Ch.34
Perish
Pokemon is the property of its respective owners
"(This power…it's unreal,)" Maris whispered to herself as she resisted the urge to fall to her knees and be frozen in sheer terror as she regained her composure and extended her aura senses to her teammates.
"(This battle is going to be rough so I want the weaker ones to take Dmitri, Delia, and Catherine somewhere safe; you guys will be the last line of defense when we fail,)" Maris ordered her cohorts solemnly causing Kricketune, Floatzel, Graveler, Sparkplug, Lopunny, Druddigon, and Kiera to reluctantly retreat somewhere safe with the humans while Maris, Luka, Haxorus, Hydreigon, and Dragonite stared down the corrupted legendary who glowered at them with murderous hate.
"(It's been a pleasure to get to know you guys,)" Maris respectfully stated to her allies causing all of them to offer warm smiles in response despite the grim situation they were in as Dragonite and Hydreigon ascended into the air causing Lugia to rear back and shriek warily.
"(To the death?)" Dragonite asked his comrades as he briefly looked up at the beautiful night sky one last time before bringing his claws out in front of him, ready for mortal combat.
"(To the death,)" Luka answered and immediately all five pokemon let out war cries and charged at the legendary guardian of the seas who simply glared back at them with its red eyes shining through the blanket of the night and flew towards them, ready to end their lives.
Meanwhile
"Damn it, I feel so useless," Delia growled angrily as she, Catherine, and Dmitri were sitting behind the phalanx of pokemon while Catherine sighed at her friend's complaint and put her hands on her knees.
"Delia, I hate to burst your bubble, but if you tried to go back there and fight Lugia you'd just be a liability in the state you're in right now so all we can do is hope that Lugia is weakened enough that our last line can defeat it," Catherine bluntly stated causing the dragon tamer to snarl at her friend's words, but soon just brushed it off and tried to attune her senses to the battle, concerned as to how her pokemon were faring.
"Catherine, I need you to take Delia and run as far away from here as you can," Dmitri solemnly asked of his friend who gave him an indignant look and furiously shook her head, tears threatening to fall down once more.
"I can't just leave you behind, I couldn't live with myself-"
"Catherine, please, I've already lost my father, I couldn't bear losing-"
"NO, I SAID I'M NOT LEAVING ANYONE BEHIND AND THAT'S FINAL!" Catherine practically roared at Dmitri who shook his head and let out a long, exasperated sigh before running his hand through his hair.
"Arceus, you're so stubborn," Dmitri pointed out causing the pokemon guarding them and the humans to let out a laugh, but it was quickly silenced when an earth shaking explosion and vibrant crimson dome of light could be seen in the distance which promptly forced all of them back into a tense mood.
"Hey, Dmitri, Delia, Catherine!" a voice shouted out to them causing the humans to turn their head and to find Cynthia along with Ash, Brock, and Dawn causing Dmitri and his friends to sigh in relief; backup had finally arrived.
"Dmitri, hey!" another voice called out to him causing the battle ace to turn his head and find his tag team partner, Alex, running towards him and although Kiera looked ready to step in front of him, he waved her off causing her to nod and continue waiting for her time to fight.
The other group of trainers that had arrived, upon seeing the line of pokemon and the fighting in the distance, sent out their own pokemon while the ones who could offer first aid tended to Dmitri, Catherine and Delia.
"Jeez, what happened to you?" Alex said worriedly to Dmitri as she popped his shoulder back into place without prior warning causing him to hiss, but nevertheless was glad that Alex was no longer angry at him which in turn put Kiera more at ease and allowed her to fully focus on the battle ahead if she was needed.
"Shit, I didn't expect these pokemon to expand all the way out here; I thought it was just Hearthome they were attacking," Cynthia furiously analyzed as she sent Garchomp, Milotic, and her Lucario to the battle to aid Maris and her allies while Gastrodon, Spiritomb, and Roserade stayed behind.
"W…what did you say?" Catherine stuttered, wanting to know if what the champion said was true, but still dreading the answer she knew would get.
"These pokemon attacked Hearthome and unfortunately took the lives of many citizens and law enforcement before we could finally drive them back; I thought we had defeated them, but then we saw this bright flash of light some ways off from the pokemon center and that's when we found you guys," Cynthia explained causing Catherine to ball her hands into a fist and despite Brock's protests, pounded it straight down onto the ground as hard as she could all while having a face of pure, white hot rage on her face which was directed towards her "dear sister."
"FUCKING DAMN YOU ALICE! IT'S NOT ENOUGH TO HURT ME AND MY FRIENDS, BUT NOW YOU HAVE TO BRING INNOCENT PEOPLE INTO THIS?!" Catherine furiously thought to herself and once more she pounded her fist straight into the ground before finally cooling off and letting Brock continue tending to her wounds while Delia stared down at the ground with a blank look on her face as Ash was treating her injuries.
"Ash, I know we don't like each other, but don't extend that hate to my pokemon. Please, do what you can to help them," Delia begged of her rival as of right now, she could care less about hating to ask for help from an enemy, all she cared about right now was her friends were brought back to them safe and sound.
"Delia, while it's true we aren't very fond of each other, I could never bring myself to hate a pokemon. You just rest here while my friends and I bring back yours in one piece," Ash assured Delia causing the dragon tamer to smile slightly before going back to her blank stare as she watched Ash and Cynthia run towards the battle while Brock, Alex, and Dawn stayed behind with their team, ready to fight when needed.
Meanwhile
"Nothing's working," Maris dejectedly whispered to herself as she struggled to her feet once again after being blow back from a condensed gust of air from the corrupted guardian's mouth and despite her allies best efforts, they're attacks only seemed to annoy the corrupted legendary rather than harm it and could clearly see that Dragonite and Hydreigon were beginning to tire from the aerial battle against the formidable guardian of the sea.
Maris, however, refused to let this bring her down and jumped back into the fray just as Dragonite was smacked to the ground by Lugia's giant wing while Hydreigon let out a pained scream as the corrupted guardian slammed its entire body directly into the much smaller dragon causing him to plummet to the ground, but ascended into the air again along with Dragonite.
Even Luka and Haxorus doing a simultaneous point-blank dragon pulse that caused massive shockwaves throughout the area only caused Lugia to wince as it opened its maw and fired a volatile, crimson sphere at the duo and despite their best efforts, they couldn't get out of the way in time as both were blown away from the sheer force of the attack. Both of them fortunately managed to right themselves as Luka rolled with the impact and flipped back to her feet while Haxorus firmly planted both of his claws and feet into the ground where he stopped after a few feet of dragging along the earth.
"(Any ideas guys?)" Dragonite questioned his teammates causing Luka, who was panting heavily while clutching her limp arm, to extend her aura to her allies and inform them of the plan she had.
"(Lugia seems to be focusing only on attacks and not status moves so we need to use that to our advantage. Dragonite, we need you to paralyze Lugia with a thunder wave which will give all of us the chance to fire a single, focused attack,)" Luka explained causing Dragonite and Hydreigon to immediately barrel toward Lugia who prepared itself for them, but at the last second Dragonite seemingly blurred out of existence causing Lugia to widen its eyes at the disappearance of one of its foes, but now solely focused on Hydreigon who was still rocketing towards the legendary at full speed.
Hydreigon began charging the black, malicious energy in all of its mouths, but at the last second took a nosedive toward the ground just as Dragonite reappeared behind him and fired a pulsating orb of electricity at the dark protector and Lugia, not expecting this, took the full brunt of the attack.
"(NOW!)" Luka boomed as she fired a pitch black stream of all of her negative thoughts, Maris shot a large, magenta sphere which combined both aura sphere and focus blast together, and all of the dragons let out war cries as all of their eyes shone a blood red as they summoned a hail of meteors and directed them towards Lugia.
The combined attacks forcefully crashed into Lugia kicking up a copious amount of dust that enveloped the entire battlefield and caused an explosion flashing of the respective colors from the attacks that were fired. Maris and her allies waited with bated breath, hoping that their attacks at least did something to the guardian of the sea, as Maris and Luka put arms around each other's necks to keep themselves upright while the dragons hung their heads down tiredly, trying to bring back precious oxygen back to their system.
"N…no," Maris mumbled incredulously as Lugia, whose formerly dark purple body turned to a dark shade of red, emerged from the attacks with a few burn marks here and there, but was otherwise unharmed and ready for battle.
Lugia, letting out a ferocious roar, began charging a dark crimson wave of energy that would obliterate all of them so for one last time Maris and Luka adopted fighting stances as Maris had to nearly drag one of her legs along the ground due to losing all of the feeling in it while Luka's stance had her good arm facing forward while her limp arm towards the back.
Before Lugia could finish up charging its attack though, it was blindsided as a Garchomp smashed into it with a blue veil of energy covering its body which to Maris's shock, actually caused Lugia to cry out painfully and crash to the ground with an earth shaking thud. Maris and her allies, while surprised at this turn of events, were grateful that they now had at least some backup.
"(If Cynthia's Garchomp is as strong as Stephanie said she was, than I'm glad she's helping us as of now,)" Maris tiredly stated as she let out a short, but powerful yell which fired up her magenta aura causing Luka to follow suit and ignite her dark blue aura while Haxorus, Dragonite, Hydreigon, and Garchomp's eyes flashed red, invigorating them for battle.
"(It's not just Garchomp helping us out though,)" Luka pointed out just as a Pikachu, a dark blue bug with a giant horn sticking out of its head, and a reptilian looking pokemon with a light yellow body with a sharp leaf curved like a sickle on its head along with buds circling around its neck.
"(What kind of-)"
"(The beetle belongs to a species known as Heracross, a dual type that brings the power of bug and fighting together, while the saurian is the intermediate stage of the Chikorita evolutionary line known as Bayleef,)" Luka answered causing Maris to nod in response while pounding her numb leg with her fist, trying to get some feeling back into it, as Lugia slowly rose up once more and shook its head to and fro, trying to shake the cobwebs from its head after Garchomp's attack.
"(Help…me…,)" a strained, suffering voice meekly cried out to Maris and the other pokemon causing all of them, even the enraged dragons, to be astonished and Maris promptly relaxed herself somewhat and sympathetically stared up at the titan, wanting to know how they may exactly offer aid.
"(Please…use…aura…healing…on…me,)" Lugia struggled to get out as the guardian's body wildly charged towards them and tried a variety of attacks on the group of pokemon which they all barely avoided.
"(We have to restrain Lugia somehow so we can use our healing on it,)" Maris mentally said to Luka who agreed with this and relayed this to her allies causing them all to nod and began firing their attacks at vital areas on the guardian of the sea.
Garchomp and the rest of the dragons fired pulses of draconic energy towards the gut, face, feet, and wings of the mighty titan while Heracross, Bayleef, and Pikachu shot hyper beams, razor leafs, and thunderbolts respectively at the same vital areas their allies were targeting eliciting a sharp roar of agony from the titan, but they did not stop. Seeing their opponent immobilized, both Luka and Maris leaped toward the corrupted guardian like they were fleas and latched onto its neck where they both firmly wrapped their legs as to prevent from being flung off. Despite feeling like they were riding an out-of-control roller coaster that had gone off the rails, the fighting types managed to hold on and placed their paws on Lugia's neck and released their aura onto the legendary, filling up every fiber of its being. Lugia's body continued to scream and struggle, but mentally the guardian sighed in bliss as the immense pain it was in was finally being lifted.
After a while, Lugia's body stopped moving completely as its eyes became blank with its jaw hung open slightly where a tiny sliver of saliva plopped down onto the ground below and by then, Luka and Maris stopped, but they continued to latch onto its neck just in case the legendary continued its violent thrashing.
"(Thank you young ones; you may release me now,)" a stern, yet kind voice that came from all directions said to Maris and Luka causing them both to relax slightly, but were still on guard even when they jumped down onto the ground as much to Maris's shock, Lugia's body remained dark red while it's eyes changed to a shadowy shade of violet.
"(I thought we healed you,)" Maris spoke in a soft, depressed tone causing the guardian of the sea to chuckle serenely and slowly lean its head down to gaze the martial arts pokemon who continued to hang her head down in shame, thinking she had failed.
"(While it's true that I will never be free of Alice's process, I still have all of you to thank as you have freed me from her clutches and helped me regain control of my body,)" Lugia assured her which lifted Maris's spirits somewhat as she couldn't resist the urge to let a small grin cross her features after hearing that the titan was indeed okay.
"(What about Alice; she needs to be punished for the harm she has caused,)" Luka pointed out causing Lugia's violet eyes to darken and immediately, Alice was lifted into the air by some sort of invisible hand and violently dragged toward the side of Lugia's head where she helplessly levitated in the air.
"(Don't worry; I will take Alice and her pokemon back to the Hall of Origins to receive judgement; rest assured, she will receive a fitting punishment for her actions,)" Lugia calmly informed them causing all of the pokemon in the clearing some to sigh in relief while some merely nodded in response as the gigantic avian soared into the sky with its prisoners and when they were finally out of sight Maris, Luka, Haxorus, Dragonite, and Hydreigon to collapse onto their bellies gasping for air.
Garchomp, Pikachu, Bayleef, and Heracross began helping their allies to sit upright while Ash and Cynthia, who sent them ahead, finally caught up to them and observed their pokemon helping the wounded ones.
"(So you're Maris right? Heh, you're as tenacious as Stephanie said you were,)" Garchomp complimented with a slight laugh causing the martial arts pokemon to blush briefly as Garchomp helped her into a standing position where Maris put her paws on her knees and sucked in some air just as the rest of their group who had been on reserve joined up with them.
Dmitri was limping towards them as Kiera kept him upright by allowing him to lean on her for support while Lopunny was shouldering Delia and had one of her ears wrapped around the dragon tamer's waist just in case if she fell. Catherine walked on her own power, but that didn't stop her pokemon from doting over her as Floatzel and Graveler had their hands on her arms while Kricketune placed his appendages around her waist. However, everyone turned their heads when blue and red lights shone in the distance causing Dmitri and Delia's pokemon to tilt their heads to the side, only hearing about what these lights meant from their trainer's parents, television, or from rumors at the Battle Academy, while Catherine and Luka shook their head aggravatingly at the presence of these people.
"What do they want?" Catherine snarled fiercely as she tensed her muscles and suspiciously glanced at the people approaching them while Luka, who had been healed somewhat from the ordeal, shrugged her shoulders and just calmly waited for them.
Later
Dmitri as of now couldn't fathom how this could get any worse; he barely survived Alice's plan of revenge which left him with permanent scars across his body and now he had been brought in by the police for questioning. While they had patched him up, he wanted to know what happened to Delia, Catherine, Alex, or the others who had helped him as they had brought into separate interrogation rooms and more than anything he just wanted to be amongst them again and not deal with this crippling isolation. Suddenly, the door flung open and in strode a stone faced, burly policeman who gave off a vibe of no-nonsense attitude to him and despite never being in this kind of situation before, Dmitri steeled his resolve and coolly looked back at the officer who slowly took a seat across from him.
"Dmitri Long, son of Karen Long, the former champion of the Unova region and now currently a teacher at the Battle Academy. It seems that in more ways than one that you guys are related," the officer pointed out causing Dmitri to tilt his head to the side confusedly and raise a brow, not understanding the statement the law man was making.
"I beg your pardon officer, but before we continue I'd like to know where my pokemon are," Dmitri inquired politely, but the officer made no sign that he acknowledged what the battle ace said and threw a newspaper towards him causing it to land on the cold, metal table right in front of his face which Dmitri recognized as the time they helped the people of Eterna get back their pokemon from Team Galactic.
"It seems the apple doesn't fall far from the tree seeing as how both you and your mother like to take the law into their own hands," the officer pressed on, but Dmitri made no reaction to the statement, hearing about how the police could use body language against you.
"Officer, please tell me where my pokemon are," Dmitri once again requested, but this time keeping his tone completely monotone causing the officer to snort and lean backwards in the chair slightly.
"There being held in separate cells in another part of the station; our psychic types are trying to get information about what happened from them," the officer relented causing Dmitri to mentally let out a big sigh of relief, but kept his facial features calm and gave a curt nod to the officer for answering his question.
Meanwhile
"(And that's what happened,)" Maris finished with an irritated tone as her interrogator, an Espeon, wrote down the fighting type's statements on a notepad using its psychic abilities before facing Maris with a wary, suspicious gaze.
"(I find it hard to believe that out of all the people in Hearthome, your little group was specifically targeted and I find it even harder to swallow that a mere teenage girl somehow orchestrated it and managed to subdue a pokemon that is just a mere myth,)" Espeon said disdainfully, clearly not believing what Maris had just told it.
"(Believe what you want, but that's what happened,)" Maris dismissively replied as she turned her back to the psychic type and began training by throwing strikes at an invisible opponent while Sparkplug watched her sleepily, opting to remain out of her pokeball.
"(We're not done yet,)" Espeon growled at the martial arts pokemon causing Luka to gently knock on the bars of her cell catching the pink feline's attention.
"(Look officer, you didn't really help yourself by coming in here and trying to force the answers out of her. Also, don't bother questioning me or any of the others; you're just going to get the same story from them,)" Luka informed the feline who snorted at the jackal pokemon and walked up to the aura pokemon's cell with the red gem on its forehead glowing brightly.
"(What are the police supposed to tell the public about this incident? That all of the lives lost were because of a teenage girl's petty grudge against her little sister in order to win her love again and somehow she not only managed to use some sort of magical device to convert her pokemon into a new type of Shadow Pokemon, but she miraculously had "Lugia", a mythological creature that no one has seen before, under her control,)" Espeon spat angrily at Luka who narrowed her eyes at the pink feline and folded her arms, not taking kindly to the dismissal of Maris's story nor Espeon's rude tone of voice.
"(You just answered your own question and furthermore, neither I nor any of the pokemon currently being held care about the police or the laws that are established. The only reason we continue to suffer this abuse is because of the fact that our human friends will get into more trouble if we do so,)" Luka snarled at the pink feline whose gemstone shone a bright neon red as it fiercely narrowed its eyes at Luka and coolly regarded her.
"(Are you threatening me?)" Espeon growled at the fighting type whose eyes shined a bright sky blue which caused her appendages at the back of her head to rise in the air.
"(It's not a threat, that's a fact,)" Luka retorted coolly as both the aura pokemon and the psychic feline stared each other down, neither giving an inch.
Meanwhile
"You know how I see it son? I think you're just a young man trying to be a thrill seeker who got way in over his head leading to the people he cares about to get hurt, but it's not surprising seeing as who your mother is," the officer snorted which Dmitri didn't react to causing the law man to silently curse as nothing he tried got a response out of the Unova native while Dmitri took a breath in and let it back out before addressing the policeman.
"Excuse me sir, but during your interrogation you have mentioned my mother few times in a negative light and have said that my actions aren't surprising to you because of my relation to her. Could you please explain this?" Dmitri coolly asked him causing the officer to lean forward in his chair and point at the newspaper still sitting in front of the battle ace.
"Both of you have taken on gangs from your respective region without informing the police; some may see you two as heroes, but I just see you two as vigilantes who think they're above the law. Both of you have made up crazy stories about seeing a legendary pokemon that's only mere myth; it seems boisterous story telling runs in the family. Both of you knew people had a vendetta against you and instead of reporting it to the authorities, you tried to take it on yourselves leading to many people getting hurt because of your carelessness," the officer nearly roared at Dmitri, but kept his composure and merely emphasized each word by raising his tone before letting it go back down to normal.
"You interrogated my mom before haven't you?" Dmitri assumed causing the officer to grunt and narrow his eyes at the young boy who despite being unnerved by this, kept calm and stared back at the officer.
"Back when I worked in Veilstone, yeah. She was around your age when we brought her in for questioning for a similar incident where she made up some lie about seeing one of the mythological lake guardians," the officer gruffly answered the battle ace causing Dmitri to nod in response, but internally it made him smile a bit hearing about his mom's adventures back when she was a trainer.
The door to the interrogation room suddenly opened causing both the Unova native and the law man to turn around and saw Officer Jenny accompanied by Cynthia who had a deep frown on her face accompanied with folded arms.
"Langston, this interrogation is over; we have no charges to hold him on as pointed out by Cynthia and the friends of Dmitri. You're free to go," Officer Jenny hesitantly got out, not liking about letting Dmitri go as much as Langston, while Cynthia sighed in relief and motioned for her friend's son to follow her.
When he got to the waiting room, he found Delia, Lopunny, Catherine, Luka, Alex, and Maris waiting for him which caused him to smile and happily wave at them as his girlfriend met him halfway and gave him a quick hug while pulling him closer to their group.
"How did you guys get out so early?" Dmitri inquired curiously causing Catherine to shake her head and tenderly put a hand on his shoulder while giving him a concerned look.
"We told the officers interrogating us that they couldn't keep us here because they had no charges against us so they let us go; you didn't know you could do that?" Catherine asked him as she led him out of the police station accompanied by her companions, not wanting their conversation being heard or recorded by anyone.
"Now I do," Dmitri happily chirped causing the former heiress to rub her forehead in frustration, but calmed down when Luka soothingly rubbed her back causing her to back off and lightly flick Dmitri on the head for not knowing vital information.
"(Been a while since we've run into the police hasn't it Catherine?)" Luka stated matter-of-factly causing Catherine to roll her eyes and put her hands on her hips while trying to hide a groan that wanted to get out.
"(I know, last time I was practically begging them to transfer Alice to a maximum security prison as fast as possible, but she bought her way to freedom many times before and she would have done so again if Lugia hadn't taken her to the Hall of Origins,)" Catherine depressingly admitted causing Luka to shake her head while looking down at the ground before facing up once more, tilting her head to the side as she stared at her girlfriend.
"(I still cannot grasp the concept of what the "police" do exactly nor do I quite understand the many laws that you humans put in place. Would it not be simpler to just do what pokemon societies do and have a competent, compassionate chieftain establish a few, but specific rules to follow? You, Dmitri, and Delia follow this model and thus far we're living in a kind, stable clan,)" Luka analyzed causing Catherine to grin warmly and lightly punch the aura pokemon in the arm which in turn caused a small smile to cross Luka's features.
"(I know, the police officers themselves I have no hate for, but the system they try to enforce is just broken to me; I've seen Alice and others like her escape justice because they had enough money to buy their way out. Also, just think of human society as one huge clan where all the members have to follow a long, extensive set of rules set in place by the chieftain,)" Catherine answered her causing Luka to nod in thanks and turn to Maris who tried to have an indifferent look on her face, but she could tell she was watching her trainer for any signs that he might fall over.
Meanwhile
Stephanie was once again disinterestedly flipping through channels, having just completed a day's training sessions with her team, Hope's and Malakai's and just wanted to see if anything interesting was on. She would have skipped over the news channel, having no interest in what happened in human "politics", but stopped when she saw that they were talking about Dmitri, Delia, and a whole bunch of other people related to them.
"(KIT KAT, GET OVER HERE! DMITRI'S ON TV…AGAIN!)"