(October 26th,2017)
In the smoldering remains of the Lumiose city center, a single, serpentine figure can be seen lying motionless next to a collapsed structure. It is Venus, the shiny milotic who had bravely stood against the onslaught of team infinity but was poisoned by an arbok's poison fang and pummeled by a barrage of various other attacks. The last survivors have fled the city and scattered across the region, Spectra and Oblivion can be seen circling around looking for her.
"…Urr…. urmmph…. where…where am I?" Venus wonders to herself, her face flushed a shade of pale purple from the lingering poison. Before she can move, Spectra and oblivion land next to the wounded serpent as her eyes flutter
"Venus! are you alright?" Spectra asks in grave concern for her injured teammate
"Gira… is that you? What happened… where is our trainer?" Venus asks wearily
"The city has been taken over, and our master was sent flying out of that huge ship that attacked the city… we must leave immediately. Ill carry you back to our home." Oblivion states.
"…. master…. urrf…" Venus lets out a quiet moan and passes out on yveltals back as the two legends flee and head for home. Meanwhile at Jarod's home, Diantha is seen pacing worriedly after hearing of the attack. Her train of thought is suddenly cut off by a loud thump behind the house.
"What was that!?" She exclaims and races outside to see Ryu the greninja lying in a snowbank, rubbing his head and clutching his left shoulder. "Mmph. That pokemon was one powerful behemoth…" Ryu mutters as Diantha approaches him.
"Ryu! What happened to you?" Diantha asks worriedly, noticing the frog pokemon holding his injured left arm.
", Anubis and Jarod tried to take down the person who commanded the attack on Lumiose. However, he had palkia and completely wiped the floor with us. Then he commanded the dragon to wipe us out, but…" Ryu states bitterly but cuts himself off.
"But what? Please ... tell me!" Diantha pleads.
"Jarod…. He stood in front of us and bore the brunt of a full power spatial rend. I woke up as I was falling. Anubis landed somewhere nearby but he is badly injured. Master kept flying and disappeared. My guess is that he may have landed near the hidden pokemon village." Ryu says in despair.
"WHAT!" Diantha exclaims in shock and horror at what the greninja has told her. However, before she can even speak any further, a burned and battered Anubis staggers in, his breathing ragged and pained. "D... diantha…." The Lucario chokes out before fainting as her gardevoir rushes to his side.
"Oh my gosh! Anubis, hang in there." Diantha shouts as she and gardevoir move the injured Lucario inside with Ryu walking behind them. Gardevoir use heal pulse
"Anubis… please hang on…" The gardevoir mutters in her mind, as he is the one who stayed by her side after she almost froze to death in the blizzard and watched over her as she recovered. In the short time since then, the gardevoir had developed feelings for the aura fighter.
"Gardevoir, stay here and help greninja and Lucario, I have to go look for Jarod!" Diantha shouts as she bolts out the door and down the path towards the pokemon village.
"Ill alert you through telepathy if Yveltal, milotic, or giratina returns as well, good luck in your search." Gardevoir replies.
"Thanks Gardevoir, will do." Diantha replies hastily. Her mind focused on finding the one that saved her life and that had captured her heart in doing so.
"Please…. Please be alright…" Diantha mutters to herself as she reaches the entrance to the pokemon village. By the rivers edge, a zoroark,her two kits and a gothorita are seen inspecting what appears to be a battered corpse. Diantha notices this and moves closer, the pokemon scatter and reveal a horrifying sight to the former champion. The battered figure is Jarod, his shirt torn with a bloody gash running from his right shoulder to the top of his abdomen. His left arm scraped and fractured. A pool of blood underneath him as he lay limply on his back.
"Oh arceus…no! Jarod!" Diantha exclaims in horror as she runs to his side, kneeling down and pulling him into her lap. "Speak to me, can you hear me!?"
"…. urrgh…...mmph…. hurggh… D... d…diantha… is that you?" Jarod chokes out. His eyes barely opening at all
"What happened, who did this to you?" Diantha asks, trying to keep her composure.
"The leader…. The leader of the group that attacked…Lumiose. He…. had palkia under his…control… it seemed as if it was suffering… gigh." Jarod stammers before spitting up a bit of blood. "Its… Ironic… that the one…legendary that…I fail to capture…... is the one that will end me..." Jarod mutters, his voice fading fast.
"Don't talk like that, you're going to make it!" Diantha retorts, tears starting to brew in her azure eyes.
"I… only…wish…. That I could have told you…how I …. feel…." Jarod blacks out, going limp in Dianthas arms as she cries out in horror.
"Jarod! Please hang on…. don't leave me!" Diantha screams out as tears begin streaming down her face. At that moment, a colorful aura begins to waft through the area. A large deer like pokemon approaches the two humans, its golden antlers and dark blue body glowing with life energy. It is revealed to be xerneas, the legendary pokemon of life.
"He shall survive." an elegant feminine voice is heard, catching diantha s attention.
"X... xerneas!" Diantha chokes out in awe of the mighty legend.
"Listen. The pokemon world is under a grave threat. Our fellow legend, the one known as palkia, is now in the hands of one who seeks nothing but power and malice. If he is to unleash its power, our world will cease to exist. We need you both in order to stop this calamity and save palkia." Xerneas explains.
"Jarod…..but he's…." Diantha stammers sadly as tears threaten to fall.
"I will ensure his survival." Xerneas gently places the tip of her hoof against the seemingly dead trainer and begins transferring a healing energy into him, mending his most severe injuries, including three broken ribs, and a fracture on the back of his skull. "But you must promise me this. You two will fight to restore peace and serenity and punish the one who dares to disrupt the balance of life. You re the only ones who can." Xerneas states firmly,
"You have my word Xerneas… I am in your debt, thank you." Diantha replies to the powerful deity
"I sense that your words are sincere and your intentions are pure and true. We shall meet again." Xerneas states before majestically dashing away over the horizon.
"M'lady can you hear me?" Gardevoir calls out through telepathy
"I hear you gardevoir I'm on my way back. I found Jarod by the river in the pokemon village. He nearly passed away but xerneas appeared and revived him. He is still unconscious but xerneas stated that she healed the injuries that were the most critical."
"Oh my, that sounds incredible. However, things aren't looking too good right now. Spectra and oblivion arrived just a few minutes ago with a badly poisoned Venus on their back. I have healed most of her wounds but I can't remove the poison." Gardevoir states wearily, having used a lot of energy to heal greninja, lucario and milotic.
"I'm almost there, just hang tight." Diantha replies, obviously noticing the exhaustion of her most loyal partner.
"Alright… I'll try…. ngh." Gardevoir stammers out before collapsing to the floor, completely exhausted. A few minutes later, Diantha returns to the home and Ryu steps in to help her. The two of them place the injured trainer down on the couch before tending to milotic and gardevoir.
"Gardevoir, are you okay?" Diantha asks, shaking her partner as the psychic stirs and opens her eyes wearily.
"I'm fine, just very tired. I guess I over expended myself." Gardevoir replies.
"Ill take it from here, you were an incredible help."
"Thank you, my lady. This might seem strange but could you set me down next to lucario?" The psychic asks with a slight rosy hue developing on her face.
"Sure, but why if I might ask." Diantha wonders curiously
"Ill explain at another time." Gardevoir responds as her eyes close. Diantha lays her down next to Anubis before retrieving an antidote and proceeding to spray it across the unconscious milotic's body. The purple flush disappears from her face and she becomes more relaxed, no longer in pain from the poison.
"Alright, that takes care of her, now to tend to Jarod." Diantha murmurs to herself. Quickly scanning him over, she proceeds to bandage his wounded arm and securing it with a splint. Xerneas had healed his most severe injuries, as well as removed the majority of the blood that had seeped from the gash on his chest. Diantha places a large pad of gauze on the wound with an antibacterial ointment to cleanse and protect it while the wound heals.
"Ok, that's all that I can do." Diantha states before sitting down next to the injured, sleeping form of Jarod, a somber expression lacing her features.
"(to think that our world is in such jeopardy, all because of one person. We need to stand together to stop him and save palkia…. but with Jarod down and out for the time being…. There's no telling what will happen….) I know you can't hear me, but please…. Jarod, wake up soon. You mean much more to me then you may know, and not only does the world need you…... I need you." Diantha says softly, holding back a tear before laying down beside him. Just as she falls asleep, Jarod lightly squeezes her hand, indicating that he is still alive and fighting.