Chapter 24: Mission Accomplished
Solestral exited the portal and found herself riding on fainted Blazar floating in the once supposed to be the size of the Sereni's core. There was no sight of her friends and the others, which she convinced they had escaped from the battle. She also noticed that Zygarde was attacking Lunala harshly, and Lunala was protecting the planet's core. And to add more to the mayhem, magma beginning to fill the void. The black kitten was about to leap away from Blazar to save the Dusk Guardian, but she was shocked that Blazar caught her right hindfoot.
He said, "I WON'T BE GOING THERE IF I'M WERE YOU."
"As if I should be listening to you. You are serving Zygarde after all," she argued.
"I WAS. BUT I CAN TELL THAT HE HAS ALREADY ABANDONED ME," Blazar replied solemnly, "AFTER ALL I HAD DONE BECAUSE I HAD RECEIVED MEGA EVOLUTION POWER FROM HIM, HE DOES NOT PRAISE ME. THE SAME FATE FOR PINNACLE AS WELL…"
"I am not here to be your counsellor, Blazar. Just let me go, or I will make you let me off."
"HAHA. YOU ARE SPUNKY, AREN'T YOU? I SHALL TEACH YOU HOW TO DEFEAT HIM. ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS TO AIM FOR THE RAINBOW-COLOURED 'MOUTH' ON HIS CHEST. THAT WILL MAKE HIM OPEN AND REVEAL HIS CORE, GIVING YOU OPPORTUNITY TO STRIKE."
"And how do you know that?"
He chortled a little, "I WAS FIGHTING WITH ZYGARDE TO PROVE MY STRENGTH. MY FLAMETHROWER LANDED ON HIS CHEST, AND FOR A MOMENT, I SAW HIM STUMBLED A LITTLE AND EXPOSED ITS CORE. THE CORE WAS GREEN COLOUR WITH AN EYE AND HAD A RED GEM EMBEDDED IN HIS BODY. THUS, I BELIEVE THAT IF YOU MANAGED TO ATTACK ZYGARDE'S CORE, HE WILL FALL."
Solestral wondered. "Is that so? Hmm…it is gonna be hard for me to attack his chest. Anyway, it is up to me to decide how to deal with the planet destroyer."
"YES, OF COURSE. DO YOU WANT A PUSH?"
"A push?"
"TO ZYGARDE. YOU SHOULD NOT BE BIDDING YOUR TIME. SO, I WILL PUSH YOU NONETHELESS. FAREWELL, LITTEN!"
"Wait! I am not…woah!"
He used all his strength and pushed her using his tail towards the planet destroyer. The black kitten gasped from the sudden movement. However, she did not scream as she did not want the planet destroyer to know she had returned to get back at him. Still shrouded in Syncross, she managed to change her trajectory while in air, and landed softly on Zygarde's black back as well as disabling her ability. She clung onto him as he concentrated his attacks on Lunala. The black kitten pondered how she could move over to his chest without being spotted.
However, Solestral's struggles ceased when she saw her friends and others entered the fray through a dimensional portal. She had never seen General Darkrai before, but she was glad that a new ally had joined the group. In a blink of an eye, they disappeared, and reappeared next to Zygarde, thanks to General Darkrai's skill. The black kitten kept her presence low and heard the planet destroyer bellowed.
"So, all of you are back? You have an idea to beat me?"
General Darkrai responded by using Nightmare. The sleep-induced move seemed to work as Zygarde began to hunch and dozed off.
"Now, we have to use our strongest move to attack him. However, that beast will wake up once the attack landed," said the black ghost, "Anyone knows his weak point?"
"Target its chest," answered Solestral.
The group turned their attention to the black kitten and headed towards her.
Paul rode on Normad and said, "Solestral! You are back! I knew you come back!"
Solestral boasted, "Of course I did. What did I miss?"
"We have General Darkrai to assist us. We are depending on inducing sleep on Zygarde, and then discuss how to deal with him."
"I am glad you are…alright, Solestral. We want to…know why you insist on… attacking his chest," said Normad.
"Yup. By focusing our attacks on his chest, we might find his most vulnerable spot; and that is his core. If we managed to beat him up, that crazy dude goes bye bye!"
"If that…works, I can finally take a breather," replied exhausted Lunala.
General Cresselia quickly attended to the Dusk Guardian, "My lord! I will heal you up."
Her Moonlight gradually heals Lunala's injuries. The Dusk Guardian thanked General Cresselia and unfolded Its wings to reveal what left of Sereni's core.
Refreshed, it continued to speak, "I will keep on shielding the core. The rest of you, please give it your hardest to make sure that beast regrets setting his foot here!"
"Yeah!" said the rest of the group.
Solestral climbed onto Normad. She shared her activated Syncross with the rest of the group to boost their attack stat. Then, the group fired their range attacks onto the planet destroyer's chest. As what General Darkrai's had indicated, the attacks woke him up. Fortunately, he staggered from the attack. He spoke while enduring the pain.
"Blasphemy! How did you know about my weakness? Argh!"
Zygarde's mouth on his chest opened and exposed the core. The core, as Blazar had described before, had a red gem ingrained on its body. The core opened his eye and squeaked.
"Please forgive me! I am sorry that I predated your planet's core. The planet's core is the only food that I can eat, and I can only eat from a living planet. I don't want to die from starvation…"
"Are you sure that is the only food you can feast on?" asked Solestral furiously.
"Yes! I had tried eating the core from gas giant planets, stars, once-alive planets, and others. I got indigestion from them…"
"I wonder why you have this kind of diet. What is so nutritious of eating a planet's core?"
"It is what I am. I do not know why I can only eat the living planet's core. I assumed that my role is to destroy civilisations by eating the core, but I have no other reasoning for my diet."
Then, the black kitten looked at Lunala and said, "Do you mind I investigate Sereni's core?"
The Dusk Guardian responded, "Sure. But why?"
"I might get something out of it."
Solestral requested Normad to fly close to the planet's core and touched it. As she had anticipated, her Item Inspection ability kicked in. It stated.
Sereni's core. It is the heart of the planet that controls the weather, seismic activities, and provides substance to create and maintains life. It also generates a magnetic field around the planet to shield it from the sun's solar wind. As the core is the heart of the planet, it is considered a living cosmic entity, though it is made up of different compositions of a typical living being. A planet that loses its core will die gradually. However, as long the core exists, even a little, the core can regenerate and protects the planet. Depending on how much it is lost, it might take a decade to recover.
The black kitten was interested in the restorative part of the Sereni's core description. She spoke to Zygarde, "Hmmm. You know what, Zygarde? Have you had your fill already?"
The planet destroyer stuttered, "Ya…yes!"
"Then, I have a proposal for you. Do not eat the planet's core entirely and leave. This will ensure the planet continue to live."
"Wait… is that possible that the planet will recover if I don't eat the core entirely? That will be like…farming!"
"Yes, it is. But, since you had caused a lot of trouble to the Pokémon, and me, especially, it is a given that you will receive this. Screwdanae!"
Solestral leapt off from Normad's back and used her kitty punch on the core of Zygarde's red gem. The core shrieked, and its ninety-nine parts that formed its body scattered. All the hundred parts, or cells, had fainted from just a hit on the red gem and drifted away. The black kitten then expertly landed on Normad's back and said to the planet destroyer in disgust.
"Serve you right, moron," and deactivated her ability.
"We…we have stopped the destruction of our planet!" cheered Paul.
The group celebrated their victory, until Lunala mentioned, "We need to close the holes that the magma sweeps in. And, we need to revert the magma to whence it came."
"If that is the case, I know what to do." said Sergeant Dishita, "Celesteela, can you assist me? I want you to open a dimensional portal to the Dawn Guardian's domain. I shall get the others to help us."
The pillar being accepted the plea. "Ah! Very well. Lunala, it is alright to seal the holes first, and then we drain the magma later?"
"That is fine," replied the Dusk Guardian.
The sun rock and the pillar being went into the dimensional portal. General Cresselia, General Darkrai, Cobalt and Lunala began to seal some of the holes. As for Solestral, Paul and Normad, the black kitten plopped on Normad's back and chatted to the blue tortoise and the big owl.
"I am glad I have finally completed my mission. What an adventure we had; travel almost all over the world just to save this planet. Whew, I think a vacation is in due, guys!"
"You are very keen on going to The Chosen's Respite, aren't you?" chuckled Paul.
The black kitten was defiant. "You are the one who wants to chill there! But, I too, wants to relax in that paradise as well."
"And…we can get to hear…Madam Eterna's story as well," said Normad.
She nodded, "Yeah. Let's go to that tower once the planet's core 'home' is fixed!"
The trio saw Sergeant Dishita returned with a lot of Solrocks with it. They and Celesteela did their part to seal the holes. After that, Lunala and Celesteela opened dimensional portals to drain the magma to deposit into the magma reservoir. After an hour, the void was free of magma. Everyone cheered job well done.
Lunala spoke, "That is all good. Now we can go back to the surface and celebrate our success. Though, I have to go back to my domain and wait for Solgaleo's message. How about all of you?"
"We will have to apologise to the residents of Lunelit Continent," mentioned Sergeant Dishita, "We have caused a lot of inconvenience to them."
"There is no need. I can relay the message to the residents. Besides, no one has died from your actions. Therefore, I believe that they will forgive you."
The leader of the Solrocks bowed its head, "I…appreciate it, Dusk Guardian."
"So am I," replied Cobalt.
General Darkrai said, "How about Zygarde and Blazar?"
"We can imprison them, my lord," suggested General Cresselia.
"Yes. I have many questions to ask the planet destroyer. Let's gather its parts and leave the place now," then the Dusk Guardian asked the rest, "Shall we go to my domain?"
The rest agreed, and they all escaped to Its domain, including transporting the fainted planet destroyer and fatigued Charizard. Upon arrival to the patio, Celesteela conversed with Lunala.
"I will have to go back to my dimension. Since I know how to defeat that beast, my allies and I will have the chance to put it down. But since our planet's core is already devoured, is it alright that we migrate to this planet? We could not find other habitable planets within our reach…"
"I permit. You have helped us a lot in the battle against Zygarde. However, I am not sure whether Solgaleo will accept you and your allies. Let me ask It."
After a short while, the Dusk Guardian responded, "It allows the migration."
"I appreciate it," said the pillar being as it bowed down.
"I shall be seeing you and your companions soon, I guess?"
"Yes. Although time flows differently there, it is much slower than compared to here, so nothing much has changed there. Alright, I better be going. Thank all of you, and…" it went to Solestral and said, "Especially you for saving this world. You have my heartfelt gratitude."
"Thanks," the black kitten blushed.
Celesteela giggled at her reaction. Next, it entered the dimensional portal and vanished. Sergeant Dishita, Cobalt, and the other Solrocks departed to make their long journey back to their continent. They refused Lunala's offer to warp back. Instead, they wanted to see the sights and towns as they had not gained their freedom from their service for a long time. General Cresselia personally expressed her thanks to Sergeant Dishita and Cobalt before they levitated away. That scene made General Darkrai a little envy, but he knew that he did not save her when Pinnacle's barrier locked her in. Once the Solrocks were gone, he approached her and said with courage.
"General Cresselia. Once we imprisoned Zygarde, could we, uh, have a stroll around here? I would like to hear about your journey before the fight against Zygarde."
"General Darkrai, I would very love to, but it is up to our lord to decide whether we can take a break. Right, my lord?"
The Dusk Guardian laughed, "Haha. Just go and have time off. There is nothing I can order you for now."
The crescent Pokémon shrugged, "Well, I guess I can go with you then."
The black ghost made a little victory dance before he composed himself and spoke, "Let's go, General Cresselia."
"Let's me speak to Solestral before I go."
The crescent Pokémon went over to Solestral and thanked her, "You are truly a heroine. You never back down from a fight and care for others, and even tried to save me when I was trapped, despite knowing the difficulty to break it," then she paused for a while before continued to converse, "I will want to meet you again someday. Will you be in Periwinkle Village next month?"
"General Cresselia, it is everyone's effort that saved the day, so even if I like to be addressed as a heroine, I don't feel right that I am called like that. I am not sure if I will be here in a month…" the black kitten replied while looking at Lunala.
The crescent Pokémon nodded, "I see. But if you are still there, I will be visiting you, as a friend. And we can sit together with Bloomsle for a chat!"
"Umm, okay. We could, haha," Solestral tried not to show her irritation when General Cresselia indicated about the village chief.
"And so, I shall see you. If not, I hope that I can see you one day!"
The crescent Pokémon and the black ghost used Psychic to carry all Zygarde's parts and Blazar and levitated away. Now only Solestral, Paul, Normad and Lunala left. Lunala looked at Solestral and said.
"You should enjoy what this world has to offer. When you are ready to…which you know, you can inform me by using your thoughts directed at me, and I will return your memories send you off."
"Okay," replied the black kitten, "Umm, Lunala?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you for the experience what it is like to be a Pokémon and ventured out in this world."
The Dusk Guardian begged to differ. "I should be thanking you for your deeds. I understand it was hard for you to leave your world and to adapt as Litten in this world, but you have accomplished many Pokémon strived to achieve. Thank you, heroine Solestral."
The black kitten sincerely answered, "Blah! It is no big. And yes, I am still unhappy that you forcefully brought me into this world. But now, I don't feel that bad. I am glad that I made friends with Paul and Normad, and get to know all of you. I feel…that is something that I don't get to experience much in my world."
Lunala smiled. "I see. If those made up for the issues you have faced, then I am pleased that you have enjoyed your stay here."
Solestral nodded. "And I shall! Bye ya, Lunala!"
Normad flew to the south of the Dusk Guardian's domain to visit Storage Box 1001 so that they could teleport to Chosen's Respite.