Chapter 37: The Emperor of the Ocean

The veterans and Zennon were having a stare down, and Quinton, Rebecca, and Lucia looked on from a safe distance as Salamence flew around the battlefield.

"How well can you two fight together?" Quinton asked suddenly. The two girls turned their heads to the man.

"What?" Beatrice asked.

"...Well…We can fight together pretty well, honestly…" Lucia said. "We've beaten strong enemies and-"

"Beatrice," Quinton said, cutting Lucia off quickly. Lucia narrowed her eyes in annoyance.

"Hey!" The annoyed purple-haired girl cried.

"If you two were to fight together against me," Quinton asked. "Would you win?"

"Wha-" Beatrice's eyes widened. "I-... I don't-"

"Answer the question. If you two were to fight me, would you win? Yes, or no?"

"I-..." Beatrice blinked in confusion. "I-.. uh-.."

"Yeah! Duh!" Lucia cried. "We can beat anyon-"

"I wasn't asking for your opinion," Quinton said. "I was asking Beatrice."

Lucia grumbled. "...Jeez- you're a jerk."

"I want to hear it from Beatrice's mouth." Quinton said. "Can you win?"

Beatrice said nothing.

"Answer the question! It's important- extremely important!" Quinton cried.

"I-... Y-Yes.." Beatrice nodded. "Yes- Yes, we could beat you."

"See!?" Lucia cried.

Quinton nodded slowly.

"Good. Now, I want you to listen to me," Quinton said. "I have a plan in mind, but I'm not going to say what it is."

"...Okay?" Lucia said.

Beatrice listened intently.

"Beatrice," Quinton said, placing his hand on his daughter's shoulder. "My first plan, Plan A, didn't work. I'm currently working on plan B, and I won't say a word of what it is. Now when- and only when you catch onto what my plan is- that's when I want you to give Lucia the signal to fight. Do not fight at all until then."

"What?" Lucia asked. "So, what if that Aldrich guy comes in- you don't want us to fight until Beatrice's say so?"

"Yes." Quinton said.

"What makes you think we'll-"

"...I understand," Beatrice said with a nod.

"WHAT?!" Lucia cried.

"Lucia," Beatrice said, turning her head to her friend. "I know you can't trust my Fath-...er-...Teacher, but you can trust me, right?"

"...Yeah…" Lucia grumbled. "Yeah, fine, whatever- Jeez. I'll do what you say- but if that Aldrich guy comes in and starts hurting my parents-I'm going in no matter what."

"And I won't stop you," Beatrice said. She turned to her father. "Any objections?"

"None," Quinton said. "Now, I want you two to just watch and learn. You're about to watch the trio who managed to beat me."

Zennon's eyes were no longer glowing red. They were glowing a sapphire blue. He bared his teeth and growled at the three veterans, who kept their eyes on him.

The veterans kept their eyes on the berserk Zennon.

"Lucian," Rebecca said, "tell Flygon to charge his strongest attack. Marie and I will distract him."

"Got it," Lucian said.

Without another word, Flygon flew upwards, carrying the ones boarding him along and leaving Rebecca and Gardevoir behind.

Zennon bellowed a war cry. He crouched before sending his body flying after the two. Waves of water flew up into the air in Zennon's wake. Both Pokémon and trainer shot their arms out to summon a massive Reflect barrier that had the shape of a massive mirror. Zennon's fist crashed into the barrier with incredible force, the waves behind the duo exploded from behind them.

Zennon pulled his fists back and began punching the barrier rapidly, he screamed and howled like a feral beast as his fists hammered the cracking barrier. Soon, he planted a final punch onto the barrier that cracked like glass and opened his other fist as water particles gathered to form an orb. The telekinetic duo's eyes widened. As Zennon brought the water orb up to the barrier, the two teleported away from a full-powered Hydro cannon that completely engulfed and shattered the barrier they formed.

As Zennon glared in furious rage upon realizing his move missed- psychic energy held his body his place. He struggled to look up at the sky to see Gardevoir and Rebecca aiming their hands down at him.

"TIME TO RIDE THE LIGHTNING!" Marie roared. Zennon looked up and saw what looked like an electric rocket flying his way- and as it came closer it was revealed to be Marie and Pichu, both flying in for a dive kick.

It was a direct hit to Zennon's chest- the three of them went deep into the ocean waters below- it looked like the electric duo were riding him like a surfboard into the depths. Suddenly- the both of them burst into lightning before zipping away. As Zennon flipped his body around to recover, two bolts of lightning started flying around him like house flies. They rammed into him and flew by him again and again, and Zennon's body twisted and reeled with every blow.

Zennon's body began to shine again as the two bolts of lightning started spiraling around him. Zennon crossed his arms.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" With a boisterous war cry, Zennon opened his arms and released a shockwave blast of energy that expanded and exploded around him, knocking the two thunderbolts that transformed back into Pichu and Marie respectively, away. Quickly, Zennon shot his body upward, and came out from the water like a rocket. Rebecca and Gardevoir, who had just seen this, shout in terror as Zennon grabbed Rebecca by the ankle and threw her into the water with so much force that the ocean splashed like a giant boulder had fallen into it.

Gardevoir's eyes widened in sheer horror, and that horror was replaced with immense rage. A psychic aura exploded like fire around the Gardevoir as she rushed over to Zennon. The two exchanged blows like they were fighting for their lives.

Meanwhile, Flygon, who was circling the area with an orb of light forming in front of his mouth suddenly gasped upon seeing what happened to Rebecca. Lucian glared furiously.

"Darn it..!" He cried. "Forget the plan!" The orb of light in front of Flygon exploded and disappeared as his trainer pulled out another Pokéball. Out from it was his Sneasel, who came out of it and sat on the Flygon's back with a battle cry. "I'm leaving Sneasel with you- I'm going in!" Lucian leapt off of Flygon's back, leaving Sneasel to ride him in his place. Lucian's invoker glowed with Flygon's dragon type power as his jet-boots blasted to life and pushed him faster toward the ocean floor and into the water.

Meanwhile, Zennon and Gardevoir continued their fight in the sky- their kicks and punches clashed with one another again and again. Gardevoir's fist flew in the air and Zennon deflected it before managing to grab Gardevoir by the head. He then roared and dove toward the ocean along with her. As the two crashed into the water- a gigantic pillar of water flew into the air. Gardevoir's eyes clenched closed as she endured the force of being dragged across the water with monstrous strength. Zennon then tossed Gardevoir into the air, and the psychic type recovered with a flip before shooting both hands out to blast Energy balls toward Zennon who leapt after her. With a whip of his arm, Zennon deflected the oncoming grass-type moves, closed in, and landed a devastating uppercut onto Gardevor's gut. Spit shot out of the Psychic type's mouth as she was sent flying high into the air.

Zennon's feet remained on the water as though he stood on it as he watched Gardevoir fly so high that she was out of sight.

Suddenly, Marie's hands came from under the water and grabbed Zennon by the ankles. Electricity coursed through Zennon's entire body as he cried out in pain. And then- right in front of him, something rose from beneath the surface- it wasn't Pichu, nor was it Marie-

It was Lucian, carrying an unconscious Rebecca in his arms like a bride. Lucian looked down at Rebecca and grit his teeth in rage before tossing is wife into the air.

Just then, Flygon came swooping in, and Sneasel hung from the side of the dragon type with her arm extended. Sneasel managed to grab Rebecca by the hand as Flygon flew to safety. Lucian then looked down angrily at the still-being-electrified Zennon, exploded with dragon-type energy and darted toward him. As he flew, he pulled his fist, which ignited into flames before punching Zennon right in the face.

The strike was strong enough to send Zennon's body flying and spiraling out of control. His body bounced on the water like he was a pebble.

"DRAGOOOON..!" Lucian's entire body erupted in an azure blue aura that slowly took the shape of a massive winged dragon. "RUUUUUUSH!" Lucian flew after Zennon, carrying the dragonic energy along with him.

Rebecca suddenly gasped for air and raised her body. Realizing that she was lying on Flygon's back alongside Sneasel, she placed a hand on her head.

"Where's Gardevoir?" Rebecca asked, shaking her head quickly. Sneasel pointed up at the sky. Rebecca nodded as her body shined with psychic energy and teleported.

Zennon's body continued to spiral and spin about as he flew uncontrollably. Keeping up right beside him was Marie, who flew from the ocean like a dolphin and donning the electric-fish tail that Pichu had morphed himself into. She dove into the water again and jumped out of it, effectively keeping up with the still-flying Zennon. Just as Zennon flipped to regain control of himself, he landed on his feet- and the momentum pulled his body as his fingers and feet dragged across the water. Just as the momentum faded, Zennon stood up straight and then gasped upon seeing Marie's electric fish tail circle him. An eruption of electricity burst from the ocean and exploded like a geyser from below the man, and he cried out in agony. His body became completely paralyzed, and he could do nothing but watch as Lucian closed in.

"HERE I COOOME!" Lucian cried. Zennon cried out in absolute horror- and then that horror-filled scream turned into rage.

"ORIGIN..!" Zennon roared. Rays of water-type energy rose like geysers around Zennon's body and spiraled around him- soon, the rays of energy wrapped themselves around Zennon and formed a bubble-shaped barrier that surged around him as he and it slowly rose higher into the air.

"PUUUUUUUUULSE!" Zennon cried.

The barrier suddenly expanded in size, meeting Lucian's massive attack head-on and clashing with it.

Lucian shouted and cried out, struggling to push against the massive orb- but soon saw himself being pushed back. Lucian gritted his teeth as the blue energy pushed through his dragon-type energy and onto his face.

"He's… Too… Powerful..!" Lucian's body was flung far away into the sky, and just then, Flygon swooped in. Sneasel caught Lucian by the hand as Flygon flew away.

"Darn it..!" Said Rebecca, appearing in the middle of the empty sky, looking around for Gardevoir. "Where is she..!?"

"Swampert!" Swampert cried. Rebecca swung her head down and saw Swampert, who was swimming with a fallen, but not unconscious Gardevoir on her back. Rebecca beamed with happiness as she flew down toward her. Gardevoir grinned weakly at Rebecca.

"Thank goodness," Rebecca said. "You still have a bit of energy left to fight, right?"

Gardevoir nodded. Rebecca slammed the thunderbolt sigil that was on her invoker armor's Chest plate. It was the button that would activate Gardevoir's Dynamax form. Rebecca and Gardevoir grabbed hands before teleporting away, leaving Swampert behind.

Zennon continued to scream even louder. The orb around him became even bigger and bigger. Marie, from a safe distance, watched in terror.

"How is he so much stronger than Aiden was..!?" Marie cried. "Is it because of what's going on in his mind..?" Marie clenched her fists in fear. "Zennon….!"

Suddenly, a massive shadow loomed over Marie. She turned her head about in fear before turning up to the sky. Her eyes widened in surprise- which turned into happiness.

Lucian, who was riding on Flygon, saw the shadow that was looming and looked up.

A massive smile came to the man's face.

It was Gardevoir's massive, Dynamaxed body falling from the sky. The massive Pokémon landed with a massive crash, the waves around her rose and exploded outward with incredible intensity. As Gardevoir landed with a crouch, she slowly rose her back, and after standing up straight, she looked over to the orb that formed around Zennon.

Zennon, despite being in his berserk state, looked up at the massive Gardevoir in fear. Rebecca, who stood on the massive Pokémon's shoulder, shot her hand out in front of her. "Use Zen-headbutt!" She cried.

Gardevoir raised both of her arms and placed her hands on the sides of the orb Zennon was in. She then leaned her head back- and her head started to shine with bright psychic-type energy.

Then, she slammed her forehead onto the orb. Sparks flew before a massive explosion rang out on impact, and Zennon's body flew straight into the ocean like a meteor. The ocean exploded upon impact- leaving a splash of water that was intense and wide. Just then- Gardevoir's body shined white before slowly reverting back to her normal size- her body shrank to the point that she was floating in the air alongside her trainer once again.

Flygon and Sneasel flew right by the floating psychic duo, and Sneasel took in a sharp breath before turning and letting out a blizzard from her mouth. The cold from the icy winds froze the water in Flygon's wake as he continued to soar into the air. Marie's eyes widened in realization, and she leapt into the air high enough for Flygon and Sneasel to fly right by from under her. Marie's body shone yellow as she and Pichu separated and fell onto the now frozen solid ground below. The thunder duo landed with a crouch and turned their heads to see Lucian walking over to them. The duo then looked up to see Rebecca and Gardevoir slowly descending from the sky like feathers and smiling down at them.

"Good to see you're okay," Marie said to Rebecca, who nodded in response as the two psychics finally landed on their two feet.

Swampert suddenly cried out her own name, and the veterans turned their heads to see Swampert hurriedly coming their way. Once the water/ground type met them, she smiled brightly.

"Thanks again for the save, Swampert." Rebecca said, approaching and patting the head of the water type. Swampert cried out her own name happily. "I'm glad such a trustworthy Pokémon's a part of my daughter's team," She said.

Flygon swooped in just then, and landed right behind Lucian, who turned to them. Lucian patted Flygon's head, then pointed a finger at Sneasel.

"You did good, Sneasel," Lucian said. "but- I didn't tell you to freeze the water! Marie could have been hurt!"

Sneasel pointed a finger back at Lucian and cried her own name in anger.

"What're you yelling at me for!?" Lucian cried. "Are you trying to say that I should have ended the fight sooner!? What're you-" Sneasel cried out and lunged at Lucian, clawing and cutting his face up as his trainer tried prying her off. "GET OFF OF ME!"

The rest of the group started laughing as Lucian struggled to finally yank Sneasel off of his face and toss him away.

"Jeez!" Lucian cried. He went into his pockets and tossed an Oran berry Sneasel's way, who caught it midair, and ate it proudly. Lucian then sighed, pulled his Pokeball, and then tried returning Sneasel to her ball. Sneasel quickly dodged the laser that came from the Pokeball while still eating her oran berry.

"GET IN THE BALL!" Lucian cried. He tried aiming his pokeball like a gun at the Sneasel who dodged carelessly again and again with her arms behind her back and a winking grin. Lucian groaned and sighed after trying many times to return her to her ball. "Fine- whatever- stay out, "Lucian said with a defeated sigh. "Always a pain in my butt- aren't you?"

Sneasel stuck out her tongue.

"It's nice to laugh a bit," Marie said. "But-.. Zennon.."

"I'm sure Zennon's fine," Rebecca said.

"I mean-"

"He took a full-powered Fire punch from me," Lucian interrupted, "and could still stand. He's absolutely fine."

"No-" Marie said. "I know Zennon's fine, I'm not worried about that. I'm worried if he still has some fight left in him."

That's when the ice below them shook. All three of the adults' eyes widened.

They waited. Only seconds had passed but it felt like hours. The ones who stood above the ice shifted their eyes back and forth, waiting for a sign of movement. Marie could hear her heartbeat pound in her ears.

Where was he?

As the blonde turned her head around, Zennon's arms ripped through the ice floor from below her. Marie couldn't even let out a scream before she felt ice-cold hands grab her by the ankles. Within seconds- she was pulled under water. Zennon and Marie's eyes met before the berserk man grabbed the blonde by the throat. Marie struggled to break free from Zennon's hold like a cornered animal. Their bodies spun about in the ocean waters as they fought- bubbles rose around them and flew out each of their noses. Zennon's grip was strong. Too strong. Marie thought fast- she summoned electricity using her invoker armor and tried to shock Zennon's body- electricity blasted outward and around the crazed man opened his mouth to let bubbles out. Despite the pain, Zennon still held on strong. Instinct carried the blonde's fists to her assailant's chest, then sides, then face. She punched again and again, but nothing she did could weaken his grip on her throat. Marie's lungs burned, and her fists were moving slower by the second. Her punches were slowly relenting as her body began to tremble. Her lungs were begging for air at this point- and her brain's natural instinct to survive was going to work against her. Her brain was eventually going to force her to breathe- and the moment that happened, it would be all over.

No.

Not yet.

If Marie was going to die here- she was determined to do one thing- one thing she'd wanted to do before dying. With one last burst of strength- Marie's body moved. She kissed Zennon right on the lips and wrapped her arms around him.

Zennon's eyes widened.

The rest of the group stood frozen, too surprised to move, let alone speak.

"H-Hey-" Lucian said quickly. "Sn-Sneasel-" Lucian said quickly. "You have to go after her-!" Lucian cried. Sneasel nodded, and she ran over to the hole. Just before she was about to dive in-

Zennon burst out from the hole, gasping for air and pulling Marie's still body out of the freezing water and onto the ice floor. Once his knees touched the ice, Zennon shuffled over to Marie, quickly administering CPR on her.

"Come on! PLEASE!" Zennon cried, pushing on her chest with both of his hands. "Come on, come on, come on, COME ON!" Marie's body lurched with every pump of Zennon's hands.

The rest of the group just watched in horror. "COME ON!" Zennon cried, lunging and pressing his lips against hers to give her air. He pulled away and kept pushing on his chest.

"Wake up! Wake up! You have to wake up!" Zennon quickly did a mouth-to mouth procedure again.

Rebecca put her hand on her mouth as tears began to roll down her cheek. From behind the mother, Salamence flew and landed on the icy floor. Lucia, Beatrice and Quinton hopped off and stared.

No one could tear their eyes away from Zennon who cried and screamed. "PLEASE!" Zennon cried. "NO!" He kept pushing on Marie's lifeless body. "PLEASE! PLEASE, PLEASE PLEASE, PLEAAAAASE...! DON'T LEAVE ME! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!" His pleading turned into sobbing. "Please don't leave me…!" Zennon wailed at the top of his lungs loudly in pain.

Suddenly- water flew out of Marie's mouth. Everyone in the area gasped as Marie started coughing loudly. She fought for every breath as she choked and spattered, but soon, she stopped. She breathed labored breaths as she looked up at Zennon.

She smiled.

Tears of sorrow turned into tears of joy as Zennon hugged Marie.

"Thank you-..!" Zennon cried, as though he were thanking a god that had decided to grant him mercy. "Thank you- Thank you- Thank you..!"

Lucia and Beatrice were already crying tears of joy at that moment. Beatrice turned her head to see her father with his back turned to everyone. Quinton turned his head back a bit to see his daughter staring at him and turned away.

"Something wrong.. .Teacher?" Beatrice asked.

"...My vision got a little blurry, that's all," Quinton said, sniffling loudly. "Don't worry about it." He said. Beatrice smiled, then turned her head to see the others surrounding Marie and Zennon. "Let's go, Teacher," Beatrice said. Quinton nodded.

"...Hey Sneasel..?" Lucian said. "Do me a favor and freeze this place completely? If that Aldrich guy's coming back, Shallow ice isn't a good place to fight in." Sneasel nodded, and put her hand on the icy floor. A light icy wind blew around her hand as the ice began to harden. Even the hole that was left behind when Zennon pulled Marie into the depths froze over. Lucian sighed in relief.

"Now," Quinton said as he and Beatrice approached Lucian from behind. Lucian turned to Quinton. "Aldrich should be here any minute, any suggestions?"

"We kick his butt." Lucian said.

Quinton groaned.

"Not the kind of plan I had in mind." He said. "God, you're worthless. Beatrice-" Quinton turned to her daughter, who raised her eyebrows.

"Yes?"

"Let out your Ninetales. Now."

"Oh- uh, Okay.." Beatrice pulled out her Pokeball and tossed it. Out of it came Ninetales, who let out a cry.

"Perfect. Now you're more useful than this maggot here," Quinton said, turning to Lucian again.

"Excuse me?" Lucian said. He crossed his arms. "Tough talk for someone who lost both of his Pokemo-"

"GUYS!" Rebecca cried, she shot her finger at the sky, and everyone in the vicinity turned their heads. A spatial rift had been formed in the middle of the sky.

"It's- It's Palkia's..!?" Lucia cried.

Suddenly, an all too familiar white-as-chalk hand popped out of the spatial rift.

"JUDGEMENT!" Aldrich cried. A sparkling white lightning bolt came out from the man's hand and flew like a bullet. In an instant, Lucian, Flygon, Swampert, Sneasel, Gardevoir and Rebecca leapt out of the way- but the others stood and watched in horror as the lightning bolt came flying, aiming specifically for one person:

Beatrice.

As the lightning bolt raced, Quinton opened his mouth.

"ROAR OF TIME!"

An explosion of temporal energy exploded from where Quinton's body, catching Salamence, Beatrice, Nintales Marie and Zennon in the blast. Lucian and his group watched on as the temporal shockwave sprung to life.

Slowly, Aldrich emerged from the spatial rift, carrying the unconscious Palkia by his claws with a single hand.

"A shame that Quinton will be frozen in time as you all fall before me," Aldrich said, tossing the spatial Pokémon aside like a piece of garbage. The giant Pokémon landed on the icy ground, leaving behind a terrible crack in the ice as it crash-landed.

Lucian and Rebecca glared at the god-like man.

"You're not going to get away with this!" Lucian cried.

Quinton stared at the sparkling white lightning bolt that was right in front of him and Beatrice. Everyone around him were still like statues- for they were frozen in time.

Judgment.

This was a move Arceus could use against its enemies, but whenever using it, it held back- because if it didn't, then its enemies would not only be vaporized- but their bodies would also be erased from existence with no hope of recovery. Aldrich wielded Arceus's power, so of course, he wasn't going to hold back. He wanted to completely destroy Beatrice's body and disintegrate her into nothing. The thought of it made Quinton's skin crawl.

Simply moving Beatrice out of the way, and the lightning bolt would simply hit the ground, to not hit anyone else, would have been the sensible thing to do. The lightning bolt was simply too thin to explode on impact. Aldrich couldn't risk hitting Quinton in the crossfire. Because Quinton was standing next to Beatrice- and Aldrich assumed that.

His plan B was going very, very smoothly. And now it was time for it's final phase. Quinton took a deep breath.

He wasn't going to pull Beatrice out of the way.

No.

Instead- he was going to sacrifice himself and take the attack in her place.

This was a looong chapter! but i enjoyed every second of it. I hope you guys enjoyed :) More to come next week!