Chapter 5: The Battle of Destin
The following day, Ash and his Pokémon stood among the other royal knights as they took a position in the army center. Ash couldn't help but notice how pleasant the weather felt despite everything going on. The sun shined, but a gentle breeze kept it from getting too hot, which was good considering the vast armor he and most of the Kalos army wore.
Freshly oiled by squires and pages, the knights and men-at-arms suits of plate gleamed in the sunlight while the blue brigandine worn by the more common soldiers and levies shined like the ocean. Pikachu rested on Ash's left pauldron while Charizard and Lucario stood beside him. However, unlike Pikachu, they both wore armor plates over sections of their bodies, similar to knight armor, as did most of the pokemon in the Kalos army.
Clemont was paler than Ash ever saw him and shook as if freezing to death as he stood behind the royal knights, his armor rattling as he did so.
"Clemont, relax. His majesty said we're not going to attack." Ash tried to assure him.
"Ches!" Chespin shouted while crossing his arms, slightly disappointed that they wouldn't get to fight.
"Pika." Pikachu said back sternly.
"And he's right. There's no need to attack when we're in such a strong position." Red said as he emphasized the fortifications around their camp.
"Oui, and now they'll have to traverse through all that mud." Lucas almost laughed.
"Mud?" Ash, Clemont, and Red asked. All three looked closer at the battlefield, and only then did they realize the fertile fields from yesterday now lay sodden in thick mud.
"Eh? Where did all that mud come from? It didn't rain last night." Red asked.
"Tile!" Sceptile shouted, pointing his hand to the edge of the Galar encampment, whereupon closer inspection, the Knights noticed several dozen Galar water pokemon dousing the last bit of dry soil.
"Quoi? Why would they do that? They're just making their job harder." Clemont asked.
"No, perhaps they think we'll attack them. Look, they're fortifying too." Lucas pointed out the solid wall of stakes sticking out of the ground before their formations alongside stoneworks brought up by rock-type pokemon.
"Well, thank Reduka, we don't have to attack that. Nothing to do but sit back, relax, and wait for their food to run out, or they try to attack us." Lucas said as he leaned against his halbert and his Chesnaught got into a resting position. However, Ash narrowed his eyes and looked closer at the Galar encampment.
Something wasn't right. They seemed closer to them than the day before, not close enough for their crossbowmen or pokemon ranged attacks to deliver volleys effectively, but closer.
Alexandre seemed to notice this as well and made his way towards the front of his Royal Knights.
"Make way!" Red cried.
Ash felt his nerves tighten when he saw the unsettling look on his King's face.
"Mon Roi?" Ash asked, trying not to sound nervous.
"Aux armes!" Alexandre roared.
"Aux armes!" The command echoed throughout the camp, and any fighting men not in formation rushed to join their contingents.
"Ash, Red, into the air!"
"Oui Monsieur!" The two quickly mounted their Charizards, who huffed and kicked off into the air. Before long, other Knights and men-at-arms with flying pokemon large enough to ride joined them, including Alain. Talonflames, Pidgeots, Noiverns, and Salamence took to the sky while Aegislash, Pyroar, Pangoro, Rhyperior, and other pokemon joined the dismounted men-at-arms in the front ranks.
Ash and Red had a bird's eye view of their entire army from the sky, and it was a magnificent sight. The royal contingent took the center with Lysandre's forces behind them. Each high-nobles retinue carried their sigil on their breastplates or brigandine, with Lysandre's sigil depicting an orange flame almost shaped like a foxtail. Most of the crossbowmen came from Lysandre's retinue, though smaller contingents did augment them.
Calem took a position with half the mounted knights upon the left, either on Rhyhorn or Rapidash, with Wikstrom leading on the right. Ash and Red turned to examine the Galar army once more, and by first glance, they seemed almost pitiful in comparison. Ignoring the eccentric decorations and flair to their attire, most of the Galar soldiers wore noticeably less armor and armor of poorer quality than their Kalos counterparts.
Just as the scouts reported, most of the soldiers appeared to be longbowmen and wore simple padded gambesons with open-faced sallet helmets. Even the Galar knights in plate and men-at-arms in brigandine seemed to wear less of it overall and not as up-to-date as the Kalos variants.
Yet despite this, unsettling confidence emanated from the Galar encampment, which came from another unified chant among their ranks.
"What's got them so excited?" Alain asked as he and his Charizard flew closer. With his visor raised, Ash and Red saw the expression on Alain's face and knew he shared their concern.
"I don't know, but it can't be good." Red said as he tightened his grip on the Royal banner in his arms. Finally, Ash saw none other than King Victor and his Rillaboom make their way to the front as the Galar knights and soldiers cheered them on, alongside the same young woman Ash spotted with him yesterday, close behind.
Eventually, Victor stopped when he was closer to the Kalos than anyone else in his army. The entire host went silent when he raised his hand and then pointed directly at Red in the sky, or rather the Royal banner, and then shouted something in Galar.
Ash's eyes widened behind his visor, and he heard a yelp from Pikachu and Charizard when they saw Victor reveal a longbow in his arms. Every longbowman in the Galar army followed their King's example, knocking an arrow and then drawing back the string.
It was only then that Alain and the others realized that Alexandre suspected. The Galar army had moved their camp closer during the night, just close enough for their longbows to reach the Kalos front ranks.
"No!"
A horrible whooshing sound filled the air beneath them as a tidal wave of longbow arrows soared through the sky and crashed into the Kalos army's front ranks.
"Merde!"
"Gaah!"
"Fais attention!" Horrible cries of distress and terror followed as knights, men-at-arms, and pokemon endured the volley of missiles. Fortunately, the plate and brigandine armor worn by human and any pokemon not naturally armored alike protected them from any fatal blows. The impact still caused great pain and confusion among the ranks as men and pokemon tried to scatter.
"Qui arrive!" A knight on a Noivern cried as he pointed to the Galar army. Charizard jerked aside, barely dodging a series of electro balls launched from a few Boltund in the Galar lines.
"Pika! Pikachu!" Pikachu unleashed a thunderbolt in response, managing to intercept another two electro balls, but alas, a furry of attacks began to swarm the sky.
Charizard and the other airborne Kalos pokemon desperately dove, weaved, and evaded the incoming attacks, but just barely. Ash and his fellow knights felt helpless as they watched volley after volley of longbow arrows crash upon their companions below.
A few groups of crossbowmen and pokemon desperately attempted to fight back via ranged attacks. But alas, the crossbowmen couldn't reach the Galar lines, and several pokemon in the Galar front ranks worked tirelessly to intercept or block any pokemon move sent at them.
The rest focused all their efforts on attacking the Kalos Knights above them, and the worst was yet to come.
"Pika! Pikachu!" Pikachu frantically pointed back at the Galar army, and Ash soon understood his concern.
"We've got company!"
Red and the others soon saw them too, Galar Knights and men-at-arms riding Corviknights, Braviary, and Mandibuzz. These Galar flying pokemon didn't wear armor as most of the Kalos pokemon did and thus easily moved around the attacks launched by their companions below and began encircling the Kalos knights.
"Flamethrower!" Ash roared alongside his Charizard as he unleashed several torrents of fire at an agile Coviknight, who used agility to avoid each jet. Normally, his armor alone wouldn't impede Charizard this much, but having to avoid attacks from the ground at the same time made landing a blow almost impossible.
"Look out!" The Coviknight flew in upside down with steel wing outstretched and ready. The great bird's rider similarly readied himself to strike Ash with his lance.
"Dragon claw!" Charizard snarled and just managed to block the incoming metal wings with his claws as Ash's lance met the Galar Knight's weapon. A loud clanging noise filled the air when metal met metal, and both lances bounced off each other.
"Pikachu!" Ash barely had time to look down through the narrow opening in his helmet's visor and watched in horror as a Galar Coalossal unleashed a stone edge directly at Charizard from below.
"Pikachu, iron tail!"
"Pika!" Pikachu leaped from Ash's shoulder onto the top of Charizard's right foot and waited. When the jagged stones finally arrived, he furiously smashed as many apart as he could while trying not to fall off. Fortunately, any he missed merely bounced off Charizard's armor plates, only mildly annoying him.
Meanwhile, Charizard and the Corviknight continued their melee alongside Ash and the Galar Knight. Ash couldn't deny his opponent was clearly skilled and had plenty of experience. Luckily, Ash also had ample experience, plus a lifetime of training under Pierre, perhaps the finest knightknight in all of Kalos.
Parrying another blow, Ash thrust his lance forward and struck the Galar knight in his armpit, between the armor plates.
"Gaaaah! Damn it! Now you're gonna get it, Sliggoo eater!" The Galar knight snarled while losing control of his lance.
"Huh? Ahh pardonne-moi. For a moment, I thought I was fighting a knight instead of a clown." Ash retorted as he emphasized the knight'sknight's bright-red and white face paint and matching flair on his armor.
The Galar knight's face turned so fiery red the paint almost looked like it might melt off, and he furiously drew a war hammer.
"Gaaahhh!" The knightknight and his Corviknight went back on the attack, fiercer than ever, using drill peck. Ash and Charizard tried to keep the attacks back while Pikachu held off more blows from the ground, but the Galar knight and his Corviknight kept pushing closer and closer.
Ash felt his right arm stiffen as the kinetic energy from each hammer blow flowed from his lance into the arm.
"Looks like we'll have to go for broke, Charizard. Are you ready!?"
"Grauuu!"
"Pikachu, hold on!"
"Pika!" Pikachu leaped back onto Ash's pauldron and clung on with all his might. Ash moved his lance into a blocking position mirroring Charizard's claws.
However, when the next hammer blow/drill peck came, Ash let go of his lance, and Charizard lurched upward, allowing the Corviknight to go past them. In the same motion, Ash drew his sword, grabbed it by the blade, knocked the Galar knight's hammer aside, and came back with a murder stroke to the head. At the same time, Charizard unleashed a fire-blast into the Corviknight at nearly point-blank range.
Blood and bits of metal from the man's open-faced helm flew through the air alongside scorched feathers. The knightknight and his Corviknight both tumbled to the ground together, leaving Ash and Charizard as the winners.
Unfortunately, it meant little, as more Galar flew up, followed by additional ground attacks.
Nearby, Red and his Charizard continued to evade incoming moves from the ground when they spotted a Galar knight on a Braviary directly across from them.
Even from a good distance, Red's visor and the knight'sknight's purple face paint, their eyes, as well as their pokemons' eyes, seemed to meet in an unspoken challenge.
"Ready, Charizard?"
"Grauuu!" His partner roared back with pure enthusiasm.
"Alright, air slash!" Red shouted while lowing his lance. Charizard flew straight for the Braviary, who countered with his own air slash. Charizard's momentum broke more than once as he moved to avoid an incoming ground attack, but Red didn't waver.
Finally, at the last moment, as the Braviary came in, Charizard re-angled his wings just right to match the wind and came down with a crushing air slash at the same time Red's lance knocked the Galar knight's aside and knocked him clean off his Braviary.
"Heat wave!" Charizard followed up his successful Air Slash and blasted the Braviary towards the ground with heat wave.
"Grauuu!" Ash, Red, and their pokemon both heard terrified cries and saw Alain's Charizard knock out two more Braviary with dragon claw while Alain himself dismounted their riders. Looking around them, Ash, Red, and Alain almost felt a sense of optimism return. Despite attacks from the ground, the Kalos Knights and men-at-arms in the air steadily overcame their Galar counterparts.
"Voir! They're no match for Kalos chevaliers!" A knight from Count Wulfric's contingent cried after he and his Noivern overcame a Galar knight/Corviknight. Many others joined in this cheer, only for a cold silence to sweep over them like a blizzard when they saw the battle below.
Despite Alexandre's explicit orders not to advance, the barrage of continuous longbow volleys became too much, and groups of knights, men-at-arms, and levies broke from the mainline to try and reach the Galar ranks. Rather than try to stop them, several of the counts, including Wulfric, Philip, and Duke Seibold, in fact, led their men despite furious orders from the King and other high nobles.
While Wikstrom and Calem remained stalwart, groups of mounted knights from other contingents similarly followed their lords across the muddy field.
"What are they doing!?" Ash cried in pure horror.
"Turn back, imbéciles!" Red shouted alongside Alain and most of the other flying Kalos knights. However, it was no use, and at the sound of a thunderous horn, King Alexandre and his Ryhpherior advanced, leading the rest of the Kalos army with them.
"Quoi!?" Red yelped. Ash looked closer and thought he saw Lysandre near Alexandre and Daniel, apparently shouting at them both, but to no avail.
"Why are they advancing!?" Ash muttered.
"Merde, he has no choice. If they don't support those contingents that broke off, they'll get wiped out." Alain grunted.
"We need to help them!" Red cried as he held up the Capatian standard. Unfortunately, the continued barrage of attacks from below and Galar knights flying around them made this impossible.
Thus, Ash and the others could only watch as their companions, and pokemon below struggled to cross a seemingly endless expanse of mud, tripping, sliding, and knocking into each other all while longbow arrows poured into them.
It wasn't the weight of their armor that caused the Kalos soldiers/pokemon to flounder in the mud, but rather the weight of a fully grown man/pokemon in general.
A few of the Kalos pokemon tried to clear the mud, but a line of Galar pokemon at the front.
"Pika." Pikachu muttered in grave fear as he watched Calem's Rapidash and the others, as well as the rhyhorn, stumbled about in the mud, barely able to move, all while enduring the arrows.
The helpless sensation returned worse than ever, as Ash knew if this continued, their soldiers would have nothing left in them by the time they reached the Galar.
Just then, the ground violently shook, an artificial earthquake rocked the Galar front line, throwing longbowmen and pokemon alike to the ground but leaving the Kalos army unmolested. Before Ash could even ask, Charizard roared with glee and pointed to a colossal Torterra beside Daniel and his Charizard.
Roaring again, Daniel's Torterra unleashed a tsunami-like frenzy plant and sent massive spiked roots across the battlefield, ensnaring all of the Galar pokemon in the front ranks.
In doing so, the Kalos pokemon could now effectively clear large paths through the mud, allowing the mounted and dismounted Kalos troops to move unimpeded.
"Pour Kalos!" Alexandre cried. Drawing his sword, the King reached the Galar ranks before anyone else. Hope kindled through Ash and the others like a raging fire as they watched their companions below engage the Galar knights, men-at-arms, and longbowmen.
Rhyhorn smashed through wooden stakes along the flanks while rapidash leaped over ditches.
"Pour Kalos!" Calem cried moments before his mounted knights crashed into the Galar mounted knights on the left, putting them to flight after a brief melee despite already being winded.
Wikstrom and his knights found similar success on the right, and it was only by the swift intervention of two infantry companies backing up the fleeing Galar knights that prevented the Kalos knights from outflanking and encircling the entire Galar army. Despite this, Daniel and his Charizard nearly broke another section of the Galar army with their assault. Daniel's Charizard knocked out well over a dozen Galar pokemon with a single blow each and sometimes multiple with a single attack.
"Ha!" Ash laughed, particularly as the melee below now stopped half the attacks on them, enabling him and the other Kalos flying knights to gain an even further advantage.
Ash, Red, and Alain all defeated five more Galar knights between them within the next few minutes.
"More Galar, incoming!" Someone shouted, and the three knights soon saw another large group of Galar men-at-arms on flying pokemon raced up to join their companions.
"Enough of this! Let's finish these ploucs off and help the rest of the army. Let's go, Charizard!" Ash, Red, Pikachu, and their Charizard watched in awe when Alain touched the keystone on his right gauntlet, and a colorful sphere formed around them.
When it burst, Alain's Charizard mega evolved into Charizard X.
"Grauuu!" Charizard X flew down and knocked out three braviary with dragon claw, fire blast, and dragon rush, leaving the brothers and their Charizards in awe.
Red's Charizard anxiously nudged against him while emphasizing the Charizardite Y around his neck.
"I'm sorry, Charizard, but remember what Daniel said." The two Charizard gave longing expressions at Alain's Charizard, both beyond eager to experience mega evolution.
"Wait, who's that!?" Someone shouted. Ash, Red, and Alain saw another Galar knight flying up towards them. However, unlike the others, this one also rode a Charizard, one almost as big as Daniel's.
The knightknight was tall with slightly tanned skin hidden by blue face paint, a slight beard, and long violet hair. His armor was just as eccentric as the other knights, but it also housed a flowing cape that seemed to compliment his overeager expression that his Charizard shared.
"Time to get this game started!" He laughed before his Charizard flew into a Pigdeot, knocking it out with a single air slash while the knightknight similarly dismounted the Kalos knight on his back.
Three more Kalos knights on a Talonflame, Noivern, and Salamence all attacked the newcomer from different directions, only to suffer the same fate. It was only then that dread filled Ash and Red's hearts when they realized who this was.
"It's Leon!" Red cried, and a shiver ran down the spines of the Kalos knights and their pokemon. Leon, the Kingdom of Galar's champion, much like Daniel and Diantha.
Alain tightened the grip on his lance as Charizard X growled at the Charizard in front of him.
"Ash, Red, with me!"
"Grauuu!" Charizard X cried. Fighting past their fear, the brothers and their pokemon put on determined expressions under their visors before following Alain.
Charizard X unleashed Dragon rush at the same time Ash's Charizard used Dragon claw, Red's Charizard used air slash, and Pikachu unleashed thunderbolt. Similarly, all three Kalos knights lashed out with their weapons towards Leon.
What followed felt eerily similar to the battle with Daniel and Diantha several days earlier. Leon's Charizard blocked the incoming attacks as fast as lightning, then struck back with Air Slash and, most surprisingly, ancient power.
"Iron tail!" Pikachu and Charizard barely managed to keep the rocks back at the same time Leon parried each of the knights' blows and countered.
All three and their Charizards were nearly knocked from the air, but Charizard X and Alain wouldn't relent and came back at Leon's Charizard again and again, but to no avail.
After knocking Charizard X away once more, Leon shook his head with the Charizard doing much the same.
"How disappointing, mere mega evolution. Let me show you true power, Sliggoo eater." Just then, something pinkish burst out of his Charizard, and the Kalos knights/pokemon all turned pale.
Leon's Charizard transformed but didn't mega evolve. Instead, he becomes colossal, with the lower part of his body glowing white with several yellow diamonds located on the lower belly. There was also diamond-shaped spots located on the front legs, sharper claws. The feet came longer and digitigrade, retaining small glowing soles under the forefeet. The wings transformed into literal flame wings extending to the shoulder blade, and two flames sprout from the horns. The colossal flamed wings were created from the energy turned his eyes yellow, and the glow of a flame was seen in the mouth, and the teeth grower, with the lower front teeth and three teeth in the middle now protruding when the mouth closed.
"What, in the name of Reduka, is that!?" A knight yelped.
Ash and Red's Charizard found themselves unable to breathe as they stared aimlessly at the monster Charizard before them.
"Alain, move!" Ash screamed but to no avail. Alain and his Charizard X were petrified and trembled as the monster Charizard opened its jaws to envelop them.
"Alain!" Just then, something flew from beneath them. Looking down, Ash, Red, Pikachu, and their Charizards saw Daniel and his Charizard shooting upward faster than Pikachu ran.
Daniel touched the keystone on his gauntlet, and both brothers watched in awe as the world's strongest pokemon mega evolved. Their Charizards eagerly waited to see which form he'd take, X or Y, but he took neither.
Instead, the Mega Charizard before them looked like a dragon, even more so than Charizard X. His body sleeker and more dragon-shaped. His skin was black with an emerald green stomach and a green tail flame shaped like an arrowhead.
His feet were also green with green spikes coming out of his knees and across his spine. Green fins addend his forearms with u shaped green spike tips on his shoulders. Green spikes came from his wings, the membrane looking like green flames. Green spikes also adorned the sides of his mouth with a black horn on his nose and his head horns pointed more back with spiked green tops and a black fin coming back on the center of his head.
"Qoui?" Ash and Red muttered. Ash's Charizard's eyes lit up when he saw the mega Charizard and glanced at the green and black Charizite around his own neck.
Leon and his monster Charizard noticed Daniel's Charizard, and both grinned with horrible excitement.
"Fool, he took the bait. Time to end Duke Daniel Rian and his Charizard! Ancient Power!" The monster Charizard unleashed a fury of boulder-sized rocks, which Daniel's Mega Charizard effortlessly smashed apart with Dragon Claw before crashing into the monster Charizard's stomach using dragon rush.
The impact sounded like one of Clemont's inventions exploding, and Leon's Charizard let out a thunderous roar of pain. Daniel's mega Charizard lifted his opponent up and into the air like a ragdoll despite his immense size.
The monstrous Charizard tried to recover and fight back, but Daniel's Mega Charizard struck two more blows and sent the Charizard across the field, literally shaking the ground as he landed.
Meanwhile, Alexandre felt his muscles ache and struggled to catch his breath while sweat trickled down the King's body beneath his armor. Even so, Alexandre fought on, bashing the end of a Galar Knight's polearm with his buckler and stabbing his sword through the man's open-faced helmet.
Within moments, several Galar men-at-arms furiously tried to surround the King of Kalos, only for two of his royal knights to make short work of them. Alexandre, himself, parried the hammer of a Galar soldier with his sword and followed up with a punishing blow to the head with his buckler, all the while Rhypherior hurled two Abomasnow back with home wrecker.
"King Alexandre!" The King almost froze and looked towards the distinct voice until he saw King Victor standing directly in front of him, his Rillaboom pounding its chest vigorously.
The King of Galar drew his sword and slowly moved it into a position that one would use to hold a lute.
"If the Dauphin won't face me, how about you!?"
Alexandre breathed heavily and took in the young man before him for a moment, measuring him up.
"Very well, en garde!" Alexandre lunged forward and nearly knocked the younger man off his feet despite his fatigue. Luckily for Victor, he'd managed to lurch back just enough to avoid Alexandre's buckler and block his sword. Even so, the King of Kalos didn't relent and unleashed a fury of vicious yet precise blows that rattled the younger man.
Victor put up a good fight and clearly had potent abilities as a knightly warrior, but Alexandre simply had size and experience on his foe. Even when Victor managed to strike back, Alexandre easily blocked his sword and buckler, then returned to the offensive.
Rillaboom, for his part, had much more luck against Rhypherior, and Victor gave him excellent direction even as the King of Kalos drove him further and further back.
"Hammer arm!"
"Rillaboom, dodge and use Wood Hammer!"
"Boom!" Rillaboom danced around with incredible agility for a pokemon his size, easily avoiding Rhypherior's massive arms. Once cleared, Rillaboom slammed both fists into Rhypherior, sending the rock rhinoceros stumbling onto his back and groaning in pain.
"Mon Roi!" Before Rillaboom could attack again, two Kalos Fletchinder swooped in and struck his side, one with aerial ace and the other with flame charge.
"Rilla!" Rillaboom cried in agony from the super effective blows.
"Ice Punch!" Rhypherior sprung back up despite the Wood hammer and slammed his right paw into Rillaboom's stomach, sending icy power into his entire body.
"Rillaboom!" Victor cried upon seeing his partner tumbled onto his side, unconscious. Alexandre heard genuine concern and terror in the young man's voice and saw much the same through his white face paint.
Even so, he didn't relent, and with a crushing thrust, he slammed his buckler into the side of Victor's open-faced helmet, sending him sprawling to the ground.
"Pour Kalos!" Alexandre cried and lunged forward, sword raised.
"No!" Alexandre heard a horrified shriek and looked up to see the brown-haired and eyes young woman and Cinderace, who'd been beside Victor the day before. She looked petrified and reached out in a pleading manner.
Alexandre slowly looked down at Victor, whose entire demeanor changed dramatically. The once seemingly arrogant King now trembled, his hands outstretched and shaking.
"Mercy! Mercy!" He pleaded. The sheer terror seeped through his white face paint. At that moment, Alexandre no longer saw a hostile King come to seize his Kingdom, but a frightened young man. Alexandre began to picture Ash, Red, or Calem beneath him. Moreover, he began to think of something else.
As far as he knew, Victor had no heirs, and thus if he killed the young King, then Galar would plunge into civil war as nobles fought each other for the throne. He pictured bodies piling up in fields, towns and villages burned, children orphaned, and years of suffering, all because of him.
"Please!" Victory begged, tears filling his eyes. Alexandre hesitated, his sword-arm trembling. Rhypherior waited for his partner to decide, and finally, Alexandre began to lower his sword.
"Hydro Pump!" Alexandre and Rhypherior didn't have any time to react before a colossal jet of water slammed into Rhypherior's back and a dagger slid between the armor plates behind Alexandre's shoulders at the same time someone kicked the back of his left leg.
"Gaaah!" The King collapsed onto his knees before feeling the dagger slide under his visor.
The royal knights nearby watched in horror as Duke Lysandre held King Alexandre at daggerpoint. Before any could react, Duke Lysandre's men, who at that point hadn't actually joined the fight, turned their weapons upon their fellow Kalos soldiers/pokemon in front of them.
By that point, the Kalos army was on the verge of breaking their Galar opponents and putting them to flight, but now attacked from behind, confusion and panic overtook the knights, men-at-arms, and pokemon. Additionally, the new development galvanized the Galar ranks and inspired them to fight on.
"Quoi!?" Ash, Red, Alain, and every other flying Kalos knight yelped, beyond horrified at what they saw. It was almost past comprehension, to the point where they froze in mid-air.
"Alexandre!" Ash's Charizard flew straight for Lysandre, only for the Duke's Red Gyarados to turn with unbelievable reflexes and blast him with Hydro pump.
"Grauuu!" Charizard couldn't maintain his flight and slammed into the ground, sending Ash and Pikachu sprawling into the mud. The young knight'sknight's fiery resolve to save Alexandre drove him up and onto his feet despite this.
"Grouuu!" Ash turned to see Lucario racing through a cleared path in the mud until he reached them.
"Charizard, can you get back to the camp?"
"Grauu!" Charizard nodded while getting up.
"Alright, Pikachu, Lucario, let's go!"
"Pika!"
"Grouuu!" All three raced ahead, passing scattered groups of Kalos knights, men-at-arms, and pokemon who desperately tried to get back to their encampment. All the while, Alain and Red tried to reach Alexandre from above, but to no avail.
As Ash neared the back of Lysandre's contingent, a group of his men-at-arms broke off to attack the Prince Consort alongside some pokemon.
"Pikachu, electroball, Lucario, force palm!"
"Pika chu!"
"Grauuu!" Ash's pokemon did their best to fight off the opposing pokemon but more simply rushed in even as they knocked a few out. Ash similarly fought off three of Lysandre's soldiers, ignoring his fatigue and sore body with a single-minded determination to rescue his King and adoptive father.
Ash parried the ends of a halbert, mace, and sword with his own sword and buckler, pushing the three soldiers closer and closer together until they began to hinder each other's movements. Once this happened, Ash dealt with them individually, gripping the end of his blade and sliding it through the face of the first.
From there, Ash pulled his sword free and used the motion to bash the second man's face while blocking the third's blow with his buckler. With a great shove, he pushed the third man back just enough to go full fury on the second, kicking the end of his halbert away and smashing his face with a murder stroke.
The last man came dashing at Ash from behind, only for the knight to simply move aside and slash at the back of his neck, managing to slide his blade just under his helmet. The man had some padding, which prevented decapitation, but the blow knocked him onto his stomach and allowed Ash to curb stomp him.
Ash panted heavily and sweat-soaked the inside of his armor, making it difficult to breathe. Just then, a dismounted knight from Lysandre's retinue charged at Ash with even more pokemon.
"Come on!" Ash groaned in desperation. The knight lunged forward, halbert in hand, and tried to bore through Ash's armor. The younger knight managed to parry, but it became harder to ignore his exhaustion by now.
Pikachu, too began to sweat from the sheer number of pokemon opposing them. Both gave panicked looks in Alexandre's direction and felt helpless.
"Grouu!" Ash's Lucario roared while pointing to the Lucarionite on his gauntlet. Ash hesitated, remembering what Daniel said, but then again, this was a desperate situation, and they had to save Alexandre.
After successfully knocking the opposing knight back, Ash took a deep breath and touched his keystone. A colorful sphere enveloped Lucario while Ash himself experienced an odd sensation that almost felt like he synchronized with Lucario.
However, the synchronization was unrefined, and Ash cried out in pain, nearly toppling over.
"Pika!" Ash hit the mud and felt it seep into his armor, and when he looked up, Lucario had mega evolved. However, something was wrong. Somehow, Ash sensed a feral rage and fury inside Lucario that matched his expression.
"Lucario?" Ash muttered.
"Grouuu!" Mega Lucario unleashed an untamed and unrestrained assault on every pokemon around him with a level of brutality Ash never instilled in his beloved pokemon.
Ash and Pikachu were both equally horrified as they saw Mega Lucario draw blood and break bones with no indication he intended to go help, Alexandre.
"Lucario, stop!"
Ash tried to get up and seize his Lucario, but the hostile knight returned, and Ash was forced to face him.
Pikachu saw Mega Lucario ready himself to kill one of Lysandre's croagunks and raced in front of him, arms outstretched.
"Pika!"
"Grouuu!" Mega Lucario knocked Pikachu aside, snarling with his fangs drawn. By then, Ash had managed to grapple his opponent to the ground and stab through his visor with a dagger.
"Pikachu!" Ash sprung back up and sprinted over, seizing Mega Lucario before he could attack Pikachu or the other pokemon.
"Lucario, snap out of it!" Ash pleaded, but to no avail. Lucario's eyes were no longer his own, and he threw his trainer off him.
"Grouuu!" Mega Lucario brought back his right paw to strike Ash.
"Pikachu!" Ash braced himself but felt nothing. Instead, he looked up and saw Daniel's Lucario holding Mega Lucario in a vice.
"Grouu! Grouuuu!" Mega Lucario furiously thrashed about, trying to break free, but to no avail.
"Grouu." Daniel's Lucario knocked Ash's out with a swift strike, and Lucario reverted to his normal form.
"Lucario!" Ash quickly caught his unconscious pokemon before seeing a stern expression from Daniel's Lucario.
"Grouuu!" The pokemon growled while pointing to the encampment.
"Lucario, please, Alexandre!" Ash pleaded.
"Grouuu!" Ash and Pikachu felt tears swell their eyes and, with heavy hearts, fell back.
"Ash!" Clemont sprinted over and helped Ash, who could now barely stand, into the camp while Luxray took over for him in carrying Lucario.
"Ches!" Chespin and Bunnelby similarly supported Pikachu, who struggled to continue.
"Ash, it's alright. You're safe now." Clemont sat Ash down and began removing his armor as a physician raced over to look at him.
"I'm 'huff' fine." Ash muttered, waving the physician off. The man didn't wait another moment and instantly raced to the steadily increasing stream of exhausted and wounded men/pokemon trickling back into the camp.
It was a sorry sight to see muddy and bloodied soldier/pokemon all around them, the once-proud army from that morning reduced to a filthy and frightened mess.
"Let me go! Let me go!" Clemont began cleaning off some of Ash's injuries when they saw Calem getting forcibly dragged back into the camp by two knights from his retinue.
"He refused to leave the fight." Another knight panted as he led the Dauphin's Rapidash in. Calem looked just as bloodied as Ash and only calmed a little when comforted by his Greninja.
"Ash!" Clemont and Ash looked up at the airborne Kalos knights who now returned to the camp, landing all around them.
Red dismounted from his Charizard, who then went to check on Ash's Charizard, resting near a few other wounded pokemon.
"Red, I'm sorry, we couldn't reach Alexandre." Ash choked on his tears but felt Red wrap both arms around him. Red also teared up and remained locked in an embrace with Ash as Clemont trembled.
"I don't understand. Why would Duke Lysandre betray us?"
"I don't know." Alain growled.
The ground shook, and all eyes turned to Daniel and his Charizard, who'd just landed. The Duke had an iron-esk expression and stormed over to Wulfric, Philip, Grant, Michael, Seibold, and Wikstrom, who'd all managed to get back safely, though all of them appeared no less worn than the rest of their troops.
Once there, he took charge of the other high-nobles and began issuing orders, to which none objected.
Ash, meanwhile, went to check on Lucario, who'd regained consciousness and trembled.
"Lucario." Ash said quietly, but his pokemon looked away with a shameful expression.
"Lucario, it's ok. You didn't mean it."
"Pikachu." Pikachu added, trying to assure him. Lucario teared up slightly and only calmed when Ash hugged him.
Alain, Clemont, and Red all stared out at the muddy battlefield. Hundreds of their soldiers and likely dozens of knights lay dead or dying with what looked like a thousand or so more all taken prisoner.
"Now what?" Clemont muttered.
"I have no idea." Alain said.
Calem drew his sword and tried to run out, but Red seized him.
"Red, let me go, that's an order!" Calem shrieked, but soon his own Greninja joined Red in restraining him.
"Calem, enough! We can't let you get captured too!" Red fought back his tears and saw Calem's rage fade away into a lament as they both stared across the field.
Inside the Galar encampment, Alexandre sat on his knees, hands bound like the other prisoners. Galar soldiers eagerly began looting the fallen Kalos soldiers/knights while others rounded up their unconscious pokemon.
The King did his best to remain calm despite the situation and gave reassuring looks to his men around him. Nearby, Alexandre eventually spotted King Victor.
A physician and the young woman both attended to him, with his female companion wrapping her arms around him and kissing his cheek. By then, Leon and his now wounded Charizard joined the King alongside Lady Bea, Earl Allister, and ten other high Galar nobles.
However, something else soon caught Alexandre's attention. Every captured Kalos soldier began snarling and cursing Lysandre as he passed them before finally reaching Alexandre.
The Duke stared at his King, who returned the gaze, neither speaking a word for an eternity and merely exchanging harsh expressions.
"Why?" It was the only word Alexandre could muster. Lysandre didn't seem angry or satisfied, merely determined.
"The key, Alexandre. Where is the key?" Alexandre's eyes went wide for a moment before hardening into pure resolve.
"I knew you were off, but I never realized you were completely insane!"
"Where is the key?" Lysandre said, louder.
"You will never get what's inside that vault!" Without another word, Lysandre drew his sword. Victor was in mid-conversation when he heard the noise of a sword leaving its sheath.
The young King's eyes went wide in horror.
"No!"
In the Kalos camp, the entire world seemed to stop. Ash, Red, Clemont, Calem, Alain, and everyone went as cold as ice. King Alexandre II's head left his shoulders, and within moments, Lysandre's men began slaughtering the other prisoners.
Many Galar soldiers joined in the confusion, while others cried out in horror. However, none of the Kalos forces saw Victor and his high-nobles desperately trying to stop the massacre, but to no avail.
"Pika." Pikachu felt his body go numb, and tears swelled in his eyes. Both Charizards, Sceptile, and Lucario soon followed his example. Calem, Ash, and Red felt everything go cold, and became numb to the world around them.
Lysandre wiped the blood from his sword as one of his men searched Alexandre's body.
"Nothing, mon Seigneur." He said.
"Hmp, so be it."
"Mon Seigneur, are you sure this was wise? He may have been the only one who knew where the key was?" A noblewoman in Lysandre's colors asked.
"He was never going to tell us, Aliana. He was just a liability. We must proceed with our plans regardless. Bryony is already in Lumoise, so she can search the citadel there. As for the rest of you, begin searching the other royal estates, don't stop until you find that key."
"Oui, Mon Seigneur." They said, bowing.
"Lysandre!" The Duke and his nobles turned and saw a livid Victor storming over with Leon, the young woman, and his Rillaboom close behind.
"Lysandre, you bastard, what was that!?" Victor snarled.
"All due respect, your majesty, these were my prisoners, and I did with them as I saw fit."
"These were unarmed men! Knights protected by the codes of chivalry! And Alexandre, he was a King, he was your King!?" Victor almost sounded sick, and his female companion appeared ready to faint at the sight of so many dead bodies.
"You are my King now." Lysandre said cordially while bowing his head.
"Very soon, all will be well here again. One of my noblewomen will obtain for you, Princess Serena. Once we deal with her husband, she'll be free to marry, and you'll become King of Kalos."
Victor's female companion looked anxious about that prospect, and Leon growled.
"I don't trust him, your majesty. This may have been a mistake." Victor sighed, a look of deep shame across his face.
"It's too late now. More companies are on their way from Galar. All we can do now is try to make the best of this situation." Victor walked over to Alexandre's body and knelt beside it, paying him respect.
Panic now began to set into the Kalos Army camp. Ash, Calem, Red, and the others didn't even notice most of the high-nobles fleeing with their contingents.
"What!? Are you doing? Get back here!" Alain roared when he finally took notice.
"Ahhhhh!" Calem tried to run out again when Daniel seized his shoulder.
Before the Dauphin could say anything else, the Grand Duke slammed his palm into the younger man's face and knocked him out.
"Quoi!" Ash, Red, and Clemont shouted. Daniel ignored them and slung Calem onto his shoulder while Greninja nodded.
"Calem can't fall into Galar hands, or the Kingdom is lost. I'm going to take him somewhere safe until we can sort this out. I need you four, and I need you now. I understand you're still mourning, but we have no time. Do you hear me?!" The four young men nodded.
"Bon, we need to-" Daniel's face froze in horror.
"Merde." He muttered.
"Mon Seigneur?" Red asked.
"When we left Lumoise city, Lysandre offered to leave a contingent of his men behind to help keep order in the capital."
A new tidal wave of pure horror now overtook Ash.
"Serena!"
Author's note
Yep some of you guessed it, Lysandre is a villain, but what are his motivations?
King Alexandre is dead, and now the enemies of Kalos circle in to come for his daughter and son-in-law
Also, yes Daniel's Charizard is a mega Charizard Z
There's still time for OCs if anyone has one
So until next time,
Please review, comment suggest, or ask (VIA PM)