Chapter 73: Zygarde

Point of View Stark

I yawned lazily as my head rested on my paws. My body was comfortably on a soft patch of grass right below one of the many trees in a forest. Opening my eyes slightly, I looked over to my right to see Naomi curled up in a ball, in a deep sleep. She peacefully breathed in a slow rhythm, I would almost say she looked rather peaceful at the moment, versus the depressed state she was usually in when we were around Jack and the others.

A depressed sigh escaped my mouth as I realized that it was getting late in the day, and we had somewhere to be. "Naomi," I said to the sleeping umbreon, "Hey, wake up," I said again, as I walked over to her and nudged her with my paw gently. Naomi's eyes flickered open, and she let out a groggy yawn as her head rose up.

"I didn't even notice I fell asleep, how long was I out?" Naomi asked as she got up and stretched her body out.

"A few hours," I responded.

"Oh Mew, I'm sorry, I put us behind schedule," Naomi said frantically as she began to panic.

A smirk slowly formed on my face from the sight of her panicking, "Relax, it's fine. I was being lazy as well honestly," I admitted as I began to walk through the forest towards our destination, "Come on, we have some ground to cover to make up for our break."

Naomi and I both walked through the forest in silence. Nothing really disturbed us on the duration of our trip, and I knew Naomi appreciated things being easy lately. To this day, I have always felt bad for the life she was forced into. Although, there wasn't much I could do to help fix that problem.

"So, Jack was the one who told you about our objective, what are we doing all the way out here?" Naomi asked me for the first time on our trip. Naomi was always excited to get far away from Jack, and Sam, but she also feared what she would have to do on these jobs, so I tried to do most of the dirty work and keep her away from any jobs that involved murder or other immoral things. It didn't take me long upon meeting Naomi to realize that this life wasn't for her, if I had a heart it would be broken right now.

"We're just meeting with some humans to get some money that they owe Jack," I said.

"Just picking up money?" I nodded in response to reassure Naomi. Silence filled the air as we continued to walk through the woods.

"Stark?" Naomi said as she looked at me.

"Huh?"

"Don't you ever wonder if we'll go to Hell for the things we have done? I highly doubt Arceus, or any of the legendaries would show mercy after the things we've done," Naomi nervously asked me, as if she feared me to tell her what I believed.

"No," I answered as I kept walking.

"No?" Naomi said back in confusion, "So you think they're fine with us being criminals?"

"No, I just don't believe in legendaries or any form of a God," I answered honestly.

"So you're an atheist?" Naomi said in surprise.

"You could say that," I said as I kept walking forward, ignoring eye contact with Naomi. This was always a topic I ignored since I knew Naomi believed that stuff, personally I just liked to avoid the topic altogether. I've noticed that my idea isn't accepted in some areas, although not many of the people I was around cared for religion either. Since most of them would burn in some form of afterlife if it existed. "It always surprises me that you believe that stuff, since you're into science, and you may see how impossible it is," I said in an attempt to counter anything she was about to say.

"I'm aware, but it's how I was raised. Plus, it isn't proven or disproven," Naomi answered with a reasonable point.

"If there are legendaries out there, they left this world long ago," I said with resentment towards the whole concept. "I doubt such fairy tales exist, but that's just me."

"You'll never know, life may surprise you one of these days," Naomi said with a cheerful smile forming on her face.

All four of us scattered as Zygarde lunged towards us. The legendary smacked in the ground and caused me to fly back. I landed on the ground with a loud splash in the water. Zygarde turned towards me, and the legendary opened its mouth wide, and a purple orb formed in its mouth.

"Stark, run!" Vincent shouted. Feeling paralyzed from shock, I watched as the orb launched towards me. Suddenly a pair of arms wrapped around me and lifted me off the ground, and moved me out of the way. A purple explosion went off right where I was just a second ago, and left a crater in the ground. I looked up to see my savior, and saw Scarlet holding me.

"Stark, you need to keep up, or you'll get us all killed," Scarlet said as she set me down on the ground.

My ears lowered as I stared at Zygarde. The creature slowly slithered in our direction. 'How can we defeat a god?' I thought in my head. Suddenly I felt a poke in my side, I jolted up to see Scarlet's sword pricking my hip.

"Focus," Scarlet said in a stern voice, "You acted tough till this point, now fight with us, or we will all die in vain," Scarlet said. She was absolutely right, this wasn't me at all. Since when the Hell was I afraid of others, I am the one Zygarde should fear.

"Sorry about that, let's do this," I said in a serious tone as dark matter formed around my right paw. Without another word, I sprinted towards Zygarde with no fear of death. The legendary lunged towards me once again, this time though I jumped to the side, and clawed its side as it flew past me. As the dark matter slashed its scales sparks flew in the air, along with a loud scraping noise that rung through the air. Once the serpent passed me, I jumped back and charged a shadow ball at the legendary. Zygarde turned back towards me just in time for it to collide in its face. I frowned as Zygarde just laughed as the smoke cleared from an attack that would leave most dead.

"You'll need more than that to get past my scales," Zygarde taunted as he charged up another attack. Suddenly an ember exploded against Zygardes head. The snake like creature turned towards Flynn to see him charging towards him.

"It's pointless!" Zygarde yelled as he charged towards Flynn. The houndour stood still, and didn't flinch for a second as the legendary approached him.

Faster than my eyes could process, Scarlet landed on top of Zygardes back and stabbed her sword into his back. The sword didn't go more than a few inches in, but Zygarde grunted in pain as he rolled in an attempt to get her off. Scarlet jumped off just in time to not get crushed by the legendary. Vincent ran in front of the legendary. As the legendary recovered, he whipped his tail towards Vincent horizontally. The espeon jumped over the attack, and once back on the ground, he ran around the legendary. I saw that Vincent was only distracting him, and I decided it was my turn.

I sprinted towards the unsuspecting legendary and jumped on his back. I dug my claws into the crevices between his scales for grip. Dark matter formed in my mouth, and I bit down as hard as I could on the back of Zygardes scaled neck. I felt the muscles in my jaw tighten as I bit down to the point that I felt like my teeth would shatter. Then I pulled on the scales that my teeth gripped, and pulled off a few. As I pulled off the scales, I used my momentum to jump off Zygarde, and get to safety right before he did another roll in an attempt to crush me.

I spat some of the scales I broke off out of my mouth, along with some blood in my mouth. Sadly the blood belonged to me, since I cut my mouth on the razor sharp scales I ripped off, but I was at least slowly making a target for us to attack.

"You pokemon are more bothersome than I anticipated," Zygarde said as he looked towards each and every one of us. Vincent once again charged towards the legendary, while Zygarde dove towards him as well. Vincent moved out of the way with precision and unrealistic speed, but Zygarde looked at the espeon curiously.

"You're not the real one," Zygarde said as he turned his head towards one of the trees and slithered at seemingly light speed towards it. Zygarde used his tail the slash the tree, and the tree fell straight towards the ground. The real form of Vincent ran out of his hiding spot. I was always amazed that Vincent could slip away, and trick everyone into believing his mirage. His tactics were interesting, and it always left me wondering when he was real or fake.

As Vincent ran for his life, Zygarde launched another purple orb where Vincent was running, and the explosion knocked the espeon back towards the legendary. Vincent smacked into the ground as Zygarde quickly reached down and picked Vincent up in his mouth. Vincent's eyes widened as the legendary bit down, and punctured Vincent with multiple teeth.

"Vincent!" Flynn yelled at the sight. Vincent trembling as blood escaped his mouth, and many of the other wounds that were inflicted.

"A tricky one you are. But I can sense your deception, espeon," Zygarde said as he bit down harder, and more blood gushed out of Vincent. Scarlet then flashed into sight behind Zygarde, and jumped in the air. The greninja landed sword first in the small patch of scaled I ripped off earlier. Her sword went even deeper than before as blood squirted out of the wound that was just inflicted.

Zygardes grip loosened on Vincent, and Vincent fell to the ground. The water Vincent laid in was instantly dyed red as Vincent slowly bled out. Zygarde flailed around as Scarlet jumped off him, leaving her sword impaled in the back of his neck. Scarlet then ran towards Vincent, and scooped him up in her arms and ran towards safety. I regrouped with Scarlet along with Flynn as she kneeled down, and cradled Vincent in her arms.

"Well… that didn't go as I planned," Vincent said as he finished his sentence with blood leaking out of his mouth along with a pained groan.

"Vincent…" I said without a clue on how to respond to this situation.

"Relax, I'm not going to die here, I still need to see Ryder again," Vincent said with a small smirk.

Our attention was then directed towards Zygarde, who had blood covering his whole backside from the wound inflicted on him. "You think this will stop me," Zygarde said in a pained voice that showed his resentment towards us.

"Damn… I missed the spinal cord," Scarlet said in disappointment.

Zygarde slowly slithered towards a tree and he extended his head towards it, and bit down on it. The tree then went from a healthy brown color, to a dull grayish brown as Zygarde continued to bite down on the three. As the tree slowly changed colors, Zygarde's wound slowly sealed shut, and Zygardes body flashed a lime green for a second as the sword in his neck popped out of his healing wound.

"The tree… it's rejuvenated him," Flynn said as his eyes grew wide.

"Forget me, and stop Zygarde, I'll be fine," Vincent said.

"You can't be serious, you're practically dead?" Flynn asked Vincent.

"I'll be fine, I know some psychic tricks to keep me alive, now go!" Vincent yelled at all of us. Scarlet gently laid Vincent down on a root that was sticking out of the ground, so he wouldn't have to sit in the water while in so much pain.

"Hang tight," Scarlet said as she reached her hands into the water and pulled out two water shurikens that were bigger than the others I have seen her use. Without another word, we all sprinted off in separate directions to defeat Zygarde. Flynn took the right, Scarlet went straight towards him, and I took the left.

"I'm done playing games!" Zygarde yelled, and the cave shook. Zygardes body then glowed a lime green. As we all approached him, the ground rose around him, and shielded Zygarde. We all stopped as we observed the wall that completely surrounded Zygarde.

Before one of us could question it, the wall broke into hundreds of pieces and the chunks of rock shot towards us. I quickly dove behind a tree as I listened to the tree get pelted by a series of rocks. Once the attack ended, I peeked out to check if my teammates were even alive. Scarlet stood behind a tree as she peaked out as well, it appeared that she got hit by a few rocks, but she seemed to be alive. Then I looked for Flynn, and I spotted him lying on the ground.

"Flynn," Scarlet said as she left her cover and ran towards the unconscious houndour who was covered in bruises and gashes. As Scarlet ran towards the houndour's aid, I popped out of cover with a shadow ball, and launched it towards Zygarde. Zygarde remained in the same area, and another wall rose from the ground, just to cover the shadow ball.

As my attack failed, Scarlet picked Flynn up, and began to move him to safety. Then, just like the last wall Zygarde made, this one shattered into pieces, and every chunk flew towards Scarlet and Flynn. The greninja looked back just in time to see the attack, and she jumped as high as she could, but as she jumped as high as she could a purple beam flew towards Skarlet. Scarlet turned so her body shielded Flynn, and she took the entire attack with her backside. Both of my comrades flew to the ground with a trail of purple smoke following them. A chilling sensation consumed my body as I went back to hiding. All three of my teammates were unconscious, if not dead within a matter of minutes.

"Come out umbreon, I know you're there," Zygarde said as his voice echoed through the silence of the cave. I cautiously stepped out from behind the tree and looked towards the legendary who was watching me.

'What do I do,' I thought to myself, as I looked at each of my fallen teammates. I didn't stand a chance against him alone, plus, even if I did weaken him down, he could just regenerate himself like he did before.

"It seems this will be the end of your kind once and for all," Zygarde said as he slithered towards me.

'End of my kind?' I repeated in my head. This was now the second time he mentioned me being the last of my kind. "I'm far from the last umbreon," I replied back in an attempt to stall my death.

Zygarde stopped slithering towards me, and began to laugh. "What's so funny?" I asked him as I scanned the area for an escape route.

"Are you truly ignorant to what you are?" Zygarde said.

"I'm an umbreon, don't let this white fur throw you off," I snapped back at him, taking minor offense. Zygarde began chuckling once again, and my temper only began to rise from that point on.

"Average umbreon's don't have white fur, but it doesn't matter, you'll be dead soon enough," Zygarde said as he began charging another beam. Before I could even move, something broke through the ceiling and flew towards the ground faster than a bullet. As the object flew towards the ground, I identified this pokemon. The lucario smashed his fist into Zygardes head and the serpents head smashed into the ground, along with the lucario landing on the ground with a giant splash into the water.

Mandus then jumped into the air, and charged some kind of aura in his palm, and he threw it towards Zygarde. The serpent recovered just in time to counter with the attack that was meant for me. The two forces collided, and created a wave of energy that rippled through the whole cave.

Mandus landed on the ground, and stared at Zygarde without a trace of fear in his eyes. The lucario removed the cloak that he always wore, and he tossed it the side as he tightened his fist, and cracked his knuckles. Zygarde looked at Mandus, and the two stared each other down. I on the other paw took this chance, and hid behind a tree as I peeked out and observed the scene. Being a coward wasn't something I was proud of, but in the end, it's usually the cowards who live to run another day.

"Kept you waiting, huh?" Mandus said as he looked at his fallen comrades. "I'll make this quick, but only because I don't have time to play with you," Mandus said with a bitter cold tone. I couldn't tell if he was concerned for us, or if he grew impatient with the aron infested caves.

"Play huh? Such an arrogant lucario you are," Zygarde said, "I'll be sure to add you to the corpse pile."

"Your words don't faze me, you can howl all you want, but your fate is sealed," Mandus said as a blue aura began to glow around him.

Chapter End

Author Note: Alright, first I'd like to note something about the beginning. Just so everybody knows the small religious talk at the very beginning wasn't a jab towards any religions or atheism, so please do not find a way to take offence, since this is a fictional story. I say this because I've been on the internet, and some people make big deals over small things, so if you plan on starting crap don't bother I won't argue with someone over the internet, it's pretty lame if you ask me. Anyways sorry I have to say this, but as I said, I've seen a lot of fights over this subject on the internet which were sparked over the dumbest things.

Thank you genericgamer207 for helping with another chapter.

Question: How do you view things going down in this fight with the way things have gone so far?

Guest review response: Anonymous: I didn't really get these writing skills over night and I still have a lot of errors to this day. I get a lot of help from a beta reader, and he has helped me improve so much since he started helping me. If you want to write better just practice and don't worry about bad grammar and such, it'll come in time. If you want help I'll help, I just may not be the best help grammar wise lol XD

Anyways just two chapters left until I go on a small hiatus, so hopefully the last two chapters can be a epic way to go out.