Ch.43
Cold War
Xepyerus The Black Lightning: Zekrom and Reshiram are definitely not happy and you'll figure out the rest by reading
Pokemon is the property of its respective owners
"Delia…wow, that was not cool; totally unfair," Catherine stated passionately, a sentiment shared by Luka, Maris, and Lopunny as they both shot hateful glares at the referee for the injustice the dragon tamer suffered, as Zoey stepped forward and coolly regarded the battle ace.
"I don't want to say it, but a wins a win and you should be the one going to the next round, not Dawn," Zoey said begrudgingly with a hoarse tone causing Delia to let out a long sigh and shake her head.
"Even though I would have preferred to advance to the next round, I got what I came for and will retire to the stands to cheer my friends on, but thank you for your support Zoey," Delia responded gratefully causing Zoey to nod and step back as the dragon tamer, flanked by Lopunny and Maris, followed her to the stands while Dmitri had his hands balled into tight fists.
"That's not fair to her," Dmitri growled under his breath as a warm, soothing energy flowed over him, making him think it was Maris extending her aura over to him, but his hopes died down when he saw Luka gazing at him with her eyes glowing a bright shade of gray.
"(I'm sorry Dmitri, but discriminatory practices like this exist in venues for either battles or contests; Hearthome especially considering how the majority of the people favor contests over battles so seeing a coordinator, no matter how inexperienced, being beaten in battle by a trainer is a great insult to them. In Veilstone, some dojos won't even accept you as a student if you're coordinator or if they think you are,)" Luka explained to him causing Dmitri to grit his teeth at being told these unfair practices while Zangoose gazed at the jackal pokemon in restrained awe as she was seeing aura application in front of her for the first time.
"(Don't worry, these practices aren't as prevalent as they used to be, but like Yoko use to tell me, bad things in this world will never die out,)" Luka finished causing Dmitri to let a soft snarl escape his lips before sighing and hooking his good hand into his pocket as he jolted slightly when the speakers summoned him and his opponent, Celia, to the field.
"If I go out there and battle I'm going to be disqualified because of some unfair rules," Dmitri thought with narrowed eyes and a furious shake of his head and Sparkplug, sensing her trainer's distress, popped out of her pokeball and stared up at him determinedly causing Dmitri to raise a brow and gaze down at his second partner.
"(Whether ya choose to fight or to give up so you won't get screwed over, Kiera and I have your back,)" Sparkplug declared in a passionate, unwavering tone causing Dmitri to grin warmly at his partner's loyalty and nodded, grateful for the support his partner's showed him, and slowly walked out to the field with Zangoose and Sparkplug at his side.
"I'm glad you didn't you choose to forfeit Dmitri; I look forward to seeing your skills in battle even though this may not be the proper venue to do so," Cilia hollered to the younger trainer who nodded at her statement and settled himself in his trainer box while Sparkplug slowly walked out onto the field without the referee giving the go ahead for the trainer's to send out their pokemon causing him to shrug and with a bit of strain on his part, gripped Kiera's pokeball with his prosthetic and tossed it out onto the field.
Kiera materialized out of her pokeball midflight and landed next to her partner with an earth shaking thud while Sparkplug, remaining resolute, wasn't even fazed by the shockwaves that resonated throughout the battlefield when Kiera landed next to her. Sparkplug and Kiera looked back at their trainer and bowed their heads respectfully at him before turning back around and looking towards the stands with their eyes narrowed dangerously and their muscles tensed at the being that caused their trainer such pain.
Many of the audience members were uneasy at these two powerful pokemon seemingly shoot them death glares, but Maris scowled and folded her arms as she gazed on her two teammates warily as Sparkplug and Kiera kept their spiteful glower on her before slowly turning their heads and focusing on the battle ahead.
"(Something tells me that Sparkplug and Kiera aren't too happy with you,)" Lopunny deadpanned causing Maris to elbow the bunny pokemon in the ribs causing Lopunny to grunt, but other than that Maris just leaned back in her chair and kept her eyes on the battlefield as Maya's xtransceiver suddenly rung causing the martial arts pokemon to briefly turn her head to the device before looking away.
"Hey Karen, how's it going?" Maya asked in a jovial tone before the dragoness's brows raised and shook her head in disbelief as she leaned back in her chair and put a hand on her head while Jet and Delia concernedly looked at her.
Cutting off the call, Maya slowly put the device back in her pocket and shook her head once again before turning to Jet, Delia, and Lopunny who looked at the dragoness expectantly while Maris subtly tuned in to what the dragoness was about to say.
"Karen told me that an army of pokemon tried to blow up Castelia City because of what she did to the Swords of Justice and they're seeking to reform society in Unova according to the Swords of Justice's code. They already threatened to take away Karen's ability to give birth when she refused to give in to their demands and now they seek to do the same to Dmitri," Maya grimly informed them causing Delia and Maris's eyes to widen at this news while Lopunny and Jet felt like they got hit by a truck by this news and stared down at the ground in disbelief.
Suddenly, Jet's eyes narrowed and he stood up from his seat as he firmly clasped his daughter's shoulder causing her to turn his head toward him.
"Call Catherine and Dmitri and tell them to be on the lookout for any suspicious activity; I'm going to tell the officials about this and hopefully they'll increase security," Jet ordered her causing Delia to nod and take out her pokegear, but found it was unnecessary as Luka, using her aura, discovered what Maya had said and relayed it to Catherine who promised to watch out for herself just in case something happened.
Without missing a beat, Delia called her lifelong friend despite the contest battle seemingly ready to begin as Cilia had already sent out Meganium and Miltank and to her relief, Dmitri did answer the call.
"Delia, could this please wait till later?" Dmitri requested in a slightly miffed tone of voice, but calmed down when Delia's urgent voice told him that something was wrong.
"Dmitri, nearly all the pokemon in the Swords of Justice's realm formed an army to get back at your mother for what she did to them and nearly blew up Castelia just to show how serious they are! Dmitri, they're planning on taking your mother's ability to make kids and they're planning on sending a forward team to Sinnoh to do the same thing to you! Please brother, it would not surprise me if they already have human sympathizers in the arena as we speak so please just be careful," Delia said in a worried, distraught voice causing Dmitri to take in what she said with a heavy breathe while putting a hand on his forehead before placing the device near his ear once again.
"Okay sister, I will," Dmitri assured her causing a sigh of relief to be heard on the other line as he did a quick scan of the arena for anyone acting suspicious, but didn't find anyone acting out of the ordinary so he focused his attention on the battle at hand.
Pov shift
After regaining her bearings on what could have been a devastating event, Karen stood among the crowd of her allies as Hope, along with his team consisting of Gengar, Dusknoir, Golurk, Reuniclus, Klinklang, and Sawsbuck stood off to one side with cool expressions while Malakai and his team consisting of a Hydreigon, Escavalier, Bouffalant, Lilligant, Swanna, and Druddigon stood off on another side. Karen, along with her team of Stephanie, Slowbro, Rhyperior, Salamence, Lucario, and Electivire stood in the middle of the crowd with a contemplative look on her face as she counted how many allies were among them as of now.
All the pokemon and their trainers made up 21 total allies as of now, but she hoped it would be bolstered by the Scolipedes she befriended who promised to bring more allies with them and they made good on their promise as they approached her with four other Scolipedes and four Whirlipedes in tow.
"(Karen, we hope that by adding our entire family to your forces will help us prevail against our shared enemy,)" one of the elder Scolipedes stated causing Karen's eyes to widen at what the elderly pokemon said before her expression grew into one of despair as she looked at the other older megapede pokemon in disbelief.
"You would-"
"(Karen, our family has engaged in countless battles for territory, resources, or just for our own protection and unfortunately we have lost some of our hatchlings along the way so we are no strangers to combat,)" the other elder Scolipede coolly interrupted the former champion causing Karen to nod solemnly although she wish what they said wasn't true while Stephanie raised a brow at what her ally said and slithered forward.
"(Then why fight with us? Wouldn't you guys be unaffected by this conflict?)" the mighty python inquired causing both the elder Scolipedes to sigh deeply and look at the grass snake with a sagely expression that told of many hardships in their lifetime.
"(This will not just affect human society; if the army is to win, then Bisharp, Sawsbuck, and Gigalith will gain control of their former master's realms and as demonstrated, they will go to much more extreme lengths than their former master's to protect their brethren. The ideals that our society was built on, that pokemon and humans can work together and coexist peacefully, will cease to exist if they are to claim victory,)" both of the old Megapede pokemon responded wisely in a grim tone causing Stephanie to look off to the side with a contemplative look before nodding and slithering back to Karen's side as the former champion now counted 31 among the allies she accumulated.
Suddenly, a fierce wind that threatened to knock them over picked up in the area in the clearing behind the Battle Academy causing the former champion to look up and blankly watched as Zekrom and Reshiram slowly landed on the ground in front of Karen's group as N and Touko jumped off of their dragons. Touko approached the former champion with her head down and her hands in her pockets while Karen regarded the young adult carefully, but relaxed a bit when she saw no hostile intent in the former challenger's eyes.
"Karen…I'm sorry about the way I acted toward you; I was in the mindset that there were no such things as evil pokemon and they only did bad things because of their trainers, but what could have happened in Castelia changed my mind," Touko said in a low, sad tone about the possible loss of life that may have happened if she and N hadn't been quick enough to send out their two dragons.
"It hurts me to say it, but Touko is right; it's clear that the pokemon behind this don't care who gets hurt as long as it's beneficial to their brethren in the long run," N agreed with his partner causing the former champion to nod at what he said, acknowledging the point he made, as she curiously looked at the heroes of truth and ideals.
"N and I want to help you put an end to this conflict and we want to see to it that the new leaders of the Swords of Justice's realms will coexist peacefully with humanity like the Swords of Justice use to," Touko stated firmly causing Reshiram's tail to burn a bright reddish-orange in support for his trainer's statement causing Karen to grin and shake her head, but nevertheless she welcomed the heroes into her group.
"Karen, you may want to see this," Malakai said with pauses in each word causing the Battle Academy's best teacher to tilt her head and approach her coworker who held out his xtransceiver to her to reveal a news bulletin on the device.
ALL GYM LEADERS, PROFESSORS, AND ANY TRAINERS THAT PARTCIPATED IN THE LEAGUE OVER THE LAST 2-6 MONTHS AND OVER THE AGE OF 17 ARE REQUIRED TO REPORT TO THE POKEMON LEAUGE IMMEDIATELY; ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY.
Pov shift
The Reverse World goes by many names in the material plane; the Underworld, the Distortion World, the place of no return, but the one moniker that Giratina enjoyed the most was Hell. The ghostly dragon didn't know why, but the name itself seemed to strike fear into those in the material plane and relished seeing beings do all kinds of acts in order to avoid coming here. Letting out a long sigh, the lord of antimatter traversed its realm in order to check on the newest guests, the Swords of Justice, and see how their progress was going along.
Extending three of its tendrils, the appendages ripped open a hole into three pocket dimensions Giratina made for its guests and blankly stared as Cobalion had her eyes shut tightly and shaking her head furiously as if to make voices in her head go away.
"(What you did…it is truly disgusting; how can you live with so much innocent blood on you?)" Giratina spat angrily, narrowing its eyes that shone a demonic purple at the leader of the Swords of Justice, and upon hearing the voice Cobalion leaped forward and knelt down in a fetal position in front of the dark lord who's harsh gaze didn't evaporate upon seeing the pitiful display.
"(Please Giratina! Make the visions stop! I can't bear it any longer!)" Cobalion blubbered in a defeated tone as she tried to maintain some dignity and tried not to cry at her fate and while some may have pitied the Sword of Justice, Giratina remained unmoved by the display.
"(Mother said that you must meticulously study your wrong doings and experience the same kind of pain you inflicted upon others until you learn your lesson and I intend to see mother's request through,)" Giratina dispassionately replied as the embodiment of dark matter raised one of its tendrils and slowly brought it down which was beginning to close Cobalion's pocket dimension and before it was sealed shut, the lord of antimatter saw Cobalion, her expression born of anguish and desperation, attempt to escape to no avail.
The embodiment of antimatter shook its head; Cobalion hadn't made much progress since coming here and was more focused on escaping her fate than reflecting on the actions that brought her here, but hopefully Virizion and Terrakion would be different. Turning its giant head, it looked into Virizion's pocket dimension and found the vain sword master clenching his teeth tightly and making a few practice swings with his blade of light causing Giratina to roll its eyes.
"(Have you done nothing but practice your swordplay since coming here? You will not be getting a rematch with Stephanie any time soon until you see the error of your ways and work to correct them to become a better being,)" Giratina pointed out in a tone oozing of irritation causing the vain sword master to pause in his training and shoot the embodiment of dark matter an intense, hateful gaze and like a madman with nothing to lose, charged at the lord of antimatter with reckless abandon and foam dripping from his mouth.
Giratina shook its head with a roll of its eyes and closed Virizion's pocket dimension like a zipper as the fallen sword master attempted to strike at the Reverse World's master, but fell short. Turning its head to the very last pocket dimension, Giratina raised a brow as Terrakion couldn't avert her eyes from the bubbles of dark matter that showed every horrendous action that she committed and sadly shook her head as in one of the bubbles, it showed a harmless human family raising their arms for mercy and a brave Herdier standing in defense for them only to be ruthlessly cut down by Cobalion without any sense of remorse or hesitation on her part while Terrakion just watched it happen.
"(You disagreed with Cobalion's code from the very beginning and yet you still decided to follow her. Normally I would applaud beings with steadfast loyalty such as yourself, but to continue to follow Cobalion after all the things she's done is nothing but sheer ignorance and stupidity on your part,)" Giratina criticized the burly member of the Swords of Justice with a hint of disdain tugging at the ghostly dragon's lips causing Terrakion to sigh and divert her eyes from the bubbles to address the embodiment of antimatter.
"(Maybe so, but I believe there's an old saying that summarizes why I continued to pledge my allegiance to Cobalion despite the countless atrocities she's committed; desperate times call for desperate measures,)" Terrakion coolly replied despite facing the wrathful gaze of the Reverse World's master and Giratina, remaining impassive from the sword master's reply, leaned its face closer to Terrakion who stood her ground.
"(I concede that that the days of old were a tumultuous time period, but that in no way justifies the countless slaughters you and your cohorts committed,)" Giratina retorted calmly causing the strongest member of the Swords of Justice to narrow her eyes in challenge despite knowing she stood no chance against Giratina if a fight were to break out.
"(What about what the humans did to my brethren? Are they not being punished too?)" Terrakion inquired in a barely calm voice causing the embodiment of antimatter to remain impassive as its eyes turned to a dark, sinister purple while carefully regarding Terrakion.
"(Beings who have indiscriminately hurt the lives of others without considering the damage they might do to countless lives for years on end go to specifically crafted pocket dimensions like the one you and comrades are in. If you do come around and repent, you will go through trials that will test your greatest weaknesses and if you succeed, you can walk on the material plane once again if you so choose,)" Giratina finished causing Terrakion to contemplate on this new knowledge she had been given while staring down at the ground before looking up and nodding at what the dark lord said causing Giratina to nod back and close the sword master's pocket dimension while she resumed staring at the bubbles of antimatter showing her the destruction she wrought.
"(Terrakion is an…interesting case; she will most likely be the first one to become remorseful for what she did followed by Cobalion and given much time, Virizion will too,)" Giratina mused to itself as the dark lord continued to fly around its realm and stopped at a particular place, a small hut housing a man who's eyes were staring down at his feet while the bubbles of antimatter continued to play back events of his life.
"You're such a dork Darris, but that's why I love you."
"I love you dad, I hope you like my present."
"You're a better trainer than you give yourself credit for Darris; I should know; I am champion of the Unova Region after all."
"Dad, dad! Look what Maris and I found!"
"(Darris, I've been worried about you; recently all you have been doing is staring at these antimatter bubbles incessantly. You have long since completed your trials, but you have held off on your request to me,)" Giratina pointed out in a concerned tone causing the man to let out a long sigh and shake his head as he pointed at three recent bubbles off in the corner and upon seeing them the dark lord briefly widened its eyes before returning to a blank expression once more.
"(Seeing your son mauled like that must have been terrifying considering you weren't able to do anything about it and seeing your wife devastated at the choices she recently had to make to protect people must have been difficult for the same reasons, but the one you are most concerned about is the war that is nearing,)" Giratina surmised causing the man to bury his face in his palms and nod slowly causing the embodiment of dark matter to lovingly extend a tendril and put it on the man's shoulder like a parent would to a distraught child.
"Lord Giratina, I know what I want to do with my request now; unlike my wife and unfortunately…my son, I have no combat training nor do I possess the mind for long term strategy like my wife so I would be a liability to either of them, so I request that guardians be sent to my wife and son to safeguard them," Darris requested of the lord of antimatter causing Giratian to scratch its chin with one of its tendrils and raise a brow before nodding and removing its other tendril from Darris's shoulder.
"(Very well; I'll go find suitable candidates for you and bring them back in short order,)" Giratina said as it started to fly off, but when Darris called out to the dark lord, the ghostly dragon stopped in its tracks and regarded the dead human with a hint of interest.
"I already have two pokemon that I wish to send to them Lord Giratina," Darris assured the dark lord as two pokemon that Giratina sensed previously stepped out of their hiding places and knelt down next to the dead human causing the embodiment of antimatter to narrow its eyes before calming down.
"(Very well; I'll go contact mother and send them over,)" Giratina responded causing Darris and the two other pokemon to bow respectfully as the dark lord opened a portal to the Hall of Origins and flew into it, but not before looking back at the two pokemon Darris had requested to be bodyguards for the people he loved the most.
Pov shift
"(Somethings off; Dmitri and the others are on guard,)" Sparkplug informed her partner with a wary tone causing Kiera to scan the bleachers and discovered what her partner said was true; Delia, Lopunny, Maris, and her parents were on alert for threats and to Kiera she knew what this meant.
"(Someone seeks to do us harm,)" Kiera bluntly replied causing Sparkplug to nod at what her friend said and did a quick survey of the backstage area with her x-ray vision and besides seeing that Catherine and Luka were also on guard, found nothing out of the ordinary, but this didn't deter her.
She scanned the bleachers next just in case Kiera missed something only to be met with the same result, but when she scanned the rafters, her eyes shone a fierce, determined gold and spared a quick glance at her friend who noted the lioness's change in behavior and readied herself.
"(Enemies are on the high beams…and under the ground,)" Sparkplug growled lowly as she instantaneously summoned a storm of lightning bolts that pierced the ground and struck the hostiles underneath causing howls of agony to echo throughout the contest hall and upon Sparkplug attacking, the enemies from the high beams leaped down and surrounded the startled Unova native while the audience fled in fear of getting hurt.
The hostile pokemon quickly erected a massive barrier around the battlefield which pushed out Cilia and her pokemon while Dmitri's allies ran to the battlefield and started hammering the protective dome trapping their friend simultaneously, but to their surprise it remained standing.
"(Damn it! Can't we dig underneath it or something!?)" Maris growled angrily as she threw out another energy blast at the same time as her other allies and to her frustration the barrier remained resolute in spite of receiving powerful attacks.
"We can't do that! If they're smart enough to somehow hide their chi signatures from you and their aura signs from Luka, then they most likely already booby trapped the ground!" Delia shrieked backed at the enraged martial arts pokemon as she let out a furious yell and attacked in sync with her allies once again and gritted her teeth when the barrier continued to stand strong.
"If we can't send out some pokemon to help him and his pokemon, then all we can do is keep attacking together until the barrier finally goes down," Cilia added as she joined Delia, Catherine, Jet, Maya, and their respective pokemon teams with her own team while Ash, Dawn, Brock, and Zoey assisted them by sending out their own teams.
Dmitri, Sparkplug, Kiera, Zangoose, and Haxorus in the meantime formed up defensively as the hostile pokemon that Dmitri assumed to be the forward team which consisted of a Hydreigon, Beartic, Eelektross, Volcarona, and a Mienshao surrounded him and his friends. Zangoose let out a soft snarl when she saw Dmitri wince when lifting up his prosthetic arm in a ready stance and quietly cursed that the barrier trapping them was somehow still standing despite being attacked by a small army of pokemon.
"(Damn it all! Dmitri hasn't gotten used to using it yet!)" Zangoose thought angrily as she extended one of her paws in an empty handed position in front of her like an indomitable shield meant to withstand any assault while she clenched her other paw into a fist and brought it up to her chin like a war hammer meant to destroy all who stood in its way.
"(So, the Legend Killer's hatchling is a traumatized shell of a being eh? Makes our job of killing you that much easier,)" the Mienshao stated in a cold, bitter tone that would have made the Beartic apart of the forward team seem like the sun in comparison while Volcarona raised a brow and floated forward.
"(We were not sent here to kill him, we were sent here-)"
Volcarona was cut off by Mienshao's harsh, piercing gaze as if the martial arts pokemon was offended by the living sun's statement causing the dual type to bow its head and float back to its previous position as Mienshao narrowed its eyes and folded its arms.
"(You should tell your friends that they shouldn't break through the barrier; we have attacks on stand-by underground that will level this entire city, but fortunately the barrier will contain the blast and only us ten will be killed,)" Mienshao informed Dmitri causing his eyes to widen in shock and shout at his friends to cease their assault upon hearing this info causing all of his friends to look at him and then at Mienshao in a distraught expression before finally stopping their attacks.
"(We didn't come here to destroy an entire city; spawn of the Legend Killer, we humbly request of you to not produce any children in order to prevent any more of your bloodline from cropping up and putting other legendary pokemon at risk,)" Eelektross stated in a courteous tone, hoping to ease the tension between the two trapped groups, while Dmitri clenched his fist tightly and glared at the electric eel and took a step toward it.
"An individual's character isn't determined by whose blood runs through their veins, but the principles they're raised on and the experiences in life that make them grow as a person!" Dmitri shouted passionately without any sense of hesitation in his voice and all of his pokemon standing around him cheered in agreement while Eelektross simply shook its head as Mienshao stepped forward from the group and pointed one of its paws at the young boy.
"(This is one experience that you won't be able to grow from; I will make sure of that,)" Mienshao stated icily as faster than Sparkplug, Kiera, or Zangoose could react to, Mienshao struck out with one of its fur sleeves towards Dmitri's neck and all the boy could do was watch in shock as he felt the agonizing, stinging sensation of a rough material making contact with his most vulnerable area.
Fortunately, Haxorus barely managed to react in time to the attack and slapped the makeshift whip away from the battle ace before it could cause Dmitri any further harm, but to his shock he found his brother on the ground clutching his neck while bleeding profusely from the assault as pool of blood began to form around him.
"(DMITRI, NO!)" Maris shrieked despairingly as she relentlessly assaulted the barrier with everything she got in order to get to him, but was dragged away by Dragonite and Druddigon who had to physically restrain her which was no easy task despite their differences in strength.
"(I was aiming to sever his jugular, but it seems that the human is more resilient than I gave him credit for in no small part thanks to the reptile pretending to be a dragon,)" Mienshao mused disdainfully as Sparkplug snarled viciously at seeing someone she cared about harmed in such a way when he was still recovering from a previous battle.
To everyone's surprise, Dmitri, bite down on his lip and slowly climbed to his feet while glaring intensely at Mienshao causing a cold chill to travel up the martial arts pokemon's spine and Sparkplug, seeing her trainer about to collapse on the ground once again despite trying not to seem weak in front of his enemies, rushed over to him and sent a current of electricity at the his neck wound.
Dmitri hissed as he felt the stinging sensation of his partner's electric current focused entirely on his injury and forced the burning sensation similar to that of a fire poker pressing against his skin as his wound slowly sealed shut, preventing him from losing any more blood.
"Sparkplug, Kiera, you guys lay down as much saturation fire on Mienshao, Volcarona, and Eelektross as you can; Haxorus, you take care of that Hydreigon; Zangoose and I will take on Beartic," Dmitri ordered his group quietly causing Sparkplug and Kiera to let out war cries and immediately javelins of lightning and globs of poison were being hurled at their designated targets like a machine gun.
Dmitri, seeing that his current attire would be a liability in a fight, tore them off showing the plethora of horrid scars running down his legs, chest, and other arm and while Beartic and Hydreigon were distracted by this display, Dmitri's team attacked them while they had the element of surprise.
"We have to win here; who's to say they won't blow up Hearthome if they get what they want?" Dmitri thought determinedly as the battle for their lives and possibly all the citizens in Hearthome began.