The Tale Worth Writing Home About
Things have been silent since the end of the previous chapter, and Tale couldn't help but find himself wondering where Lego was as he and the Demon Slayer group, with their plus one of Android 21, were chilling at a camp near Deertrack Heights, still in the Obsidian Fieldlands. He (Tale) didn't know if he (Lego) was still screwing around or lost track of time, since it was late now.
"Ya know, there is an air of calm around the area," Tanjiro commented as he sat by the campfire. "It's refreshing…"
"There's a Noble Pokemon that lives here," Tale said. "Said Noble Pokemon are revered throughout the region by the Diamond and Pearl clans, who tasked certain people with tending to them."
"They must be something special if they're revered," 21 commented, roasting a marshmallow over the campfire.
Tale nodded. "And they are." After a moment or two, the Realmcrafter looked back at the bio-android. "Wait, where did you get marshmallows from?"
"Candy beam," 21 stated as she looked at her marshmallow, which was on a stick she found lying around, checking its status.
"Then why are you roasting it?" Lizzy questioned, watching 21 roast the marshmallow, which caused 21 to smirk.
"You'll see," 21 said, although Tale could guess she was making s'mores.
"When is Lego gonna come back?" Inosuke asked Tale suddenly.
Tale merely looked at Inosuke and shrugged. "He'll probably be back by morning. And if he isn't, we can probably head to Jubilife Village and wait there for a bit for him to show up. I highly doubt he'd just head to another realm while I'm here with you five."
"Very well," Inosuke said.
Sooner or later, everyone went to bed, minus Tale. He was trying to figure out what was going on… and also rotate his party so all of the shiny Pokemon he caught weren't in it, and he had the other six Pokemon he already held, including his Blaziken.
At dawn, everyone was awake, and by around 9 o'clock they were at Jubilife Village since Lego, curiously didn't show up last night.
"I wonder where he's gone," Nezuko commented as they entered the village.
"Knowing Lego, he probably is getting side tracked with something," 21 responded.
"Hopefully, he's setting something else up for you all," Tale said. "He might be ready to demonstrate Mega Evolution to you all. Or Terastlizing." That confused everyone, but Tale merely looked around for Lego.
It was while they were walking that Tanjiro had accidentally bumped into someone. "Oh god, I'm sorry," he said to the person he bumped into.
"No, it's my fault, I wasn't paying attention," the person said, although Tale recognized him.
"Hey wait, you're Adaman of the Diamond Clan," Tale commented, with the leader of the Diamond Clan merely nodding in response.
"I'm assuming you're not from around here, judging by how you recognized me, although I don't recognize you despite knowing most of the people here in Jubilife Village," Adaman said. "But I got no time! I need to go find Irida in the Alabaster Icelands!"
"Is something the matter?" Nezuko asked Adaman.
"We can help!" Tanjiro said. "We may be only rookies when it comes to all these Pokemon shenanigans, but we can still help out!"
"Hell yeah!" Inosuke shouted excitedly.
Actually taking it into consideration, Adaman looked at them and hummed for a few moments. But he then looked at Tale, and the two shared a mutual glance. Adaman could tell just by looking at Tale that he could rely on these people. He had that fire inside of him. The fire of a Pokemon Trainer.
"Alright, we have no time to lose then!" Adaman said. "I want you six to help me!"
Tale nodded in understanding. "By all means, can you inform us of the situation? It must be dire if you need to alert or find Irida, the leader of the Pearl Clan."
"I'm not too sure of things myself, but I know that things can escalate if left alone," Adaman said. "Especially an unidentified Pokemon."
This was a cause for concern, but Tale wasn't too sure if it really was one. It was likely they didn't register a Pokemon in the Hisuian Pokedex yet. There were 242 of them after all, including the Legendaries and Mythicals… but if a new Pokemon did appear, then it was a massive concern indeed.
"We'll help out the best we can!" Lizzy said to Adaman. "Just you wait, we'll handle this A-S-A-P!"
This brought a smile to the Diamond Clan's leader. "You sound just like one of the members of my clan!" Adaman gestured for them to follow him. "Now, let's get going! We mustn't waste any time!"
It was at this time that the group embarked on a journey to the north of the Hisuian Region.
"D-D-Damn, it's cold up here," Tanjiro commented, shivering a bit as they entered the cold and pure white Alabaster Icelands. Amongst the group, he, 21, and Adaman were more affected by the cold. Lizzy and Nezuko weren't really affected since they were Demons, Inosuke's Blood Demon Art practically was ice-related so it didn't affect him either, despite being half-human and half-demon, and Tale wasn't really too affected by it either.
"I guess this place is a bit different from the mountain we lived on," Nezuko commented, since they used to live on a mountain until she got turned into a Demon, and their family was massacred.
"Ah, so you lived somewhere cold like here?" Adaman asked the two. The two Kamados couldn't help but nod since it was the truth.
"I would wanna visit where Tanjiro lived when we head back home," Lizzy said excitedly as she held Tanjiro's hand.
"That reminds me," Adaman began as he looked at Lizzy while the group walked through the snow. "What's up with the mist that's coming from your mouth? Not to mention, you and Nezuko are quite pale, and the air around the boar-headed lad is almost as cold as here."
"They're not from this world," Tale said, figuring that Lego probably didn't care too much to hide that fact from everyone. He might've said they weren't allowed to use their powers, but that was also against Pokemon. Plus, it was likely they also knew about the whole interdimensional bullshit since people seemed to recognize Lego when they were at Jubilife Village, and also the camps in the Obsidian Fieldlands. "Not to mention, Lizzy and Nezuko are demons. Inosuke is a half-breed or something. Tanjiro is the Demon Tamer, so that's partially why they're here rolling with him. 21 is also a Bio-Android from a different world than theirs."
Adaman was surprised. "Demons?" Adaman looked at Lizzy and Nezuko. "...they don't appear demonic."
Tale shrugged at that. "From what I can gather, Tanjiro using his power to 'tame' them, makes them more human, meaning they don't need to rely on human blood and flesh to survive."
Tanjiro nodded. "Yeah, that's what I too can gather, and I'm the one with the power." Tanjiro looked at his free hand. "I barely know how to use it."
"In due time Young Tanjiro," Adaman began. "You will eventually learn to control your power."
Tanjiro nodded and smiled at that. "Yes sir!"
Adaman then turned to look at Android 21. "So you're a Bio-Android, although you look human…"
"It's a long story," 21 said. "I myself don't know the details, but I know I do have a lot of superpowers as a result. Hell, I can turn anything into an edible piece of candy, or sweets! Anything!" 21 smiled at the thought. "Oh, I could go for a chocolate bar right now…"
"Keep it under control," Tale stated as he walked past her, knowing she could go crazy or something if she didn't keep herself in check.
"Y'all are an interesting bunch," Adaman commented.
"Ya don't say," Tale responded.
Sooner or later, the group had approached the Pearl Clan Settlement. The sudden arrival was a surprise when Adaman started running through the village, looking for Irida. The rest of the group was running after him, though Tale was most surprised. Was this unidentified Pokemon really so dangerous?
"Irida!" Adaman shouted as he found her.
"A-Adaman?!" Irida questioned, surprised as she saw him. "What-"
"We need to think of a counter attack right now!" He told her. "Before more people die!"
Tale was alarmed even more. "People have died?" Tale asked as he walked up to the two.
"Wh-Who is this?" Irida asked Adaman, surprised by Tale, as well as the others. "And why is there mist coming from that girl's mouth?" She was clearly talking about Lizzy.
"Long story, but right now, I also need to be in the know if I'm going to help out," Tale said, putting his hands on his hips. "What is the situation?"
Adaman nodded. "Let's take this somewhere private." Irida merely sighed, being roped into something she didn't know too much about.
In a tent/hut in the middle of the Pearl Clan Settlement, Adaman had placed a map of the Hisui Region on a table in the middle. "Now, as Tale and Irida know, the Diamond Clan settles around here." He pointed at the general area of the Crimson Mirelands, where his settlement was. "For the most part, we look over the entire area, as well as a bit of the surrounding regions, like the Obsidian Fieldlands and the Cobalt Coastlands."
"Go on," Tale said.
"Recently, a new pokemon has appeared," Adaman said. "It's been a major cause for concern, but we've done nothing about it since we haven't been able to find it, and it appeared last week. It's been popping up all over the place." He sighed. "Two days ago we sent four members of our clan to go to Jubilife Village to try see if any exotic goods have come by, as well as check in with Mai in the Obsidian Fieldlands."
"We've been around that area for the entirety of the past three days," Inosuke said. "We didn't see whatever beast you found, let alone this group of four people."
"The problem is that they didn't make it close to the Fieldlands," Adaman said. Pointing at the map again, he said, "Usually because it's like a shortcut, we have them travel towards the Coronet Highlands, as there is a small route that lets you cut through one of the side mountains and get to the Fieldlands relatively easily. But it was on this track that one of our Wardens, Melli, found the remains of that group… what was left of them…"
"You sure this wasn't just a random Pokemon attack?" Tale said. "I know Paras are extremely hostile."
"The problem with that is that we could've identified it quickly," Adaman said, before pulling out a pamphlet that was more like a book. Tale opened it and found that it was the Pokedex for the Hisuian Region. He was starting to see what was wrong now. "This new Pokemon… it just blew them apart and tore them to shreds."
"Oh my god," Irida said as she covered her mouth. Everyone else was surprised by the hostility they were hearing about.
"Whatever this Pokemon is…" Tale began as he finished looking through the Pokedex and then closing it. "...it's got my attention." He looked at Adaman. "I can see why it's concerning now. If left alone, more people could die if it seriously has no qualms killing people like this."
"It's the first time it's happened to people," Adaman said. "I want it to be the last."
"Then why did you come here?" Irida asked Adaman, prompting him to look at her.
"Because you need to know, and your clan does too," the Diamond Clan leader said. "We need to prepare for whatever this threat might be too. So I came looking for help."
"Wouldn't the Galaxy Expedition Team be able to help with that?" Tale asked Adaman.
"While I did indeed ask Cyllene if she would be able to spare us her best trainers, Rei and Akari," Adaman began, "she said they were busy with other matters. Not to mention, the Galaxy Expedition Team is trying it's best to reevaluate its members, especially after what happened with Kamado at the Spear Temple on Mount Coronet."
"He had it coming," Irida said bitterly, clearly irritated by the mention of Kamado.
"I would ask," Tale began, "but we have bigger fish to fry, and we need to get this done now."
"What can we do to help?" Android 21 asked Tale, prompting Tale to look at the group of Pokemon Trainers in training. Overall, their Pokemon were still weak. Inosuke's Snorlax was quite literally the only one that stood a chance against any Pokemon, and that was just a chance. However…
"I want you all to divi yourselves up to help guard both Clan Settlements, and Jubilife Village," Tale told them. "By all means, if this Pokemon, whatever it may be, appears, I want you guys to not hesitate to use your powers to strike back. Lego might've told y'all not to, but this is a pretty dire situation, and we don't even know what we're up against."
"Wait, hold on one second, you all know Lego?" Irida questioned, looking shocked. Adaman was too, and this made the 6 guests look at the two clan leaders.
"Uh… yeah," Tale said. "I'm a Realmcrafter like him."
"Alright, I'm sold," Irida said, knowing now that she could 100% rely on Tale.
"I'm guessing he left an impression on you two," Tale commented.
"Well, he helped quell the frenzied Noble Pokemon, solve matters between Mighty Dialga and Mighty Palkia, and also ratted Volo out as the one perpetrating all of this, while also stopping Mighty Giratina and turning it to our side," Adaman said. "By all means, he's won our respect, and if you're on his level, then I can confidently put my trust in you. Though I felt like you were like him the moment I saw you. You have that presence."
Tale smirked a bit. "I guess I would, seeing as I'm not from this world."
"Alright," Tanjiro said, cutting into the conversation. "Me and Nezuko will go with Adaman and help defend the Diamond Clan."
"I'll stay here with Eddy," Inosuke said, patting Lizzy on the back. "And she can teleport us to you guys if needed."
"I guess I have Jubilife Village then," 21 said, being outed as the only one without a partner. Tale liked how they quickly devised a plan.
"Alright," Tale said. "If everything is in play… then let's get started."
"Right!" Everyone else stated at the same time, the current objective now underway to stop the unidentified Pokemon, once and for all.
Walking along a dirt trail after being pointed in the right direction by Adaman, who was leading Tanjiro, Nezuko, Inosuke, and Lizzy to the Diamond Clan Settlement (the reason for the last two heading there was just in case they needed to teleport to the Diamond Clan, and thanks to Lizzy's Blood Demon Art, they would be able to teleport back to the Pearl Clan once they made it), Tale found the site of which the attack on the four Diamond Clan members happened.
Tale's eyes widened upon seeing the site of the attack. Trees were knocked over and uprooted, the ground was severely uneven, and there were indeed potentially dried patches of blood along the grass.
"Odin's beard, what in the world happened here?" Tale found himself asking as he looked around. It was like a tornado came through and destroyed the area.
What he could tell from a glance was simple. The Pokemon was Flying-Type, as it seemed like the attack that generated enough force to uproot several trees, and completely wreck some others, was launched from above the tree line. Either that, or the Pokemon was a Psychic-Type that tended to float. In general, something that either flew or jumped high, but Flying and Psychic were the two main types.
The vicious nature that seemed to have been displayed was also apparent in the way the blood had been shed. It was more than likely the creature ripped the people apart using either its teeth, or another move. Tale wasn't likely how gruesome this was getting.
"I know Pokemon has dark moments all around, and the games are no exception," he said. "But this is a whole different level of dark."
Moving to the stack of trees that had been uprooted, Tale tried to look inside and under them. Maybe one of the men was crushed during the attack…
The Realmcrafter pulled out two Pokeballs. "Grumpig, Latios!" Out of the Pokeballs came two of the Pokemon he had brought with him on his journey to help Lego train up the Demon Slayer group and Android 21.
"Grumpig!" Tale's Grumpig called out.
"Oooo," Tale's Latios called out as it exited its Pokeball.
"Hey, I need both of your help real quick," Tale said. "I need you both to use Psychic to move the trees. I'm trying to look for a body underneath these trees." His Pokemon turned to look at the trees, and then back at him. "Yes… maybe a dead body."
Nodding, his two Psychic Pokemon lifted up several of the trees and moved them to the side. Tale walked forward, and indeed… he found a corpse.
It was a Diamond Clan member, clearly crushed underneath the trees… or perhaps they ran out of oxygen. Whichever way it was put, this person was dead. End of the story. Tale would have to return the body to Adaman later, so they could be buried.
But still, there wasn't any immediate signs of what this Pokemon could be. It didn't make sense to Tale either on what it could be. Let alone a Pokemon this vicious. It would have to be human… or a group of Pokemon and humans working together.
"If it's a group, it makes more sense," Tale said out loud while thinking. "There aren't too many Psychic and Flying Pokemon, let alone vicious ones that are found in this region. And I don't have a description for it either… so it makes no sense for this to be a new one. Ruling this out as the Forces of Nature is also wrong since they shouldn't be this vicious either. Giratina is a no too…" Tale hummed. "...could this be an attack from Volvo?" He was of course referring to Volo. He didn't know if Volo was dealt with or not. What did Lego do in this timeline?
"Right now… I should bring this corpse to the Diamond Clan," he said. That would be what he could do right now. It was all he could do.
Bringing the corpse back to the Diamond Clan Settlement, Tale looked up at the sky. He was deep in thought when Adaman walked up to him. "Hey," Adaman said to Tale.
Tale looked at Adaman. "Hey."
There was a moment of silence. Eventually it was broken by Adaman, who said, "Thank you for bringing them home… even if they were dead…"
"It was the right thing to do," Tale said. "I still don't even have a lead on that Pokemon, whatever it may be."
"We don't know what it looks like either," Adaman said. "But if we find something, you'll be the first to know."
Tale nodded. "Thanks. I'll be needing more information before we can identify it. I know a lot of the Pokemon that exist, so it shouldn't be too hard."
"I guess you too are a Pokemon Trainer like Lego," Adaman commented, bringing up the missing author.
"I'm not like him," Tale said. "Not in the sense you're likely hinting at."
"How so?"
"Well, I am a Pokemon Trainer, but on a much different level than Lego is on," Tale said. "Don't get me wrong, he is strong. I mean he somehow got his hands on a Shiny Deoxys, and that's a Shiny Mythical Pokemon, and ultimately way more rare than most Mythicals nowadays." 'Especially since he claims it wasn't a hacked Pokemon, or from a gift, and straight from FireRed and LeafGreen,' Tale thought as an afterthought. "Even Lego has a lot to learn from and about Pokemon. He may have a good edge on things here, but in the Present Day? He still has some tricks to learn."
Adaman merely nodded. "So does that make you his mentor?"
"...not directly," Tale said. "But he does listen and learn when we talk. At least, I hope he does."
"Adaman!" Tanjiro called out to the leader of the Diamond Clan and Tale, making both of them turn to look at him. "One of your scouts came back! We have information now!" This made the Realmcrafter and Clan Leader perk their heads up.
Tale was waiting outside of the medical tent that the Diamond Clan had, awaiting for the information to be given. Adaman had gone in a few moments ago to speak with his injured scout. The Pokemon had roughed them up pretty bad, and Tale admittingly thought they had a low chance of surviving. They looked pale and had lost a lot of blood from the look of things.
Though a Senzu Bean changed that, but that wasn't too important.
Adaman walked out of the Medical Tent, and Tale looked at him. "I'm glad you had that Senzu Bean thing to help our scout," Adaman said. "Thank you again."
"We need information, and enough deaths have happened," Tale said. "I'd figured it would be alright to heal them back to full health."
"Good thing you did," Adaman said. "We have information now that will prove vital to the defeat of the Pokemon."
"What did he learn?" Tale now asked as he crossed his arms.
"The Pokemon itself is strong," Adaman said. "The scouts we sent had some pretty powerful Pokemon, but it was strong enough to wipe them out without any question, and then even went the extra mile and tried to kill the men. So far, we have one confirmed survivor thanks to you."
"So much death…" Tale knew he needed to put a stop to this Pokemon, whatever it may be.
"The Pokemon did seem to be a Flying-Type, as well as bird-like, but it was more like a Dragon-Type at the same time," Adaman added, adding a bit of detail to it. "The Pokemon itself was also a dark shade of purple, close to being black."
"Dark purple, bird-like but also partially dragon?" Tale hummed. There weren't many that could fit that description. But the more he thought about it, there wasn't any that fit that description, let alone the violent nature. "Do we know if it was Shiny?"
"No, the Shiny Aura would've appeared when the battle first began," Adaman said.
"Then… we're fighting an unknown Pokemon…" Tale said as realization donned on him. "Odin's beard…"
"What should we do?" Adaman asked Tale.
Hesitantly, Tale said, "I'm not too sure… I might need to switch out my party for this." Adaman couldn't help but nod at that. He had zero ideas as well. Tale looked at Adaman and told him, "I'm going to go inform Jubilife Village, and then also the Pearl Clan about what we just learned."
"Good call. It's the only thing we can do right now," Adaman said. "Good luck out there. Don't die."
"If I did, I'd likely haunt Lego for dragging me into this mess, as well as leaving me to babysit his group of misfits," Tale remarked dryly. "I'll see you later."
As he made his way out of the Diamond Clan Settlement, Tale was approached by Tanjiro and Nezuko. "Did you learn anything?" Nezuko asked Tale.
"We're looking for a bird-like and dragon-like Pokemon," Tale told them. "It's also a shade of dark purple. But you two need to stay here and defend this place."
"Alright," Tanjiro said with a nod. "If it comes to it…" Tale watched Tanjiro put a hand on the hilt of his sword.
"No, we will not kill whatever the Pokemon may be," Tale told Tanjiro. "We need to capture it, and potentially send it back from whence it came."
Tanjiro only nodded, saying nothing and removing his hand from his katana. Although Tale knew where he was coming from… it was wrong. And enough blood had already been shed. Drawing more just to end the immediate threat was not the answer he was looking for.
"I'll see you both soon," Tale said, before he called out his Latios and hopped on its back. "Let's go Latios!" The two then began swiftly soaring through the sky…
Only to be struck down by a sudden blast of dark energy.
"Shit shit shit shit!" Tale shouted as he and Latios crashed to the ground. Tale rolled, before landing on his feet, pulling out his sword to plant it into the ground and slow down his fall. Latios managed to start flying again, and was now hovering by Tale, having taken the brunt of that attack, and very injured. "Latios!" Tale looked at his injured Legendary Pokemon. "Are you okay?" It gave a weak nod in response.
"Seems I mistook you for someone else," a voice came, before Tale turned to see a man approach him. "You did give off the same vibe as him, and not to mention you were darting around so quickly in the sky… just like him…" Volo looked at Tale with a smug smile on his face, placing a fist on his hip. "And you're using a very different Pokemon too…"
"Volo!" Tale shouted, in shock at what happened. Slowly, Tale pieced it together. "You're behind the bodies and the destruction!"
"Tch, nothing goes unnoticed nowadays," Volo commented, his smile turning to a scowl.
"Explain yourself!" Tale said, putting his sword back in its sheath, glaring at the perpetrator.
"I won't," Volo said. "I mean, dead men tell no tales, so what's the point if you're about to be one?" Tale's glare sharpened, before he and his Latios narrowly dodged another attack that came from above them.
'Is that Hurricane?' Tale questioned as he jumped back, looking at the move, before noticing the much more darker colored winds. "What move is that?" He questioned, before he looked up and his mouth dropped in shock.
With a roar at the top of its lungs, descending from the sky was the 'unidentified' Pokemon… Lugia.
Except it was Shadow Lugia.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me," Tale said. "How in the world did you get your hands on Shadow Lugia?!"
"So you know about XD001?" Volo questioned, surprised a little. "And its name is Shadow Lugia?" Volo thought about it and nodded. "That does sound better than saying XD001 every time."
"Answer me!" Tale shouted, practically stalling to buy him some time to think of a strategy. He's never fought Shadow Lugia before. He didn't know what would work. He needed to think right now, and getting the villain to monologue was his best chance at getting some time, which he desperately needed.
"I found myself being brought through time and space, and ended up in another world," Volo began. "It was unfamiliar to me, and somewhat impeded my progress at trying to get Arceus to come face me. However, I was granted one merciful fact, and it was that this creature was before me. It was rather easy to kill the old man in his hovering chair and take Shadow Lugia for myself."
"A time-space distortion sent you to another world?" Tale questioned, surprised. "It brought you back?"
"Why, yes, yes it did," Volo said. "It was a rather enlightening experience… especially with the power that Shadow Lugia presents to me!" He started laughing maniacally. "At this rate, Arceus will HAVE to face me!"
'Lugia is a Psychic/Flying-Type normally,' Tale began to think. 'I don't know if its Shadow version is weak to the same types… but I have to try something…' Tale nodded and returned Latios to its Pokeball.
"Resigning yourself to death?" Volo asked smugly, thinking he won.
"I'll be bringing you to justice," Tale said as he grabbed two Pokeballs from his belt. "And I'll be taking Shadow Lugia while I'm at it! Grumpig, Flygon, GO!" Bringing out his Grumpig, as well as his Flygon, Tale said to his two partners, "Be careful here! You're up against Shadow Lugia! There's a good bit I don't know here, so we're going to be winging this entire battle!" Grumpig and Flygon nodded at Tale.
"Kill them Shadow Lugia!" Volo shouted. Shadow Lugia began to roar in response.
"Grumpig, use Shadow Ball! Flygon, use Rock Tomb!" Tale called out. He didn't know if Shadow Lugia would take Super Effective damage against those two moves, which were a part of normal Lugia's weaknesses, but he had to start somewhere.
Grumpig puts its hands together as a black ball of energy was conjured in front of it, while Flygon had roared, several large chunks of rocks coming from the ground and hitting the Shadow Pokemon. Lugia roared, before Grumpig had thrown the Shadow Ball, scoring another hit on the Lugia.
Tale noted that Lugia did indeed receive a good chunk of damage from those two attacks. "It's still weak to it's normal weaknesses," he commented, before smirking. "Perfect." Putting his hand up, he said, "Flygon, get in close and use Crunch! Grumpig, use Shock Wave!"
Although Tale's Pokemon were indeed faster, Shadow Lugia wasn't going to take a beating lying down. Before they knew it, Shadow Lugia let out another mighty roar, before conjuring a black-wind tornado, the attack expanding and hitting both of Tale's Pokemon at once. The attack did disperse, but it dealt more damage than Tale thought it would to both Flygon and Grumpig.
"Are you both okay?!" Tale asked Flygon and Grumpig, both slowly getting up. "Be careful you two…" Tale gritted his teeth now. It seems whatever move that was (Shadow Storm, not that Tale knew that), it was Super Effective against his Pokemon. It was more than likely that more of the moves Shadow Lugia knew would behave the same way.
Carrying out the previous order given to them, Flygon managed to fly in close to try and bite down on Lugia's neck with Crunch. Grumpig, meanwhile, had put its hands together, before conjuring a ring of electric power, before bringing its hands up, with the attack growing a bit larger as he threw it towards Shadow Lugia, using Shock Wave. Lugia was then bit by the Crunch attack Flygon performed, while simultaneously being hit by Shock Wave, causing it to roar out in pain.
"Damn you!" Volo said through gritted teeth, before pulling out two of his Pokeballs. "Go-" Before he could continue, he was suddenly attacked from behind and sent back, not sending out whichever Pokemon he would've sent out to try and stop Tale.
"Tale!" Tanjiro called out to the Realmcrafter, having been the one who stopped Volo, while Nezuko ran up to Tanjiro, having been behind him.
"Tanjiro, Nezuko, get out of here!" Tale shouted. "I got Lugia handled, but you need to get the Diamond Clan to safety!" Lugia had then thrown Flygon off of it, and then blasted Flygon with an attack similar to Aeroblast. Flygon was knocked out by the attack, and Tale quickly returned Flygon to its Pokeball.
"What about Volo?!" Tanjiro asked. "You can't handle him and Lugia!" Tale would give him that. If the fight with Volo and then Giratina was anything, then it was more than likely going to be harder with Shadow Lugia and Volo fighting him at once, and Shadow Lugia was dealing Super Effective damage to his Pokemon.
"Then keep him distracted!" Tale said as he pulled out another Pokeball. "Go, Hariyama!" If all damage dealt to his Pokemon was gonna be Super Effective, then there was little that prevented him from using anything else. In the end… it would have to be like this.
Tale's Hariyama appeared from its Pokeball, with the Shiny sparkle effect happening, since Tale's Hariyama was actually Shiny. "Hariyama, use Ice Punch! Grumpig, Shadow Ball!"
Tanjiro and Nezuko watched in awe for a moment as they witnessed the teamwork between Tale and his Pokemon. They hopefully would be like this one day, as well as understanding what was going on. But then they turned their attention to Volo, who was slowly getting up from the ground. To say he was mad was lightly touching the surface of Volo's scattered and chaotic mind.
"I will see Arceus, no matter how many of you dare to oppose me!" Volo shouted, before throwing out two of his Pokeballs. "Garchomp, Lucario!" As he sent out his own Pokemon, he exclaimed, "Strike them down!"
Tanjiro and Nezuko's eyes widened as they looked on at the Garchomp and Lucario that opposed them. They both knew without a doubt their own Pokemon wouldn't be able to take them on, and they both only had the ones they were given by Lego. Meaning…
"Let's go Nezuko," Tanjiro said, raising his arms, preparing for a fight.
"I'm right behind you!" Nezuko said, prepared to back up her brother, as well as take a couple of hits for him. Unlike her, Tanjiro was human, meaning Nezuko was more than likely going to survive this encounter, as well as be able to continue fighting since she was a Demon. Nothing Volo threw at her could kill her.
Volo's Lucario rushed forward without warning, planning on hitting Nezuko in the face with a Bullet Punch, but Tanjiro was faster as he leapt forward and hit Lucario in the stomach with his palm, sending the Aura Pokemon back into a tree. Although they were more trained with their swords, they were stronger than most humans.
Garchomp took this time to try and swipe at Tanjiro with a Dragon Claw, but Nezuko had jumped in and kicked it in the head, which made it stumble. Nezuko continued her offense by jumping up, raising her foot above her head and shouting, "Manchester Smash!" The attack collided with the Garchomp, bringing it face first into the ground, and causing chunks of it to rise due to the impact of the attack.
"Stick to your own franchise!" Tale called out, having heard her call out a move from My Hero Academia.
"But Deku's attacks are cool!" Nezuko retorted.
"Duck!" Tale said randomly, confusing Nezuko before she was socked in the face by Lucario, and sent back. "...told you to duck."
Volo was confused and annoyed by what was going on. Why were these two putting up such a fight against his Pokemon?! And more importantly, what was this bullshit about sticking to their own franchise?!
It sounded like-
"Alright, here goes nothing," Tale said as he prepared an Ultra Ball. "Go, Ultra Ball!" He threw it at Shadow Lugia, and it went inside the Pokeball. At the very least, it would stall it. Tale quickly pulled out a Max Revive and pressed it against Flygon's Pokeball, the Revive disappearing as Flygon was revived.
"Oh no you don't!" Volo said, preparing another one of his Pokeballs. "Togekiss, stop him from getting Shadow Lugia!"
Tanjiro, however, had different plans and caught Togekiss's Pokeball midair, before Togekiss could be released. "Your fight is with me!" Tanjiro shouted, before he barely dodged Garchomp's Slash, which had cut his haori, but left the boy unharmed.
"At this rate…" Volo gritted his teeth. He would see Arceus, and no one would stop him!
Nezuko was busy dealing with Lucario, and was dodging Lucario's Close Combat attack. She had flipped backwards, putting her hands on the ground, while simultaneously kicking Lucario into the sky, before she jumped up and grabbed Lucario by its leg. Nezuko then slammed Lucario into the ground, the blow causing more cracks in the ground below. Grabbing its leg with both of her hands, she then let out a yell as she turned around and threw Lucario into Shadow Lugia, causing the Shadow Pokemon to miss the attack it attempted to land on Tale's Pokemon.
While that happened, Tanjiro headbutted Garchomp, who was using Iron Head to headbutt him first, and Tanjiro gritted his teeth and balled his hands into fists. 'I can't lose!' Tanjiro thought, before he threw a punch that hit Garchomp under its chin, and sent it reeling back. Tanjiro was about to follow up, but he caught a whiff of something, and quickly pulled out his sword and blocked a failed attempt to quite literally back stab him, with Volo having a sword, and was attempting to kill Tanjiro personally.
Tale saw this and he glared at Volo. He truly was a criminal scumbag.
"Why won't you die?!" Volo shouted at Tanjiro, the anger plastered on his face, and Tanjiro glared back at Volo.
Tanjiro merely yelled in response, and parried Volo's sword attack, proceeding to kick him away, before stopping Garchomp's Dragon Claw with his sword, as he didn't have time to dodge. Tanjiro was worried his sword would break, and he would have to resort to using one of his powers.
However, he managed to deflect Garchomp's attack, and punched it hard in the face, sending it into a tree, which broke in half, and also fell on top of Garchomp, pinning it, though it didn't matter too much since it was knocked out.
Volo had attempted to swing at Tanjiro again, but was then hit by his Lucario, having been sent towards him by Nezuko, who looked livid. "You leave my brother alone, you coward," Nezuko practically growled, looking like she was ready to kill Volo.
"Calm down Nezuko!" Tanjiro said to her, sheathing his sword.
While that was happening, Tale was still dealing with Shadow Lugia. He would admit, it was a very difficult foe, but he was ready to end things now.
"Hariyama, Ice Punch! Grumpig, Shadow Ball!" Tale said to his Pokemon. It would either be this set of attacks that stopped Shadow Lugia, or the next. Once again, Grumpig conjured a dark ball of energy, while Hariyama ran forward, preparing to strike Shadow Lugia as its hand had a bit of frost around it. Grumpig fired the Shadow Ball, which hit Lugia before Hariyama got close enough. Lugia roared out loud, firing the Aeroblast-like attack at Hariyama as it jumped towards it. Hariyama took the attack, but pushed through it enough to hit Lugia in the face, scoring a critical hit, and knocked Shadow Lugia down to the ground, before jumping back towards its trainer… and promptly falling down on one of its legs.
"Are you okay?" Tale asked Hariyama, who looked back and nodded slightly. "Here, get some rest." He recalled Hariyama, and prepared to send out Flygon, before stopping and looking at Lugia.
It was down for the count…
They won.
"I…" Tale was taking a moment to breathe. He had been holding his breath for a moment, apparently due to the stressful situation he found himself in. "...I beat Shadow Lugia…" He smiled and cheered. "We did it! We stopped Shadow Lugia!" Tale let out a victorious and also relieved laugh, before sitting on the ground, with his Grumpig also cheering, before it felt backwards. Tale recalled Grumpig to its Pokeball as well, knowing that now would be the time to give some of his Pokemon a break.
Tale stood up, and looked at Volo, who was speechless. "Tch…" Volo slowly stood up. "D-Damn you…!"
Tale smiled smugly in return. He took down the Shadow Lugia, an achievement he never accomplished before in his life. He felt at the top of his game right now. "The jig is up," Tale said. "You lose." Tanjiro and Nezuko had moved to stand beside Tale.
Volo wasn't done yet, as he stood up, and recalled his Garchomp, before he sent out his Spiritomb. Volo's Lucario also stood up and glared at Nezuko specifically. "I will not lose this time!" Volo said.
Tale merely nodded. "Fine then." He pulled out two Pokeballs again. "Salamence, Flygon!" Calling out two of the Dragon-Types he had on him, they both looked at Volo's Pokemon. They were ready for battle. Tale looked at Nezuko and Tanjiro. "You two rest. I'll handle this."
"Are you sure?" Tanjiro asked.
"I still wanna tear into him," Nezuko remarked.
Tanjiro merely looked at Nezuko, before saying to her, "Sleep." Nezuko looked at her brother for a moment, before she suddenly passed out. Tanjiro looked at Tale and sheepishly nodded and said, "Yeah… I'll take you up on that offer…" He then sat down next to his sister, who he had forced to fall asleep, via his power as the Demon Tamer.
"Hmm." Tale looked back at Volo and his two Pokemon. "I'm ending this now." Tale held his hand out. "Salamence, Flygon, both of you use Earthquake!" With Salamence being a Flying-Type, and Flygon's ability being Levitate, both of them were unaffected by the Levitate attack.
Lucario and Spiritomb were not so lucky, with both being attacked by the simultaneous use of two Earthquakes, which actually knocked Lucario out, though it was already close to fainting, and Spiritomb was damaged as well, close to fainting.
Volo was speechless. "N-No… this can't be!" He gritted his teeth, still holding his sword. He looked over at Nezuko and Tanjiro. Tale's eyes widened a bit, realizing what Volo was doing just before it happened. "I'll kill you all!" He shouted as he threw his sword, aiming directly for Tanjiro.
Tanjiro watched as the blade was thrown at him, and was raising his arm up slowly, with his Haki activating, but the blade was stopped before it even hit Tanjiro.
Tale deflected Volo's sword to the ground, Tale holding his own sword. "Your fight was with me," Tale said, glaring at Volo. "You are nothing but a coward and a criminal. Your Pokemon should be ashamed to have you as their trainer!" Tale shouted, angered by Volo's futile attempt to hurt Tanjiro. "Use Dragon Claw on Spiritomb you two!" With Flygon and Salamence moving forward, knocking out Spiritomb with their Dragon Claw attacks.
Volo scoffed, pulled out several smoke pellets, planning on making a getaway. "Oh no you don't!" Tale shouted, rushing forward with the intent on stopping Volo.
But before Tale could get close, or Volo could throw the smoke pellets, a black mist appeared on the ground, before it solidified into a portal, with Giratina in its Origin Forme appeared, knocking Volo off balance, and stopping Tale. "Oh come on!" Tale shouted, thinking he was going to have to deal with Giratina too.
However, Giratina looked at Volo instead, and let out a terrifying scream as it charged up an Aura Sphere attack, and let it loose as a beam at Volo. Volo let out a terrified yell as the beam hit him, and exploded on the ground. Tale raised his arm to block his face from the dust kicked up from the explosion, as well as bracing for any impact.
There was never any impact though (or at least, nothing that hit him), and Tale looked up a moment later, only to find that Giratina was roaring dominantly towards the sky, towards the heavens. Tale slowly pieced together what he thought was happening, before Giratina looked at him. "...yo," Tale said.
Giratina had an amused look in its eyes, before it suddenly flew back through the portal from whence it came, back to the Distortion World.
"What was that thing?" Tanjiro questioned, scared by Giratina.
Tale looked at Tanjiro for a moment, then at his Pokemon, then Lugia, before finally looking up towards the heavens. "A god-like entity trying to right a few wrongs."
With Volo defeated, and Shadow Lugia now captured (Tale let Tanjiro catch it, though it would more than likely be temporary that Tanjiro held onto it, since Lego would more than likely want to restore things to how they were), the Diamond and Pearl Clans, as well as the Galaxy Expedition Team, there was actually a celebration happening at Jubilife Village. Tale was actually the highlight of the celebration with an award going to him from Cyllene, Adaman, and Irida, dubbing him as "The Conqueror of Hisui's Shadows". Tale felt this was a bit overboard with how big the celebration was, but considering the nature of the situation that had passed, he didn't really see too much of a problem with it.
Now it was night, and Tale was off to the side, eating some potato mochi with his Pokemon. This included his Blaziken, Salamence, Shiny Hariyama, Flygon, Grumpig, and Latios. Tale really owed the defeat of Volo and Shadow Lugia to them.
"Tale!" Tanjiro called out, walking up to him with the Pokemon Trainees.
"Ah, hey there," Tale said. He looked at them all, as they sat at the table he was eating at, all of them having plates of food. Tanjiro and Nezuko had balanced plates, with their being a good bit of both meat and veggies. Inosuke's plate was full of meat, there was a bit of veggies. Surprisingly to Tale, Lizzy had a plate full of vegetables. And 21, to no surprise, had a plate full of sweets and candy.
"Thank you so much for helping to train us," Tanjiro said to him, before saying a quick prayer with Nezuko, before they ate. "And thank you as well for being here for us while Lego was gone."
"Where the hell even if that damn author?" 21 questioned, actually quite bummed that she missed out on the action, and taking a bite of some cake as a result.
"It's no problem Tanjiro," Tale said. "Thank you and Nezuko for assisting with Volo and his Pokemon. You two really helped me out. If my Pokemon had to fight them and Shadow Lugia, it was more than likely that we would've lost."
"I wasn't too sure what to do, and Oshawott isn't anywhere strong enough to deal with those Pokemon," Tanjiro said.
"I can say the same about Petilil," Nezuko added, taking a bite of some food, her eyes widening as she found herself enjoying the food.
"Ya know, speaking of…" Tale pulled out a few items. A Sun Stone, a Moon Stone, and also a Star Sweet. "Here, this is for you three ladies. Since I'll be leaving after this, it makes sense that you three finally evolve your Pokemon." Grabbing the items for their Pokemon and calling out their Pokemon, Nezuko evolved her Petilil into a Hisuian Lilligant, Lizzy evolved her Munna into a Musharna, and 21 gave her Milcery the Star Sweet. "Oh, 21, you're gonna need to spin with your Milcery for it to evolve."
"Really?" 21 asked, getting a nod from Tale in response. Looking at her Milcery and holding it's two tiny hands while standing up, 21 spun counterclockwise once, and stopped, before Milcery began to evolve into Alcremie. 21 caught Alcremie since it evolved in midair, since Milcery float while Alcremie actually don't hover or whatnot. "Oh my, you're soft," 21 told her Alcremie, who was slightly blue, due to being the Salted Cream Alcremie.
"Meanwhile, me and Konpachiro's Pokemon evolve through enough experience," Inosuke said.
"Yeah, I can't exactly help you too much there," Tale said. "I do recommend you two train your Pokemon up though when you have the chance. They'll get experience from practically anything. Even farming or mining."
Tanjiro nodded. "I'll keep that in mind then," Tanjiro said with a smile.
"Thank you so much for helping out with our training Tale!" Lizzy chirped.
"It was fun," the Realmcrafter said. "But I do have some things to take care of, so today will be the final day I am with you all." Finishing a piece of potato mochi, he looked at them and said, "I still want to complete the Paldea Region Pokedex, as well as continuing to craft a couple of realms that have my attention."
"That's fair," Tanjiro said with a nod. "I mean, Lego is our author, so him keeping you here against your will would kinda be criminal."
"Well this arc alone is all he had my consent for," Tale said dryly. "If I appear again, it's more than likely due to a reference, or because he actually got my seal of approval that I'd return." He stretched a bit before standing up. "Well, anyways. I'mma head out now."
"Thank you so much for everything!" Tanjiro and Nezuko said as they bowed their heads towards him.
"No problem," Tale said with a nod. "Make sure to give Shadow Lugia to Lego so he could return it from whence it came." With that being said, Tale returned his Pokemon to their Pokeballs, before pulling out his sword and opening a portal by slicing at the air, walking through it while sheathing his sword, with it closing instantly once he walked through it.
"Seriously though," 21 began, "Where the hell is Lego?"
As several grenades were thrown at hordes of zombies, Lego looked at Adler as he picked him up while using a stim to "revive" him. "On your feet soldier," Lego said to Adler, copying a certain Captain Price, "we are leaving!" The two began running towards a portal once Adler was back on his feet, running from dozens of zombies as they escaped a very weird and distorted dimension.
Otherwise known as the Dark Aether.
The Pokemon Arc for this story is now over! Once again, I would like to say a huge massive shoutout to the homie Tale, Talespinner69, for appearing and putting up with the shenanigans that I tend to throw at him with each of these chapters. For now, this will be his final appearance in this story, as there is a new arc for me to focus on.
If you do find yourselves enjoying the Pokemon content, I will point you towards his story, the Sinnoh-no-Isekai, which is one of the best stories I've seen, and is a whole new take on the Pokemon world, and I myself am enjoying each chapter that comes out. There is a thought out process that I myself will probably never achieve until I start bothering to write lists of plans for stories, as well as OC information, but that's neither here nor there.
Also, this is the longest chapter I've written in a LONG time, so I think I might be getting my resolve to write back. Who knows?
Anyways, thank you Tale for appearing, and thanks to the people who do end up reading this chapter, and I will see you all later.