Ch.35

Opportunity

Pokemon is the property of its respective owners

Xepyerus The Black Lighting: Oh man, for what Alice has done such as endangering people's lives, indirectly being responsible for the deaths of the incident at Hearthome, and permanently changing the makeup of Lugia, Arceus will definitely not be happy. Sorry to hear about those run-ins with the police you had; I assume at least that they brought you in and tried various methods to get answers out of you from a situation that you or may not have been aware of. (No hate to those reading this story that are part of the police force or are related to those who are; thanks for risking your lives to keep the streets safe.)

Dunstann: Who knows, Lugia may or may not show up again in order to aid Dmitri's group and as for whether or not Dmitri may get a legendary pokemon on his team, I decided at the beginning that Dmitri will only have a team of regular pokemon because of the fact that it would make his skills as a trainer more credible than just overpowering foes with the sheer might of a legendary pokemon. Also, Stephanie spared Keldeo because he agreed (was forced) to stop Cobalion's crusade against humans; Keldeo may or may not rise above his teacher's ignorant views.

Lover of a Good Story: Where do I begin? You clearly like this story which is why you take the time to review it and point out things that don't make sense in my story and for that I thank you. I started censoring curses because of the fact when watching Dragon Ball Z Abridged by Team Four Star, I noticed that they would censor some while not censoring others so I tried to follow this model, but after reading your review I just stopped censoring curse words entirely. I also agree with the fact that my biggest blunder is probably letting Karen let the Swords of Justice get away when they clearly stated that they would go back to their old ways like you pointed out so in conclusion thanks for all your feedback.

Alice kept her head down as a confused, hurt slowly came upon her face as Arceus, one the primordials, which she originally thought was a myth, mercilessly stated all of the crimes she had committed against her fellow humans and the pokemon species as a whole with each word being spoken like it was a crack of thunder.

"(What say you Alice Wayne of all you heinous transgressions that completely disregarded all life around you?!)" Arceus boomed forcefully causing Alice to fearfully flinch under the powerful legendary's tone and reluctantly looked up at Arceus who was staring her down with a look of calm, cold fury which intensified the trembling in her body.

"I…I just wanted my sister to love me again; is that so much to ask?! She gave no explanation as to why she broke off our relationship and it's all because of that damn Lucario of hers! It's because of her, Catherine wasn't the sister I knew anymore and her corruption worsened when she became friends with that boy and the faux dragon tamer!" Alice shrieked angrily at the top of her lungs as tears freely poured down her face, but Arceus remained unmoved by her cries and slowly strode toward Alice causing her to try to move back, but was unable to because of some sort of invisible force holding her firmly in place in a kneeling position.

"(For your crimes, I am considering three options; one is that you will be reborn as a pokemon where you will have to remain under the tutelage of an uncaring, slave driving pokemon trainer for eighteen years of your new life; the exact number of years your right hand Infernape and your left hand Houndoom spent under your care. The second one is that you will be sent to the Reverse World for eighteen years under the watchful eye of a chosen champion where you will thoroughly reflect on all of your crimes and see what you did wrong, but every night you go to bed you will experience all the exact same pain and suffering you did to people in your nightmares,)" Arceus bellowed which seemingly made the heavens shake and Alice went ghostly pale at the punishments the mighty pokemon was considering for her as the first one she would experience physical pain the likes of which she couldn't fathom, but the second one would put her through psychological torment which she didn't know she could withstand.

"W…w-what's the third option?" Alice meekly asked, dreading the answer she would get, as Arceus stopped in its stride mere inches away from her and slowly lowered its face to stare at her, but Alice continued to look down at the ground, unwilling to look at the powerful pokemon's face.

"(The third and final option…is that you will forever serve as Lugia's ward where you will provide her protection against those who would try to cause her harm or use her for their own nefarious purposes,)" Arceus finished causing Alice to finally look up at Arceus with her face contorted into one of bewilderment and shock and the primordial resisted the great urge to chuckle at her reaction and instead kept its face blank.

"Why…why offer me this kind of mercy?" Alice stuttered, still not believing that she would be given any sort of leniency for her deeds.

"(Lugia, or Oni as she likes to call herself now because of what you did, requested this because while you did put her through physical and psychological scarring, you have not only fully unlocked all of her dormant power from the days of old, but have boosted that power even further making her one of the strongest trio leaders of all time,)" Arceus answered causing her to ponder over this and warily raise a brow, clearly thinking that there was more to it than just Lugia's reason.

"(It's true that on Earth you were a vile, despicable being who cared nothing for the lives of others except for a few other living beings and even when given the chance for atonement, you instead continued your mad quest for love. Despite all of that, I do sense a minuscule fragment of light still within you as you showed small affection for your pokemon that performed well under your care and you genuinely cared for your little sister; so Alice Wayne, I will allow you to choose what punishment you would like to have,)" Arceus continued causing the Alice to internally debate about the options given to her while Arceus patiently waited for her answer whilst keeping tabs on the other legendaries.

Serving under a pokemon for the rest of eternity? Not only that, but a legendary pokemon that she herself tried to control? Every fiber of her being screamed at her to tell Arceus to shove it and choose the second option, but a something in the back of her head was asking, no begging her, to take the last choice. For what reason, she did not know, but it seemed like something Catherine would do if put into her position.

"I'll be Lugia's bodyguard," Alice mumbled softly, still unable to believe that she was going through with this, and her answer caused Arceus to nod as its eyes flashed a heavenly white causing six glowing orbs to slowly float towards Alice and then took a solid, spherical form in front of her causing her to examine them curiously.

The orbs materialized as pokeballs, that she was certain of, but all of them were dark purple on the bottom, reminding her of Lugia's violet eyes staring directly into her soul, while the top half was pitch black, reminding her of how empty and meanigless she felt when Catherine stopped talking to her. The button to release the pokemon, however, was on the top instead of on the side and lastly, four small dark blue swirls resembling whirlpools were around the button which caused her to narrow her eyes, but dismissed whatever thoughts she had about the pokeball's design.

"Why does Lugia want me, a cruel pokemon trainer who tried to forcibly control her, to guard her?" Alice inquired as blinding flash of light shone throughout the Hall of Origins causing Alice to close her eyes and when she opened them, she found that her clothes were changed into a worn out long-sleeve black shirt, a thick pair of dark green cargo pants meant, and a set of old, rugged black boots that looked like something military personnel would wear.

"(The original Lugia was a smart being; one of the smartest I have known. She requested a mate from me to produce offspring just in case if she was captured or annihilated and undoubtedly this intelligence was passed down onto her offspring. Oni came to the conclusion that it was time for legendary pokemon to employ a class of pokemon trainer of their own, an elite guard if you will, to defend them or assist them when dealing with threats should their own powers prove insufficient and just like me, she too sensed that tiny sliver of light still within you,)" Arceus replied causing Alice to nod in understanding, inwardly admiring her new boss for her practicality, but confused as to what this "light" within her was, and just nodded in response while clipping the pokeballs Arceus gave her to her belt.

"Anything else I need to know?" Alice asked as she still refused to stare at Arceus, but her voice regained a little bit of the confidence she used to have back in her old life.

"(The whole world besides the legend killer's son and his friends think you're dead so you can forget about trying to inherit your parent's wealth, all of your previous pokemon have been given new lives under kind, competent trainers, and your pokeballs are specifically tailored to not seal any pokemon inside of it unless you befriend them which means no capturing,)" Arceus informed the ex-heiress which caused Alice to furrow her brow and narrow her eyes at the word mushy word "befriend;" wasn't that something those foolish trainers who championed having pokemon and humans work together as friends said?

"Okay, let's do this," Alice stated curtly, not sure as to what to expect from her new occupation, as she was quickly enveloped in another blinding flash of light and when she opened her eyes again she found herself staring up at her gigantic new master Oni in some sort of moist cave with the sound of rushing water echoing throughout it while the legendary pokemon studied her intently with her violet eyes before rustling her wings.

"(Let's get started then,)" Oni boomed forcefully as her violet eyes starting pulsating violently causing a single pokemon to rush into the cave and stand at attention beside the legendary pokemon while Alice, feeling Oni's harsh gaze that could have killed her if such a thing were possible, hesitantly put a hand over her heart and kept her head down, remembering how her servants in her old life would do so when addressing her.

Meanwhile

"I hate this; I could be training instead of resting my body," Delia growled as she, Catherine, and Dmitri were resting in separate rooms at the pokemon center to treat their wounds causing Lopunny to move to pin Delia's shoulders down to prevent her from getting up when she tried to do so, but instead blocked the doorway with her body as another idea came to mind after conversing with Dragonite about when Delia was hurt back at Eterna.

"(You say you're fine Delia?)" Lopunny questioned her trainer with a suspicious tone accompanied by one raised brow and her hands on her hips which caused the dragon tamer to snarl at her pokemon's doubtful voice.

"I am," Delia retorted vigorously, but regretted it when her sides flared up in pain causing her to grimace and clutch at her ribs before forcing down the pain and standing up to her full height.

"(Show me,)" Lopunny curtly demanded as she held one ear out which caused Delia to be taken aback from this brazen challenge, but nevertheless she steeled her resolve and with all the strength she could muster in her weakened state, she struck forward with a punch with all of her weight behind it…only for her to have to suppress a scream when her fist connected with Lopunny's ear.

Lopunny, keeping her face cool, wrapped a part of her ear around the hand Delia used to strike her with…and applied light pressure on to it; the same kind of pressure she would have used if she was picking up a water bottle, but to Delia it felt like her hand was being crushed into dust. Delia let out a pained, low scream while futilely trying to free herself from Lopunny's iron grip, but this only caused Lopunny to apply more pressure causing the dragon tamer to bite down on her lip to restrain a howl of agony that desperately wanted to be let out.

Lopunny relaxed her grip on Delia's hand after a few seconds and stared down at her trainer expectantly with her arms folded while Delia stared off to the side in shame with a light blush on her face.

"(Get some rest,)" Lopunny commanded causing Delia to sigh in defeat and nod slowly causing Lopunny to help her up and assist her in getting back into the bed while Dragonite gave a nod of approval of Lopunny's tactic which his teammates, who were beds next to him, agreed with.

Lopunny took a seat next to Delia's bed as Nurse Joy deemed that Lopunny was well enough to walk around the room, but still wasn't well enough to actually go outside and train. Lopunny's abdomen, arms, head, knees, and legs were wrapped in bandages with her legs in particular having suffered some nasty lacerations when fighting Rhyperior when she attempted to jump around it only for the behemoth to slash at her with its horn every time she attempted to do so and her knees got scraped when she was flung across the battlefield like a rag doll by the gigantic rock type pokemon.

She remembered the painful and scary feeling of seeing blood, her own blood, pouring down onto the grass below from her large, gaping wounds on her knees and not only that, she felt as if her entire body had shut down from receiving the wounds as she was willing to fight on, but her legs had refused to move.

"(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.)"

Lopunny knew Maris hadn't met any disrespect towards her cohorts, but it didn't make it any less hurtful when she was lumped together with the "weaker ones." Arceus damn it! She should have been helping Haxorus, Dragonite, and Hydreigon fight against Lugia, not waiting on the sidelines for her turn to fight!

"Something wrong Lopunny?" Delia questioned her friend causing the bunny pokemon to jolt and exit her stupor while turning her body to face Delia and shook her head, trying to make the dragon tamer not worry in order for her to heal.

"(Lopunny, we're your teammates. You know you can tell us anything,)" Haxorus informed his ally causing Hydreigon to chirp loudly in agreement, Dragonite to smirk while nodding vigorously, and Druddigon to give her a sheepish grin while rubbing the back of his head.

Chuckling softly due to being touched by her teammate's care, she took a deep breathe in and let it back out before staring up, seeing all eyes were on her.

"(I know Maris didn't mean to be rude, but classifying me as one of the "weaker ones"…it just made me feel like I was useless; I should have been there helping you guys fight against Lugia,)" Lopunny admitted causing Delia to sigh deeply and put a hand over Lopunny's paw causing the bunny pokemon to turn to her trainer with a downcast look on her face.

"Maris takes after Dmitri in greatly valuing her comrade's lives; the way she saw it, only the strongest among them should fight Lugia because they had the best chance to defeat it and that way, no one else had to get hurt," Delia assured her pokemon, feeling similar to her when she, a girl possessing the power of the mighty dragons, was reduced to being guarded by a legion of pokemon like she was a helpless child.

"It's more than that isn't it?" Delia pressed her teammate causing Lopunny to flop her ears over her face and hunch over with her hands on her knees before giving a slight nod in response before picking her head up again.

"(That girl, Alice, she…she was the one responsible for attacking my previous trainer, Li,)" Lopunny replied with a soft tone in her voice causing Delia to tighten her grip on her pokemon's hand to comfort her which caused Lopunny to give a sad, but grateful smile for her trainer's affection.

"(After Li won the pokemon battle, she just lost it; she sent out all of her other pokemon that weren't being used and attacked him in a blind rage. I tried my best, but in the end my teammates and I were beaten back and I was the only one left standing with my trainer and then that's when she started beating him to a bloody pulp. I tried to help, but her other pokemon got in the way and pummeled me too and that's when I blacked out,)" Lopunny continued causing the battle ace to sympathetically stare at her pokemon, noting how her story was similar to Luka's backstory, and waited for her to continue.

"(When I came to, I found Li barely alive and his face was no longer recognizable to me. Officer Jenny found us during her patrol and he was rushed to the pokemon center and they managed to save him, but he didn't live much of a life after that. Alice's beating rendered him comatose until his body finally gave out after a few months and because of that, I fled, not able to bear the feeling of failing my trainer,)" Lopunny said in a low, depressed voice as she put of her arms up and wiped away the tears from her eyes with her forearm before composing herself and stared down at the floor with a forlorn look.

"(I survived in the forest by Eterna for a few months, practicing every now and then before I finally met you and things were going great until last night when we were attacked. I thought…I thought I was going to lose another trainer, but I'm glad those other guys showed up when they did or otherwise, I'm not sure even we could have beaten Lugia even if Maris and the others had weakened it as much as I hate to admit it,)" Lopunny fearfully realized as she let out a big sigh of relief that this wasn't the case and was glad that Ash and his friends had assisted him despite being an enemy of Delia.

"(Aw c'mon, ya makin it sound like you don't care about us!)" Dragonite playfully hollered from his bed causing Druddigon to snicker, but this became full blown laughter which he hid by shoving his face into a pillow when Lopunny blushed and profusely apologized and when she realized she was being messed with, she shook her head in annoyance, but let a warm grin come to her face at the dragon's playfulness.

"(In all seriousness, we're a clan so we have to take care of each other and that also means helping our allies from Dmitri and Catherine's clan,)" Haxorus passionately stated causing Delia and the others to yell in agreement while Lopunny kept herself reserved, but pumped her fist in the air when the others raised their arms for an air high-five.

Suddenly the door to Delia's room opened causing all of the occupants to turn their head to the door and find Nurse Joy casting Delia a sunny grin which Delia took note of and nodded respectfully at the one of many esteemed Nurse Joys throughout the world.

"Delia, I have news that may just make your day better!" Nurse Joy ecstatically squealed with barely contained excitement causing Delia to sigh and look over at the nurse with a small grin, curious to know what this "news" was.

"You've discovered a medical practice that can instantaneously heal all of my wounds and my teammate's wounds so we can finally go train for the tournament?" Delia joked light-heartedly causing the Nurse to let out a small chuckle and clasp her hands together.

"Even better, your parents have come to visit you!" Nurse Joy happily exclaimed causing Delia and all of her dragons to be taken aback with Dragonite even choking a tad bit on the air before composing himself and staring at Delia expectantly, eager to see how what she would do.

"Send them in," Delia bluntly commanded with a sharp edge to her voice which Nurse Joy took note of and nodded slowly, noting the change of personality her patient exhibited, and exited the room to get Delia's parents.

The whole room became deathly silent; no one moved a muscle or twitched a brow in anticipation for Delia's parents to the point where the only things that could be heard were the clock's hands rotating and the footsteps constantly pounding on the outside. Lopunny didn't know much about this situation, only hearing about it when Haxorus, Dragonite, and Druddigon had that argument with Delia back in Veilstone, but resolved to help her trainer through this as much as she could. After what seemed like an eternity, the door slowly creaked open and revealed a toned, yet lanky light-skinned man and…

Besides the dark skin, the slightly heavy athletic build, and the tuft of black hair that covered one of her eyes, everyone might have mistaken the woman for an older version of Delia.

"It's been a while," Delia mused in a cool, level tone as her parents grabbed some chairs and placed them next to Delia's bed where they slowly sat down, examining their daughter.

Meanwhile

"(How's your arm?)" Maris concernedly questioned her boyfriend causing him to shift his charred arm from left to right and clench his fist tightly, digging his finger nails into his now permanent black skin, before looking back at Maris with a sad look.

"Not good; I can't feel…anything in this arm anymore," Dmitri solemnly answered causing the martial arts pokemon to hang her head down and put her paws over her head causing Dmitri to reach out to her with his "good" arm and put a hand on her shoulder despite it not being healed yet.

"Maris, stop that right now. This wasn't your fault," Dmitri consoled her causing Maris to wave him off and shake her head, but this only caused Dmitri to lightly grab the side of her face and make her face him.

"(But, you-)"

"No, stop it. No one is to blame here okay?" Dmitri firmly assured causing Maris to cast him a look of doubt, but Dmitri's narrowed eyes boring into her soul finally caused her to relent and reluctantly nod which in turn caused Dmitri to release his grip on her face and lay back down on the bed.

"(What about you two? How are you guys holding up?)" Maris worriedly asked Sparkplug and Kiera causing the electric lioness to stand up on the bed with some effort and gave Maris a confident grin while Kiera, who was resting in a bed specifically meant for large pokemon, clicked rapidly in response which earned a nod from the martial arts pokemon.

"I'm proud of all you from holding your own out there, especially since these pokemon were powered up somehow by Alice," Dmitri praised all of his teammates causing them all to blush at the compliment before it faded away while Maris, who was in a better mood because of Dmitri's reassurance, lightly pushed his shoulder causing him to wince, but he smiled nonetheless at her show of affection.

Suddenly though, Maris widened her eyes in shock and placed two fingers on the side of her head and shut her eyes tightly, intensely focusing on something causing Dmitri to concernedly look at his girlfriend.

"What's wrong?" Dmitri inquired as Maris continued to concentrate on the aura and chi signatures she sensed before giving Dmitri an answer.

"(Delia's parents…they're here,)" Maris replied in disbelief causing Dmitri to furrow his brow and rub his chin while narrowing his eyes in deep thought.

"Oh man, that's not going to end well for anyone. I can already see screaming and shrieking in the near future," Dmitri tiredly pointed out while rubbing his hands over his face, while Maris whistled and shook her head, already forming a mental movie of the "talk" between Delia and her parents.

"What do you think they're going to talk about?"

"(They're probably going to ask as to why Delia shut them out; I know she's grown up and can take care of herself, but if Delia's parents want to know why they're hatchling won't talk to them, I won't get in the way.)"

"I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens then."