Gardevoirite Arc: Restored Peace

"Psycho Cut!" Jacky stretched out her arm and opened the attack. Absol shot forward and charged at a Seviper. "Cross Poison!" a ninja who apparently partnered with it commanded, and Seviper's crashed into Absol's sickle. However, Absol fended off this attack almost effortlessly and hurled the foe away before it leapt after it. Seviper hissed in pain as Absol's Slash tore right across its long serpent body. A Zangoose tried attacking Absol from left-field. "Psychic, Guardevoir!" Mari commanded. Gardevoir's eyes shone brightly and the Zangoose was lifted into the air. It squirmed in an attempt to break free, but it was useless. Gardevoir hurled it against a tree with force and it sank to the ground. "Focus Blast!" Gardevoir sent a ball of massive clenched energy after it and the opposing Pokémon was chanceless. "Razor Wind, Absol!" Absol jumped against the rocky walls of the gorge, elevating itself high into the air. Its blade shone brightly and it sent a volley of sharp blades right down at the enemy, who collapsed just seconds later. More Pokémon came to surround them, but each of their attacks was either blocked or redirected, their resistance quickly shattered. "Let's keep this up! I could do this all day!" Mari shouted at Jacky, who chuckled. "I can imagine! Let's fight our way through to the village and quell the last bit of the fightings!",
"I'm with you!"

They burst through the meager defense lines, leaving defeated Pokémon and powerless ninja behind left and right. The ninja who had been guarding the entrances with them followed. "Somehow, I feel different..." Jacky commented as they ran.
"What?" Mari asked over her shoulder.
"Uh, nothing!" Jacky waved it off. "We should split up! I heard that two battle fronts have formed inside the village! Let's wipe them clean simultaneously!",
"Alright! You guys can do it! Leave the rest to us!" Mari gave her a raised thumb. Jacky nodded and ran off in another direction with her Mega Absol in toe, cutting down every foolish soul who tried to stand in their way. Mari continued running in her direction until she saw Hiroko and few others fighting with other ninja not far away. His Crobat was engaged in a bitter battle with an enemy Arbok. Mari pulled out another Poké Ball. "Let's spark things up a little! Aerial Ace, Skarmory! Get it!" Her Skarmory appeared screeching, its steel armor shining in the light of the stars. Like a living sword, it descended upon the enemy and hurled Arbok away with a powerful strike. Hiroko's gaze jerked to her. "You're here-" When he saw Gardevoir, he faltered. "This... is this...?!"

Sayuri and Saoko, who had followed Mari, jumped into battle with other ninja. "Liepard, Hyper Beam!" Sayuri shouted, and her Pokémon attacked an opponent's Gliscor. "Greninja, Shadow Sneak!" Saoko commanded, and it knocked an attacking Accelgor to the ground. "Move out of the way!" Mari shouted, and to her surprise, everyone heeded her call. "Attack, Skarmory! Brave Bird!" Skarmory raced toward the Accelgor and took it down with a swift attack. As the Gliscor attacked, Mari's Zoroark suddenly appeared and faced it. It pinned the bat to the ground with a vicious growl and then smashed a Shadow Ball right into its face. A Banette appeared and tried attacking, but Mari raised her hand into the air. "Gardevoir, Shadow Ball!" Gardevoir performed an almost dance-like spin and its powerful Shadow Ball thundered against the ghost, one-shotting it in an instant. "In the light, it dominates the opponent's will... With the grace of a thousand butterflies it breaks the evil's shadow blade..." Mari muttered. "I think I understand now..."

Gliscor was able to break free from Zoroark's grip and forced it back with X-Scissor. Zoroark immediately retaliated with Shadow Claw. "Hyper Beam, Liepard!",
"Greninja, Water Shuriken!" Sayuri and Saoko chimed in and Gliscor went down. "Critical hit, I'd say", Mari commented with a grin. An enemy ninja jumped towards her with a kunai in hand and tried to attack her, but Hiroko got in his way and engaged him into melee combat to keep him away from her. More Pokémon joined the fight, but she stood her ground and used Gardevoir's new power to sweep clean through them. Skarmory and Zoroark stayed around her, guarding her sides and driving back any enemy trying to get through to her. They were like an inpregnable defense.

The sounds of fighting around them quieted. "Their resistance is breaking!" Saoko looked around.
"Very good." Mari ducked away from an incoming attack which was immediately punished by her Zoroark. Suddenly, Yuna appeared on the rock that bordered the gorge on the western side, together with Saizo. All, absolutely all of the fighting ninja stopped and looked up. "Your leader has been defeated!" Yuna announced in front of everyone, and silence spread. "Defeated by the heroine who gave us victory today!" She pointed at Mari and Gardevoir and several glances were directed at her. Being stared at like this made her uncomfortable. "The heroine whom your leader never wanted to appear! Yet now, here she stands, fighting among those who want peace."
A murmur went through the crowd and now, ALL eyes were on Mari. She withdrew Zoroark and swung onto Skarmory's back, flying up to Yuna. Gardevoir floated beside her. She landed next to Yuna the moment Gardevoir's mega form faded and it transformed back. Glances followed her upward. Saizo also turned to her; eyed her. Then, he walked toward her. "Stay where you are", she said to him, but he wasn't deterred in the slightest and stopped in front of her. Instinctively, she stepped in front of Gardevoir and tightened her shoulders to withstand Saizo's intense stare. The Mahtaria leader remained silent and just looked at her before settling on one knee and bowing to her. "... Please forgive me, flowerheart.",
"Eh...?" Puzzled, Mari looked down at him. "T-that was a bit sudden now...",
"..." Saizo's followers seemed shocked at their leader's behavior, but then imitated him. Saoko's ninja did as well, even Jacky. Mari looked down and seeing them all BOW to her like that, REVERING her, she was unable to say anything sensible. All she could get out was "...Oh, uh... okay..." Yuna couldn't help but giggle. "Now that's a sight to behold...",
"...This is a bit oberwhelming...",
"I can totally understand that. But right here, right now, you became a legend. Only a true hero can harness power as insane as this, but you and your partner had no effort bending it at all. That's enough proof to me that you are the one that was promised to us. You lead us to victory."

Saoko spent the rest of the night with Sayuri and the guardian of the Fairy Garden, trying to come to an agreement with Saizo and his people and erase any last feelings of hostility. Everyone else retreated to the village at dawn, along with Mari and Jacky. "That was really weird..." Mari admitted. "They all bowed down to me like I was some sort of deity! Do you know how weird that kind of thing is?"
Jacky laughed. "You really did look like a heroine earlier, though. Haruka could hardly breathe with excitement. She was so tired that Kaze had to carry her on the way back. That was an exhausting night for all of us.",
"Yeah... I could really use some sleep. I'm exhausted. So are those two." She pointed at Gardevoir and Absol. Gardevoir hardly could keep its eyes open.
"Understandable, they've been fighting a lot," Jacky commented. "This took a big toll on all of us."
Gardevoir just flopped down on the ground, its head landing on Absol's flank. It was asleep almost immediately.
"Aww..." Jacky giggled. "I hope they get enough sleep.",
"Yeah, I hope so, too. I wonder what's going on in Sinnoh right now... I haven't heard of any bad news yet. Elesa or Skyla surely would have contacted us if the world was burning.",
"I don't know... To be honest... I don't even want to think about it." Jacky looked at her mega bracelet. "Hopefully, we're both strong enough now to stop Dialga and Palkia from destroying the region...",
"Giratina is fighting on our side," Mari muttered. "That means we have strong support.",
"Mh... I guess that's right...",
"We have to go back to Sinnoh later today. There is no time to waste... It's dawning already, but honestly, I'm so tired I can barely even keep my eyes open...",
"I agree." Jacky nodded and blinked as Mari rested her head on her shoulder. "Isn't that uncomfortable...?",
"No..." The girl closed her eyes and fell asleep. Jacky finally felt a little relaxed in a long time and closed her eyes as well. It didn't take long for her to drift off into the land of dreams as well.