I like to think that anyone reading this has the maturity to discern the following, but I feel the need to specify:
Bold text will only ever represent author notes.
Italicized text in a phrase or sentence refers to emphasis. Long strings of italicized text separated by -/- refer to flashbacks.-/- This symbol refers to separation. It can mean a shift in point of view, a change in setting, or a time skip. If you see this, something just changed and the nearby context clues should fill you in as to what.
[Brackets] Brackets refer to someone's thoughts. Normally, a character's name will be listed in some kind of phrase to signify into whose thoughts you're peeping.
{Braces} Braces refer to telepathy. These can be used in unison with brackets if one of the characters engaged in mental conversation is not a psychic-type Pokemon, as they are simply thinking the words and allowing the other individual to read them.
The horizontal line below this text separates my author's notes from the story. For instance, even though a bunch of this text isn't bold, it still isn't part of the story. As of now, these should only appear before and after each chapter if they are needed.
Got all that memorized? Great! Enjoy!
Zero stepped back on bent knees. He hid most of his face behind the Mangekyo, peeking out from behind it with his right eye. The wind slammed into every living thing on Mount Glacia as Rayquaza's body furled and unfurled as he roared.
Its signature ability, air lock, wasn't unique in what it accomplished. Truth be told, both Rayquaza and several common Pokémon with cloud nine nullified weather effects such as sandstorms or hail. The human had no idea how countless Pokémon abilities functioned, but at that instant, he had an idea.
Whether it was the constant movement of the enormous dragon's body or some fateful force granted to legendary Pokémon, there was a surplus of air currents being sent out in all directions from Rayquaza. It was strong, but not enough to interfere with movement if anyone needed to get close.
With a hop from his current position, Zero created his own whirlwind that sent the snow on the cold mountain high into the air behind him. It splattered onto the crowd of Pokémon in various-sized chunks, but the flakes of frozen water were not painful. Glave crossed his arms as his half-submerged body was freed, though he almost lost his balance.
To every Pokémon's surprise, the jump was infinite. Zero hovered at eye level with Rayquaza, one knee bent slightly more than the other. His grey eyes were calm, yet they conveyed the desperation of the situation.
"If this is your territory, then I apologize!" He shouted.
One needed to shout to be heard, due to both the distance he maintained from the menacing Pokémon and the air going in all directions.
"We don't mean any harm! Just say the word, and we'll all be on our way!"
Rayquaza growled. Its mouth opened, but it chose not to speak.
"We're not a threat to you! I'm serious! Please, don't make me fight you! I don't want to fight you..." Zero sighed as his voice lowered further in his announcement.
[Why is this happening? I think it's my fate to get screwed.]
Balls of light appeared outside of Rayquaza's mouth. They collectively gathered into one point in front of it, forging a larger sphere of light.
"Then we're doing this." Even with his dirty blonde hair shuffling across his head, nearly hitting his eyes every second, Zero stared down the green beast.
Hyper beam fired from the legendary Pokémon. Zero lifted his empty left hand. Protect forged in front of him in preparation for the attack.
The shield shattered. Shards of light exploded away from their post, allowing the normal-type beam to progress toward its target.
[Son of a bitch!] Zero's eyes shot open. His brain felt like it overheated as the pressure of his bio mods was filled up an obscene amount.
He grasped the Mangekyo's handle with both hands, holding the sword in front of him to block the move. It was sliced into halves that flew past the human's face.
Zero didn't notice the cracks in it until it was too late. The weapon broke just as it finished defending its wielder. The young man stared as it dissolved into the colored quadrilaterals that made up its structure. The blade was completely shattered, but the handle was still dissipating it.
"You see this?" Zero called out in bored annoyance. "Palkia and Dialga worked together to make this sword. It has an obscenely long name and I spent my entire off day repairing it. I'm gonna file a complaint to them that another legendary one-shot this piece of..."
The human growled and shook his head; it was against his character to insult any kind of Pokémon, and his respect for the laws of nature was immense. Even after flattening Suicune, he still gave everything he had to heal it, but the undesirable circumstances he was currently forced into caused some less than pleasant thoughts about the space and time Pokémon to crop up.
Rayquaza didn't appear to reciprocate the feeling. The corners of its mouth curled into a smile.
"Perfect. You have a sense of humor. If I'm lucky, you'll have some funny comments carved into my headstone."
Zero noted a breath escaping the Pokémon's mouth. It wasn't part of its normal breathing pattern, it wasn't due to a move, and it certainly wasn't from some kind of effort.
[Great. At least I can say I made Rayquaza laugh before I die.] He glared at his foe. Literally, he used the move glare to paralyze it, but it didn't work. [I didn't think I could get a legendary with that, especially from this range. I need a plan.]
Rayquaza started moving. It flew around in a strange pattern, forming three loops with its body. In the end, it flexed its stubby arms and roared.
Zero and Beat simultaneously let out a "tsk" and sharpened their gaze at the legendary Pokémon. With an unknown force, Zero flew toward the dragon. He flexed his hand for a split second before it froze over.
[Ice will be the hardest thing I can hit it with, and it's clear that it'll be taking the offensive as well.]
"I'm so lost..." Cream bit her lip as she peered at the sight dozens of meters above and away from them.
"That's because you can't feel what they're doing." Beat stated bluntly. "Rayquaza just used swords dance one time."
[Swords dance!? He's gonna kill him!] Glave turned his attention from the team speaking back to his teacher fighting. [This is just like Suicune.] He realized. [Zero's gonna get himself in trouble and I'm not gonna be able to help.]
The grovyle started to reach for his heart. Cerulean put her paw on his shoulder. He looked at her in desperation, and she shook her head.
To both of them and Team Ultima's shock, roughly six attacks were being charged within the crowd. Electro ball, focus blast, fire blast, shadow ball, and a couple more moves were being prepared.
"Hold your fire!" Azure yelled at them.
The moves went out like lights. The crowd listened for her reasoning.
"Face it. We're too far away. The best you can do is detrimental right now; Zero's moving in for close-quarters combat. All you're gonna do by attacking is hit him, and that's if said attacks make it that far." Her words cut through any rash motivation among the expedition crew.
Zero cocked his fist back as he neared his target. Another obstacle arose as Rayquaza started moving. The Pokémon was 23 feet long, and when it was set in motion, there were seven meters of movement to track.
The human's eyes darted around. He couldn't see Rayquaza's head and he didn't know if it was above or behind him.
In its spiraling, the Pokémon managed to slam the second to last plate on its body into Zero. The human caught the upper edge of it with both hands, busting the ice off the frozen one. Losing his grip, the plate slipped out and Zero spun backward from the force. The last plate on Rayquaza's snake-like body crashed into the human's back.
"Ack-" He poured all his focus into making sure he didn't suffer any serious injuries.
The sloppy action led to him tanking a dragon claw that propelled him far into the sky. Zero's ears popped as Mount Glacia's peak fell further beneath him.
"A perfect aerial ace never misses."
[What?] Zero looked beside him, but nothing was there.
-/-
Zero charged at full speed at a sceptile who did the same. A luxray watched with mild anxiety as a Latias giggled with excited anticipation.
He lashed out with his arm at the grass-type Pokémon. It was effortlessly evaded as the sceptile ducked under his arm, something his flexibility allowed him to do since the human wasn't much taller than him. The stage-three evolution spun 180 degrees in that many milliseconds and swung his arm, striking Zero in the back with the same move he tried to hit his opponent with.
The boy hit the ground and rolled, getting a foot under him and sliding back into a standing position. The Latias was now pouting with worry while the luxray wore a confident smirk.
"A perfect aerial ace never misses." The sceptile wore a haughty smile. "Even if the target teleports to another planet, you strike them nonetheless."
"That doesn't make any sense, Glave." The human wasn't used to figurative speaking yet. "But fine, if you insist, I'll hit you this time."
They rushed at each other once more. Zero swiped his arm at his partner. The sceptile leaped over the attack, dodging while maintaining unpredictability. He accepted defeat when the human's body disappeared.
[Ah, crap!] The grass-type jerked his head to look over his shoulder.
Aerial ace hit like a ton of bricks. The fully-evolved Pokémon was sent toward the edge of the clearing they were using to spar.
Glave landed on the ground and rolled several times, coming to a stop on his back and sprawling his arms out.
"I see why your fighting style is so repetitive now. It's because it works every time. If you're fighting someone for the first time, you could get rid of them before they could come up with counters."
"Shut up. That's why you died first." Zero panted to get the pain in his tightened throat to go away. He wiped his face with the back of his hand.
[Sure enough, Rayquaza's aerial ace didn't miss. I've got a mean crick in my back now.]
The memory reminded him of something else though. The human let out an exasperated sigh and took off through the air back toward Rayquaza.
[You can teleport, dumbass.] He scolded himself.
Ice coated both of Zero's hands. He readied two punches and teleported.
The human's forehead hit Rayquaza's body with an embarrassingly quiet thump. It had slipped his mind that someone had used mean look or enforced some other escape-preventing method that severely limited the distance of teleportation.
"Ow... What the...?" The human looked up to see what happened.
Rayquaza was staring down at the ant of an opponent who was accidentally hugging it.
"Time ou-"
The Pokémon used shadow claw with one hand and brick break with the other. Zero acted quickly and pushed himself off the scaly, green body he was pressing against. Rayquaza's hands collided and sent another wave of wind at the human. While he was being buffeted, he heard a crackling.
Static lit up down Rayquaza's body.
[Shit!] Zero put both hands in front of him and used protect.
Thunderbolt struck the barrier and split into five different arcs of electricity, all of which folded around the shield and hit Zero anyway.
"Damnit!" He swore, shaking his arms to cool off his body. "Do you know planetary devastation too!?" He joked amidst the pain.
Rayquaza seemed to enjoy it. An amused smile crept onto its large head. Purple energy collected when his lips parted.
[Now this I can handle!]
Zero raised a hand over his head and exerted himself to gather snow from the frosty air around them. It was difficult due to Rayquaza's air lock; the ability inadvertently blew most ice and moisture away, leaving a dry, low-humidity battlefield for anyone unfortunate enough to be the Pokémon's foe.
Overcoming the natural obstacle, the young man forged a big, sharp icicle over him. It was just bigger than his own body and was pyramid-shaped rather than the conical layout of a real lance.
Rayquaza fired off dragon pulse with the intent of winning the battle. Zero used glacial lance, a signature move belonging to Calyrex when riding Glastrier. It was fitting for the target it was given, but the user added an extra punch. Normally, the move was cloaked in blizzard-level quantities of snow. The human utilized the backup snow to use a normal blizzard just behind the leading projectile.
Despite his efforts, he ultimately failed to achieve the desired outcome. Glacial lance was enveloped by dragon pulse, and though it did bounce off the edges somewhat, that only served to widen the attack's range. That widening allowed it to wipe out most of the blizzard he prepared. The icicle made it to Rayquaza's open mouth. However, the legendary Pokémon snapped its mouth shut, shattering the move along with Zero's hope.
It only bit the tip of it; Rayquaza's mouth wasn't that long. The rest of the lance flew past his face and started to fall toward the earth. It was flung directly into a trajectory that would hit the Pokémon there for the expedition.
[They'll take care of it...] Zero watched to make sure Violet or Azure blocked the incoming weapon. [They aren't taking care of it-]
Glave lifted his claws, but no vines answered his call.
"Crap! I don't know if we're too high up or if it's too snowy! Azure, can you do something about it!?"
She pretended not to hear him and only stared into the sky. On the other side of her body, her hand was slightly outstretched as she strained herself to suppress the vines the grovyle had almost gotten to the surface.
Zero teleported three times in rapid succession to stand among Advent Town's inhabitants.
He stomped his foot into the frosted ground and a few rocks flew up. He caught one and chucked it at the large chunk of ice, busting it in one blow.
[I don't understand. You aren't cattle, so why aren't any of you doing anything? Glave tried, I know.] He glared at the four Pokémon on Team Ultima that were slightly distanced from the other forty or so. [But you should be protecting these Pokémon.]
A charging sound popped his thoughts like a bubble. Gazing skyward once more, Rayquaza fiercely roared from behind the huge ball of light in its mouth.
[What the fuck!? You wouldn't hit the Pokémon would-]
Rayquaza fired. Hyper beam struck the mountain tops piercing the sky behind the crowd. It turned its head, drawing a line across the enormous mountain range. When the beam subsided and the attack was over, everything that was touched by it exploded.
The ground shook from the raw power and force exhibited by the beast in the sky. Four stone tips broke off the mountain and fell toward them. If they were sat on the ground next to each other, they'd cover 50% more land than Advent Town itself. They broke into smaller, yet still boulder-sized, stones as they descended.
[That isn't even how force works!] The human clenched his fists in annoyance.
"Give me a hand," Zero called to the psychic Pokémon on Team Ultima.
Only the stones he caught with psychic stopped moving. Something snapped in Zero as he watched his allies remain inactive.
[Fine.]
He slammed a hand into the ground. Every piece of snow in a 50-foot radius was blown away from him, and the rocks overhead glowed with a purple outline. Not only that, a rainbow-colored aura spilled out from under his clothes in the shape of tongues of fire. His hair began flowing as though a gentle breeze was constantly hitting it from complimenting angles.
[I said I would protect Advent Town.]
Zero thrust his arms toward Rayquaza, palms outstretched.
[I swore I would protect Advent Town.]
Using the debris, the powerful human used ancient power, and it was among recorded history's most sizeable. He didn't launch a full assault with the rocks, even though hitting Rayquaza meant landing a super-effective blow. Instead, he utilized ancient power's side effect.
[So it's time to protect Advent Town.]
One round of shrapnel flew at Rayquaza. The objects were locked onto their target, and the dragon knew it. He spun in a circle, slamming the volley with his long tail.
Zero felt his body shift. More accurately, something inside him felt different. He had gotten the boosts associated with ancient power from the first use of the move. Using the rock-type assault was a lot easier than understanding it. The user sometimes unlocked more intricate channels in his or her aura network when casting the attack. However, the power increase was temporary. But he wasn't stopping there.
"Grah!" The human flung another arm and the second set of mountain pieces was sent hurtling.
Rayquaza prepared another hyper beam. It was willing to take the hit if the tradeoff was causing far more damage to the opposing side.
"I can't believe it..." Azure whispered.
Glave flinched just from hearing someone speak. No one had done so for most of the battle going on above. They weren't moving to safety. All they were doing was sitting in silence and spectating the spectacle of a human fighting a legendary Pokémon. Only two of the Pokémon had ever seen something so bizarre before, and they were Glave and Cerulean.
"This is unbelievable. He's currently emitting an aura that bears an uncanny resemblance to that of mega energy. Which means he was holding back." Beat's crossed arms tightened at the thought.
"Were you just gonna let those rocks crush us?" Glave asked in a calm voice. He had more-or-less accepted that the best thing he could do was stay out of Zero's way, albeit he lacked the means to interfere if he wanted to.
"No, Glave. The Pokémon down here are safe." Violet instructed him, as well as the other Pokémon paying attention. "We are currently enforcing a new protective measure that involves spreading psychic barriers with a structure favoring light screen and reflect out in thin sheets to soften impacts. Enough of them are set up right now that they'd catch anything that came our way like a net."
[Well, that's relieving. But you could've told Zero that.] The grovyle glanced pitifully at his leader.
Or at least, he tried. Zero wore a strained expression for a second before disappearing. Rayquaza elicited a noise of surprise that was far more reaction than calculation. The human hadn't just warped himself back up. He'd brought the boulders with him, without making physical contact with them. He was still locked in by whatever had trapped him, so he had to teleport him and his cargo four times to get in position.
"Ngh... My head-" Zero muttered, noticing the presence of his bio mods much stronger and sooner than he'd like.
He put the rest of his ammunition into play. Each stone, from pebbles to boulders, was set in motion. A line of pure rock about thirty feet wide moved toward Rayquaza. The Pokémon warily watched what it would need to defend against.
Looping around in the air, Rayquaza took the brunt of a moderate portion of the attack. Several small to mid-sized stone fragments pelted its body. Zero felt his body seemingly get lighter.
[Nice. That's two, we're in busine-]
The point of a stone just larger than Zero's head broke as it impacted the human's eyebrow. All the rocks that hadn't reached Rayquaza began falling.
Zero floated in the sky. His hair still fluttered gently in the wind. His mouth was parted; the gesture implied shock, but the rest of his face didn't. Rayquaza's face displayed similar emotions.
"Weren't you going for that? Don't act concerned now," Zero called to his assailant.
He pressed a few fingers against the far side of his left eyebrow. He couldn't see his face himself, but he could feel the broken bone pushing but not protruding from the skin. While he could see out of both eyes, the left one had a large red crack in his vision.
[That's no good.]
Zero used recover for obvious reasons. Additionally, he used aqua ring on the surface of his eye. Blood from the broken skin above was rinsed out of his sight.
"That's better," he sighed. "I use the same tricks a lot, but they get the job done. You probably can't rel... Where'd you go?"
Zero blinked. Rayquaza had disappeared. The human had gotten comfortable and let his guard down. His needing to manually search for the enormous Pokémon with his aura was proof of his blunder.
[Fuck!]
Zero peered far into the sky. Rayquaza was at an atmospheric altitude. It'd flown up there in a heartbeat, but it was coming down faster.
[First that attack, and now this,] Zero grit his teeth and braced himself for the fight to get longer. [You're really trying to kill me, huh?]
The dragon-flying type was radiating a powerful green light.
"I've only ever heard of dragon ascent." Zero told himself. "If I had to choose a situation to see it for myself, this would not have been on my list of ways to do it."
Rayquaza changed trajectory dreadfully fast. It was initially plummeting, headed right back toward where it hovered not one minute ago. Suddenly, the beast was striking Zero with its signature attack. The collision sounded like an explosion.
Zero was blown toward the closest unbroken mountain top to the expedition.
[I can't stop-] The thought sliced through the human's mind.
Glave jaw dropped. His teacher was a thin streak in his sight that was just disposed of like a ragdoll.
Zero grabbed his wrist and aimed his palm down, which was technically toward the sky in his falling state.
Another explosion-like sound boomed throughout Mount Glacia's range.
"Damn!"
"What the hell was that!?"
Cerulean fell to her knees and grabbed her head tightly. Beat pressed a paw against his and bared his fangs.
"What's wrong!?" Glave asked his teammate. Beat was the one who answered.
"He just emptied himself of every drop of aura in his body." He jerked his head back toward Zero. "Huh?"
From his palm, a dark, purple substance came into existence. It grew from a single point into a tiny ball, and from it, several tendrils of the mysterious energy curved around him. Just as Zero's body was fully covered, he was driven into one of Mount Glacia's tallest peaks at a speed far above terminal velocity.
There was no impact. The snow went undisturbed and no influence was visible. Zero phased straight through the mountain. Or more accurately, he phased through several as he allowed his momentum to drop. When the human reached a controllable speed, he began teleporting back to the scene of the battle.
Rayquaza paid no heed to the Pokémon below it. The mega-evolved dragon waited patiently to see what would happen after its enemy evaded a fatal attack.
[Fifteen meters. I can warp about forty-five feet at a time until that mean look or whatever wears off.] Zero had been launched much further than the distance he'd been contemplating. But he was almost back.
"That's insane... I've never gone so far as to consider what he did." Beat muttered to himself.
The reserved, focused lucario wasn't a man of many words. He spoke when necessary, but he wasn't so cold that he avoided conversation or preferred solitude. For the fighting-steel type to publicize his thoughts, Glave decided, he must've been so caught up in thinking them he wasn't aware he was doing it.
"Zero mentioned it to me before," Glave spoke up. Beat turned to him but held onto his puzzled demeanor. "He said that he could change his type, but to do it he has to expel all the aura he had and fill back up with whatever type he wants. It's not supposed to be very practical in battle, but if becoming a ghost-type means passing through x feet of rock at x squared speed, I'd say you go for it."
"I couldn't put my finger on what type of aura that was." Beat replied, offering a grateful nod for the intel. "Ghost, dark, and psychic feel like one another. I could've believed he used psychic aura to teleport beyond his current confines, except teleporting doesn't break momentum."
[His current confines...] The grovyle grew angry when he considered the concept. [Who would do that? They got Azure too... I guess that means it wasn't a grudge against Zero, but when could they have pulled it off? Was it when the fight started? That would make me think it was someone from outside our numbers entirely.]
Zero shot above the peak he'd narrowly avoided becoming a blood splatter on. His figure was still somewhat human, but his body was wavy and there were yellow slits and a jagged line for his mouth over the purple covering him. The ghost-type aura blasted off him, revealing his normal form.
The fighter fell from the sky, landing on both feet and sliding down the slope of the mountain. He held out his right hand with the palm turned up. Ice crystals grew in the center of it, spreading outward to form claws on his hand and freezing over his arm. It didn't cover his body the way his prior action did.
[This is bad.] Zero jumped, reenabling his flight and rising to become level with Rayquaza. [I want to keep fighting. No, I don't want to, but I don't want to stop while the big guy is still fully operational.]
He pinched his brow, keeping his left eye open so he didn't get blind-sided. His head felt full of cotton.
[My biological modifications are driving me insane. Arceus, don't let me drop from the sky and jump on one of the women down there. Particularly not in front of one of your favored creations.]
Zero assumed his fighting stance once more. His right arm currently signified his choice to become an ice-type. Using moves outside of a Pokémon's type was only permissible by nature through aura. Using moves of any type was only achievable with aura to begin with, but native attacks were different. They could be fired off quicker, and they generally hit harder. The anatomic advantage adopted the abbreviation STAB, short for same-type attack bonus.
[I need to play offense.] Zero stretched out his frozen hand. Snow swirled from the ground below up to him. [I've gotta end this!]
The battle resumed. Rayquaza was visibly impressed, but no one picked up on it. All eyes were on its human competitor, who was now flying at it fast.
Two glacial lances were forged from the cold moisture in the air. Zero was still far enough back that Rayquaza's delta stream, its new ability since it mega evolved, didn't blow weather-based matter away. He launched both of them in their natural form, that is, with the snow cloaking them and making the weapons harder to see.
The human still didn't only use the attack. As Rayquaza used flamethrower to do away with its foe's offense, Zero teleported into the wide blanket of snow and took a long, deep breath. The flames were getting closer.
Zero selected a couple of meters around him and teleported the area around him. A sphere of snow and hail popped out of the midst of glacial lance's stealthy cover and appeared for a split second ahead of it off to the side. With two chained teleportations, the human was behind Rayquaza.
[Glaciate!] He used one of his favorite moves.
He blew the frozen air in his lungs and around him at the legendary Pokémon. The mega-evolved monster didn't know its opponent had moved whatsoever. Kyurem's signature move landed a direct hit on Rayquaza. Frost spread across its back, restricting its movements, such as coiling toward its midsection, but more specifically it nearly immobilized the beast's arms.
Rayquaza roared and used its tail to swing at Zero. The human used ice punch with his already ice-engulfed arm and slammed into the scaly surface, knocking it away.
The dragon's body behaved like an extension cord or a water hose when a child was playing with them. A parabola ran from the bottom to the top of the snake-like Pokémon, forcefully breaking the ice on it when that point was reached.
Rayquaza spun around at lightning speed, using dragon pulse prematurely. The purple energy spun around from halfway through the movement, but Zero was protected. Legitimately, the human hid behind one of his repetitive barriers as multiple needle-shaped icicles formed around him.
[Welp, this is gonna hurt.] Protect dissolved.
Dragon pulse washed over Zero, but he endured and used icicle crash with the sharp structures he'd created. Rayquaza was squinting with effort as it attacked. It barely noticed the smoky wisps of its attack that flew back toward it. The sun glinted off 12 pieces of ice, all of which the Pokémon accepted it couldn't dodge.
The alternative was charging. Increasing the damage it took, Rayquaza bolted through the air at Zero, letting out an eardrum-shattering roar as it did. Each icicle broke against its scales.
[Sheesh...] Zero panted. He couldn't recall when his breathing got hard.
"You broke the mold when you were created," Zero called out.
His voice was tired. He was tired. He crossed his arms, preparing to take Rayquaza on headfirst.
The dragon-flying type turned at the last second. It was by no means a dodge, and it wasn't anywhere closer to an act of mercy.
One of the golden chains that hung from mega Rayquaza's sharper head sliced Zero's cheek as the giant dragon made a U-turn. That was unintentional. Hooking Zero with brick break as savagely as possible was intentional.
The chop destroyed the ice on Zero's right arm. He was sent flying, much further than he had before. Luckily, he wasn't spiraling in a downward trajectory, and there were no obstacles for miles since that's how long he would've been flung undisturbed.
"Zero!" Glave called for his leader.
Every Pokémon witnessing the show had a feeling like it couldn't be real. When Zero was hit, he was hit. It wasn't just him. The human and the legendary Pokémon he faced were taking and dishing out blows that all of them had long accepted they were dreadfully incapable of performing.
"Don't shout, Glave," Azure ordered him softly. "It'll all be over soon."
[Hey, smartass.] The propelled human scolded himself. [Delta stream disables flying-type weaknesses. Switching types put you at a way further disadvantage than not... Damnit.]
A new entity pulled Zero out of a forcefully inflicted daze. Two new entities did once he got a read on them. Anger spurred in his heart. The human's eyes shot open, an electric resolve visible in his grey irises. He'd been doing what he could with what Fate had forced on him, but a line was crossed that no one else was aware of but him.
He flipped around midair, spinning from a disheveled mess to an alert warrior. He landed on something invisible with a very loud thud and began flying in the opposite direction instantaneously.
{Ouch! You're heavier than before!} The voice in his head was cutesy. He could hear the pouting tone without any words being spoken.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!?"
It was the most noise Zero had made in years, outside of explosions. The expedition Pokémon beneath him flinched. Every single soul was confused. To the spectators, the fighter for their side had gone from calmly getting flung through the air to flying, albeit in a strange position, back to the scene, feelings on his shoulders.
{I-I'm sorry...} The Pokémon communicated to him telepathically.
"Tch- Whatever, I'll ask later. Right now I need to bring that down." Zero pointed at Rayquaza as he was flown in a wide circle around the target.
{You watch your mouth, you hear me!? She dragged us over here to help you because you were picking a fi-} Another voice spoke to him directly through his mind, but the metaphorical sound pissed him off even more.
"Shut it! I'll rip you to-" Zero bit his tongue, hard, and sighed. "Sorry. But you should be keeping her safe." He spat.
Round two began.
"You two stay invisible. It'll confuse him, and you can attack from his blind spots at all times. Except for you," he tapped the transparent wing of the Pokémon he was flying on. To all else, Rayquaza included, he appeared to be crouching in the air and flying like that. "I'll teleport us around when it's time to deal damage. Ruby, ready dragon breath. Latios, dragon pulse."
{Do you think you're our trainer? If so, you're doing a bad job. I'm using dragon breath too, but you probably can't comprehend why.} Latios jabbed at him.
In truth, Zero employed reverse psychology. He and Latios hated each other, but the human respected all legendaries, including those he despised. However, he knew the male eon twin wouldn't go along with the move he picked, so getting him to use the one he wanted meant stating a different one.
"If you say so." He replied, feigning frustration. "I'm ready to win this fight. Hit it!"
Zero released the ice-type aura. Ruby shivered underneath him as cool air blasted her, but she flew steadily as he recharged. They took on a counterclockwise flight pattern around Rayquaza, who kept his eyes locked onto Zero. The legendary Pokémon was attempting to discern what it was looking at.
[Intereference.] The immense dragon settled on an idea. [But it is clear you would not have it this way, young one.] It opened its mouth. [Well, neither would I.]
A thin, smoky beam of purple energy flooded Rayquaza's mouth from outside. Latios's dragon breath was given a far better opening than anticipated, and the opposing legendary couldn't charge hyper beam because of it.
{I know how you are with protect. I'd better see a hundred of them break before my sister sustains one point of damage.} Latios instructed Zero.
"Ninety-nine." He replied.
Rayquaza sputtered, smoke escaping his mouth as his throat muscles forcefully expelled breath. The dragon glared at Zero, who was refueling with his standard aura.
"Get ready to use mist ball. When I get enough energy back, we're gonna teleport behind him and hit him like that. When we start, I'll need you to fly in closer."
{Closer? We're teleporting, aren't we? So why does it matter how we move before then?} Ruby pondered aloud as though there wasn't a legend among legends facing them.
"I'll explain when this is over. I can't warp very far right now."
Zero flexed his fingers and watched electricity surge between them.
"Looks like I'm good. Push up on it and start your attack."
The Latias swerved through the air, breaking her circular flight pattern and homing in on the scary, mega-legendary Pokémon. Rayquaza swatted at them with dragon claw and they vanished from under its fist. Spawning behind it, Zero saw a purple beam coming at him and Ruby.
[Damnit!] He used protect, blocking the incoming dragon breath. [I'm gonna be hearing about this one.]
Ruby did her part, using mist ball and pelting Rayquaza with the feathery sphere. It exploded with a poof and coated its back.
[Special attack down, goo-]
{Are you even awake?} Latios snapped at the human.
"My bad!"
Rayquaza coiled its body and sprung around, swinging its massive tail at the pesky pair. Zero jumped, pushing Ruby down while he rose. From his mouth, the human fired ice beam at its tail as it went swept underneath him. He hit the target dead-on, but part of the beam split off and grazed the Latias.
{Ouch...}
Zero froze. Guilt gripped his heart tighter than Rayquaza gripped him when he let his guard down.
"Grah- what!?" He struggled, arms pinned against his sides.
"Zero!" Ruby cried, shimmering as she almost turned visible.
[So that is what has been going on. The eon twins, at a convenient time like this? This was not scheduled.] Rayquaza glared at the spot it'd seen Latias for half a moment.
Returning to its prey, Rayquaza held Zero in front of its face, breathing on the powerful foe. Zero prepared to use ice beam and fire it down the dragon-flying type's throat, but to his dismay, there was already a sphere of light present when it opened its mouth.
[Son of a-]
Nine protects were torn into shrapnel. Shards of the shield flew past Zero, who hid behind the tenth and final barrier. It had more cracked space than not. Bracing himself, he released the move and took hyper beam to the face toward the end of the attack.
When Rayquaza's effort subsided, it was visibly disgruntled by the contents in its hand. The thing the Pokémon was holding looked like a human-shaped lava lamp, whereas the lava was a mysterious assortment of grays and white. The mega dragon was still watching it when Zero triggered mirror coat.
The hyper beam was reciprocated at double power. Rayquaza was physically blasted away. Its mega form began to waver as purple energy could be seen escaping its body. The expedition's hopes rose until it stabilized. It growled with ferocity and shot like a bullet.
Zero fell toward the earth. He could feel Ruby floating further down, waiting to catch him. He maneuvered around so that he'd land appropriately.
[I'm about to be on top of a girl.] The lewd thought forced itself to be heard.
"Tsk," Zero smacked his head with the ball of his hand. His biological modifications were beginning to influence his cognitive functions.
He landed on Ruby and allowed his legs to slip down each side of her.
[I'm riding a virgin~]
"Shut up..." The human slapped his forehead a few times, gripping it tightly after the last one.
"RUBY!"
Latios tackled his sibling lightning quick. She slipped out from under Zero like how magicians pulled a cloth under a set of cups.
A terrible crack penetrated everyone's eardrums. It seemed to echo across the sky endlessly. The human glanced up at the source of the noise.
If Zero had been told by someone he trusted that he would be fighting a legendary Pokémon that would break the sound barrier to hit him, he likely would've stayed in bed that morning.
The sound of the tip of Rayquaza's tail colliding with Zero's temple was almost worse than the sonic boom that rang previously.
Ruby stared over her brother in horror as drops of blood soared out of their host. Zero's head twisted and his neck popped. He almost traveled faster than sound himself when he was explosively knocked away.
"It's over," Azure whispered. The gardevoir didn't know when she'd brought a hand to cover her mouth.
[...Zero?] Glave felt dead inside as his teacher was flung. Gasps and other such noises of shock were employed by the expedition members. Amidst the battle of the ages, the mass of Pokémon found themselves rooting for the human most of them intrinsically hated.
There was no graceful choreography. There was no epic comeback to see right then. The human slammed into a faraway mountain and began sliding and rolling up and then down to the base of it.
There was screaming in the sky. The grovyle looked up and was stunned. A Latias was desperately calling out and trying to break away from a Latios that was holding her back. She was crying for Zero.
"Is that... Ruby?" He whispered to himself.
Glave had only heard stories about his father, and only recently had he discovered that the man was on a team with a legendary Pokémon.
[She looks so harmless and innocent... You were an explorer?] The appearance of a legendary Pokémon was powerful enough to make the devoted student temporarily forget the condition of his teacher.
Rayquaza's next hyper beam was a friendly reminder.
Zero was still lying on the ground when the overpowered beam set off the ground around him like a land mine. The human was flung high into the air and landed in the snow again, rolling down a few feet yet again. This time, he was stopped by a rock that turned up from the mountain when the blast hit it.
Snowy smoke settled to reveal a frosted, tenderized human. Shards of protect leaked out of a cut on his temple.
[...I'm not dead. Guess that's a start.] Zero stared at the sky while his vision unblurred. [Both of my shoulders are dislocated. I pulled two muscles in my right thigh. That's a record. Nothing's broken? No, that's what that feeling in my tibia is for. My neck is sprained. At least the left ankle is only twisted.]
The human was a beast in the sense that he had developed the ability to acknowledge pain without reacting to it. He'd adopted the premise, "crying doesn't make it hurt any less." His dedication to that philosophy was proven especially true right then because he wasn't even most interested in the pain of his broken body.
He was intrigued by his clear mind.
[Where's the fog?] He furrowed his brow, or at least he tried. [I'm not inclined to think anything dirty. What happened to the pressure? My brain feels so... light. When was the last time I felt like this? It's so familiar, but so distant.] He sat up and stood on two dysfunctional ankles. [It was when I was a child.] His heart dropped through the earth. [It was before the operation.]
Zero heard two pops and light cracks as he healed.
"That's not right." Beat wore a look of surprise. He'd finally uncrossed his arms. "The temple is an especially vital point for humans. If you fall and hit it on a corner hard enough it can be fatal. A mega-evolved legendary attacking that spot is ranked just over corners."
Through the dread and anxious hope, Glave was amused by the lucario's jesting.
Rayquaza used hyper beam!
I think you forget you have to recharge after you use that," Zero called to his opponent.
The attack was disrupted for a moment as Rayquaza stifled a chuckle.
[You don't hate me. I'm sure of it. You've wanted to laugh at a few of my jokes, and that doesn't happen when the jokes are being made by someone you detest. Even still, you've proven you are willing to kill me.] Zero lifted a hand.
Rayquaza let loose the laser building in its mouth. Zero responded with an interestingly shaped protect; the shield was conical and it pointed toward the dragon. There was a small hole where the point should have been that allowed part of the hyper beam to slip in.
Snow and dust created a storm around the human as the rest of the normal-type attack split against the outside of the barrier and hit the ground around him. When it began to clear, a bright, white light pierced through the haze.
Zero used mirror coat, returning twice the fire he'd received. It hit Rayquaza before the Pokémon knew it was in danger. A hole was blasted through the second-to-last plate on its body. No blood spilled from the wound.
[So those are like armor for you. Which means I have to go for more crucial attacks.] The leader of Team Fate stood up slightly straighter as static bounced between his hairs.
{This should be music to your ears,} He told Latios. {Keep her away from me. I won't be responsible for her getting hurt.}
{Finally something we both want.} Latios growled, though they weren't passing knowledge verbally. Ruby flinched and eyed her brother fearfully, but she tried to pretend she wasn't looking when he turned to her.
"I'm sorry," He looked hurt for scaring her. "I was talking to your friend. He wants us to get back. I don't think he'd mind if we left-"
"We're staying." She stared at the human in the distance briefly before backing up and assuming invisibility.
[Tch, damnit. Why did you have to be here?] Latios mentally swore at Zero.
Fiery aura began to leak out of Zero's clothes once more.
[I feel so refreshed. Where'd this energy come from?] He questioned the power boost he'd received. [This state... I think I'm literally burning through aura right now.] The human sighed. [I'm out of time.]
Zero teleported just behind Rayquaza. The transportation distance was far beyond that of his mean-look-limited capability. He slugged the dragon across the face with a hard thunder punch. Blue lightning crackled as his knuckles electrocuted his target. The attack wasn't very effective due to delta stream, but the sheer force compensated.
Rayquaza tried using flamethrower, but Zero held up a hand and closed it. The legendary Pokémon's mouth clamped shut from psychic. With his other hand, the human froze its maw to prevent it from opening.
Flying past its head, he used blaze kick on the dragon-flying type's midsection. Its body curved around the human's foot. It tried to grab him, but Zero used string shot. The move was regarded as laughable, but he blew silk that wrapped around Rayquaza's arms and sealed them against its body. Using ember, he hardened the plentiful, gooey silk. Taking a ropey string that hung from the bundle, the young man began spinning, swinging the oversized dragon in circles around him. All the while he was preparing the next step.
To Rayquaza's shock, it began to grow dizzy. The Pokémon flew at supersonic speeds and different leagues of altitudes. Becoming unbalanced was an extremely foreign feeling. It struggled to break free, but the centrifugal force generated by such a rotating mass made moving very difficult.
[One more thing.] Zero used psychic on Rayquaza's eye.
He didn't do anything criminal, though he was fully capable of doing so. In a split second, he telekinetically pulled the dragon's vision so that it could see the human as he used hypnosis.
It didn't put the Pokémon to sleep; legendaries required herculean efforts to be dealt status afflictions. However, because it was already confused because of being swung and tired from fighting, it deactivated the mega evolution.
Rayquaza was loosed from its embarrassingly oversimplified shackles; its mega evolution was bulkier than its initial form, and the lost weight let it slip through. Zero snapped his fingers.
An enormous chunk of ice was teleported onto the scene. The iceberg was at least two-thirds the height of Advent Town's department store, and it was slightly wider in some places. Even more terrifying were the long, vicious bolts of electricity that arced all over it. Rayquaza smacked into it at full speed.
Zero began pumping his hands back and forth, each thrust bringing a fire blast into existence. Fourteen of the powerful, fire-type moves pelted the dragon, but the direct damage they inflicted was only a byproduct of their purpose. Each set of flames melted the iceberg more while also pushing the Pokémon deeper and deeper into it. The electricity had never stopped, and since Rayquaza's mega evolution had, the ice was four times as effective, and the shocks were inflicting neutral amounts of pain. The melting ice was covering it with more water, conducting the static shocks better.
Rayquaza howled in agony. Zero winced as he didn't wish to make the Pokémon suffer. But he had the resolve to respect his worthy opponent.
"I made a joke relating to my childhood earlier. I knew you wouldn't get it, but you looked like you wanted to laugh anyway." Zero was using an inside voice. No one could hear him talk but himself. "I figured I'd show you what I was talking about anyway."
Lifting both hands, Zero used gravity. It was sudden and powerful; the remaining chunk of airborne ice shattered, and the shards and converged on Rayquaza, hurting it more. Electricity still ran across the frozen and melted water.
"What the hell is that?" Cerulean asked from below.
There was widespread conversation among the Pokémon now. Since Zero had stood back up, they all had something to say. The peanut gallery consisted of how he was a freak of nature in both a good and bad manner, to him being a monster, to him being a savior, to other calmer ideas.
"I don't think that's original. Electric and ice... I could swear I've heard of it before, but from how strong it is, I'd say that's a legendary Pokémon's special move." Azure replied with a monotone.
[You're gonna win, Zero?] Glave was the only Pokémon staring into the sky with admiration. [It's impossible, but it's right in front of me. You're gonna-]
The ground started rumbling. The very mountains below the Pokémon's feet were trembling. The expedition looked around frantically, and to their disbelief, the snow was lifting off the earth. It wasn't just near them. Every single mountain in the range lost its permafrost as the ice rose.
Zero began panting with effort.
[I'm at my wits end here. I'm damn near out of strength, but I need to know you aren't gonna get up and attack us.] He silently held a one-sided conversation with Rayquaza, though the Pokémon had no idea it was a part of it.
Risking energy for time, Zero teleported the far-off snow closer. Suddenly the sky was white for at least one hundred meters. All of it began to collect into a sphere, with the now-infamous Rayquaza as the core. Tongues of flame began to lick through the ice fragments it was confined within and steam shot up with futility.
The first pieces of snow touched and stuck to the electrified surface of the frozen water.
[Almost...] Zero's face scrunched up with effort.
A big chunk of ice was knocked out of the freezing ball.
"Grah!" The human turned his face down between his arms and heaved for air. His aura began to retract back beneath his clothing.
Gravity intensified on Rayquaza again. More and more snow was covering the icy prison. The sky was filled with a white funnel as the frost was dispersed evenly, making for a ball that was dozens of feet in diameter. It grew larger yet, creating a miniature planet in the clouds. As big as it got, it continued to tremble as the prisoner struggled with everything it had.
"I'm truly sorry. I mean that," Zero whispered. He wanted to tell Rayquaza clearly, but he didn't have the strength. "This is checkmate."
Nearly all of the frost that once covered Mount Glacia's floor was gathered in one spot. The rest of it was still in the sky, now melted and in the form of a vast cumulonimbus cloud. Rain fell from it onto Rayquaza's orb.
Zero used thunder. It was the finishing touch to his plan. His skin tore open in an X shape on his face with the center of it being on the bridge of his nose. It accompanied the scratch his foe left on his temple earlier. Several cuts were created as his arms and legs were split in places. Powerful lightning bolts dropped from the raincloud above. The falling water and the melted water resulting from Rayquaza's attempts to free itself only served to magnify the lightning's power by tracing it to to the Pokémon.
And then there was silence. There was no roaring. Nobody screamed in pain or exertion. No cries were called out for a friend. The Pokémon below didn't cheer. They could only watch to see what would happen. Blood dripped off various points on Zero's body. Pure ice, snow, and water all began pouring out of the dwarf planet he'd created.
Zero fell to the ground at the same time Rayquaza fell out of his spherical restraint. They both descended as fast as gravity could pull them. Ruby shot off, blowing her brother aside with the wind she whipped up. With perfect timing, she flew under the human so that he fell on her back. His legs were tucked between her wings and his arms fell to either side of her. Being as tall as he was, his feet dangled off the end of the Latias.
The Pokémon below only saw Zero drop and then start falling sideways. The event bore similarities to a glitchy videogame, not that any of them had played one.
Ruby subconsciously calculated her momentum and movement speed so she could take Zero to the ground and stop without throwing him off. In a large, arching swerve, she stopped in front of Team Ultima. Opening her mouth to speak, a tremendous tremor, or the explosive thud that caused it, jarred her into silence.
Rayquaza had hit the ground. Its body bounced and slid down the rocky mountain. It was a much rougher ride now that there was no snow to make sliding pleasant.
Latios materialized next to his sister.
"You're scaring everyone, Ruby. You are still invisible."
"Oh!" The Latias called in surprise.
In a series of sparkles, her white and red body became visible. Most of the Pokémon were still watching Rayquaza, however. They watched in fear. Glave had lost interest in the largest of legendary Pokémon present.
[That's weird... I've seen pictures of Latios and Latias.] The grovyle pondered something in confusion as he stared at Ruby's chest.
"Hey, I hope I don't sound like an idiot here," Glave began, noting that a larger number of Pokémon turned their attention to him than he'd like, "But is that heart on your chest natural?"
It wasn't a large symbol, but it existed. On Ruby's chest, there was a heart where the red part of her fur met the white part. Whatever it was, it looked professional from how perfectly symmetrical and balanced it was. On the white part of her fur, the heart was red, switching over to white when it got to the red section. The bottom tip of it ended just above the top of the blue triangle on her body.
"I-it was *cough* a gift..."
Zero pushed himself up, or he attempted at best. His arms trembled dangerously, and it caused him to slide off his mount and fall to the ground. He groaned when he banged his head on a rock.
"Zero!" Ruby lowered herself and stretched a hand out to help him up. "Are you alright!?"
"Y-yes. I'm f-fine."
He took it and began limping away. He was walking toward the Pokémon who'd just been his opponent. He winced from an internal pain when the Latias whimpered behind him.
"No, you're not!" Tears welled in her eyes. "You never let me help you up! Ever!"
The rocks crunched beneath Zero. He lifted one of his hands and pressed his chest. The human took a deep breath as he approached the fallen Pokémon still.
[Baby steps...] He told himself.
"What are you *cough* going on ab-bout, you big crybaby." He called to her in a raspy voice. "It's b-been four years," he led spitefully, "I've had time to ch-change."
Zero fell to his knees at Rayquaza's head. He placed his hands on the Pokémon's forehead.
"You've gotta be busting-" His heart nearly stopped. "I mean... You've gotta be kidding. I didn't even break his skin. Thick ass scales. I don't need to heal him. H-he's gonna be just fine."
[That makes one of us.] He thought.
Just then Zero saw some small shards of scales around Rayquaza that snapped off from the fall. He reached out and picked up one that was large enough to hold but not too big to pocket.
"You were gonna heal him? That blow to your head must've driven you mad." Latios sneered at Zero.
"On the subject, how did you survive that?" Beat piped up. The lucario's curiosity had got the better of him. "The temple should be lethal for you."
"..." Zero waited a few seconds to let the words register in his mind. "Oh, that... I used protect under my skin. That guy still broke it." The corner of his lips just barely twitched as he turned his eyes to Latios. "Ninety-eight."
"What?"
"Ugh... Nothing."
Life seemed to jump back into Zero. He froze for a second before his head jerked toward Latios. The human's hair hit him in the eye from the motion.
"Why are you here?" He stood up straight and stepped toward the male of the eon twins. "Have you become so dull that you can't sense Ray-damn-quaza?" He spat the words through gritted teeth. "If this is your way of 'protecting' her, then your Pokédex entry is a load of bullshit."
"There you go, blaming me for something you did. Of course, we could detect him. We get along with him, moron. The problem is that Ruby sensed you first. I would've thought you were trying to split the moon with the signals you were sending out."
"Him?" Murmurs spread throughout the crowd, but they all contained that word.
"Ha, great job, revealing a legendary Pokémon's gender. So much for 'sacred...'" Zero jabbed back and began coughing.
"A legendary that would've killed you if we hadn't helped-"
"And I'm grateful." Zero's interruption held sincerity.
[Don't act nice now.] Latios scoffed and rolled his eyes.
"I'm really glad you're okay, Zero." Cream chirped, but she lacked her normal energy. She smiled and stepped forward. "Although seeing her, I don't know how you could be satisfied layi-"
Zero's hand reflexively went up. He glared at the lopunny with blazing eyes and lifted her by the throat with psychic. A small shot of blood squirted from a tear in his arm.
[Zero...] Glave watched quietly, absorbing the scene.
"Can it. And keep it canned." He dropped her, and the normal-type started sputtering.
"Zero?" Ruby whimpered.
He sighed and stood, stepping away from Rayquaza's fallen form. The human limped quietly until he was near her.
"I'm so sorry..." When he could reach her, he took her face in his hands. "I never wanted us to reunite like this. I would rather you not see me like that."
Zero lifted his hands, sliding them past her cheeks and covering her ears. Ruby was so busy blushing she didn't react appropriately.
"Listen to me." He strained his throat to speak loud enough so that everyone could hear him. "I want to protect Advent Town. I would give my life for any of you, and if I didn't just prove it, I don't know how. But if any of you say a word about my bio mods- if I think I heard a rumor that you might have said something sexual while this Latias was present, I'll find you, I'll ask you which of the moves you saw me use today you thought was the coolest, and I'll use it on you 100 times."
Glave took note of the intimidation in his teacher's message as well as the temporary lack of stuttering. Determination was written in the details. The grovyle's eyes were wildly scanning the young man. What scraps of his shirt miraculously survived the battle were stained red. Blood had begun to trickle out of his nose, and his face was still a mess with the X-shaped cut on it if it could be called a cut. Finally, the grass-type locked onto the male's eyes. His irises were naturally grey, but right now they were tinted pink. There even seemed to be a soft pink glow to them.
Zero allowed his hands to slip off Ruby's face entirely. His mouth twitched when he saw he smeared a small splotch of blood on her right cheek. He tried to use aqua ring, but a shock went through his brain, and he grit his teeth.
"W-wait, what did you say?" She asked, doubtlessly flustered. "I didn't hear y-you."
The human didn't respond. His eyelids floated down and twitched as he strived to keep them open.
"G-go back to Advent..." He said town after that, but it was too low to be heard. "I need to talk to him first." Team Fate's leader muttered.
Zero fell to the ground. His knees buckled and he slowly crumpled, swaying and falling backward. His head lolled to one side. Glave stepped toward him, dumbfounded at seeing him go down. One of Zero's eyes slowly half-opened.
[That's weird...] He made out the blurry shape of a grovyle and a sceptile behind it. [Why are there two of you...?]
His consciousness faded like a flame with nothing left to burn.
"That's that." Beat said after what felt like an eternity. "I'll carry him back. That being said, no one has any objections to heading home as Zero just told us?"
"We're abandoning the initial goal of the expedition!" Cream cried out loud enough for everyone to hear. "We're not gonna search for a dungeon out here! If anyone disagrees, speak up with some damn good support!"
Everyone heard her, and no one spoke. Team Ultima started moving first. The crowd parted for them as they walked down the middle. Cerulean tapped Glave's shoulder and walked past him behind them. He hopped to catch up with her and the six Pokémon passed through the mass of Pokémon.
Glave could hear the whispers.
"Is he okay?"
"I dunno. I'm not sure he's still alive."
"Did you see those moves?"
"Someone that strong was in our town the whole time?"
"It's no wonder Team Luck was so renowned. They had two legendaries on their team..."
"What was his name? I never paid attention when anyone said it."
"He can literally fly. How the hell does he fly?!"
The grovyle wasn't listening at first. The words went in one ear, and after a second they clicked together in his mind.
[Wait, what?!] He turned his head so fast the leaf atop it hit Cerulean's rear.
"Watch-" The lucario stopped midsentence when she saw he didn't even know it happened.
"They're worried." Glave's mouth stayed open when he was done talking.
"Who's that? Ultima, or those two?" Cerulean motioned to the eon twins.
"N-no." The grovyle looked at her and rolled his head to motion all around them. "They are."
"Pfft, that's not bad. You look like you're gonna cry." She turned her gaze back ahead as they broke past everyone else. "I wonder if Zero's gonna be the same after this. Too much damage can be irreparable.
"Don't say that." Glave closed his eyes. He could feel she was right; moisture was pooled up behind his eyelids. "I might actually-"
"Please!" Ruby flew in front of Team Ultima. "I can get him back faster! I know the town must've changed by now, but I can find a healer, I promise!"
The Latias was crying. She sniffed and wept quietly as she waited for someone on Team Ultima to get over their shock.
"U-uh..." Cream could only stare.
"It's gonna be okay, sweetie." Violet stepped up and brushed along the dragon's neck. "But we can't let you do that. We need to keep a close eye on Zero here."
"I'm really good at healing, though! I swear I can help!" She desperately pleaded.
[First, it was carrying him back, now it's healing him here.] Glave silently took note of the childish display of affection.
"He's been working super hard..." Cream tried to help. The lopunny fidgeted awkwardly.
"Don't cry." Azure smiled. It was heavily contradictory to how she normally behaved for matters concerning Zero. "We need to let him rest now. Going back on foot should give him plenty of time to recover."
"Nngh... Can I at least stay?" She whispered.
At that, the three girls on the rescue team finally cracked. Cream turned away and giggled while the other two grinned. Beat suppressed a smile.
"Yes, you can stay with us. You can do some catching up with some of the Pokémon here, but I'm going to go out on a whim and say you'd like to stay near Zero." Azure crossed her arms, still smiling.
Ruby nodded.
Glave caught Latios scowling just before the twin spoke.
"Don't bother them, Ruby. We were only passing through. We're already gonna have to apologize to Rayquaza now because of-" He stopped himself. "Either way, it's too dangerous to-"
"I'm not doing anything!" She raised her voice but was stricken with an apologetic disposition afterward. "I-I just wanna make sure he's alright. It's been four years." She mumbled.
"That's right, it has." Cream thought aloud. She motioned to her teammates. "We make up Team Ultima- Advent Town's strongest! Unfortunately, we arrived just after Team Luck fell apart."
The troubled Pokémon fell into a more controlled somber state. Thinking about her fallen leader made her want to cry, but years had gone by. She moved on.
"I don't understand. We kept Zero a secret- Oh!" Ruby jerked back in shock. "I'm not gonna get in trouble for that am I?"
"Volt didn't. Or at least I never heard anything about it, did you, Glave?" Cream's ears flopped as she looked behind her shoulder.
The grovyle started to shrivel, but he caught himself and shrugged.
"No, he didn't. There were more important things to worry about when he showed up."
He glanced at Ruby out of the corner of his eye, but he quickly turned his head. She was staring at him.
"Glave?" The Latias was oblivious. The gears in her mind cranked to figure out what she was thinking about.
"Yeah. You were on a team with my dad."
"Your dad? Who was he?"
[What?] Glave's heart rate was accelerated; it felt like he encountered a relative that had died before he met her. [You're a legendary? No offense, but why are you this clueless?]
"Watch it," Latios ordered the grass-type.
[I didn't say anything offensive, did I?}
"We're legendaries after all. You don't need to say it." The male dragon shook his head and ignored him.
"Sheesh, why do you get onto me about bothering others when you're always scaring them." Ruby pouted.
"I- whatever." Latios disengaged from the argument with his sister.
"Where was I?" The Latias changed tunes. Her tear-streaked fur was beginning to dry. "Oh yeah! Why is Zero part of the city now? Did you guys find him outside or something?"
Cerulean bit her lip and breathed lightly.
"Well..." Violet opened. "There was some trouble in town a little over a month ago. Zero came to help out, but it wasn't that big of a deal."
"It wasn't another legendary, was it?!" Ruby asked frantically.
"Oh heavens, no." The delphox giggled.
"Yeah, not even close." Cream added.
"Hang on just a second, I flattened all of your asses!" Cerulean piped up. "I beat this Glave and the luxray- Volt. 'Wasn't that big of a deal,' and 'not even close' are a bit of a stretch, don't ya think?"
She saw the fearful eyes of the Latias floating around.
"Oh. Whoops."
"You can relax. She's a good Pokémon now. Or we hope so, anyway." Cream winked at her.
[Now I see why Zero thinks you're annoying.] The female lucario rolled her eyes.
"Well, she was slapped on a rescue team with Zero, so she would have been 'flattened' if she wanted to cause trouble," Azure reassured the ornamental Pokémon. It just created more curiosity and more questions with it.
"A rescue team!? Zero's on another team?"
[I wonder if this is a good thing.] Glave watched the flabbergasted Latias. [I indeed want the opportunity to have a moment with one of my father's old partners, but I don't want her to get overloaded. I hope she doesn't think he left-]
"He didn't invite me...?"
[I tried.] He glanced at Latios to see his reaction, but the dragon wasn't paying heed to the grovyle's thoughts.
"It wasn't like that. The team was kinda scrapped together. He wanted to see to Glave's son himself, and forming an exploration team was the most convenient way to do that." Azure cheered her up.
Ruby scrunched up her face a tad.
"Glave didn't have a kid. Volt was sneaking around with this pretty luxray when I had to tell him goodbye. I was there for the funeral, which was a little while after..."
"Well, this grovyle is his child. Born and raised in Advent Town."
"Is that so?" Latios inquired. "I'll be brief. I was fond of your father. More so than most of the Pokémon in your town, though I firmly appreciate Draco. I didn't hang around or speak much, but I heard no news of Glave being in a relationship. To find he has a child this much later is almost jarring."
"I never knew my mom. I don't think a lot of people did. I think she was a citizen, but I'm not sure about that either. Volt never told me a lot about her, and I didn't ask. It sounds bad out loud, but I was always fixated on my dad."
"Is that to say you're walking down the same path as him?" Latios had a naturally sharp tone. It was intimidating and cold, but he only meant to be analytical.
"That's right. I wanna be an explorer like him. More than that, I want to rescue Pokémon that are in trouble."
"I see." The psychic-dragon type responded, audibly satisfied.
It would not take the Pokémon a long time to get back to Advent Town; On their way to Mount Glacia, the winding routes they took packed on days. A straight shot back would only take a little bit over a day. With busy brains and heavy hearts, the Pokémon journeyed whilst conversing among themselves about the events they were allowed to witness.
Much to Latios's displeasure, Ruby insisted on remaining with the group. More specifically, she wouldn't leave Zero.
Once night fell, the human was laid inside Cream and Violet's tent once more; their logic was that if he were to awaken in his lustful state, they would be capable of handling it. It took plenty of convincing to get the Latias to back off, but ultimately she and Latios were positioned near Glave and Cerulean.
When the moon was high in the sky, Glave's mental activity was higher. He'd been lying awake for hours, passing the time by listening to the changes in Cerulean's breathing. The grovyle got up, opened his tent, and left. No one had expected to use the temporary sleeping quarters again, but Zero had made the order clear that by no means was Ruby to be exposed to lewdness. The fabric pyramids were a form of censorship to block out any unwanted scenery that might come to life.
Mount Glacia was far behind them. The Pokémon of Advent Town had been traveling for over 12 hours since Zero finished his fight before noon. Now, they were just past a forest. There were trees behind the rolling hills at which the tents were now set. Glave strolled up the nearest mound and sat down. The wind softly blew, but it was nowhere near as brisk as it had been that morning.
"Hi." Ruby's tender voice behind the grass-type alerted him to her presence. "Can we talk?"