Chapter 35: Plan B
Aldrich looked down at his opponents.
"How did you tear a rift into reality..?!" Lucian cried. Aldrich smirked.
"It attempted to flee before I knocked it unconcious." The deity answered. "It's a shame, I would have destroyed it, but doing that would shatter all of space and time."
"Then what about Quinton's Dusknoir!? Where is he!?" Lucian cried.
"Floating in space as we speak. Quinton has no need of it anyway." Aldrich raised his arms to the sky as though he were praising a god. A rainbow aura exploded around the man's body as his eyes and grin broadened. "Soon, Quinton will be granted this power, this splendid, beautiful power… and then… he will bring true life to this meaningless, blighted world!"
"Shut up!" Rebecca cried.
"You're just talking nonsense- have you lost your mind!?" Lucian shouted.
"Oh, Lucian, Rebecca," Aldrich said. "It is a shame that things have to be this way. Quinton should be the one to erase you both from this world- but I will do it in his place." Aldrich raised his arm as though he were lifting a dumbbell and clenched his fist. "And I will take joy from it...!" Aldrich shot his open hand above his head, and a salvo of white lightning flew into the sky. The clouds darkened once the lightning touched them, and spread out quickly, darkening the entire area as though night had come. Slowly, Aldrich lowered his arm and pointed his finger at the enemies below him. "JUDGEMENT!" He cried, and from the clouds came a gigantic thunderbolt of white lightning.
The group saw the lightning coming and leapt out of the way, scattering like bowling pins. After landing, Swampert and Sneasel opened their mouths and released blasts of water and ice respectively. Flying for the same target, the beams of ice and water mixed together to create icy water that broadened in size like a laser beam before flying at the still Aldrich.
Aldrich's skin turned blue.
The god-like man simply raised his open hand to block the icy hydro cannon, and the water splashed out as he did.
"GARDEVOOOOIIIR!"
From behind Aldrich was the mighty roar of a Dynamaxed Gardevoir, who grew to a tremendous size and loomed over him. And despite this, the god didn't move a muscle, nor did he even turn. He just kept smiling to himself as Rebecca, who stood on the psychic's shoulder pointed her finger.
"Use Mach punch!" Rebecca cried.
Gardevoir raised her massive arm and thrust it directly at Aldrich's back.
Aldrich's skin turned pink.
Without even turning around, Aldrich moved his arm behind him and raised his pointer finger. Gardevoir's attack connected… but Aldrich had successfully blocked the attack with a single finger.
"WHAT?!" Rebecca said. Aldrich slowly turned his head to the duo. He smiled a venomous smile.
"Rebecca… How much do you love your Gardevoir?" Aldrich asked.
Sheer terror washed over the woman as the man opened his palm.
"Teleport, NOW!" Rebecca cried. The psychic type teleported herself and Rebecca away from the massive blast of white thunder that erupted from his hand and flew toward the ice floor. Upon contact with the ice, the lightning burst and erupted to the sky like a geyser- all of the ice that entrapped the entire forest shined white as it dissolved to nothing. In nearly a blink of an eye, everything, including the temporal energy that shrouded the noncombatants fell to the grassy floor.
It was as though the ice was never there to begin with.
Gardevoir and Rebecca appeared again, standing behind Swampert and Sneasel, who watched in sheer terror. Lucian and Flygon were in the air, flying side by side.
Aldrich turned and stared at his enemies as his skin turned white, "Now do you see!? This power of mine..!?" Aldrich raised his arms out in an embrace. "THIS IS THE POWER MY GOD WILL WIELD..! And I will use it to EXTERMINATE you!"
Rebecca placed one hand on Gardevoir's massive head and sighed in worry as she watched Aldrich taunt them. From beside her floated Lucian.
"I want you to sit this one out," Lucian said.
"What!?" Rebecca cried, spinning her head to her husband. "What do you mean!?"
"You saw what he can do." Lucian said. "He nearly erased you and Gardevoir."
"Are you saying that I can't fight him!?"
"I'm saying that you're rusty from not fighting after all this time. All it takes is one slip up, and Lucia will wound up having to live the rest of her life without a mother. And me, without a wife." Lucian chuckled a bit at the absurdity of that claim, as though he wished that he were joking.. "She and I wouldn't last five minutes without you."
"I.." Rebecca gritted her teeth. "Then-.. What do you expect me to do- just watch!?"
"Turn Gardevoir back to normal size, then keep watch. If I or my Pokémon get into a pinch, teleport us out of danger. We can't risk getting hit even once by that lightning." Lucian looked down. Rebecca narrowed her eyes and lowered her head.
"If only I hadn't stopped training.." She said, Lucian patted her shoulder.
"No-" Lucian said. "You had to be a mother first and foremost." He grabbed his wife by her shoulders and turned her to him. The two leaned in and kissed each other on the lips before Lucian pulled away. He turned to his Flygon, and the two exchanged nods. Lucian then floated downward toward Sneasel and Swampert, who both looked up at him in curiosity. "Sneasel," Lucian said, "you're with me. Swampert, sit this one out."
Swampert shook her head quickly. Lucian narrowed his eyes.
"You're not going to do what I say regardless, huh? Well- you're not my Pokémon. You're my daughter's. And you're reminding me a lot of her right now. Fine. Let's work together." Lucian's jet boots disengaged, and he landed on the floor.
"Are you finished saying your prayers?!" Aldrich's booming voice cried out to them from the sky. "Come, Lucian and Rebecca! Come and face-"
"Change of plans!" Lucian said, marching his way to Aldrich. Aldrich slowly descended toward the ground- the old man's smile deepened the moment his feet touched the floor.
"You're approaching me, Champion!?" Aldrich cried. "I erased the ice and water you previously stood on without a trace, and still, you approach me!? Do you think you can even stop me!?"
"If we don't- Who will?"" Lucian pulled his third and final Pokéball from his pocket and dropped it beside him. With a flash of light, Lucian's Lucario came to his side and marched beside him. Approaching from behind him was Swampert and Sneasel, who marched with him. From above the crowd was Flygon, who was following them from the sky.
"And tell me, O' champion. Do you truly believe you can win?"
"I don't think we can..." Lucian's invoker armor disengaged and disappeared with a flash of light. He and Lucario did a fist bump before Lucian's invoker re-engaged itself and linked with Lucario. Both Trainer and Pokémon bodies both burst with a blue aura unique to Lucario. "I know we can!" Lucian continued.
Both Lucian and Lucario moved with extreme speed, blazing past the group. Sneasel and Swampert sprinted hurriedly as Flygon descended next to them. Sneasel quickly leapt on top of Flygon's back. The two flew away, leaving Swampert behind.
Looking squarely at Lucian and Lucario, Aldrich shot his hand out as a yellow orb appeared above him and shot two arrow-like beams at the speeding duo. Both Lucario and Lucian spun and flipped to dodge the oncoming beams, brought their hands close to their waists then fired aura spheres at Aldrich. The orbs spun and flew about before meeting together and fusing together- doubling their size and strength as it raced toward Aldrich. Aldrich raised his hand and caught the massive yoga-ball-sized aura sphere with his hand.
The deity's skin turned pink.
Sparking energies exploded around him as Aldrich grit his teeth. His feet dragged across the grassy ground before he finally deflected the blast. By the time he did, Lucian's fist was right in front of him. Aldrich caught the flying punch with his hand and grit his teeth as Lucian roared at the top of his lungs. Aldrich's arm and body was slowly being pushed back. With a wild roar Aldrich threw Lucian away from him.
Just then, Lucario's flying kick slammed into Aldrich's side and sent him spiraling into the air. Lucario then gave chase. Lucian recovered mid-air from Aldrich's throw and landed on the ground with a crouch before leaping back into action. Both he and Lucarior were chasing after Aldrich whose body spun uncontrollably. Aldrich let out a grunt before recovering midair. His feet dragged across the floor below as momentum pulled him back. He saw his two enemies darting after him, grit his teeth, and crouched before flying high into the air.
"Draco Mete-"
Flygon darted in from the sky and smacked Aldrich on his head with an Iron tail attack, interrupting the deity's call for meteors. Spit flew from Aldrich's mouth the moment he landed with enough force for his body to bounce. The god-like being then attempted to stand- and before he could, he saw Swampert in the air above him with her mouth open.
Swampert let out a hydro cannon with all of her might, and just before it landed, Aldrich crossed his arms to shield himself and his skin turned green. it crashed into him with such intensity that an explosion of water and dust rose into the sky- high enough to nearly reach Flygon, who swooped in along with Sneasel. Sneasel gathered ice energies onto her hands as a ball of energy gathered in front of Flygon's mouth. With a loud battle cry, both Pokémon released their ultimate attacks- Flygon with his Hyper beam, and Sneasel with her Blizzard attack. Both blasts dove to the cloud of dust and exploded- making the cloud of dust even bigger.
From farther away stood Lucian and Lucario side by side as they charged their Aura spheres.
"NOW!" Lucian cried. Both he and Lucario shot their hands out, and fired their blue colored aura spheres, which combined and flew toward the blast of dust. The explosion that followed was an eruption of blue energy that shot up like a geyser, dispelling the dust cloud immediately. Both Lucario and Lucian lowered their hands and looked up at the geyser that exploded and left behind a dust cloud of its own.
They both smiled as Lucian drew a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness.." Lucian said.
"When will you learn that your efforts are futile?" Aldrich's echoing voice spread terror to the ones who heard it. The dust cloud that surrounded him dispelled and exploded to nothing to reveal a completely unharmed Aldrich with pink skin, which turned white again. "I was playing along with your attacks for a moment to give you hope…just so I could crush it."
Lucian was in complete shock. Was Aldrich completely invincible...!?
Suddenly, a hand came to touch his shoulder. Lucian turned to see Rebecca, who had teleported beside him. She had placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"I noticed something about him during your fight," Rebecca said. "You're probably thinking he's invincible… but he's not."
"What?"
"Think about it. What can Arceus do that no other Pokémon can do?"
"I-.." Lucian's eyes widened once he realized what the answer to that question was.
Arceus could Change its type at will.
"When I told Gardevoir to use a Mach punch, Aldrich's skin tone turned pink. Pink must represent the Psychic type. And Mach punch is a fighting type move."
"You're saying that Aldrich changes his type to counter the attack he's getting hit by… so he's barely affected by it!?"
Aldrich glared.
"Tch," He said. "Caught on already? Hmph. It doesn't matter." Aldrich raised his open hand and clenched it. "You'll both be subjected to horrible punishment before I erase you from the face of this earth!"
Rebecca teleported away as Lucian entered a battle stance.
"Just watch. Me, and everyone here… we're going to beat you..! We're going to win!"
There was no possible way that Lucian and Rebecca and the others could win. Quinton knew this for a fact.
He closed his eyes as he remained the only person able to move in the small area of frozen time around him. The lightning bolt that Aldrich had fired was completely still in the air, threatening to strike his daughter... and the only one who could stand in its way was him.
He obviously could move Beatrice out of the way- but that was the wrong thing to do. No. The potential of dying here, to Aldrich's hand... that was an opportunity too grand to pass up.
The guilt of killing his 'Lord' would be demoralizing to Aldrich. It would weaken his willpower substantially.
It was a plan that he thought of, and dubbed, 'plan B'. Plan A was to outsmart the Quinton Foundation, freeze time, and destroy the device that held Arceus's power so this crisis would be averted. Quinton wouldn't be able to be tempted by something that was destroyed.
He knew that there was a chance that Arceus's power could fall to the wrong hands. And he tried planning for that possibility too. Every night he spent training with Beatrice, he planned and thought of every possibility imaginable to fight against the possible threat.
All of them ended in defeat or were too risky to attempt. Of course, there was a margin of error, these plans of his were predictions, not fate. He wasn't a fortune teller- for all he knew, some of the plans he thought of could work.
But the fear of the unknown could lead to Beatrice's death… and if Beatrice were to fall… he would no doubt go insane. Quinton would obliterate the world out of sheer anger and grief, and Aldrich would get what he wanted.
Beatrice was his anchor to sanity at this point. It was far too risky to lose her. This was the only way. Quinton gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. He knew what he had to do next...
But...
...
Suddenly, Quinton's fists unclenched, and he fell to his knees once he realized something.
He didn't want to die.
Why was it now, when he was supposed to sacrifice himself, that he realized that he had something to lose? He had so much more to live for, so much more he could strive to become. He was ready to give his life to his daughter, but now, he found himself too scared to continue.
Too scared to let time play out.
He berated himself in his mind, called himself a coward, a friend, a mosnter, someone not worthy of being Beatrice's father. Tears started to fall from the man's face. Suddenly, a thought entered his head that shook him to his core.
'Was he going to leave her like he had before, when letting her out for adoption?'
Quinton broke into sobs. He slammed his fists on the ground and screamed a terrible scream, at the very top of his lungs. It was as though he had lost everything, as though he were in grief. He couldn't stop crying, and the tears just wouldn't stop. He put his hands on his face and felt his hot breath on his tear-soaked hands. There were no words to express the fear that he felt at that moment.
The frozen time felt like a jail, a blessing that turned into a curse.
He was the only one who was able to unfreeze time at this point. And the moment he did… something would happen. Either he would die… or Beatrice would.
Quinton knew what he had to do; but he did not have the strength to do it. He was a prideful man- he may have had a cool exterior, but on the inside, he still had his pride. He wanted to be the best, and still wanted to be the best.
But he also wanted Beatrice to grow and be the best she could. Quinton laid out on the ground, flat on his stomach, and stayed there as though an indescribable weight pushed onto him.
He had to move. He couldn't stay like this forever, but the weight was unbearable. For a while, Quinton just lay on the ground, crying.
-Flashback-
"She's so beautiful…" Samantha said while holding her newborn child, who was wrapped in a blanket and staring at her mother.
Quinton was sitting on a chair next to Samantha, and he couldn't believe his eyes.
His daughter was the most beautiful thing that he'd ever laid his eyes on. Wordlessly, Quinton reached for his child, and Samantha handed her to him. He stared at the little child, and the child smiled and laughed in a tiny, squeak-toy like voice.
That was when Quinton started to cry. Before she was born, Quinton knew that he had to give Beatrice up. He had a jail sentence to go through, and there was no way he could raise a child in jail. He was prepared to leave her to the ones who had offered to adopt her readily, but now that he sees his daughter's face…
He couldn't let go. He didn't want to let go.
-End of flashback-
Soon, Quinton's his eyes opened as he gasped awake from his sudden slumber.
How long had it been?
That was a dumb question, Quinton thought. Time had stopped. He slowly stood up and stared at everyone who stood around him like statues. Their faces of surprise upon seeing Aldrich appear had been plastered on their faces. Turning to stare at Beatrice, he smiled.
She had her Mom's face. He could see it. Quinton sniffled to himself. His daughter, the one he brought to this world…
She was so beautiful.
Quinton then turned his head to the lightning bolt. Despite being completely still, it shone with an incredible, sparkling light.
He then looked back at his daughter. It was then when he realized that not once upon meeting her did he hug his daughter. Quinton slowly raised his arms, and then wrapped them around the frozen-in-time Beatrice. He felt tears welling up, but he didn't want to start sobbing again.
She'd grown up to be such a big girl. He was so proud. So very, very proud. He loved this girl with every fiber of his being. He hugged the girl even tighter. He started to sob a bit upon remembering that he never showed his fatherly love to his daughter. He always kept a cool exterior until the end.
'until the end.'
That's when Quinton realized, he had already made his decision. With a heavy sigh, Quinton let go of his daughter, and turned around to face the lightning bolt coming her way.
Someone like Beatrice has a right to be someone special. Someone…greater than he ever was. He genuinely felt that way deep in his heart. His ego and pride were strong… but was no match for his love for his daughter.
Quinton drew in a shaky breath, and then spoke with courage.
"Time… will move normally again."
Lucian was beyond beaten and bruised. The top part of his invoker was completely shattered, leaving him shirtless. He lied on the ground with his Flygon, Sneasel and Lucario, whom were all as beaten up as he was. Among all of them, Swampert was the only one not lying on the ground, however, she was clutching one arm and was on her knees. Aldrich descended from the sky and flew down at his defeated opponents.
Suddenly, Rebecca and Gardevoir teleported in front of their downed allies as Aldrich descended to the ground.
"Rebecca…!" Lucian cried. "Get out of here… run away!"
"Don't give me that!" Rebecca cried. "You can't expect me to run after seeing you like this..!"
"Heh.." Aldrich said. "… Lucian.. Your greatest fear will be realized. You can watch as your wife turns into ash." Aldrich snickered, and his snickering turned into loud, howling laughter. "A fitting punishment for daring to fight against Quinton in his previous reign! Now, begone… in the name of-!"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Beatrice's cries reached the adults, and everyone's attention spun. Beatrice was holding Quinton's still body as it slowly began to disintegrate. Dust particles rose from his body and flew into the sky.
"L-Lo-LORD..!" Aldrich fell to his knees. "LORD QUINTON!?"
Everyone's eyes were on the girl who held his fallen father in her arms and screaming as though her arms were ripped from her body.
"DAMMIT..! GODDAMMIT, WHY!? WHYYY!?" Beatrice roared.
"Do you… remember…" Quinton moaned. "What… I told you..?"
"What-!?.." Beatrice cried. "What- What do you mean!?"
"You're my kid… you should know exactly what I mean… You know what has to happen next… I did this… for a reason…"
Beatrice's eyes widened. She remembered the words that Quinton had told her not too long ago.
-Flashback-
"Beatrice," Quinton said, placing his hand on his daughter's shoulder while riding on Salamence's back with Lucia. "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- 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.
-End of Flashback-
"LORD QUINTOON!" Aldrich was on his hands and knees. "ALL OF THIS WAS FOR YOU..! MY LORD! MY LOOORD!"
Beatrice had never seen Aldrich act like this before. She turned her head to see Ninetales growling with intense anger and rage. Flames emanated from his body like an aura.
"I-... I-..!" Beatrice's hands shook. "Dad... Daddy...!"
"You understand now… do you?" Quinton said. He raised his hand and started brushing his hand around Beatrice's eyes to brush away her falling tears. The girl grabbed her father's hand, but it soon began to turn into dust. The girl broke into sobs.
"Dad-I'm not ready to lose you..! I'm not READY!" Beatrice cried. "Please don't leave me…! I'm not ready.. I'm not ready..!"
"I'm sorry.." Quinton said. "I'm so sorry… for not being there for you when you were growing up… I'm happy… that I was able to see you before then… I love you. I love you so much."
"NOOOO..!" Beatrice cried.
"LORD.. QUINTON..!" Aldrich roared. Tears flowed down from the old man's cheeks. "CHILD!" Aldrich cried, "You cry, but know this..! Your pain.. Could not POSSIBLY amount to mine!"
Beatrice's hand, that lay on the dirt below her, twitched. Slowly, her fingers bent under the grass, carrying the dirt along with it.
Ninetales, who stood behind her trainer, began to glow with an intense fiery energy. Incredibly intense energy- enough for the aura around it to rise even higher. The fox Pokémon's body was even beginning to shine crimson red. The growling of Ninetales reached Beatrice's ears, and her own eyes widened with rage.
Slowly, Beatrice stood up. She brought her hand her Invoker necklace. As she took hold of it, she felt the necklace's icy grip wrap itself around the back of her neck.
With an intense and sharp breath through her nose, she exhaled through her mouth and slowly closed her eyes.
Her eyes opened quickly.
She pressed the button that activated her invoker on her bracelet- and just then, her entire body exploded into flames and shone with a bright and brilliant yellow light.
The power of Ninetales' raging flames that came in reaction to what had just happened was transferring over to Beatrice's invoker. The newfound power that Ninetales wielded was starting to become her own.
The yellow light that covered Beatrice disintegrated like a crumbling rock and rose into the sky, revealing the brand-new form that the girl had achieved.
Beatrice's hair was now a hot-flaming red, and it flowed like elegant flames. She donned fox ears that were made of pure fire on top of her head. Around her neck was a flaming scarf that had the shape and form of Ninetales' flowing long tails, except they were burning with beautiful red flames which danced elegantly. The tailed scarf flowed up into the air and spread out like a peacock spreading its feathers.
Beatrice was still crying- and her flaming aura carried those tears up into the sky and burned them into ashes.
Ninetales remained beside Beatrice, glowing with the same fire energy that erupted around his trainer. All nine of his tails were pointed at Aldrich, who watched with overwhelming shock.
Only the top half of Quinton's body remained at this point. Finally, Quinton closed his eyes and grinned a proud grin.
He could die in peace, for his daughter had surpassed him. The rest of his body disintegrated, and then the dust that remained flew into the sky and wind... to be reduced to nothing.
"It's time, Lucia," Beatrice said without turning around. "Time for us to join the fight."
Lucia blinked and shook her head to snap out of her daze. She nodded quickly.
"R-Right!" Lucia crossed her arms and screamed at the top of her lungs- and then uncrossed them as an azure flame exploded around her. The armor that she donned against her mother in space took from- her dragonic-powered shield and sword came to her hands as Salamence roared in response.
Aldrich took a single step back with wide, horrified eyes as the two girls whose auras burned with incredible strength glared at him.
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I've been looking forward to writing this chapter for MONTHS and finally, when I got to this point, it was tough to write, I even played some music of my own for extra dramatic effect LMAO.
I may never really see/hear what you guys felt about this chapter, but i really am curious. Lemme know (THROUGH PMS, NOT THE REVIEWS SO PEOPLE DONT GET SPOILED LOL) whatcha thought of this!
Here are my questions if you wanna answer em':
1. Did you catch on to Aldrich's method of 'invincibility' before Rebecca revealed it? I tried giving a hint by putting his skin color changes in bold. I'm wondering if you caught onto it because of those hints.
2. What did you think of Quinton's arc? (I'm especially curious if you haven't read the previous story before this.)
I'm trying to improve my writing as much as possible, so I want to know if this final scene landed or not. I know there's a chance that I won't get any answers, buuut it doesn't hurt to ask.
More content to come next week, everyone! take care! :)