Disclaimer: Pokémon is still owned by The Pokémon Company, which in turn is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, and probably others I forgot. The following fanfiction is me playing around in their sandbox, using characters they envisioned and created, except for the odd character that wasn't. I own nothing of this.


Chapter 29: Uncaring Life

Geosenge was becoming visible in the distance; and it was obvious the town was aware of what was going on. Hundreds of feet below the two flying Pokémon, people were leaving the town in droves, walking or riding on Pokémonback, while smoke wafted up from multiple locations in town. It…

The Dragon-type Master's musings were interrupted by an enormous pillar of red beyond the town. It went up into the grey clouds; and even just looking at it gave him the idea that it was an unnatural thing. Something had happened there, and without hesitation, both Pokémon adjusted their course to go to the new beacon. The town may have been in danger, but they would have to take care of themselves for now.

Lance would bet anything that Team Flare was responsible for whatever had happened there.

~~§~~§~~

The red aura obscured Max's vision, but the feeling of dread that tore through the room was palpable, mingling with the prickling under his skin. The unearthly screech that erupted moments later, loud enough to leave a slight ring in his ears, froze his insides. Even though he had never heard it before, and even though he could barely see five feet in front of him, he knew what it meant.

Yveltal had awakened.

The prickling reasserted itself with a flare-up of electricity, somehow not hitting Max as it shot forth from underneath his hand, where manectric was.

But it wasn't the same manectric. Her fur had turned spiky, though he was somehow not touching any of the new spikes, while the mane on her head had largely vanished in the process. She was bigger, as she revealed when she rose, Max's hand having to move with the Pokémon. He saw that her tail was gone, and a brief touch on the sides of his shoes revealed that she had sharp claws on her paws; far sharper than normal.

She had Mega Evolved.

Max let go of his Pokémon, rising back to his feet as the red aura started thinning. Even as he did that, a grinding noise suddenly roared into life somewhere in front of him. It caused arm-thick arcs of electricity to pass between the ends of manectric's spikes, but she didn't launch any of it, instead waiting for the aura to disappear and a target to present itself.

The noise turned out to be a metal wall separating yveltal – Max got about two seconds of vision on it – from the two of them, and when the noise stopped, he became aware that there was another sound in the room. It was heartfelt laughter; a sound that confused Max. Manectric let the electricity slip away as the source of the laughter came into view once more.

"I must both thank and congratulate you," Lysandre stated when he saw Max looking, ending his laugh, though a smirk remained. "Congratulate, because achieving Mega Evolution is a tremendous feat, worthy of praise indeed. Thank, because it was the final impetus needed for yveltal to awaken."

"What do you mean?!"

"We were using Mega Evolution energy to trigger its awakening. I imagine the proximity of the transformation gave a final push, and in doing so, you have ensured the doom of this world." The leader of Team Flare scrutinised Max and his Pokémon, a cruel smirk and utter calm visible, causing Max to growl in anger. "Though I wonder why Sycamore would give you a Key Stone. To the best of my knowledge, he has been hoarding them ever since the attack in Durocor; the one you interrupted. Where did you get it?"

"In a safe in an office!" Max shot back, pointing up and to his right, but keeping an eye on Lysandre.

The calm look made brief way to fury before settling on anger. "I see. Well. You have done your part, for which I do thoroughly thank you. Now, however, you have outlived your usefulness. Pyroar!"

The Flamethrower that was thrown out met a dazzlingly large Thunderbolt; one that was powerful enough to make Max take a few steps back from his Pokémon before he even realised he had done so. The electricity overpowered the flame with ease, though an explosion happened before the attack could reach the pyroar, and Max saw the Royal Pokémon lope left.

He had almost forgotten doublade was still there, but the Sword Pokémon lashed out at the pyroar with both swords; one barely missing, and the other slicing one of the feline's lower legs before hurrying over to Max. The cut was deep enough to make red spill forth, but he didn't care about that, and neither did manectric, who shot a Thunder so powerful that it made his hair tingle at Lysandre's Pokémon. The attack dwarfed the Thunderbolt of earlier, and it was only by the skin of its teeth that the pyroar avoided being electrocuted; the jump hasty and the landing bad.

Lysandre's Pokémon managed to get up, but then an attack from above gouged a trench in the ground between the combatants. The Hyper Beam stopped pyroar from retaliating, and doublade also stopped glowing the purple of Night Slash. Two Pokémon landed; a salamence and a dragonite, and a gardevoir instantly appeared as well as two riders jumped off the Dragons.

Max had to do a double-check to make sure his eyes weren't lying. Lance? Here? What?

~~§~~§~~

"Lysandre. I had truly hoped there was a case of mistaken identity," Diantha said airily, as though she was discussing the weather. Lance knew it to be a faux-friendliness, and one he paid little mind to. He had other things to do; a decision made the moment that he had descended on his dragonite.

With quick strides, he walked over to the teenager present, who was giving him a look of disbelief. Dragonite and salamence followed, and he sent out flygon as well. "Get on flygon, now!" he ordered. Max didn't move, instead sending an attempt at a murderous glare Lysandre's way. For a kid his age, it was surprisingly good, but he was too young for it to be anything else than vaguely amusing. "Max, listen to me. Diantha will take care of him. We need to stop yveltal."

"We? How?" the teenager immediately questioned, the glare vanishing.

Lance debated honesty for a split second. "Even Legendaries have their limits," he said, sidestepping the point, though he had a feeling Max still saw right through it. "Leave manectric out. I've got a few ideas."

Curious. Telling him to leave manectric out had a visible relaxing effect on the teenager. Perhaps something to do with the Mega Evolution? Lance didn't have a Key Stone, but he knew there was a connection between human and Pokémon that went beyond normal.

He should really talk to Diantha or Ash about that. If they survived.

Everyone got on a dragon's back – Max on flygon, manectric on salamence— as Diantha Mega Evolved her own gardevoir, sending out a gourgeist as well. He saw Lysandre glare, but the Team Flare leader was powerless to stop them, and up they flew, through the roof, and into…

Death.

When the Champions had flown down after Lance had sent out an altaria and his second dragonite to stall the yveltal, the hilltop had been mostly empty of flora, sure, but now, the very ground itself had turned ashen in places; lines that looked like a Pokémon attack. Loud screeching came from above, and he saw the Legendary of Death launch a red beam at dragonite, who effortlessly avoided it, and the attack petered out in mid-air. "So that is Oblivion Wing..." he muttered.

Manectric had been dropped off on the ground, flygon and salamence hovering nearby. Lance spurred the dragonite he was on to join them. "If it's that high, I can only use manectric," Max informed him as soon as he came into hearing range. "Not without risking doublade or xatu."

"Keep those in reserve for now," Lance ordered. The doublade hadn't looked too hot, and xatu was naturally out. Even Miracle Eye probably wouldn't do much; the Dark-type was exuding an aura that probably made weaker Psychics utterly ineffective. "I'll get the other dragonite to set up a thunderstorm. You and flygon stay close enough to manectric to keep the Mega Evolution going. Play it safe, Max," he added. "Flygon is agile, but nowhere near as nimble as my dragonite."

He didn't wait for an answer, tapping his foot on dragonite's flank. His starter shot off into the air, charging an Ice Beam as he went, but a powerful flap of wings shattered the attack.

This was not going to be easy.

~~§~~§~~

Keith looked up from tending to the injured Serena after a very hectic last ten minutes.

First Serena had hit her head on the stairs, knocking her out cold. The shelgon that had done it had paid for it as every single of their Pokémon that was in a position to do so had launched an attack at it. The Dragon-type had managed to weather those attacks, with some help by the Pokémon that had been covering it, but then a surprise Dragon Pulse had shot through to the armoured Pokémon, straight-out eliminating it from the battle.

Keith had never seen an altaria go berserk on anything. They were generally gentle Pokémon, the kind that one of his mother's colleagues brought to work because the gentle songs they sang helped soothe everyone. Not once had he really thought about them being dragons, too. He knew the type chart, but it just… it just didn't work that way. Swablu were kind, and altaria were cut from the same cloth, end of story.

He had been so wrong.

With unholy, agonising screeching, the altaria flew in, heedless of her own safety, handing out Dragon Pulses like they were nothing and not caring too much who was hit on Team Flare's end. The pignite had been levitated into one by kirlia, while Keith had seen at least two go for trainers instead of Pokémon before he had started to check on Serena. He had seen no more, but the sounds were enough; and he wasn't sure he'd ever see altaria in the same light again. There had been cries of pain that he had resisted the urge to look up at; and a big part of him had felt satisfaction whenever those had happened.

The part that felt shame wasn't quite as big, but it was big enough to make the entire thing awkward.

Whatever altaria had done, it had been enough. Team Flare had been defeated. That had been cause for a sigh of relief on Maël's end, one that had literally been interrupted by something in the distance.

The red pillar of light wasn't at all ominous, no sir. It was out of town, to the north-west, and with a start, Keith had realised that had been where Jane, Danny, and Max had started their search for the hidden base.

Then Maël's kirlia had returned herself, which had caused a bit of confusion. She'd been sent out, only to cry out, seemingly begging to return. Keith had never seen any Pokémon act that frightened, and Maël just hadn't sent her back out after she'd returned herself.

In between trying to remember what to do for head injuries, Keith had asked Maël if he knew why kirlia was so scared all of a sudden. The answer had been negative, but the older boy had guessed that it had to do with the pillar of light. It was as good a guess as any.

Then Keith started tending to Serena again, managing to get her back to consciousness. Sort of. She was clearly not fully there. He suspected a concussion, but before he could check for that, he made the mistake of looking up.

And seeing a huge red attack vanish over Geosenge. "What the hell was that?"

"Red was its primary attack; its visage striking fear in all those who saw it," Maël softly said. It sounded like a quote from somewhere; and Keith only heard him because the Geosenge native had moved to check up on Serena. "We need to get underground. Now."

"Why? Does it have to do with—"

"Yes," Maël said as he lifted Serena, taking care to keep her head as stable as possible. "That red attack? Oblivion Wing." The bottom fell out of Keith's stomach. He'd heard that before, not even two hours before. "Yveltal is free. May xerneas come to save us."

Amen.

~~§~~§~~

Looking up at the sky was hard when at least half of Max wanted to just take flygon and get away as fast as he could. Yveltal was terrifyingly powerful, and every Oblivion Wing he used made that crystal clear. Even if the attack went the complete opposite direction from Max, he could still feel the emptiness of the attack; the complete and utter lack of anything resembling in that beam. The only benefit was that it was a slow-moving attack: some regular Dark Pulses were faster, and one of those had carved up the ground something big about five seconds after Lance had flown up into the air.

Max was very glad nothing had hit any of Lance's Pokémon as far as he could see. The dragonite were blindingly fast, while neither salamence nor altaria were slouches. Unfortunately, none of them had actually landed attacks as far as Max had seen either; yveltal breaking them apart with flaps of its wings or by overpowering them with an attack of its own.

Thunder rumbled overhead, reminding him of the plan Lance had mentioned. He shared a look with his faithful canine. "No holding back, girl. We've got to stop it."

The soothing prickle under his skin turned fiercer as the Mega barked once.

Flygon left without Max having to spur it on. "Not too far," he reminded the Pokémon. "I don't know how far I can be from manectric."

Lance's Pokémon took up position roughly equally far away from manectric and yveltal; making sure to be at least thirty feet away from the shortest path between the Electric-type and her target. If Max had to guess, that put them about a hundred and twenty feet away from either of them.

Hitting a target over two hundred feet away was hard, especially for electrical attacks, but Max had confidence manectric could do it.

He saw manectric call down lightning to fuel herself, but a guttural cry from up above announced that yveltal had actually been hit. A hint of pale pink wafting away, and the furious Dark Pulse at a diving altaria, gave away who had hit it; the Moonblast effective in typing, but not too effective in actually stopping a rampaging Legendary.

Still, it was something, and yveltal focusing on altaria meant that it left itself open for a Fire Blast from the salamence on one side and a Dragon Pulse from the dragonite Lance was riding on the other. The Dragon Pulse was blocked, but the fire hit, and once more, yveltal cried out in annoyance.

Legendaries or no, they were Pokémon. They could be hit; they could bleed; they could be defeated.

And then manectric unleashed the Thunder.

The attack was probably large enough for Max to stand in and be enveloped completely; aided by the dry thunderstorm and the static in the air. It shot towards yveltal unerringly, hitting the Legendary in its clawed feet, and causing an unholy screech, followed by an Oblivion Wing down.

Max's heart skipped a beat as flygon moved forward, circling around to avoid the attack, but he need not have worried. Whatever the Mega Evolution did, it had also done nothing to take away from manectric's speed, and she used that agility to move out of the way, easily avoiding the signature attack.

Then one of Lance's Pokémon scored a hit, and yveltal's attention was drawn back to its aerial opponents, giving manectric the time to recharge after that barrage.

Flygon and manectric both moved again, the latter chasing yveltal, the former ensuring Max never was far enough away to break the Mega Evolution. The Legendary gave them no heed, giving Max enough time to look around and see what Lance's Pokémon were doing to try and stop the yveltal.

Constant attacking was a good summary. All of them flew around their opponent, using all three dimensions, with no fixed position or easily discernible movement pattern to exploit. The salamence was the one attacking the most, alternating Fire-type and Dragon-type attacks that looked like they sacrificed power for speed. Most of the attacks yveltal launched were sent its way, and the blue Pokémon dodged, rolled, and otherwise used movement to get the hell out of dodge.

Both dragonites were careful to let the salamence draw most of yveltal's ire, only attacking from yveltal's blind spots as well. They moved in synchronicity, often attacking together. The one Lance was riding stuck to Ice Beams exclusively, while the other was casually throwing around Thunders like they were nothing, though it didn't draw on the thunderstorm it had created.

Manectric hit a second Thunder at the same time as Lance's altaria hit what looked like a Moonblast, and that really set yveltal off. Flygon lurched up and to the right as the Legendary flapped its wings powerfully, rocking the skies with a Hurricane. Max held on tightly, and flygon weathered it better than he had expected, but yveltal wasn't done yet. Three Dark Pulses were sent out towards the dragonites and salamence, an instant before it turned on altaria. A strange blue enveloped it, and altaria tried to get out of the way, only to get clipped by one of the wings.

The blue Pokémon righted its flight about twenty feet down.

~~§~~§~~

Dark Pulse, Hurricane, Oblivion Wing, Dragon Rush. Those were the four attacks Lance had seen yveltal use up until now. The last move had been a nasty surprise, though altaria had dodged most of the impact. The displacement spoke of a heavy Pokémon; probably around the same level as dragonite if not beyond. That nullified a few half-formed plans.

The Champion looked down, spotting a surprising amount of green and brown below. They'd moved closer to Geosenge, perhaps a half a mile. Maybe less. Gauging distances was hard at this height.

He held on tight to his dragonite as the orange Pokémon dove hard to avoid a Dark Pulse, feeling the wind and gravity press against his face. Below, he saw the Mega manectric unleash another artillery attack, making the most out of her ability to manipulate her type in ways that his dragons could not. He had no doubt dragonite could match manectric in throwing out powerful Thunders, but Electric-types were better at getting the most out of the electricity present in the air itself; like now. Despite the obvious difference in level of training – a Champion's Pokémon against a mid-tier Trainer's one – the Mega manectric would probably outlast dragonite.

If neither of them got hit.

The continuous attacks on it had made yveltal angry, if Lance had to guess. It was near-constantly trying to use Dragon Rush to get at one of his dragons – usually salamence or altaria, who were the slowest of the four fighting – and it had stopped using the fairly slow Oblivion Wing, instead going for Dark Pulses, which were quick to be launched and just as devastating.

If they were to end up over Geosenge, anyone on the ground would be in huge trouble from just the flying debris that came with destroyed houses, let alone the attacks themselves.

He could not let that happen.

His sixth Pokémon, the only land-bound Pokémon he had on his team, came out. The goodra wasted no time in manipulating the thunderstorm overhead to also include rain to make use of his Hydration ability, and then he started doing the same thing Max's manectric was doing; carefully aiming before launching an attack. Sadly, it had to be an energy attack instead of a projectile – Sludge Bombs wouldn't work due to the distance, but what Lance wouldn't give for the yveltal to have to fight off toxins as well as Pokémon…

"Lance!" the teenager yelled from flygon's back, somehow having gotten close enough to be within shouting range. "Can you get dragonite to attack at the same time as manectric?!"

The reply was lost to speed as dragonite rushed up – and flygon down – to avoid an attack, but the idea was decent. Perhaps the combined electricity would be greater than the individual attacks. "You heard him. Get close to your son."

Anything to stop yveltal.

~~§~~§~~

Scores of years upon scores of years had passed, and for over two centuries, all that had graced the cavern on a remote island, equidistant from both Kalos and Prudan, were migrating Pokémon looking for a place to rest, sheltered from the elements. The landmass was barren, holding nothing but rocks, and nautical maps merely pointed out its location; but not its name, for it had been given none.

Yet, deep within the cavern, where no Pokémon had trod for ages, stood a thing most unlike anything else on the island. It was best described as a tree without foliage; its roots deep in the stone and its branches growing mostly sideways, as there was no sun to grow towards. Had humans found it, they would have been amazed at the capability of this tree to live amidst the barren wasteland, and tests would have shown that the tree siphoned all the life and nutrients out of the soil in the area, creating its own environment to live in.

Peculiarly, if light ever found its way into these depths, observers would find that the tree had a most unusual colouring of pale blue and black.

Normally, that would have been that. However, the eleventh of September was anything but a normal day, and unnoticed to everyone, a glow slowly, but surely, started to come from within the tree's core, enveloping the black in pale gold.

~~§~~§~~

Synchronising the Thunders did work. In fact, it worked better than Max had been expecting, freezing the Legendary in place as it twitched and shook under the electricity entering its body from claw – manectric's doing – and wing – dragonite's work.

Two seconds later, the combination felt like a really, really, really bad idea.

A shriek tore itself from yveltal's throat, cutting straight into Max's body. Utter terror overwhelmed every feeling within him for a moment; drowning his senses out, vision narrowing, blood rushing in his ears. There was nothing they could do, and he was…

Static bubbled up from underneath, exploding into his body from deep within himself. He gasped for air; shaking his head as he felt manectric through the connection they shared. She radiated loyalty, trust, faith: loyalty towards him and his friends; trust in him to help her in all situations, now and forever; faith that they would see this see this entire situation through.

It humbled him.

With a conscious effort, he mentally pushed all of the terror and despair out, refusing to let it back in. He signalled, and even though manectric was too far away to see it, he knew that she obeyed. Electric Terrain spread, and then she started charging another Thunder while yveltal was busy trying to hit the salamence. Most of it missed outright, but one Dark Pulse came close enough that moving six inches down would have been a hit. As it was, the attack continued, striking a tree in its path and obliterating the trunk completely.

And then the Thunder; the most powerful Thunder Max could have manectric manage; aided by Electric Terrain, a thunderstorm, and Mega Evolution; fired, and so did Lance's second dragonite, calling up the attack instantly.

They hit. "NOW!" a harsh voice tore through the air; and it was only when he heard it that Max realised it had been his voice.

And as one, Lance's Pokémon attacked. Four of them went for Hyper Beams; the three other aerial Pokémon and the ground-based goodra, while flygon stuck to a Dragon Pulse that caused the green Pokémon's body to thrum with energy, palpable underneath Max's hands. All of the attacks hit, mingling with the ongoing Thunder and causing an explosion that flygon navigated with expert precision.

Yveltal plummeted, losing half the height it had before righting itself, and where its shriek had caused terror mere moments before, now Max felt nothing but determination.

The retaliation was to be expected, and even from Lance's flygon about a hundred feet away, Max could feel yveltal's Dark energy soar as it prepared to unleash an attack. He couldn't see it, because the Legendary's back was to him, but he saw the red glow peek around the edges of its wings.

Wings that were angled downward.

Manectric ran, and without Max having to spur the Dragon on, flygon burst into motion.

~~§~~§~~

Lance wasn't completely certain what in the name of dialga had just prompted the teenager to nearly rip his voice out of his throat like that, especially when all it did was to signal something Lance's Pokémon had been looking out for anyway. The Electric Terrain had been a give-away that there'd be something powerful coming, as had the sheer amount of static electricity building in the area. He had felt it in his hair, of all things.

The pay-off was good, if nothing else. It had taken six Pokémon to unleash some of their most powerful attacks, helped by the weather and determination, but the Legendary bled. Not literally, not as far as he could see, but it was clear that it had taken a significant beating from the electricity and the explosion.

The fact that it moved into an Oblivion Wing wasn't a surprise; the move was its signature for a reason, but the angle made Lance wonder. It wasn't aimed at any of the aerial Pokémon, who would have to dodge it while fighting through post-Hyper Beam lethargy. Instead, it was aimed at the ground, and…

And the Mega manectric. That wasn't…

Was he insane?

His flygon; the one Max was on and the one Lance was pretty certain he had given detailed instructions to keep the boy safe, passed by yveltal in an entirely too-close manner. Sure, it was still twenty feet, but that was nothing to a Pokémon with that wingspan. His own dragonite followed, a bit slower and a lot higher.

A moment later, as yveltal let loose a cry, he at least saw the reason for the move: manectric was also on the run, trying to get away from the Oblivion Wing that had just been unleashed. She used Quick Attack to gather more speed, soon vanishing from sight as the very air turned red with malevolent energy.

Judging by Max's lack of sudden shock, which would have happened if manectric had been hit – teenagers always reacted that way to one of their Pokémon being hit by a powerful attack – the Oblivion Wing hadn't hit the canine.

The ground, however, was not so lucky.

An area at least three standard size arenas large had become blackened, ashen, dead, from the Oblivion Wing. The remnant of the tree that had been splintered earlier when yveltal had missed a Dark Pulse turned into dust and motes before Lance's very eyes, and no colour remained in the area. Even the Electric Terrain had vanished, and Lance was fairly certain it hadn't been used up in that extended Thunder.

Seeing that, he was rather thankful that goodra had been at the other side of yveltal, launching attacks from an area that hadn't felt the Legendary's wrath just yet. Manectric was a lot better at getting away.

Curious. Either he was mistaken, or it looked a tiny bit rejuvenated, as if it had recove…

Was Oblivion Wing a life-stealing attack instead of a life-draining one?

This was bad. The area underneath hadn't been all that alive; plants and bugs not having the most vitality to drain, but if it hit something that had more energy to drain, it'd gain back proportionally more, and the longer the fight went, the harder it'd be for them, and that was even assuming there'd be help coming eventually. Diantha could help once she'd scoured the base, but that would be a while.

Lance hoped that everyone was evacuating Geosenge as soon as they could. In part, it was for their safety, but in equal part, it was for keeping a snowball's chance in hell of winning the fight against yveltal. It galled him to be so focused on his own exploits and not the well-being of people, but yveltal, like any of the greater Legendaries, was perfectly capable of widespread destruction. If they couldn't stop it...

The Legendary started flying again, heading straight for the town up ahead, and resolve coalesced in Lance's mind and body. "After him," he called out at his Pokémon, even as a natural bolt of lightning arced down and as the rain intensified.

And into the storm they dove.

~~§~~§~~

The basement crisis room underneath the city hall was bustling with activity, even if there were only like six civil servants there. One of them was the mayor of the town, and he, plus the others, were trying to coordinate the evacuation with the police.

It made Keith feel a little left out, but Maël had led them here, and the mayor had let them in, giving them short thanks for what they had done. One of the others had taken a look at Serena, explaining that she had a workplace first aid certificate, and her diagnosis had been the same as Keith's suspicions had been: a concussion, and probably nothing more. She recommended going to a hospital for it due to Serena's unconsciousness, but with a glance up, the red-haired woman had communicated that it wasn't an option for now.

Even xatu wouldn't be a help had he been here, Teleportation being not recommended for suspected brain injuries.

Right now, Keith and braixen were watching over Serena as she drifted half-aware. It wasn't the most comfortable of places – a corner with just a cushion under her head – but it was the only out of the way place in the room. Maël had vanished after some discussion with the mayor, too, leaving Keith alone with his thoughts.

Part of him wanted to go out, go search for his girlfriend, but he couldn't. Not with the town under attack from yveltal and Team Flare. A few police officers had reported grunts trying to stop the evacuation, though they were just one or two at most. It was a pretty big thing that every report of them being beaten did nothing to boost the mood.

Then the door opened, and Maël rushed in, out of breath and causing at least four heads to turn. "It's moving towards Geosenge!" he said, one hand on the binoculars he had used to scout from the roof. "But something's trying to stop it."

"Explain," the mayor demanded.

"A thunderstorm appeared out of nowhere, and some Pokémon are using that to attack it. At least three," Maël explained swiftly. "One on the ground, two in the air. I thought I saw orange and blue, but at that distance..."

The mayor nodded in understanding. "Excellent work regardless. Stay here now. If it is that close, it won't be safe for you to scout again."

"And we're safe here?" Keith said before he could stop himself. A blush appeared as several people turned to look at him, but he didn't move, instead hoping the mayor could answer him.

To his surprise, the man… smiled. It was a fake smile, meant to put him at ease. Keith had seen his mother wear it far too often at the end of the month. "This room is made out of reinforced concrete, son. If anywhere is safe, it's here." Then, he turned around, taking a walkie-talkie to communicate with the police as he did so.

Keith prayed to groudon that the mayor was right.

~~§~~§~~

A Dark Pulse ripped through a home on the outskirts of Geosenge; an explosion coming from inside the detached house as some or another appliance was hit. Thankfully, manectric had already jumped away, but she was starting to feel the pressure. She hadn't been hit directly yet – unlike salamence, who was flying a lot more careful now, and unlike goodra, who had been knocked out after two hits – but the running battle was starting to wear on all of them. Yveltal was included, but between Oblivion Wing apparently working like Absorb – Lance had dropped that bombshell on him a few minutes back – and just the fact that it was so much more powerful…

No. Max shook his head. Failure was not an option.

Something shifted inside him; the gentle prickling feeling that he had recognised as the Mega Evolution bond turning laboured as more electricity flew upwards. A Dark Pulse blocked it, luckily exploding instead of pushing through to the ground.

Yes, she was definitely feeling the strain of attacking, attacking, attacking, and then attacking some more. Max had no idea how long they'd been trying to get the yveltal to stop, but it was much longer than regular battles were. Even if she hadn't been hit directly, fatigue was a thing, but the greater problem was that her reserves were starting to run on empty.

It made the fact that all the dragons were still fighting even more impressive. Right now, it was the lightning dragonite, as Max had started calling it for himself, darting all around the Legendary, launching Dragon Pulses like they were simple Water Guns.

"There isn't a lot left," Lance said as he flew up on the other dragonite's back, having just returned from tending to his salamence with the extract he had sent Max a few weeks back. "You might want to give some to manectric."

"Won't work," the teenager replied. "She's running out of juice more than she's running out of energy." Shingles went flying off of a roof, dragonite using wind drag to pull them off and drop them into the Legendary. "She..." Max abruptly realised something. "Can you keep yveltal completely busy for a minute?"

"It'd help if I knew why."

"My clefairy knows Healing Wish," was Max's reply, and Lance instantly understood, pressing the bottle into the teen's hand before whispering to his dragonite.

Max whispered instructions into flygon's ear, and as both dragonites engaged yveltal – Lance having somehow swapped to salamence in the ten seconds he hadn't been looking – the smaller dragon flew to the ground, past a roofless house and into its front garden. His Mega showed up moments later, barking happily at seeing her Trainer; the bond thrumming with excitement despite the more pronounced sense of fatigue.

For the first time in what felt like ages, Max's feet touched solid ground, and it took a moment for him to find his balance. Then, he quickly sent clefairy out, who spent a moment goggling at the Mega before turning to Max as he started explaining his plan quickly.

Strange. Max knew clefairy were fairly sensitive Pokémon, but she didn't seem to care about the oppressive aura that yveltal was giving off as he finished up.

He heard flygon take off, a flap of wings bringing the dragon back a small distance as clefairy created a cloud of blue, sending it towards manectric, who just had to stand there and wait for the healing energy to start working.

The clefairy wavered, but Max caught her before she toppled over, one hand supporting her as the other brought the bottle to her lips. "Drink th..." he said, before a loud bang overhead made him flinch, jostling clefairy and the bottle. No extract was spilled because there was so little left, and Max chanced a look overhead to see a Pokémon spiralling down in the distance, Lance returning it from afar. "Shit," he said, barely hearing his own voice.

Clefairy signalled she was done drinking, and Max returned her. Manectric nuzzled her nose into the back of his hand, licking it and making his wet hand even wetter. Then, she bounded away, jumping on the fence, a window sill and then onto the roof, her fur already sparking and the bond almost stinging in its intensity. It was a comfortable feeling, but not one that dispelled Max's fears.

He got back on flygon's back, and as they rose into the air, there was a weird glint that caught his eye from out west, beyond the thunderstorm that had moved with them.

Then he ordered flygon to move closer to Lance so they could strategise.

~~§~~§~~

Losing altaria to a Dragon Rush after she had to dodge an Oblivion Wing had not been in Lance's plans, but at least the manectric was back in the fight. Truth be told, he'd had to adjust his opinion of the canine over the past fight. Mega Evolution did nothing to instincts, and she had been constantly aware of what she could and could not get away with without her Trainer being there to guide her.

Speaking of… "Max, can you hand me xatu?"

"Why?" the teenager asked as Lance's flygon took a moment to fire a Dragon Pulse. It splashed on a wing at the same time as a Thunder hit yveltal from below. "I'm not leaving."

"'Course you aren't. It's for getting Diantha here. We need her Pokémon."

"Will she be able to help us after..."

"We don't really have a choice," Lance interrupted, sighing. A house underneath caught fire from an explosion, but whatever had happened, the evacuation of this area had been incredibly efficient. It made him wonder if one of the families living here had some Teleport-capable Pokémon to get everyone out.

Max nodded in understanding, and he fiddled with his belt. Flygon automatically adjusted her position to support him. "You'll need to get some distance between him and yveltal. Its cocoon scared him a lot, and the aura is worse now."

Lance nodded. Powerful Dark-types had that effect on Psychic Pokémon. "I'll fly a mile back before doing it," he said as he accepted the plain pokéball. "Keep it busy."

"I'll try," the teenager said before quickly telling flygon to move, using an arm to point in the direction he wanted to go.

Salamence flew off, not needing to be given orders, and only a few seconds after they'd started flying, the rain stopped whipping in his face. Goodra wasn't there to keep it up, though the thunderstorm itself was still there, occasionally being boosted by dragonite.

It took under a minute for him to feel safe to send xatu out. The fight was visible in the distance – a paired Thunder and two Hyper Beams hitting even as Lance looked – but that didn't matter. It was the aura that was the factor, not the sight.

Xatu looked more than a bit uneasy, twitching slightly, but the Mystic Pokémon didn't flee on sight. "There is a woman in white fighting in the base, with a gardevoir by her side. Find her, tell the gardevoir that we need her help, and then guide them to us," Lance instructed the bird. "Teleport back as close as you feel you can when you find her."

Xatu accepted the instructions with a sage nod, as they were wont to do, but then a weird source of light illuminated the dead ground around them. Both looked up.

In the distance – maybe a mile away if the size was any guess – a blue Pokémon ran across the barren ground, bringing along a golden-pink aura. Lance recognised it instantly, and he immediately spurred salamence back into the air, trusting xatu to find Diantha. He needed to hurry to Max, to tell the teenager that they needed to move out of the way.

Xerneas was coming to fight its archenemy.

The Fairy-type Legendary gained slightly on a full speed salamence, but not much, and Lance found Max while the flygon he was on was hovering near a still-whole house, spotting the Champion approaching. "What is that?"

"It's xerneas," Lance answered Max's question, seeing him freeze in surprise. "Find manectric and then move. One Legendary we may be able to take. Two is way too much."

"They're going to fight each other?" Max asked, before shaking his head. "Of course they are. They're opposites."

"Exactly. Now go!"

Flygon dove, flying low by the ground over the streets as salamence rose into the air, Lance searching for his dragonites. Hopefully, he could find them before xerneas decided that everything was its enemy, and not just the yveltal.

He found both of them before xerneas announced its presence; a gigantic, almost blinding in intensity, Moonblast slamming into yveltal's back even as the Legendary of Death tried its best to get rid of Lance's starter, but failing for at least the fifteenth time in the past however long it had been.

With a soul-piercing shriek, yveltal returned the favour with an Oblivion Wing. History was repeating itself, as Life and Death fought for dominance.

~~§~~§~~§~~§~~

Pokédex entry: xerneas.

Characteristics: cervine, Fairy-type. Est. height 10 ft excl. antlers, 14 ft incl. antlers. Weight unknown.

Detailed information: Little is known about this Legendary. Kalos is its home, but its last confirmed awakening was over a millennium and a half ago. Its most famous awakening was three millennia ago, in the fight that opened the Shalour Bay. Ancient writings tell of this Pokémon's mere aura extending life, and its antlers allow it to utilise many different types of attack. It is said to be able to revitalise nearly everything with its signature move Geomancy. It is often estimated to be slightly weaker than its direct counterparts of yveltal and zygarde, though favourable typing grants it advantages.

See also: yveltal, zygarde, groudon, kyogre, dialga, palkia.


Author's Note: Legendaries, especially the one-of-a-kind types, are the closest things to gods in Pokémon. As such, they're appropriately powerful. Yveltal slightly cheats with Oblivion Wing, but all the wailing Max and Lance did on it this chapter? Not even close to bringing it down. Hitting fast Pokémon is pretty hard, though, and Lance's team is pretty agile and trained for endurance.

Prudan is my equivalent of Poké-Britain. It's located a bit further away from Kalos than the British Isles are from France, though.