Chapter 38: The Flames that Consumed God

Lucia and Beatrice stood side by side, and their Pokémon stood beside them as well.

"G-Girls..!" Rebecca cried. "Aldrich can-"

"Switch his type at will." Beatrice said quickly. Lucia and Rebecca's eyes widened. "He'll switch his typing to defend against our attacks. For example, if we use a fire type move, he'll switch to being a water-type to negate some damage." Beatrice continued. "That's a problem, but because of what just happened, his mind's racing. Now's our opportunity to finish this filth."

"Whoa…" Lucia said.

"What?" Beatrice said, turning to Lucia.

"You thought of that so quickly- I- I'm just impressed, that's all."

"I get more analytical when I'm angry," Beatrice said, turning back to Aldrich and shooting a venomous glare. "And I've never been more angry in my life."

"My god.. My god Quinton.." Aldrich was clutching his head with both hands. His eyes shot back and forth.

"Wh-What can I do..!?" Zennon's voice reached the girls' ears. Lucia turned her head to see the man who was holding a motionless Marie close to him. "I can still fight.." Zennon continued.

"Too risky." Beatrice said without turning away from Aldrich. "You could go out of control; you won't know friend from foe. Just leave the rest to u-."

Beatrice's eyebrows raised as a sudden idea came to her.

"Actually," she said. "You could be useful. Stand by until I say so. And when you do, I want you to make yourself go berserk and only target Aldrich. Can you do that?"

"I- I can try..."

"No. Don't try. Do it." Beatrice said.

Zennon's eyes widened. "Y-Yes ma'am!"

"My life..!" Aldrich pulled his hands away from his head and looked at them. "Nothing matters anymore..!"

Seeing as Aldrich's attention was not on them, Rebecca quickly shared a nod with her Gardevoir. Gardevoir teleported away as Rebecca spun to her downed allies, clasping her hands together as she let out a small cry. Within an instant, everyone who had fought Aldrich before Lucia and Beatrice's appearance disappeared in a flash of light. Gardevoir reappeared in front of Marie and Zennon. Gardevoir placed a hand on Marie's face, and in an instant, she and the Pokémon disappeared.

The only ones left were Aldrich, Zennon, Beatrice, Lucia, and the girls' Pokémon, Ninetales and Salamence.

Aldrich clenched his fists. "To be devoid of purpose…" He said. "None of you know how I suffer..! I-"

"Stop talking," Beatrice spoke as though she were moments away from shouting. While her voice held composure, her face hadn't. Her eyes were wide with rage.

"So what's the plan?" Lucia asked. Beatrice wordlessly extended her hand. An orb of flame formed before her fingers, and when she clenched it the orb thinned before turning into a flaming bow. She held the bow with one hand and drew a flaming arrow from thin air and pulled the flaming string.

"Burn him until nothing remains," She said coldly.

Lucia grinned. "With pleasure!" She cried. Lucia sprinted onward. Beatrice and Ninetales fired blasts of flame that followed the girl as Salamence took flight. Aldrich grit his teeth as his skin turned pink to represent the Fairy-Type. He extended his hand as Lucia drew near. Lucia then ran right past him.

Aldrich's eyes widened in shock as he shielded himself against the fireballs that flew his way and exploded once they touched him, leaving behind a large puff of smoke with every explosion.

Lucia spun around and charged toward the smoke and leapt into the air. She swung her sword downward only for Aldrich's hands to clap together to stop the blade from hurting him. The smoke cleared to reveal that the man's body was coated in a blue color, representing the water-type. Aldrich gritted his teeth in exertion as Lucia smiled.

Salamence looked on from above, opened his mouth to release a Hyper beam.

The sound of Salamence's Hyper beam was rapidly approaching Aldrich from behind. With instinct alone he shoved Lucia away and spun around to extend his hand to the hyper beam coming from the sky. An intense weight fell onto the old man as he held strong against the hyper beam.

Tears were in the old man's eyes as he Aldrich grunted loudly.

"L-Lord Quinton..." He muttered. He moved to use two hands to block against the hyper beam. From above him, Beatrice and Ninetales flipped over the man and landed right behind him.

Beatrice was back-to-back with Aldrich.

"What's wrong?" Beatrice taunted. "A god like you should be able to deflect a small beam like this."

"L-Lord… Quinton… Is gone..!" Aldrich cried. "You… don't know… my suffering..!"

Beatrice and Ninetales turned around- the girl aimed her bow and arrow as Ninetales opened his mouth.

"Then let me end your suffering," Beatrice said.

An explosion rang out the moment Beatrice and Ninetales unleashed their attacks. A large mushroom-cloud explosion flew into the air.

Out from the smoke came Aldrich's spiraling body which quickly recovered as he landed on the ground with a stumble. Arrows of flame flew out from the smoke and flew after Aldrich. The man's skin remained blue as he deflected the arrows with his arms one after another.

"Hey, jerk!" Lucia cried.

Aldrich spun his head to see Lucia standing right behind him- he couldn't react, let alone change his typing.

"Eat this! TWISTER!" Lucia roared. With a rising swing of her sword, a twister came to life below Aldrich's feet and sent him spiraling into the air.

Beatrice aimed at Aldrich as he flew.

"Hit him with everything you've got," Beatrice said to Ninetales. Ninetales' aimed his tails at the spiraling man as both trainer and Pokémon charged up an attack. "NOW!"

Beatrice and Ninetales released a laser-like blast of flame after the flying deity. By the time Aldrich recovered mid air, he saw the blast coming his way- and had no time to defend.

The laser blast completely swallowed the man and carried him high into the sky. It then spun and did a U turn toward the ground, exploding in a great, Firey explosion upon impact.

Once the smoke and flame cleared, it revealed Aldrich to be down on the ground, and his skin was still as blue as the ocean. He struggled to stand up as Beatrice and Ninetales approached him, As Aldrich tried to get up, Beatrice stomped on him to pin him.

"Just a few attacks and you're already on the ground. Some God you are." Beatrice said.

Aldrich coughed loudly.

"Those measly attacks did nothing to me..!" Aldrich cried. "I lay here on the ground… because I grieve for my lord… Quinton."

"Quinton died so mine and Ninetales' power would rise, while your will fades. He died to grant us an easy victory."

"My lord Quinton… why? Why have you forsaken me? Do you not know my pain…? The grief I have…?"

"Why grieve for him…" Beatrice aimed her bow down at the man. "when you can join him?"

Aldrich coughed again before laughing weakly.

"You don't understand, girl. What you do doesn't matter. What anyone does doesn't matter- this world doesn't matter…"

Aldrich's fingers dug into the ground as he clenched his fists. A white aura with colorful, rainbow sparks rose from the man's body. "Lord Quinton… Lord Quinton.. LORD QUINTON!"

Beatrice's eyes widened. She leapt away before an ultra-violet light erupted from under Aldrich's body like a geyser. Slowly, the old man rose to his feet. Aldrich roared at the very top of his lungs as his eyes began to shine white.

"I HELD BACK… ALL THIS TIME, I HELD BACK!" Aldrich screamed. "BECAUSE I KNEW.. WITH THE POWER OF ARCEUS… GOD OF THIS WORLD…I COULD EASILY ERASE THIS PLANET… QUINTON NEEDED A WORLD TO RULE.. SO I HELD BACK... BUT NOW..! QUINTON IS GONE… AND I HAVE NO REASON TO HOLD BACK ANYMORE..! Aldrich's booming voice became louder than usual. "ALL OF THE TYPES THAT EXIST IN THIS WORLD… ALL OF THEIR POWERS... ARE ALL FLOWING INTO ME..!"

Beatrice and Ninetales landed on the ground beside Lucia, who was shielding herself from the winds blasting her way. Salamence landed right beside Lucia.

"What now..!?" Lucia cried.

Beatrice remained silent and glared at the coming light. A bead of sweat fell down her cheek.

"Gch..!" Lucian tried to rise from the ground only for Rebecca to grab him and push him down.

Even from far, far away, they could see the rising aura that flowed around Aldrich. Gardevoir stood over everyone, using Heal Bell to heal everyone.

"Stop!" Rebecca cried. "You can't..!"

"I have to!" Lucian said, slowly pulling himself up. "Look at that. The girls are powerful, but there's no way they can beat Aldrich if he's using 100% of Arceus's Power. Arceus is… literally the God of this world… and to beat a god… We need a miracle!" Lucian turned to all three of his downed Pokémon and Swampert.

"Can anyone else move..!?" Lucian cried.

All the Pokémon in the area except Gardevoir groaned in pain.

"Darn it..!" Rebecca said.

"KREEEEEEEEEE!"

Both adults' eyes widened. The Pokémon that had made that cry was none other than the Temporal Pokemon itself: Dialga. They spun around to see the gigantic creature roar loudly.

"Wh-What?!" Rebecca cried.

"D-Dialga..!?" Lucian cried.

Dialga looked down at the two.

"He-He must have been freed from Quinton's invoker after he…."

"After he died..." Rebecca concluded.

Quickly, Lucian stood up. He grit his teeth to endure the pain he was in.

"L-Lucian..!" Rebecca cried. "You're not finished healing...!"

Lucian clutched his arm as he approached the Temporal Pokémon.

"Dialga… listen to me." Lucian said. "My Wife and Palkia can fuse together because of their trust in one another… can you trust me… and fuse with me, too?"

"What?!" Rebecca cried.

"Listen to me," Lucian said. "Have Gardevoir heal Palkia. You can fuse with Palkia, and I- with Dialga."

Rebecca's eyes widened. "Darn it- I-I I didn't think of healing Palkia earlier, back when you fought against Aldrich.…! I should have done that...! I'm so stupid! Stupid, Stupid, Stupi-!"

"Don't beat yourself up! You watching the fight was crucial to finding out how Aldrich's 'invincibility' worked!"

"...But it's because of that, it's going to take a while for me to join the fight..!"

"Then join the fight as soon as possible! As soon as Gardevoir's finished healing Palkia, at least enough for it to be able to stand," Lucian turned to Gardevoir, "You heal the rest of the group. Including Marie and Pichu. We're gonna need everyone for this. But until then..." Lucian turned to Dialga. "Dialga and I will work together."

Dialga and Lucian nodded.

The raging aura continued to rise high into the air as Aldrich's roaring became louder. Suddenly, Golden armor formed around the man's body. The suit was padded with spikes, like a knight's armor. Aldrich's helm was shaped like Arceus's head, only without its green eyes and cheeks. The 'Visor' was pitch black. The helm's shape also imitated the hair that flowed upward from Arceus's head.

The golden light that shone around Aldrich's armor exploded outward like fireworks, revealing its white-as-paper color, which resembled Arceus's natural color. The old man appeared taller than he usually did. The golden halo that belonged to Arceus behind his back became even bigger and shone even brighter.

"I am the God of Destruction!" Aldrich said. His voice was even louder than before.

"S-So..!" Lucia cried. "Any bright ideas...!?"

Beatrice nodded.

"...Just one." Beatrice said. "DO IT, ZENNON!"

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

From behind the girls erected a geyser of water that burst to life. Zennon flew like a jet after Aldrich.

Yes, I was late- sorry! College just started up and it's coming out swinging. I've gotta keep up, so my week's getting even more busy.

Though- I will try to get my chapters up as soon as I can. I will try to get the next chapter up next week, but no promises. I may even take a few days longer than a week.

Take care, guys!