A/N: Here we are. The final chapter of Team Galactic. This is going to be a mega chapter, going way longer than anything else before it. 8k+ words this chapter, so I hope you have your seatbelts buckled in and have your Poffins to chomp on, this is still going to be a long ride.
After going to Veilstone's Pokémon Center to get patched up even more, Ash was taking a short rest after his near mental breakdown. Dawn, Barry, Maylene and Looker were in the employee break room where they could talk in private.
"Ash is resting now. I had to wait until he was asleep before I could leave." Dawn sighed exhaustedly.
"I've seen this before. Partners thinking one had died but came back." Looker explained as he closed his eyes. "They want to make sure nothing takes them away again. This was quite the traumatic experience for him. I don't want to think about if you came back much later than you did."
"Well I'm not going anywhere." Dawn defied with determination. "I've got to see this through to the end."
"But where do we go next? I don't know what to do." Barry complained.
"I do. Before Team Galactic's HQ blew up, I found this." Looker pulled out a small black book with a broken lock belt on it. "His latest entry must be before the speech Dawn and I witnessed. It reads, "I can sense it. It's hard to believe that after all these years my dreams will finally become reality. My speech has inspired all that heard, but it's all one big lie. They're just as useless and incomplete as this world. My reality is solely for myself. Anything else would ruin its perfection. The lake guardians... I no longer have any need for them. I am finished with them. I couldn't care less what Saturn does to them. It will save me the trouble of disposing of them. But those children... they are a remarkable specimens. My plan has nothing to do with them, and yet they interfere again and again, delaying our plans at best. What drives them to stop me? To protect their home which has empathy and spirit? Such pitifully useless emotions... It's illogical and irrational. Pity and compassion are products of the weak and lacking human heart. Sentimentality has no place in my new world. If they follow us to the peak of Mount Coronet, I'll make them pay dearly for defying me my right. This ends today."
"Again with that. What does he mean by create a new world?" Dawn questioned.
"Of all encounters with Team Galactic, they always related to Sinnoh's far history. Specifically Dialga and Palkia." The detective mentioned.
"Who?" Barry asked.
"Legendary Pokémon that control time and space respecti..." Looker trailed off as he started piecing the dots together. "Wait. Cyrus says he wants to create a new world, but nobody knew what that meant. But, if his end goal has anything to do with those two Pokémon... he plans on remaking the world, by controlling time space. He wants to recreate the world in his image!"
"One where there's emotions or spirit!" The young researcher gasped. "How horrible!"
"I don't want my emotions gone!" Barry went frantic and he grabbed at the hair on his head. "They're what makes me awesome!"
"We need to go to Mount Coronet's peak as soon as possible! We've no moment to lose!" Without hesitation, Looker went off on his own.
"Typical." Dawn sighed. "Well, let's go get Ash." Heading to Ash's room, they saw Ash in a fetal position, facing away from the door. "Ash, we need to go. We know where Team Galactic are. We can finally stop them."
"What if we're already too late?" Ash bemoaned, sounding seriously depressed.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Barry questioned the moping teen.
"The only time we actually stopped them was when they tried to take the Professor's research. Everything else they've already achieved their goal. We even almost lost you Dawn. So what about this time? We've been resting while they had the time to head off to who knows where?" Ash rambled. "They could easily achieve whatever goal they have by the time we get there. If the world were to end... I'd rather just spend it with you guys." As soon as he said that, Barry gripped him by the shoulders and yanked him so that they were face to face as the blonde shouted into his face,
"The world actually is going to end if we don't do something about it, you idiot!"
"What?"
"The leader of Team Galactic, he was that blue haired guy we saw when our adventure began!" A flashback of the day blinked into Ash's thoughts, sparking something in him. "And not only that, he plans on using the time and space Pokémon to wipe out existence and replace with a bland and boring universe!"
"In short, Cyrus is going to destroy everything if we don't stop him." The boys' female friend explained.
"And also..." Barry was going to add before slapping his best friend in the face.
"Barry!" Dawn called him out.
"That's for thinking we can't do this. Even if we fail, that possibility is no reason to have our tails in between our legs. If I'm going out, I'm going to have my Infernape scorch their stupid hairs while doing it! But I can't do that on my own, and I'd rather not depend on that detective! I need you and Dawn's help! So snap out of your sorry excuse of a depression and come along with us for our last stand." After that rousing, and maybe insulting pep talk, Ash looked down in contemplation for a few seconds before nodding as he took Barry's hands off of him.
"Thanks. I just needed some... reassurance is all. Barry?"
"Yeah?" He asked, before being slapped like he did to Ash. He felt his cheek as he saw Ash regain a confident smile.
"Don't expect to slap me without getting slapped back." Barry chuckled as he slapped Ash again, he slapped Barry and back they went back and forth in their quickening slaps until they laughed and gave each other a bro hug.
"What a couple of silly boys." Dawn chuckled while sweating at their antics. Hearing her remark, Barry grabbed her arm, and with a yelp, she was dragged into their hug.
"We may be silly boys, but we're also best friends and you're one of us." Then he became confused with what he said. "Uh... well you're not a boy yourself but... where was I heading with this?"
"I know what you mean. And if there were any two boys I'd save the world with, I'm glad its you two." The three tightened their grip so that their group was was very strong before separating.
"So, where are we going again?" Ash asked.
"The peak of Mount Coronet." Dawn answered.
"Then let's get flying."
It was too late to see if Looker was already flying to the top or taking the long way hiking up via man made paths, but they needed to get up fast, so they took their birds. Up and up they flew. Getting up was no problem, considering that the mountain was less than a mile and a half tall at its peak. Once they could see what looked like spear pillars jutting up from the ground. Arriving, they jumped off their birds and landed landed on the stone carved ground, returning their Pokémon. Cyrus was in the center of the location, but before they could approach him, all of the commanders stepped out of their hiding places, ready to defend their boss. Mars, Saturn, Jupiter. Saturn spoke first.
"So you made it this far. You should be proud of yourselves for being the biggest annoyances of Team Galactic."
"Mars and Jupiter?! How did you two escape?!" Barry cried out.
"Saturn saw to it that we were back in position before you three found our HQ somehow." Mars answered him.
"And we've transferred our Pokémon into modified Pokeballs so that they became stronger without training. Observe!" Jupiter laughed maliciously as they threw out all of their Bronzongs at once. Their Pokeballs instead of being red and white, where completely black and dark gray with grooves across the surface. A Dark Ball. They also had a darker tone in color as they looked instead of being blue green, they just looked blue with navy blue tones across their bodies.
"Reflect!
"Light Screen!"
"Protect!" In front of the Bronze Bell Pokémon, three layers of protection were set up, completely blockading their side of the field.
"Our boss is going to do something spectacular!" Mars praised. "We won't let you get in his way!"
"As the three commanders, we will crush you like the ants you are!" Jupiter reinforced.
"They're trying to limit how much damage they'll take." Ash noted.
"Then let's inconvenience them. Just as much." Barry grinned from the challenge. "Thorn, use Toxic Spikes!" Revealing his grass type, the Bouquet Pokémon aimed his flowers hands at the opponent's battle field and coated it with purple thorns, which have sunk into the ground.
"Lopunny, use Reflect!" Like the bells, The Rabbit Pokemon formed a single blue barrier around herself and her side of the field.
"Floatzel, use Dig!" From his Net Ball, Floatzel instantly buried himself into the ground, out of sight.
"Extrasensory on Lopunny!" Jupiter commanded. Her Bronzong aimed its body at the normal type and fired a rainbow beam.
"Dodge it!" With her powerful legs, Lopunny was able to leap over the attack.
"Extrasensory on Roserade!" The other two commanders demanded. Thorn was worried about being attacked from two different angles.
"Return!" Barry countered as his grass/poison type managed to escape being doubled up with psychic types, creating an explosion where he stood. "Tails, Rain Dance!" Upon entering the field, the Sea Weasel created a ball of water before shooting it into the sky, where clouds started to form and rain fell onto everybody.
"Agh, again?! I just got my hair the way it was before!" Mars screeched.
"Hair doesn't matter, Mars. We have pests to keep away from the boss." Saturn shut down her whining.
"Let's go for a water combo?" Ash asked. Dawn smiled from his question.
"Lopunny, return! Empoleon, I choose you!" The young researcher yelled as she switched her normal type with her water starter.
"Floatzel, attack with Waterfall!" Bursting from the ground below the left Bronzong, Floatzel rammed his rain enhanced water type move into the enemy, ringing it quite strongly.
"Gyro Ball!" It tried to counter by spinning like a top, Floatzel was able to jump back thanks to his enhanced, superior speed.
"Now, use Surf!" All three ordered. All three water Pokémon created their own large wave that the rain helped, but when the two Floatzel and Empoleon combined their waves, the normally 10 feet or even 20 feet tidal wave on rainy days evolved into a over 60 feet monster tsunami. The three commanders gaped in horror as it loomed over them as they tried to escape, but they and their Pokémon got swept up in the middle of such a gargantuan attack. Even Cyrus preparing everything turned back to see what was happening. His eyes widened and mouth opened in shock as the fearsome triple surf attack was heading towards his way. From the trainer's perspective, the attack was was way more effective than they anticipated. The Pokémon, the commanders, and any rock that wasn't stuck to the mountain was washed away.
"Wow. You... you think we might've gone overboard?" Barry asked his friends, but Ash shook his head.
"They deserve worse." Ash coldly brushed off his rival's surprise. But what they expected even less was for the tsunami to explode before it finished its reach, sending all of the bronzong and the three commanders screaming off the mountain and the teens' Pokémon falling back near them. The Pokémon in question that obliterated the humongous wave turned red and was absorbed before they could see what did it, but in the middle, Cyrus stared at them with deathly composure.
"You're more powerful than I gave you credit for. Wiping out all three of my commanders with a combined Surf attack in rain. Were you up against anyone else, you'd have easily won. However, I have something that will keep you back." Taking out a remote with two red buttons, the evil leader pressed the bottom button, revealing Ash's mom in red chains making her float in the air.
"MOM!" Ash cried out in horror.
"What will this monster won't do?!" Barry stated in outrage.
"Ash! Don't worry about me! Just stop him!" Delia tried persuading her son.
"Dang it! I don't know what to do!" Ash cried to himself, gripping his head in dispair.
"Shut up, and stay back children, or you're directly responsible for the death of your friends' mother." Cyrus warned with complete dead seriousness as he turned his back to them. "Everything is ready for the creation of a new world. Now all will end and everything will begin. With the red chain made by the crystals of the lake guardians... the red chain I replicated with technological means... with these red chains I will pry open a portal to another dimension. I command that you unleash your power for me." Surrounding the leader, a red chain floated in the air before disappearing. "Dialga, the master of time, and Palkia, the master of space and dimensions." Before them all, two rips of mythical energy appeared. The left was dark blue, while the right was dark pink. From them, Dialga and Palkia came from them, causing everybody present to suddenly feel an intense pressure in the atmosphere, like any moment could cause their bodies to explode from the two legendary Pokémon alone. "I've waited for this moment for so long. Shaping this world is a double spiral of time and space. Yes, the very things you have the ability to control. You will do my bidding! I will take your abilities for my own! With the power I will wield, I will create an entirely new world! The incomplete and ugly world we have now can disappear! Everything will become a clean slate, with no remnants of what came before! The ultimate world of complete perfection!" But interrupting his grand speech were the lake guardians; Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf. "I should've expected as much. Knowledge, willpower, emotion... you've come to save Sinnoh? Pathetic and worthless. You all symbolize spirit together to balance the beings of space and time. But not both at the same time. Too much power to restrain. You all coming here have been in vein. So much worthless drama. All that the world has wronged me of will be forgiven, for there will be no spirit for anything after I'm done. It will all disappear... ripped away from reality. My dreams... are reality."
But something new occurred. There was a new pressure. So much stronger than Dialga or Palkia that even they showed slight signs of quivering. "What? What is this new pressure. I can feel it. It's... rage." Ash, Dawn and Barry could feel it. While previously it just felt like the pressure was enough to cause them to faint or explode, but now the atmosphere now became so intense it was like everything on the mountain peak could disintegrate. Just before Cyrus, the ground crumpled in like a pond of the darkest ink just revealed itself. And from within, two red glowing beady eyes looked into this dimension as it started to rise, a being made of shadow and darkness. It looked like it had a mouth of six red spikes within a sideways mouth, just tall enough to eat a person whole Everybody except Cyrus were horrified in silence, but they're expressions clearly showed what their emotions were. "Interesting. So there is a Pokémon that can only appear as a shadow." Terrifyingly, what turned out to be its teeth turned out to be the ends of its wings as they spread out, literally dripping shadows like water increasing its appearance while blocking off Dialga and Palkia. "Regardless, your actions are rash and foolish. I have the powers of Dialga and Palkia! And I won't have anymore interfer-" The Pokemon gave a cry unlike any living thing has heard, like it was the cry of the worst nightmare coming from the darkest depths of hell. Everything went black when it struck.
Everybody was starting to wake up from their grogginess, noticing something was different.
"Ugh. Are... you guys okay?" Ash asked to anyone that can hear him.
"Aside from... maybe having a stroke... I don't feel too bad. What happened?" Barry answered back, shaking his head.
"Something... attacked? Dawn grunted as she put a hand to her head. Looking around, there was no Cyrus, but there was-
"Mom!" Ash yelled out as he still saw his mother passed out on the ground, still surrounded by red chains. And there was a portal where the shadowy Pokémon existed. And Delia was being sucked in. "No! Gotta save her!" Ash got to his feet and ran to her body, trying to pull her back, but only managed to get himself in its gravitation pull. "H-help!" Barry and Dawn went to him and gave their assistance. Their pulls helped, but it was still ineffective in the suction pulling them in.
"Gosh dang nabbit! We're can't take much more! We're going down!" Barry shouted in frustration since it seemed like going in was inevitable when they suddenly glowed blue. They turned to see the lake guardians using psychic on them as they were successfully pulled away from the portal, and stopped glowing when the pull was weak enough to walk away.
"Thank you." Dawn expressed gratefully.
"Mom! Mom! Please wake up!" Ash begged his mother as he shook her shoulders, but wouldn't wake up.
"Ash, I think she's knocked out of town. She probably won't wake up for a while." Barry told his rival. Looking down at his mother's face, he was so overwhelmed from everything, he didn't know what to think or do. The lake guardians hovered over the woman, looking down sadly at her. They then closed their eyes, the crystals on their tails and foreheads glowed. The chains around her body shattered into dust. Delia started to wake up.
"Mom... mom..." Ash said starting to cry and he hugged her weak body close to him.
"Ash...?" She whispered, drained of energy.
"She's weak." A familiar voice pointed out the obvious. The teens looked up to see Cynthia, flying in on her own Togekiss. Returning it, the champion stooped down and observed her. "She can't stay here. Someone needs to take her down the mountain."
"I'll do it." Barry volunteered.
"Why?" Dawn asked.
"You guys actually have a Pokémon team both skilled and has good synergy. My Pokémon aren't and are mismatched because I was running everywhere. Cyrus would be too powerful for me by skill alone. You guys go. I'll meet you in Veilstone City." Ash was silent for a few seconds before he uttered,
"Thank you." Nodding, Barry lifted Delia up with onto his shoulders and began his descent down the mountain. The two remaining teens saw Cynthia stand up and walk to the edge of the pulling force, her long blonde hair was actively pulled towards the portal, acting like a flag. The champion and teens gazed up to see the lake guardians hover over the portal, looking down at the humans before diving into the portal.
"I'm sorry it took me so long children. I know what happened to create this portal. This was the work of a third Pokémon. A Pokémon with as much power as Dialga and Palkia together. Giratina. It lurks in another dimension... a dimension the opposite of ours." She looked around to see the pillars warped, yet not cracked. The ground was also slightly concaving into a shallow bowl shape, maybe a foot deep where the portal was. "The immediate area is distorted. It's because of the portal linking our dimension to the opposite side. If it's not closed soon, the whole world will be distorted. Destroyed. And that means jumping in."
"I don't know. What if we die as soon as we enter the other world?" Dawn asked the champion worriedly.
"Then we'll be the lucky first to not suffer the world's destruction. But we shouldn't let that stop us. It's now or never." She answered with grave seriousness.
"Remember what Barry said?" Ash asked Dawn. "Either we wait with our tails between our legs, or we go down fighting. Go big or go home. What will you do?" Dawn's face was scared and uncertain before her eyes hardened and looked right back into his eyes.
"I'm coming with you." Standing up, the two embraced each other, feeling each other intimately one more time before letting go and stood by Cynthia's side. "We're ready."
"Let's hold hands. That way we don't get separated." Cynthia suggested. Ash and Dawn gripped the champion's hands as she counted down. "One. Two. Three!" They all jumped forward, feeling the gravity of the portal pull them forward. The midway in the portal was mostly blue with swirling white dots. They could feel the strain of trying to hold hands, like it was trying to get them apart. They tried hanging on, but the forces of the portal was too strong as they were flung in different directions.
"Dawn!" Ash screamed.
"Ash!" Dawn cried out as they became farther and farther apart. It was only a matter of seconds before Ash landed on his front, face planting on hard red ground.
"Ouch." He simply complained as the trainer lifted his face off the ground, his forehead and nose bloodied from the impact. The environment was... bizarre. The sky was blue, but not sky blue or the kind you see when its mid evening, but midnight blue, just on the verge of being complete black. The soil underneath his body was rust red and felt hard like granite underneath. There were platforms and rocks everywhere the same shade of the sky above... and below him when he realized there was no actual ground. The way down looked as infinite as up, along with left, right, forward and back. The dimension looked limitless. "What is this place?" He asked himself as he stood up. It looked completely lifeless. There was even something weird with himself. It was like... he actually felt the process of aging stop. Like if he stayed here, he could live forever. Observing his surroundings, he also noticed a few rocks and foreign grass twisted and swirled unnaturally, like space itself was unstable. If there was a name to be applied to this completely alien dimension, he'd probably call it the distortion world. Seeing that staying there wouldn't do anything, he took his first step. To his right, a line of foot sized platforms appeared, like they want him to go somewhere. A screech bellowed through the void, forcing Ash to cover his ears as he saw a shadow pass over him before disappearing into the infinite distance. Was that... Giratina? Figuring that nothing else would happen, the trainer started hopping across the platforms, carefully making sure he didn't fall forever. When he eventually made it to a large slab, it's like gravity took hold and fell from its position, making Ash panic. But it only fell about 40 feet before coming to an abrupt stop, showing an assortment of rocks and platforms.
From then on, it was like a platform game, hopping from place to place, walking on walls when he found clinging to them like climbing to be unnecessary, strolling upside down which made Ash momentarily forget which way was up or down, and going down a waterfall that cascaded upward, encountering weird plant stalks and boulders that vanished and rematerialized as he walked. But despite all that, he was eventually able to find someone. And he happened to be Cyrus. Eventually reaching the same ground, he uttered,
"Finally."
"Giratina took me and left here. Was it consent of just interfering my plan? To me, it's all irrelevant. I will change the world and destroy this one." Turning to Ash, his expression was losing its sense of stoicism and showed hints of anger. "I won't lose. Not to that thing, and not to you, in any worthless world. I had a Pokémon team on me that I've had for years, but when this day came, just in case you would somehow manage to face against me, I switched and added a few Pokémon to my roster. One specifically meant to beat you. Machamp, go!" The first Pokémon that appeared on the field was a humanoid with bluish-grey skin and had a very muscular body with four arms. He also appeared to be wearing a sash that was not a natural part of the Superpower Pokémon.
"Machamp!" It roared as it flexed its muscles.
"Staraptor, Brave Bird!" Ash commanded. Flying at the fighting type, Staraptor glowed in a fiery aura before ramming into the Superpower Pokémon. But surprisingly, it was able to hang in there, just barely. Staraptor cringed from the recoil.
"Ice punch." The upper right fist glowing with bright blue energy, Machamp landed a chilling blow against the bird, whom fainted as result thanks to recoil.
"Staraptor, return." Ash grumbled, annoyed that his flying type lost to a fighting without a secondary type to at least neutralize it. "Floatzel, use Waterfall!" Forming water around himself, the Sea Weasel shot forth and splashed into Machamp. With a yell, he fell on his back, defeated.
"Return. Gyarados!" Remembering the Pokémon from his battle with Crasher Wake, Ash steeled himself upon see the Atrocity Pokémon again. It roared as a means of intimidating them. "Dragon Dance!" Weaving itself around in a dance like manner, it became surrounded in swirling purple clouds before orange energy surrounded the water/flying type, increasing its abilities.
"Use Ice Punch!"
"Bounce." With a slam of it's long body, Gyarados bounded upward before Floatzel could land the ice move.
"Waterfall!" Surrounding himself with water, he shot up like a geyser, landing an attack in the middle of the Atrocious Pokémon's midsection.
"Waterfall as well." Cyrus ordered. Repeating the move that Floatzel did, Gyarados rammed itself into the Sea Weasel, howling in pain from such a powerful attack before they plowed into the ground. From the dust, Floatzel was knocked out from a swipe of the foe's large tail.
"Return." Ash said. "Luxray, I choose you!" He yelled as he unleashed his electric lion. He growled trying to intimidate the giant serpent.
"Stone edge." Forming white orbs of energy that turned into sharp stones, the Atrocious Pokémon fired a barrage of rocks at Luxray at a speed he couldn't dodge and grunted from the pain of rocks pelting his body.
"Counter with Thunder Fang!" Sparking electricity in his mouth, he shot a blast of electricity at the water/flying type, dealing a super amount of damage to Cyrus's Pokémon, falling onto the ground hard, and fried.
"Return. Garchomp!" Ash felt a sense of dread from that name. Gible and Gabite were one thing, the Mach Pokémon was supposedly the best pseudo-legendary Pokémon in the world currently. Onto the field was a dark blue draconic Pokémon with a red underbelly and lots of spikes across its whole body. It has one white claw on each arm and large fins for deadly strikes and short term flying. On its back was a large dorsal fin and a long tail with fins on the end. It's eyes were black with gold irises. "Dig." Burrowing into the ground, Garchomp when Ash remembered something.
"Blink!" He ordered. That was the code for Luxray's special x-ray vision. Looking into the ground, he could see the dragon/ground type making his way through the ground to attack. Thanks to this, the Gleam Eyes Pokémon jumped out of the way just as Garchomp made its move. "Now use Crunch!" Before the Mach Pokémon could defend itself, Luxray pounced and bite down hard right on the dragon's throat, making the enemy extremely uncomfortable from that critical hit.
"Dragon Claw!" Its hand claw glowing light green, it slashed into Luxray's side, causing him to howl in pain. Pushing him off, the electric lion lay on the ground, fainted.
"Return." Ash called back his Pokémon. "You did good. You managed to hurt it quite well." He praised Luxray before sending out his newest Pokémon. "Mamoswine, I choose you!" Ash knew that the Garchomp had a fire type move if it was specific for him, but if she could survive it, he could level the playing field even more.
"Flamethrower." Fire started coming up from Garchomp's throat before it threw up a plume of fire, blasting against the Twin Tusk Pokémon as she roared in agony from the very hot attack.
"Mamoswine, use Hail!" Glowing pale blue, the ice/ground type roared as she created a mass of clouds above them and a heavy amount of golf ball sized bits of hail started raining down on everyone, particularly annoying Garchomp and Cyrus.
"How bothersome. Flamethrower again." The evil leader ordered. Ash smiled.
"Dodge." Thanks to the hail, this made it much easier for Mamoswine to dodge the attack despite her slower speed. "Now use Blizzard." From her mouth, a blast of cold wind and fierce snow raced through the hail and connected against the Mach Pokémon. It couldn't even make a noise from how powerful the hit was. Garchomp fell on its back, partially frozen.
"Return. Weavile!" It appeared to be a humanoid/weasel shaped bipedal Pokémon with dark grey skin. It had red feathers forming a semi round crown on the top front of its head, a full collar around its neck with one thinner red feather on its ears and two big feathers for a tail. Its hands were three big, white and thick claws. On its forehead was a orange crystal.
"Stone Edge!" Forming rocks around herself, Mamoswine fired a barrage of rocks at the Sharp Claw Pokémon, but the tiny creature managed to weave and wove around them with zero effort until it landed on one of the tusks of the mammoth like Pokémon.
"Low kick." Grinning, Weavile jumped off the tusk and swiped her claw underneath the extremely heavy ice/ground type, somehow generating enough power to trip and topple the shocked Mamoswine. With a whine, she crashed into the ground causing the ground to shake for a second.
"Return. Dusknoir, I choose you!" Floating in was the Gripper Pokémon.
"Night Slash." Both of its claws glowed neon purple as it charged at the ghost type. However, when Ash clapped his hands, Dusknoir's eye glowed red as a light blue room appeared around the two before Dusknoir managed to dodge with surprising speed. With a surprised gasp, the Weavile front flipped onto its feet to avoid falling on its face. Phasing into existence, Dusknoir stared down at the spooked dark type.
"Fire Punch!" Lighting its right fist in fire, he dealt a a hot punch to Weavile's face, smashing him into the ground.
"Night slash." Recovering quickly, The Sharp Claw Pokémon successfully slashed across Dusknoir's chest, causing him to groan quite strongly against the pain. "Again.
"Fire punch!" Even with the pain, Dusknoir lit his fist on fire again, and their respective hands clashed. The clash thus created an explosion that Ash and Cyrus had to defend against from all the golf ball sized hail that weren't vaporized just thrown at them as a result. When the dust cleared, it showed both Pokémon fainted. After returning their Pokémon, the hail stopped and all the hail on the ground started to melt. Ash was starting to become actually worried. He had only Torterra left and Cyrus still had two Pokémon. Well, as Barry said, go out hiding or go out fighting. Torterra, I choose you!" Last but certainly not least was his grass starter right from the beginning, the Continent Pokémon, Torterra. But what was scary, was that Cyrus actually smiled.
"I was waiting for your starter. That way I can utterly crush your spirit with this. Metagross!" A name just as infamous as Garchomp, Ash's face became fearful seeing the dreaded steel/psychic type crash onto the field. It was a large, turquoise colored disk shaped machine Pokémon with four legs. The main body was both the face in the front and the body and it looked like a mechanical spider, and the legs below the knees were thick with spikes at the bottom of each flat foot touching the ground. A grey cross adorned its face. "Iron Defense." Metagross's body started to glow white, making itself even more tougher. However, despite the challenge, Ash did have an idea.
"Torterra, use Seed Bomb at its joints!" Ash pleaded. Forming stones around himself, Torterra fired the rocks at the joints, causing a level of discomfort to the steel/psychic type.
"Interesting idea, but useless none the same. Agility." Tucking its legs in Metagross started moving faster, now vastly outpacing the slow grass starter.
"Stone Edge, all directions!" Ash commanded. Forming stones again, the Continent Pokémon fired them at any direction they were currently pointing at, some landing against the enemy, though much weaker. Ash and Cyrus had to dodge the rocks indirectly aimed at them.
"I've had enough. Immobilize him with Psychic." Cyrus ordered. Metagross's eyes glowed red, causing Torterra to glow blue. He tried struggling against the pull of being lifted up into the air, but being a turtle, there wasn't much he could do. With a flip, Torterra was slammed into the ground top shell down.
"Torterra!" Ash cried out.
"Hammer Arm." With its enhanced speed, Metagross delivered an extra hard attack against the underbelly of the Continent Pokémon, making him hurt so much he fainted. Ash couldn't believe it. He lost to Cryus. After Ash returned his starter, the Team Galactic leader chuckled. "I knew you wouldn't be able to beat me. I'm unstoppable. Now, begone from my sight." Metagross used psychic to levitate the devastated trainer off the ground, and threw him off the platform. "Now, with that out of the way, let's-"
"Not so fast, Cyrus!" His eye twitching from the interruption, he turned to see Dawn flying on Spike, having saved Ash from his eternal fall. "You may have beaten Ash, but you still have me to contend with!" The young researcher declared.
"If I have to crush you as well, so be it. Metagross, kill them with Psychic." Its eyes glowing red again, a blue aura surrounded them, causing them extreme pain as they yelled in agony.
"Spi... flame..." Dawn could'nt finish her sentence, but it was enough where the struggling Togekiss spewed fire from his mouth, blasting the Iron Leg Pokémon, overwhelming it as it fell to the ground really hard, fainted. The blue outline around them dissipated, escaping a certain death.
"Whew, that was close." Ash sighed. "Thanks for the save."
"You're welcome." She replied back as they landed on the platform, and got off of him.
"So what if you've pushed me into a corner? You're not even a trainer. You stand no chance. Tyranitar!" His final Pokémon was mighty imposing. It was a tall, bipedal dinosaur like creature with a sick green armor like hide protecting most its body, although its belly had blue armor. It had to rows of spikes starting from the back of its head to the bottom of its shoulders somewhat like a stegosaurus. It had claws for hands and at the end of its feet. Spikes circled its long tail. Upon coming out, it roared as sand started pouring out from the kinks in its armor, making it hard to see. Dawn smiled.
"Cobalt, I choose you!" Throwing her Luxury Ball, her little Riolu came onto the field, although he had to shield his eyes from the sand. "Cobalt, I believe in you! We can do this!" Feeling empowered from her praise, Cobalt gave a roar before he started to glow white. He became taller, the appendages on his head went from two to four, and spikes appeared on his chest and hands. When it was done, Cobalt growled as a Lucario.
"Alright Cobalt! You evolved!"
"Worthless. Fire Blast!" From the other side of the sandstorm, a 大 fire attack flew across the field, aimed at Cobalt. Sensing this, he put his hands back, forming an orb of blue energy before firing it at the fire attack, stopping it in its tracks before it exploded.
"Wow! You learned aura sphere! Now, use Screech!" Ash put his hands over his ears before Cobalt screamed a high pitched shockwave that hurt both Tyranitar and Cyrus's ears.
"Augh! Fire Blast!" Cyrus demanded. Performing the same move, Dawn knew what to do.
"Cobalt, Force Palm!" Grinning, Cobalt ran ahead right for the fire attack. Once the attack fired and was on its way, the blue jackal jumped over it and rolled before finding his target and laying a palm on the Armor Pokemon's belly. A second passed before a powerful explosion came from the Aura Pokémon's paw. The explosion was so powerful that it blew away all of the sand in the area. Once the dust cleared, the tall rock/dark type stared down at the smiling Lucario. They just stood there before Tyranitar groaned as he fell to his side, defeated with one blow. At this, Cyrus went into an outrage for the first time.
"No! This can't be! Not after all the sacrifices! What of my new world?! My new universe?! Was it all a dream to be swept away by your reality?!" Realizing emotion was overwhelming him, Cyrus took a few deep breaths as he returned his Tyranitar, though Cobalt simply returned to her side, not returning to his ball. "It seems like you're the only one left. Don;t think you can beat or capture that creature. This distortion is also the Pokémon. Defeat it in any way, and you will cause this world to disappear, along with our own world." Chuckling to himself, he sneered, "How ironic. The one to destroy both worlds would be one of you. You will make my legacy a reality, even if it's not the universe I wanted."
"What utter nonsense that is." The last voice called him out. Everybody turned their attention to Cynthia that finally arrived. "I seem to have a habit of running late when it matters, don't I? Anyway, your theory makes no sense. From my historical findings the past couple of years, something even older than Dialga and Palkia created this shadowy Pokémon, Giratina. Something so old that no record remembers its name. But after Giratina caused too much damage in the universe, the primordial creature put Giratina here, which either existed at the same time as our world or was specifically made to contain Giratina. Whether Dawn or even I beat it or capture it, there is no cause and effect that would lead to the destruction of both worlds. It simply wouldn't make sense." The Pokémon Champion explained. "What I believe is the more likely case is that Giratina is enraged that you Cyrus endangered both worlds." He growled at that. "I'm sure it would understand our intentions."
"Bah, its just a mindless beast. It would never understand anything you say." Cyrus objected. A loud screech filled the area as a shadow briefly flew over them before the legendary Pokemon in question revealed itself, in all of its intimidating glory. It is a large, grey, serpentine draconic Pokémon that hovered in the air with its six long, ghostly streamers growing from its back acting like wings that had a red spike on each end. It had three grey and golden tipped spikes on each side of its body, and four additional spikes at the end of its tail. It appeared to have a golden crown that covered its mouth pointing towards the back of its head, and a long black and red striped line going down its front surrounded by three incomplete golden rings. Ash, Dawn and Cobalt were frozen in shock and fear at the sight of it, Cyrus was undeterred, and Cynthia was marveling at its mere existence. Stepping up to it, Cynthia spoke to it,
"Giratina, me and my friends have no quarrel with you. That man there, he was the one that unbalanced the worlds." Cyrus gave her a death glare, angered that she just through him under the bus like that. "But we stopped him. All we want now, is to just go home and return things the way they were. Please." The dragon/ghost type Pokemon stared at the unmoving champion, then looked at all the other humans. Giving out one last cry, before flying back into the air. Where it hovered, a portal was breached, showing a section of the Sinnoh region at night. Cynthia smiled. "It understood."
"That Pokémon..." Cyrus spoke, his emotion returning back to full on rage. "...You quelled its anger by refusing to battle it?! Your doing so means that both worlds will remain in existence! Does that make it impossible for me to create a new world? Even if I made new red chains, the new world can't be made! Why?! What compels you to protect the two worlds? Why is spirit, a vague and incomplete thing, so important to you?!" He questioned the champion. The woman said nothing for a few seconds before answering back,
"The places where we are born. The time we spend living. The languages we speak. We are all different, but Pokémon is what unites us together. We share our lives with Pokémon, and our happiness grows as we all become greater than we are alone. That is why we battle and trade with anyone we choose." Cyrus looked disgusted with her answer as he turned away from her.
"Enough of your blathering. That's how you justify spirit as something worthwhile? That's just humanity hoping, deluding themselves that they are happy and safe. The emotions roiling inside me... Rage, hatred, frustration... These ugly emotions arise because of my own incomplete spirit." He stopped for a few seconds as he once again went stoic, even looking dead with how defeated he looks. "...Enough. We will never see eye to eye. This, I promise you. I will break the secrets of the world. With that knowledge, I will create my own complete and perfect world. One day, you will awaken to a world of my creation. A world without spirit." With that said, he walked to the edge of the platform, and jumped off, going off into the infinite void. Cynthia looked sad, evident that she couldn't change his mind. "Because there's sadness, we can also feel joy. When there's anger, there's also compassion. Let's go home." Cynthia was the first to go through the portal. Ash, Dawn and Cobalt followed suite.
Upon exiting the portal, they all found themselves at some sort of pond with a fishing pier on the other side in what appeared to be a natural crater. While the teens weren't familiar with it, Cynthia's eyes instantly recognized it.
"This place?!"
"Where is this place?" Dawn asked the champion.
"Sendoff Spring. It's where the deceased go to. It's where they take a journey to the afterlife. Could what we just experienced be the Pokémon afterlife? What a remarkable revelation." Looking back at the two teenagers, she simply shook her head as her face filled with more and more joy. "You two are incredible! Fantastic! Let me say this on behalf of all Sinnoh: thank you!" Ash wasn't sure about Dawn, but to him, this was... he couldn't describe it. His number one idol was praising him. For saving the world. He didn't know how to express how... how ecstatic and jubilated he was. "Oh, you must go to Prof. Rowan! I'd imagine he's very worried about you. He's at Sandgem Town as of currently."
"Uh... we'll be a minute. I think we need to take the time to lie down after... all of that." The young researcher explained. Cynthia smiled.
"I understand. That was likely a lot for a couple of teenagers like yourselves, only expecting a typical adventure. I'll leave you two alone." And with that, Cynthia brought out her Togekiss and flew off into the night. The two teens watched her fly away until they couldn't see her anymore. Looking at each other, they sighed as they fell back onto their backs at the same time, their bodies aching from all that action. Cobalt whom stayed behind while the humans talked rushed to her to see if anything was wrong with his master.
"Oh, hey Cobalt." Dawn sighed with happiness, happy and proud of her newly evolved Aura Pokémon. "Why don't you take a rest as well? We need a lie down after what just happened." Nodding and grunting in acknowledgment, he walked off several tens of feet before sitting down in a lotus position and meditating. Ash and Dawn looked at each other, feeling so exhausted now that all the danger was over and the adrenaline was leaving their bodies.
"You know, uh... how about we just take a short nap? Before we see " Ash suggested.
"Okay." Dawn nodded once, feeling so sleepy all of the sudden since the danger was over and the adrenaline was wearing off. Crawling towards each other, they held each other in their arms, snuggling close as their exhaustion overtook them.
A/N: This took a while, and it feels so worth it. I thought I could toughen up Cyrus's team a bit, because using Pokémon that were primarily weak to electric and rock attacks felt a little... odd. Especially for someone willing to take any chances and all precautions to achieve godhood. I'm just saying. Also, to answer a few questions you have given, Jeannot2978; you may have actually given me an idea on the Pikachu thing. You'll see. As for Barry, no. He's not going to be a romantic foil of sort. For someone like Dawn, he seems too energetic and scatterbrained when nothing serious is going on. At least I hope that's how I written it in past chapters. The aura thing, no as well. I've explained to one of my other followers on PM asking the same question, and I quote myself, "No, that's not part of the story. I mean, it's cool whenever Ash in the anime uses aura, but considering how little he uses it anyway, it seems sort of pointless in my opinion. What's the use of having aura powers if you're not going to use it consistently after knowing the fact? Plus, I'm relying more on the game than the anime, and the game protagonists, Lucas/Dawn, doesn't have aura. Or even if he/she did, they never used it. Riley is the only aura user in this story." The reason I didn't say that before in an A/N like this was because I didn't want to maybe upset those who think he should have it. At least at the time. But now that the Team Galactic business is over with, I have no problem saying that. Thank you for leaving me reviews about the story Jeannot2978, and I hope the rest of my regular followers leave reviews as well. What did you all think? I can't wait to write the next chapter of the story.