Ch.64
Preparation
Pokemon is the property of its respective owners, Ocs belong to me
For a moment, everyone continued to stand in the cave while watching Espeon who was currently informing Lance and Kelly about the recent events that had transpired if her closed eyes and glowing gemstone was any indication. All the while, Dmitri couldn't help but wonder how his mother, Stephanie, and his friends back in Sinnoh were doing. Oni did say that she'd bring them to her domain so they could talk so he resolved to ask the titan to do this once he, his friends, and Alice got settled for the day. Suddenly, the pink cat opened her eyes which caused the light in Espeon's gemstone to ebb where she let out a loud yawn and stretched her back before regarding her friends with a calm, blank stare.
"(Alright, so I told Lance and Kelly about our little arrangement, that we were attacked by a fire breathing Blastoise, and that the villagers would prefer to sit on the fence rather than fight,)" Espeon informed them causing Tomoe to nod while Dmitri rubbed his chin and Alice simply snorted and folded her arms.
"More importantly, what did he tell you?" the ex-heiress questioned her partner causing the battle ace to glare at her while Espeon jumped down from the boulder she was sitting on and laid down on the floor.
"(Well stupid master, he took my recommendation and went beyond what we asked so now we'll have some Gym Leaders to help us out too,)" Espeon answered while licking her paw and scratching the top of her head with her tail causing Alice to grunt, but nod as she blankly gazed at Dmitri who warily stared back at her.
"Let's not waste anymore time; we told Lance and Kelly we were going to bring some clones to the fight and that's exactly what we're going to do," Alice said while walking toward the mouth of the cave causing the battle ace to grumble under his breathe as Espeon yawned obnoxiously garnering everyone's attention.
"(And what do you intend to do, stupid master? Simply waltz up to any pokemon you see and ask them to come with you with your nonexistent charm? I have a better idea; before I cut off the psychic link with Lance and Kelly, I peeked at the thoughts of the villagers so I know which ones and which ones aren't inclined to come with us,)" Espeon stated with an ever so slight smirk tugging at the corner of her lips causing Tomoe and Poliwrath to roll their eyes while Alice groaned irritably and put her hands on her hips.
"Then tell us already, you mangy feline," Alice snarled causing Espeon to break out into a wide, maniacal grin and ignite her bloody crimson aura as Alice suddenly yelped and collapsed on the ground clutching her behind as an unseen force roughly smacked it.
"(Say please~; Dmitri, your best bet would be to go talk to Charizard's family near the waterfall since they heard about how you stared down Blastoise and lived. Alice, when you're done lying on the ground, we should go talk to Blastoise's family since they took what he said with a grain of salt, but I still doubt we're going to be able to easily convince some of them to join us,)" Espeon told the two humans causing Dmitri to nod gratefully at the feline who smiled back at him while Alice climbed to her feet and rubbed her bum while glowering at the pink cat.
"Okay, thanks Espeon. Let's all meet back here once we've finished for the day," Dmitri suggested causing Espeon and Poliwrath to shrug while Alice gave a barely noticebale nod in response before sauntering off with her partners in tow.
"(How she managed to convince Poliwrath to come with her is beyond me,)" Tomoe muttered with a shake of her head which made Dmitri sigh softly and shrug his shoulders as they both headed towards the waterfall.
"(This hideout better be good!)" a voice shouted, but to the dragon tamer it seemed like the voice was echoing down a long, never ending hall as she felt something grab her shoulders and gently shake her causing Delia to weakly groan.
"(It will, they won't find us there!)" another voice yelled and although her hearing was returning, the voice sounded like it was being muffled by a pillow causing the dragon tamer to try to discern who exactly was speaking.
"(Break time is over, let's go!)" the voice roared as the Delia felt something hoist her up in the air and rest her atop their shoulders where she then felt the being carrying her running causing the dragon tamer to groggily open her eyes.
What she saw through her blurry vision was that Druddigon was carrying her along with Catherine over his shoulder over his shoulders causing Delia to groggily to gaze to the side where it looked like someone took a sledgehammer to Lopunny's face as a nasty, purple bruise nearly took over the entirety of it, one of her eyes was swollen shut, and her nose was brutally twisted to one side.
"Drudd...how...what...happened?" Delia attempted to ask, but it came out like a drunken slur causing the fairy tail dragon to put a finger over his mouth indicating for her to keep quiet as they headed into a cave.
Before the dragon tamer could even get a word out, Druddigon crouched down behind a wall while holding Delia and Catherine close to him while Lopunny and a Snover hid behind a gigantic boulder just as a cacophony of footsteps rushed past their hiding spot.
"(Did you find anything?)" another, gruffer voice shouted to an unseen cohort causing Delia to raise a brow, but say nothing as she suddenly felt a wave of searing, agonizing pain flare up in her leg causing her to release a muffled scream.
"(No, it's like they disappeared into thin air,)" the unseen ally responded confusedly causing the first voice to groan irritably as Delia turned her head to see what was causing the pain and widened her eyes when she saw that her leg was bloodied, broken, and mangled.
"(Well, hurry up. We can't let guys like these just wander around; you heard how their friend killed some of our divine brethren overseas. They might go after Latias or Shaymin next,)" the first voice replied as Delia stared at her brutalized leg like she was a deer in the headlights and unconsciously whimpered causing Druddigon to soothingly rub her arm.
"(I like Latias, she's nice,)" the second voice stated as Delia suddenly felt a cold chill go up her body where she then blacked out causing Druddigon to curse under his breathe as he continued to listen to the scouts.
"(I do too, which is why we gotta stop these guys before they hurt anyone else,)" the first voice responded determinedly causing Lopunny to snort as after what seemed like an eternity, the footsteps of the scouts finally sounded far off in the distance.
"(Okay, follow me,)" Snover told the duo as she walked over to a boulder the size of an armored truck and with surprising strength, managed to lift it up and place it over to the side revealing a medium sized hole.
"(Alright, let's go before the scouts come back,)" Snover beckoned as she jumped down the hole causing Druddigon to gently hand Delia and Catherine over to Lopunny before gazing at the opening in the floor and scratching the back of his head.
"(I'll try not to be too hard on the landing,)" Lopunny assured them although she knew neither of them could hear her as she leaped down and landed in a patch of snow causing her to raise a brow before shrugging.
"(What's wrong? Come down,)" Snover hollered causing Druddigon to nod and hold up a meaty hand as he continued to examine the hole far too small to accommodate his frame and paced around it restlessly.
Groaning, Druddigon stuck his head along with part of his waist through the hole before he predictably got stuck causing him to wiggle around for a bit and after a moment, plopped down onto the snow with a thud.
"(Wow, you're pretty big,)" Snover stated while moving the boulder back over the hole causing Druddigon to roll his eyes and pull himself to his feet as the cold climate of the cave didn't bother him in the slightest.
"(Bring your human friends over here, I'll treat them as best as I can,)" Snover ordered while making impromptu beds of vines causing Lopunny to gently place both her friends down before sitting in the snow.
"(Thank you for helping us, Snover,)" Druddigon gratefully told the dual type who smiled as she planted roots into the ground and sucked up some of their energy, but instead of using it to revitalize herself, she instead transferred it to the two girls.
"(No problem, I couldn't just stand by when you guys needed help,)" Snover responded as she ripped out more of the roots anchoring to the ground and offered them to Druddigon and Lopunny who grasped them and felt the pain they suffered going away.
Taking a deep breathe in and letting it back out, Snover's fist was suddenly encased in a heavy, sturdy wood where she gripped the material with her other hand and began tearing off chunks of wood from her hand. Carefully placing the pieces of wood against Delia's legs, Snover proceeded to tie them to the limb with more taut vines which created a makeshift splint causing Druddigon to raise a brow while Lopunny pursed her lips and nodded. Moaning, Delia groggily opened her eyes and unconsciously sat up causing her to yelp when her mangled leg flared up in as if someone simultaneously trying to rip the limb out of its socket and push the bone out.
"(Take it easy, you took a pretty bad hit,)" Lopunny stated while gently pushing Delia back down on causing the dragon tamer to scoff as she made herself comfortable before glancing back at the rabbit pokemon.
"I could say the same for you; your nose is bleeding by the way," Delia pointed out causing Lopunny to to chuckle and wipe away the trickle of blood with the back of her hand as the dragon tamer then stared at Druddigon.
"What happened and how did we get here?" Delia inquired causing the fairy tail dragon to release a breathe and sit down next to her while Snover awkwardly stood off to the side.
"What do you remember?" Druddigon inquired causing the dragon tamer to stare up at the ceiling and put hand on her forehead as she tried to recall she, Catherine, Lopunny, and Druddigon wound up like they did.
"I remember that we teamed up with Maylene, her pupils, and the local police to search for a group of pokemon that have been attacking pokemon trainers and setting their pokemon free, but after that I'm drawing a blank," Delia answered as she instinctively tried to move her broken leg in order to try find a more comfortable position and hissed as a painful tremor traveled up her limb causing Snover to pick up a patch of snow and place it over the dragon tamer's leg.
Shivering, Delia released a breathe and grinned at Snover who smiled back at her as Druddigon sighed softly and balled his hands into fists.
"(Well, here's the rest of it,)" Druddigon began causing Delia to listen intently to the tale while Snover removed the patch of snow from the dragon tamer's leg and added more vines to the impromptu splint.
"(Alright, stay sharp. These guys have it in for humans, but especially pokemon trainers,)" Maya hollered causing Delia and Catherine to nod as they and their teams fanned out in pairs of three in order to search the area designated to them while Maya and Jet went to assist the police.
"(Considering how powerful Oni is, she could have done more to help than just teleport Tomoe to another region,)" Druddigon muttered as he pushed some leaves apart and overlooked its contents to see if there was anything suspicious while Dragonite peeked behind a tree to see if anything stood out.
"(She has two regions to watch over so cut her some slack,)" Dragonite lightly admonished his mate causing the fairy tail dragon to snort as he walked over to the tree his partner was searching and meticulously scanned it to see if anything was amiss.
"(I'm aware,)" Druddigon grunted causing Dragonite to lightly chuckle as they both deemed the area normal causing the fairy tail dragon to relay the information to his trainer through the shared powers they had.
"(Then cut her some slack,)" Dragonite repeated teasingly causing Druddigon to roll his eyes as they both moved onto another area while making sure to stay within eyesight of their allies as the fairy tail dragon cast a quick glance at Delia.
"(She's no longer the loner she once was and...I'm glad,)" Druddigon mumbled causing Dragonite to smile as he took off into the air and looked in all directions, but found nothing out of the ordinary causing the heavy flyer to return to the ground.
"(We definitely had to work hard to break her out of her shell though,)" Dragonite pointed out causing Druddigon to grunt as he was about to inquire as to how Maris, Sparkplug, and Kiera were doing when a loud, violent explosion and two deafening, pained screams rang out.
Widening their eyes, Druddigon held his arms up causing Dragonite to place his hands underneath his mate's armpits and take off in the direction of the explosion where they saw, to their horror, Catherine lying unconscious on top of Delia with most of her body bloodied, bruised, and burnt. Both dragons could only push their shock aside for the time as Druddigon was about to kneel down next to the two girls when Dragonite's extended arm stopped him from doing so. Glaring at Dragonite, Druddigon was about to protest when his mate pointed at the ground and upon focusing on the patch of earth, Durddigon saw a very faint glow which made him curse under his breathe.
"(Tell everyone the place is booby trapped and have Luka or someone heal them!)" Druddigon shouted at Dragonite who sped away without a second's hesitation while the fairy tail dragon carefully reached forward and pulled the two girls away from the potential mine field.
"(Delia, Catherine, can you guys hear me?)" Druddigon asked while gently shaking their shoulders, but as expected neither of them answered and coupled with seeing their injuries made the fairy tail dragon gnash his teeth when he suddenly heard footsteps rushing toward him.
Instinctively turning around with his fists raised, he relaxed when he saw it was just Luka and Maris causing him to grimly gesture at the two girls.
"(Oh my gosh...)" Luka said in a voice barely above a whisper as she quickly knelt down next to the two girls and assessed the damage along with trying to figure out which wounds she should start healing first.
Maris, on the other hand, stared at the scene in front of her with her teeth gritted together so tightly that they threatened to break, her fists clenched so tightly that blood began to drip down onto the ground like raindrops, and her breathe coming out in rough, guttural growls. Before Druddigon could do anything, Maris let out a long, soft breathe before kneeling down as well while coating her hands with aura.
"(How bad is it?)" Druddigon reluctantly asked causing Luka to grumble and Maris to snort as they continued to heal the two girls as best they could while the fairy tail dragon kept watch over them just in case they were ambushed.
"(Both are still in pretty bad shape even with our healing, but they'll live. I'll take them back to Pokemon Center in Veilstone,)" Luka stated as she reached down to hoist her friends over her shoulders until she felt Druddigon's hand on her shoulder causing the jackal to narrow her eyes at the dragon.
"(No, you're ability to communicate with us through aura at long distances is invaluable so you can't leave the field. I will go while you and Maris will remain here,)" Druddigon retorted as he gently picked up both of his friends and placed them on his shoulders causing Maris to uncertainly scratch the back of her head.
"(No offense, but you're not exactly Mr. Quickster,)" Maris pointed out causing Druddigon to snort and roll his eyes while Luka went about using her aura to scan the area for any more mines hidden in the ground.
"(I'll manage,)" Druddigon responded as he took off into a sprint and ignored the shocked stares his allies were giving him when they saw the condition the two girls were in.
However, just as he passed by another tree, a series of explosions off the distance made him pause in his stride and instinctively look over his shoulder to see what the source of the sound was only to hear a chorus of deafening war cries rapidly approaching him and his allies. Seeing hordes of pokemon charging toward them with reckless abandon, Haxorus quickly ordered a retreat which his allies were quick to follow as a red blur suddenly slammed into Druddigon's chest. Grunting, the fairy tail dragon maintained his grip on his injured friends as the red blur rapidly slammed its fists into his sternum like a piston causing Druddigon to grimace before kneeing his assailant in the chest causing his foe to stagger to the side.
Before Druddigon could attempt to escape this unwanted fight, the red blur suddenly sped away which made the dragon raise a brow only to quickly look down when he saw a light quickly growing brighter under his feet. Cursing under his breathe, the fairy tail dragon protectively hugged the two girls and dove forward as the mine exploded sending chunks of debris flying everywhere and pelting his hide like hail which Druddigon was easily able to shrug off. Sensing his enemy approaching, the dragon protectively placed his body over his friends as best as possible as his foe, a Scizor proceeded to wail on him with the strength and a ferocity of a Gyarados laying waste to a battlefield.
Again and again fists and claws rained down on him, but Druddigon remained resolute in the face of the assault as another pair of hands attempted to wrench Catherine from his grip making the former heiress yelp. However, the dragon's grip was like iron and Catherine remained underneath him causing the other unseen foe to slug Druddigon across the face while another punt kicked his head like a ball. Grimacing, the dragon tasted blood and briefly felt lighter than air as he continued to shield his friends from the powerful, heavy blows which shattered his tough, rock like scales and made him feel like retching.
"(Get off them!)" Druddigon heard Lopunny shout causing the dragon to look up and saw his friend combating a Scizor, Machoke, and an Ampharos and was doing well until Scizor locked her movements down by throwing a rapid volley of punches which made Lopunny grit her teeth as she was hard pressed to block or parry the blows even while using her giant ears.
Despite her efforts, a particularly stiff punch connected with her chin which made her growl as her head violently snapped back and while she was reeling, Ampharos shot a large, yellow orb of electricity which made Lopunny yelp and fall to her knees as her muscles locked up. Taking advantage of the opening, Machoke reared its fist back and brutally smashed it into Lopunny's face with a sickening crack causing a glob of blood and saliva to fly from her mouth before harshly hitting the ground face first. Coughing, Lopunny hacked up blood and bile before wiping the liquid away with her forearm where she climbed to her feet and placed herself in front of Druddigon with her fists raised.
"(Well, fighting them directly isn't working so time to do something stupid,)" Lopunny muttered as she coated the tips of her giant ears in fire and launched two fist like bolts of flames from them by punching the air causing the projectiles to collide with the mines near their foe's feet.
The moment the improvised projectile collided with the mine, it set off a powerful, violent explosion which blanketed the area in a large plume of dust causing Druddigon to grimace as he painfully landed on his back while clutching Delia and Catherine close to him which knocked the wind out of him. Groaning, the dragon waited until the ringing in his ears passed before surveying his surroundings where he saw Lopunny groggily grasp her forehead and awkwardly climb to her feet before limping over to him and extending one of her giant ears. Scanning the area, Druddigon saw Scizor and its companion's down for the count for the time being causing the dragon to shift Delia into his other arm and grasp Lopunny's ear where he felt himself being hauled to his feet.
"(Alright, let's get of here while we have the chance and then we'll regroup with the others later,)" Druddigon ordered as he once again hosted Delia and Catherine onto his shoulders while puckering his bloodied lip causing Lopunny to open her mouth to protest before shutting it and begrudgingly nodding.
"(Follow me, I have somewhere we can go!)" a voice shouted causing Druddigon and Lopunny to wheel around with their muscles tensed and saw an innocent looking Snover gazing at them causing the duo to glance at one another.
Nodding, the duo warily followed their guide who erected a cloud of mist to cover their escape when the smokescreen of the explosion disappeared.
"So Catherine..." Delia trailed off as she solemnly glanced at her friend who was lying completely motionless on her bed of vines with the only indication that she was alive was the rising and falling off her chest.
"(Protected you from the mines hence her injuries,)" Druddigon finished while placing a hand on her shoulder causing the dragon tamer to weep quietly which made Lopunny grasp her hand tightly and gently rub her head with one of her ears.
"Do the others know where we are?" Delia inquired while wiping away her tears with her forearm causing Druddigon to shrug which made the dragon tamer grumble, but it was to be expected when they were suddenly separated.
"(We'll get our revenge, but we have to rest for now,)" Lopunny advised which made the dragon tamer wordlessly nod as she took Catherine's hand into her own while Lopunny brushed back some of the Catherine's hair.
"I'll be better next time so you won't have to do something like that again," Delia promised her unconscious friend while tightly squeezing her hand before staring up at the ceiling of the snowy cave with a blank look on her face.
"Well, we're here. How do you feel?" Karen asked Keldeo who was flanked by Stoutland, Excadrill, Ferrothorn, Elise, and Zach while the former champion's group consisted of her pokemon, the parents of the Scolipede family, Hope, Malai, N, and Touko.
"(It's surreal; during the first war, there was no sovereign group of my brethren who could of allied with Humanity's Army so standing here doing just that...)" Keldeo trailed off as he stared up at the large, imposing building of the Pokemon League atop the mountain as Karen gently put a hand on his head.
"Shows that you're a better diplomat than your mentors," Karen finished causing the ex Sword of Justice to grunt, but allowed a smile to tug at the corner of his lips as the former champion led the group towards the building.
"(It was cool being at the top and projecting the image of being the last, toughest opponent, but waiting around for challengers was so dull,)" Stephanie remarked causing Karen to chuckle under her breathe as she pushed open the doors causing Nurse Joy and the receptionist to look up from their work and jolted upon seeing the copious amount of pokemon.
"I...uh...if you would follow me, Mrs. Long. Alder, the Elite Four, and the Gym Leaders are expecting you," the receptionist stated after getting over their shock causing the former champion to nod as she, her group, and Keldeo's rebels followed the worker deeper into the building where they came upon the leaders of Unova looking over a map on a large, wide table.
"Karen, Touko, it's good to see you again," Alder began causing the former champion and the ex challenger to cordially return the greeting before the current champion cast a wary gaze on N who blankly stared back at him.
"I can't say the same for you...but I'm not about to turn down a helping hand," Alder begrudgingly informed the former king causing N to nod before glancing at Keldeo who took this as he cue to walk up to the table.
"I understand; allow me to introduce Keldeo, the Sword of Justice, whom I'll be acting as a translator for during this meeting," the former king announced and almost immediately, Keldeo felt every person in the room glare at him with gazes that could kill many times over, but the ex Sword of Justice remained resolute.
"I don't know about this; I mean, I trust Touko and Karen, but this guy is partially responsible for the mess we're in," Marshal pointed out causing his fellow Elite Four members and all the Gym Leaders to concur with him while Keldeo simply grunted, but didn't deny the accusation as Alder was quick to silence the dissent with a raised hand.
"Please, sit," Alder offered causing Karen, Hope, Malakai, and Touko to sit down, the Scolipedes to stand off to the side, and Excadrill to move of the chairs aside causing Ferrothorn to construct a platform of vines for her allies to stand on.
Nodding gratefully at Ferrothorn, the ex Sword of Justice stood upon the platform alongside his lieutenants and N before looking back where he saw Elise and Zach awkwardly standing near the exit of the room.
"(Elise, Zach, please join us and send out Coal, Soot, Silver, and Goldean Streak. You all are part of this band as much as anyone else,)" Keldeo assured them to which N translated causing Elise to blush and twiddle her fingers while Zach rubbed the back of his head before they both walked up to the platform and released their pokemon to which Ferrothorn made more vines to accommodate them.
"Well, now that everyone is here we can begin. To start, we know that the New Swords of Justice are holed up in Victory Road and although we outnumber them, the closed confines of the cave will make it difficult for us to utilize that advantage," Alder explained while pointing at the enemy base of operations causing Karen and Stephanie to say nothing as they looked around the area surrounding the base before Marshall cleared his throat.
"If the floor is open to suggestions, then I say we just smother them with overwhelming numbers. They may take out some of us, but they won't be able to take out all of us," Marshal put forth causing a collective groan to escape mostly everyone's lips which caused the fighting type specialist to raise a brow.
"Marshal, with all due respect, I'm going to have to say no. My pokemon fight best in the wide, open skies, not a cramped, dark cave," Skyla responded causing the fighting type specialist to grunt and looked around the table for those who might support his plan, but thus far the only who seemed to be in favor of it was Clay.
"I have to agree with her; my fighting style is all about speed and trying to do so in close quarters would be less than ideal," Elesa added causing Marshal to grumble under his breathe and lean back in his chair with his arms folded while Elise began to timidly raise her hand until a voice unintentionally cut her off.
"Not to mention that they could just seal the entry points to cut us off," Grimsely pointed out causing Marshal to snort and cross his legs as Elise once again tried to raise a her hand only for someone else to disrupt the chance to do so.
"Perhaps the answer isn't to overwhelm them, but to outlast them. I say we should blockade their base and the surrounding area with our forces while cutting off access to their resources. Sooner or later, they'll have to come to us to negotiate their surrender," Brycen advised causing murmurs to arise from the gathered delegates, some unsure, some in agreement, and some in opposition of the idea while Karen and Stephanie continued to meticulously look over the map.
"And how long will that take? Months, years? No, the people have suffered long enough and I'll be damned if I let this go on longer than it has to. I say we incorporate Marshal's idea within a larger plan; one large group shoulder push them from the north, another should push them from the south, and another should push them from the east. When our enemies inevitably flee west, they'll run right into our other forces who were on stand by leaving them cornered," Drayden proposed causing some to voice their agreement for the plan as Excadrill glanced at Keldeo and murmured a few things causing the ex Sword of Justice to nod and gaze at N where he repeated what his ally told him.
"Venerable Drayden, while that is a good plan, I've been informed that tunnels have been dug to prevent the scenario you're suggesting from playing out. What's more is that Excadrill doesn't know the locations of all of the tunnels so some of our enemies will invariably slip through our fingers," N informed the gathered leaders causing Drayden to briefly clench his fist before relaxing his hand as Elise suddenly shot her hand up into the air like her life depended on it.
"You have something to say?" Alder inquired causing the self proclaimed Queen of Fire to flush before sucking in a deep breathe and letting it back out where she then vigorously nodded.
"I-I guess what I'm saying is that we could combine the plans with some tweaking. For starters, Excadrill and Mrs. Long's Rhyperior should be able to sense out where the escape tunnels are so we could have some of our forces wait around them. Next, we could send a flood of pokemon into the tunnels from all directions to push them out and when they retreat, they'll run right into our forces on stand by. And if they try to hunker down, Skyla, her pokemon, Zekrom, and Reshiram can attack them from the above to keep them moving," Elise advised and for a moment, everyone looked at her with wooden gazes causing the Queen of Fire to bashfully scratch the back of her neck before Karen finally looked up from the map.
"It's as good idea as any I've heard so far, but they're a few things we'll have to do before the assault. One, is that we'll have to find all the escape tunnels so there aren't any stragglers and two, is that the wild pokemon around Victory Road will not take kindly to us intruding upon their home," Karen added which made a cacophony of discussion arise from the various leaders while Iris, trainee Gym Leader of Opelucid City, raised a brow.
"But we're going to take down the New Swords of Justice so shouldn't they be more...supportive?" Iris questioned causing one of the parent Scolipedes to nudge N's shoulder and murmur something which caused the champion of Zekrom to nod before staring at the dragon tamer.
"Scolipede says that to some of the wild pokemon, it doesn't matter who's ruling so by bringing our forces to Victory Road, it will not seem as a liberation, but as an invasion by hostile forces," N answered causing the student to grumble and mutter something under her breathe while Keldeo looked to N and whispered something which caused the champion to look back up at the gathered leaders.
"Keldeo says that he and his rebels will handle any wild pokemon who show up along with discerning the location of all the escape tunnels," N informed the leaders causing some of them to scowl, some of them to furrow their brows, and some of them to cast wary gazes at the ex Sword of Justice who resisted the overwhelming urge to roll his eyes and said something else to N.
"Keldeo also says that he's willing to bring along any partners the league recommends if they're so inclined," N added causing Clay, Drayden, Brycen, and Burgh to immediately sit up causing Keldeo to raise a brow at how quickly they volunteered before returning to an impassive gaze.
"With that settled, we should discuss who's going to be apart of which squad when we make a push into the caverns. My pokemon and I will push from the east since that's where they hold their prisoners and I don't want anyone else to go through what I did," Karen volunteered to which no one objected to causing Elise to purse her lips and stare down at the ground long and hard before sucking in a breathe and standing up to her full height with fire in her eyes.
"I'll go too," Elise firmly stated to which Keldeo wheeled around and narrowed his eyes at the Queen of Fire while Zach gently gripped her arm causing her to gaze at him where he slowly shook his head which made her pout.
"(Elise, you have grown stronger, but not strong enough for this task. You along with Zach will be relegated to the squads in charge of standing watch over the escape tunnels,)" Keldeo told her by shaping the water into the words he wanted to convey causing the leaders to widen their eyes at the feat the ex Sword of Justice showed while Elise scoffed before sighing heavily.
"I...I understand," Elise conceded with a bow of her head causing Coal to pat her shoulder and Soot to smile at her friend which lifted the Queen of Fire's mood slightly while the gathered leaders of Unova, Alder especially, narrowed their eyes at the former Sword of Justice.
"You could communicate with us without N the whole time?" Alder warily questioned Keldeo and despite wanting to let out a loud, irritated moan, Keldeo kept up a calm exterior and nodded.
"(Yes, but in the spirit of when a Sword of Justice, even a former one, meets human leaders, I wanted to bring a translator with me. However, I decided to have a human one instead of bringing a psychic type in order to provide a better first impression and show that cooperation between our two species is possible,)" Keldeo answered causing some of the leaders to look at one another before accepting this line of reasoning while Alder grunted, but said nothing while Marshal scratched the back of his head before speaking out.
"Alright, fine, but let's not forget one important thing here. What's going to happen to the Swords of Justice after this?" the fighting type specialist suddenly asked which caused the entire room to go silent as Keldeo took a deep breathe in and let it back out before looking at the gathered human leaders.
"(I believe it goes without saying that we'll need new Swords of Justice to rule the domains along with helping implement a better system in which to choose new leaders when the old one's time has passed,)" Keldeo answered which finally broke the deathly silence and almost immediately, people started voicing their disagreements on this plan before Alder held up a hand which quieted down the dissent.
"After what you, your mentors, and these new leaders did, you expect to have new Swords of Justice take their place?" Alder stated with a slight snarl causing Keldeo to release a breathe and nod as his horn suddenly lit up with bright, ethereal energy which caused Excadrill, Stoutland, and Silver to bow while Ferrothorn dipped her head.
"(The Swords of Justice were created to be emissaries and though we have strayed from our original purpose, they can become what I and my mentors were supposed to be if we show them the way together,)" Keldeo stated calmly, but firmly in a tone not unlike that of a wise, noble king to which even Stephanie couldn't help but let a proud smirk tug at the corner of her lips while Karen smiled.
"How do you propose we do that?" Caitlin inquired while staring at Keldeo dead in the eye causing the former Sword of Justice to blankly gaze at the psychic type specialist before exhaling and formulating his thoughts into words.
"(Well, regular contact between the Gym Leaders, the League, and the Swords of Justice would be a good way to start building positive relations and teaching the young gladiators to not catch my brethren without their consent would be a big help as well,)" Keldeo answered causing the psychic type specialist to grunt while Alder, who had remained skeptical of the ex Sword of Justice throughout the meeting, finally allowed a grin to tug at the corner of his lips.