? Surely with the other two in their possession…
No… they needed all three to inactivate the shadow crystal. She had to do it.
"I'm sorry." Mercifond leapt with her wings towards Lucario with an Ice Beam in hand. She fired it, but the steel type ignored the hit and struck her back with a Bullet Punch attack. Making it clear that she had to do this, Mercifond summoned her energy "Angel's Defence!"
Soothing blue symbols surrounded the white bat and covered her body. Now that her defensive abilities had exponentially increased, she charged back again. Mercifond engaged Lucario in close combat. Lucario actually used Close Combat while Mercifond fired off Ice Beams and Dazzling Gleams from her body. The clash was thirty seconds long, before it became clear to Lucario that his girlfriend was hurting him, but he wasn't doing anything back.
He leapt backwards and summoned his golden blue aura "Aura Sphere and Adaptability- Mega Sphere!" he shouted, then mixing his own Adaptability ability in the mix, the sphere grew twice as large and twice as powerful, with a golden color. It was launched and Mercifond crossed her arms expecting to take the hit.
She did, and it the attack injured her more damage than she expected. But the assault wasn't done just yet, Lucario then zoomed next to her with a Bullet Punch attack, followed by a swift Blaze Kick which sent her back. The combo ended with a super powerful Aura Storm attack, all of which hit Mercifond directly.
The white bat got back up, but she realized just how much of an advantage Lucario held over her. As soon as Angel's Defence wore off, she would be completely helpless to his attacks. Additionally, he possessed an uncanny speed advantage, which did not give her many openings.
"Ah wait… I have that…" Mercifond thought to herself. During her training with Dusknoir, she had learned one new attack that may be able to help her now.
She concentrated her energy, and as expected, Lucario was on her in an instant.
"Close Combat!" he roared, pummeling her with a series of high powered fist blows. Mercifond stored energy inside her body, and at the last moment unveiled her new attack:
"Counter!"
Using the force of Lucario's own blows, she had stored its energy inside her and built it up until it could no longer be contained. She struck the blue jackal with a force rivalling that of her brother: a punch that caught the jackal off guard and sent him flying into the opposite wall. With a loud boom, Lucario painfully made contact with the cold ice.
"Ah…!" Lucario growled from the injury, slowly standing back up "I had no idea you could do that…"
"Oh! That's the technique those two aliens used against us!" Malispite recalled Adenine and Thymine back when the ribonians had invaded Earth. Mercifond nodded her head, after seeing an attack that powerful, she wanted to learn it for herself.
Lucario was fully stood now, but out of breath. Nonetheless this did not stop him: "Mega Sphere!"
He immediately launched a huge and fast ball of aura straight at the white bat, who thankfully avoided it. She and Lucario engaged in combat once again, this time with Ice Beams and Flash Cannons. Lucario had learned his lesson to not get in close with Mercifond to avoid her deadly Counter.
However Lucario was proficient at long ranged combat while Mercifond had revealed her trump card too early. As Malispite watches silently, he saw his sister become overwhelmed with the sheer amount of attacks Lucario could produce and Mercifond helplessly taking them blow by blow. Her Angel's Defence couldn't have much more time, she needed to strike now.
Realizing this, the white bat concentrated cold energy within her mouth, then rushed in. Lucario responded by leaping away from her and that was her cue- Mercifond unleashed the ice beam directly at Lucario's feet, freezing them together and making him drop.
She then launched a point Blank Dazzling Gleam on him from her hands. This was not enough- Lucario's enhanced strength made breaking the ice easy. His enhanced durability let him take the fairy attack with minimal damage, and then he struck the surprised white bat with a Bullet Punch to the stomach.
Mercifond gagged and her Angel's Defence fell. She staggered backwards, having taken the first real blow during the entire fight- and Lucario had made it count. Mercifond bared her teeth and held back her fist in preparation to go again-
Her brother's hand firmly stopped her.
"That's enough sis." Malispite said "He clearly outmatches you, going on would just prolong the inevitable."
"What!? But-" Mercifond wanted to prove her strength, "My Chosen One necklace!" she realized. Mercifond lightly touched the golden band upon her neck "Heal!"
A beam of light crashed down painfully onto Mercifond's head, causing her to fall over.
"…You did good Mercifond, it's not like you're weak or anything," Malispite gently explained "But this isn't a life or death situation, this is a fight with your hated enemy: and you've clearly lost. Just get stronger, and don't be down since you lost to a MEGA evolution." shrugged the brown bat. He turned to Lucario.
"But we still need that gem. So as unfair as this is, it's my turn to fight." said Malispite. Mercifond grumbled, but admitted he was right.
"Hmph. So be it!" Lucario took a stance "I have yet enough fight in me to beat you too! With my new mega forme, you won't stand a chance."
Malispite activated Demon's Offence. Then, he dealt a blow to Lucario so fast and so strong, that the jackal was caught unawares and was sent flying through the ten meter thick ice wall. The ground cracked beneath them when Malispite's fist made contact, the walls shattered from the shockwave produced, and Mercifond very nearly fell into a crevice created in the wake of his punch.
With Lucario gone, the gem was theirs.
"I really didn't want to do that, that was your fight…" said the brown bat, returning to a brown color as the symbols disappeared "but we have our mission. Cheap or not, it has to be done."
"You-You-You-You…!" Mercifond was speechless. Just how strong had her brother become!? Then again, he was always crazy strong. But this was ridiculous!
"Here it is." smiled Malispite. His punch had distorted the room and knocked them gem over to a different area. He picked it up.
Suddenly Lucario was back, bleeding slightly and staggering in his run. He nearly fell over when he stopped, and the jackal was no longer in mega form, suggested he was severely weakened "D-Don't take that…! Need… paycheck…!"
"Sorry." shrugged the brown bat "Think of it as payment for what you did to us in detention." said the grudge holding malice pokémon.
Lucario's phone rang. Reaching into his ear, he plucked it out "H-Hello?"
A voice spoke to him on the other side of the phone. Lucario narrowed his eyes "Yes, it has. But I can still fight! I'll get it back before you-"
Lucario stopped in mid-sentence, while the twin bats watched out of interest. Lucario then gaped "Are you sure!? Why- ?" more silence. Then: "Okay… I'll tell them. But do I still get paid?"
Murmuring from the other end.
"Yes!" Lucario smiled "Okay, bye boss!" the blue jackal flipped the phone and stuffed it back in his ear. He told them what his boss Neon had just told him: that he understood the crisis in Almia, so he gave Lucario full permission to give the gem away to any members of Calestia he might encounter. He also said that Lucario would get paid anyway, and that he should go with them as backup. So, all was good.
"Cool." Mercifond was standing back up, "So um… you're coming with us then? That's good…"
"…" Malispite was watching the two intently. Mercifond shuddered, then quickly added "You know, so that we can hate each other even more!"
"S-Sure…" said Lucario, still dazed "L-Let's go… I need a healing move…"
"Sure. One question though: you were working for Agent Neon the whole time?" asked Malispite.
"Who?" Lucario replied.
"Uh, you know… the secret agent's secret boss? Codename agent Neon?"
A pause.
"OH MY ARCEUS!" realized Lucario.
MORAL OF THE STORY: AGENT NEON IS TOO AWESOME
Darkrai was thrown against a stone wall. He rebounded back and used Dark Pulse Punch on the gigantic Toyman, sending him flying back in the same way. The mechanical man growled, then summoned a lance and charged at Darkrai.
The prince of darkness charged right back and used a Dark Pulse Punch on the lance, breaking it, then followed up with an Ice Beam to the face. Toyman's vision was lost and he stumbled.
"You're a bit tougher now… but I still won't lose!" grinned Darkrai "I nearly have enough Manly Points to date Lopunny, I have too much at stake to lose!"
"You have what!?" Toyman grimaced back. He got the ice off and sight was restored "Never mind, Coil Cannon!"
He surprised Darkrai with two mounted electrical discharges from either shoulder. The prince of darkness in turn summoned two Dark Void's to absorb the attack. Anticipating this, the mechanical man charged back at Darkrai and knocked him off balance, which was all he needed to perform a Flash Cannon attack, which hit Darkrai directly.
The pitch black pokémon got back up. He wiped some dust from his mouth "Alright that's it. I'm ending this!"
The two Dark Voids suddenly twisted shape, becoming less massive and more condensed, then combined to form a circular ring, orange and white in color. Toyman took a step backwards, having never seen this before.
"Quasar Expulsion!" Darkrai yelled, throwing the disc a small distance and watching it blow up from the energy Toyman had put into it. The fiery explosion burned Toyman's armor, but did little damage. The mechanical man stood on his four legs unscathed.
But this was a distraction, as by then the black colored pokémon had already jumped above and prepared something special: his signature move.
"This is it…!" Darkrai could feel the dark energy around his fist- all of his training was about to come to fruition. Today, his signature move would be realized.
"ULTIMATE HELLFIRE APOCALYPTIC ABSOLIX DEMOLISHING FIST OF DETH!"
Darkrai made contact with Toyman's head and the resulting blow was tremendous to say the least. The walls on either side of their little arena shook and crumbled before Darkrai's power, Toyman himself sank two meters into the ground, where there was now a crater. The orange and grey man did not move, Darkrai landed on the ground.
"Damnit I messed up…" mumbled the prince of darkness. That wasn't his ultimate attack, not even close: it was just a concentrated Dark Pulse Punch really.
"Really? That's the name of your attack?"
Darkrai stiffened. He frowned "Oh great…"
"You may not be at death's door yet, but that won't stop me from talking to my cute little host~!" said the voice in his head.
"Shut up…" mumbled Darkrai to Asmodeus.
"Anyway, you know what day it is? It's: 'give up your body day'. So how about it, give me your body so I can use it for a while!"
"HELL NO"
"I'll be getting it anyway, it's just better sooner rather than later." grinned Asmodeus from inside Darkrai. The prince of darkness frowned, trying to block off his voice but only hearing Asmodeus' taunts in return.
"Give me your damn body!"
"NO!"
"How about your brain!? Can I have that at least!?"
"SHUT UP!" Darkrai yelled back.
"Who are you talking to?"
Darkrai swiftly turned around. Toyman was back up. There was a huge crack upon his mask, and electricity seemed to be discharging from random parts of his suit.
"Uh… no one. Especially not dead guys living inside my body." Darkrai quickly told him.
"Hm… well regardless…" Toyman tried to hoist himself up "It looks like my back half has been compromised. So be it…"
An invisible switch was flicked and suddenly, Toyman's back two legs were evacuated from the rest of his body. The orange and grey automaton now had two legs left, and he seemed to be proficient at standing up with just two.
"Of course I am." Toyman responded to Darkrai "The back half of me is entirely technological, used to boost my speed since I'm quite slow." another crack appeared in Toyman's mask.
"So what's it going to be?" asked Darkrai. The mechanical man gazed at him with almost sorrowful eyes.
"You cracked my mask, and now it's breaking. And actually, you broke my suit as well. I'll have to fight you without aid of my technology."
"So you give up?" the prince of darkness asked hesitantly. Another crack appeared.
"No. Instead you must surrender. If you do not, then you will die."
The mask broke off, and his suit cracked away with it. Darkrai gaped.
Citadark Island
At the rocky beach of the isolated island, four figures stood still as they prepared for the inevitable onslaught. One was a purple and grey dragon speaking to a hologram of God. Around him were a giant red phoenix, a dark grey and blue ice dragon, and a purple and pink colored swan.
"I'm asking where Rayquaza is." Palkia stated plainly.
"And I said he should already be there!" replied the holographic equine. Just then, a roar from the sky, and from another part of the island soared a green dragon. He dove to the ground but missed it just so, curling himself just above the rocks.
"I was scouting, thank you very much." Rayquaza snarled at Palkia "I think I've found Lugia."
"Good. With luck we can get him before he turns into that monster." Palkia growled. Arceus watching, the space dragon addressed the group "Listen up, all of you. Somewhere on this island is Lugia, who as far as we know is alive at the moment yet trying to kill himself.
He wants to do it so that he doesn't turn into a monstrosity capable of levelling Mossdeep in five minutes. We are talking about a class Five Legendary, one that will kill all of us and everything around him if we're not careful. His power is real and… we'll probably have to face it in battle in order to save Lugia from himself.
So here's what we do." breathed Palkia, eyes serious "Rayquaza and I will be on the offense, we'll hit him from the front and up close where it's most dangerous. Kyurem, stay at least 20 meters away from Lugia at all costs, support us with moves that slow his movement. Ho-oh, you and Cresselia will be our trump cards.
Ho-oh, take Cresselia on your back and continually shout at Lugia to snap out of it. With both of you, there is a good chance that we can repeat what happened 10 years ago and break Lugia's transformation."
The group of five was silent. Palkia breathed loudly. He was nervous "It should work like this. Lugia is still in there somewhere, I know it."
Arceus nodded her holographic head "And, I also have brought backup. With the power that I still have, I can send him there too."
A portal in space-time opened from the Hall of Origin to Citadark Island, a huge distance of reality warping that could only be done by Arceus herself.
Something emerged from the portal, not a pokémon, but a human. He was an average looking black haired human male around 40 years old with a scarred and blind eye, he walked over towards Rayquaza and smiled.
The green dragon fell to the ground for the first time in eons. His jaw dropped to the floor "It-It couldn't be!?"
The human smiled at him silently, then went over and hugged the teary eyed dragon. Rayquaza responded by curling up next to him as they shared a special embrace. Lip quivering, the sky dragon asked Arceus in hesitant voice "Markus…!?"
Darkrai wanting to be Zero's trainer when he was younger was not a new event, but it was rare. The idea was that the Legendary Council was composed of all pokémon. This was partially false. Occasionally, a special human would rise up and have skill so great that it befitted the Legendarys. Sometimes, a Legendary would forms special bond with a human trainer and form a pair.
These humans were few and far between. It takes great skill and knowledge to keep up with the great battles a Legendary often faces. Additionally, trust was a major concern and without it, there was no way for a human to control a legendary pokémon. Lastly, because humans have a limited lifespan and most legends had the immortality gene… these trainers only had a short stint to command a Legendary before the natural cycle took them away. As a testament to this, Palkia and Dialga once had formed bonds with humans in the past, but they had died over three hundred years ago. The two refused to form another such bond with anyone else.
They were called Legendary Trainers, people so skilled and kind that they could command legendary pokémon and stand along them in the Hall of Origin. Markus was one of them, who had befriended Rayquaza. It was he and he alone who was allowed to command the great dragon of the sky. He was one of only two current Legendary Trainer's, the other being Manaphy's Jessica.
There was a reason that Rayquaza was so surprised to see him, the man had not ridden atop the green dragons back in over twenty years. During the great Rocket war of Kanto and Johto twenty years ago, Rayquaza was sent to combat the threat, but as a result his trainer was gravely injured. He had lost his eye and had been sent into a coma. Rayquaza and others refused to talk about him, because many assumed he was already a dead man, never to wake up.
Today, they had been proven wrong.
"Markus…" Rayquaza said his name again, just to make sure he was still there. The man looked upwards and smiled at him again, laughing without a voice. The injury had rendered his vocal cords useless, he could not talk again.
"I tell you, humans do wonders." Arceus grinned, "Agent Coder contacted me one day, and said he found a solution. After from what I gather, seven grueling days of failed operations, one finally succeeded. Markus has been awoken, though they could not fix his voice."
However this was not an issue for Rayquaza- long ago the two had created a sign language system, so that Markus could command Rayquaza at high speeds in intense battles. Markus let go of the great green dragon and motioned Rayquaza with some hand gestures. Rayquaza responded in kind performing aerial maneuvers, until Markus gave the thumbs up that he was ready.
While Ho-oh, Cresselia and Kyurem were amazed at the level of partnership the two had, Palkia grinned "So, miracles do happen after all…"
"They do." beamed Arceus. Palkia stepped forth and addressed the group.
"We have three class Fours, two class Threes, a Legendary Trainer and one class Two with an emotional connection to him. I think we can do it."
"I know you can." beamed Arceus "My only regret is that I am not there with you…"
Palkia nodded. Their mother, the God of all Pokémon, would make capturing Lugia a cinch since her power was unmatched. Yet, she was still trapped at the Hall of Origin. Arceus wished them all good luck, then her hologram faded away.
"Take us to him, Rayquaza." Dialga beckoned. The green dragon told everyone to follow him as he took to the skies once more with a rider upon his back. He flew in a certain direction, and the rest followed. Not five minutes later did they arrive at Rayquaza's site, a crumbled building that was once Cipher's lair.
Cresselia gulped, and followed the others to what appeared to be a basement area of the complex. She, like the others, were sensing strange aura readings from far down below. They floated down, down and down, until they were almost twenty meters below the surface. There, a tunnel.
"We'd best be cautious." Kyurem noted, "That tunnel lies directly under the ocean."
"Got it…" Palkia obeyed his girlfriend. He went in first towards the strange aura emitting from the tunnel, the rest followed. The pink swan almost could not believe the situation they were in, and had to remind herself Lugia's life was at stake to keep her not dazed from it all.
Finally, the end of the tunnel was reached. It was a gigantic space with a miniature waterfall. Lugia was there, strapped to a plethora of seals and chains to the point where only his head was visible.
"What the-?" Rayquaza asked "Lugia?"
"Seals?" questioned Ho-oh. Palkia and Kyurem took a closer look at these marks.
"I recognize them," said the space dragon, "these are slow acting EP sapping seals, as well as some slow acting poison ones and a lot to keep Lugia unconscious no matter what."
"Can we save him!?" blared Ho-oh.
"From this, easily enough." Palkia was well versed in the sealing arts, so he knew a couple ways to get rid of these "The real question is, what will happen when we do?"
Silence pervaded the area. Silently, Kyurem nodded at her boyfriend and backed up twenty meters. Markus made some motions and Rayquaza stepped forth. Ho-oh and Cresselia braced themselves.
"This is it." Palkia uttered an incantation and wrote some things on one of the seals with some of his energy. The seals began to dissolve on themselves, and the chains began to break. For a full minute the chains and paper that had bound Lugia continued to break. And then, Lugia was unbound.
The second he was, he opened his eyes.
"Palkia." he saw. He turned to the side "Ho-oh."
"Brother!" yelled Ho-oh, "We're here to save you!"
"You broke them." stated Lugia plainly, as if he couldn't hear Ho-oh "…I wish you hadn't done that."
Palkia felt his energy rise instinctively "Lugia… keep calm. We will take you back."
The white bird looked at him with ferocious eyes, one of which was red and beginning to turn a blackened purple "I am calm." stated he, "And that is the problem. I can kill you even while calm.
Why did you break my chains? They would have kept me bound."
"Lugia…!"
"Lugia!" Cresselia shouted. The white bird looked at Cresselia for a split second, but his attention was back on Palkia as quick.
"I'm not dead. You broke them." stated Lugia, the blackness on his face suddenly starting to accelerate "Now I have to… kill all of you."
The corruption spread to Lugia's entire body in an instant, and Lugia was no longer Lugia anymore. He had become that which Cipher envisioned: a perfect killing machine without remorse. A shadow pokémon so great that the world would quake at the mere mention of his name.
Lugia bellowed at them in an unholy horrific screech.