Chapter 45: The Dragon's Decent
"The match is about to start, right?" Anastasia said, watching Lucia and Beatrice wordlesly approach one another. "I wonder-"
"Hey guys!" Lucian walked in, stealing nearly everyone's attention in an instant.
"I-Is that Champion Lucian!?" Someone cried.
"Oh my god- it's champion Lucian!" Another cried. Lucian walked over to Anastasia, who had an empty seat next to her.
"Is that seat taken?" Lucian asked.
"N-No," Anastasia said. Lucian sat down and let out a breath of relief. He looked over his shoulder at the gawking spectators. "You guys should focus on the match- it's gonna be one to remember!"
The spectators all nodded at once and looked back at the match that was moments away from starting. Marie leaned forward and turned to Lucian.
"Why aren't you at the Champion throne room? You could just watch this match the TV there."
"I want to see this match up close." Lucian said. "Battles like these are worth watching with my own eyes, not behind a television screen." Lucian smiled a bit. "Besides, it's livelier out here."
"Ahh, I see," Marie said, leaning back on her seat.
Lucian sighed and crossed his arms. 'If only you were here, Quinton...' he thought. 'We'd both be cheering on our daughters... I'm sorry for being antagonistic toward you...' He sighed deeply, then looked down at Lucia and Beatrice, who were finally face to face.
Behind Beatrice was her Ninetales, and behind Lucia was her Salamence. They could hear the cheering of the audience behind them, roaring both of their names. The announcer had started to speak up, crying out their names in excitement.
But neither Lucia nor Beatrice could hear them.
The girls were both completely focused on one another, as though they were in a world of their own. The only thing their surroundings could do to demand attention was to blow wind at their hair, and even that wasn't enough.
Their eyes were zeroed in onto one another, like two cowboys would in a showdown.
"Hey Beatrice?" Lucia spoke as she flicked her wrist- a sword of dragon flame erected and took form as she clenched her fist to hold it. "Remember when you said we should separate? So that one of us could surpass the other?" Lucia pointed her sword at Beatrice. "Yeah, big mistake. I'm stronger than you now."
Slowly, Beatrice reached for her invoker necklace and pressed it. The rich girl's body shone for a moment before her body became clad in armor.
"Making jokes at a time like this?" Retorted Beatrice, "Very uncouth yet expected from you. This fight will be like buying a Magikarp: Completely free."
Both girls slowly entered their battle stances. They stared at one another, knowing full well that one slip-up would mean the end of their tournament run.
Lucia moved first- backflipping onto Salamence's back and soaring into the sky. Ninetales and Beatrice's heads shot up as the dragon type rose into the air and fired blasts of flame.
"Ninetales," Beatrice said, "show them a real fire attack!" The rich trainer snapped her fingers and Ninetales released a massive flamethrower.
Both torrents of flame collided and pushed against one another like clasped hands.
Lucia leapt off of Salemence's back while holding her sword over her head and dove downward. With a battle cry, She swung down at the flames below her, and her blade grinded against it like a knife would through butter.
Beatrice thrust her hand forward as Lucia's blade started to absorb the flames and become bigger. A flaming bow came to Beatrice's hand before she drew its string and summoned a massive arrow.
"DRAGON…" Lucia's red flaming sword suddenly ignited and turned azure. Beatrice released her arrow- and it tripled in size mid flight.
"SWOOOOOOORD!" Lucia swung down, and her sword struck the massive projectile. Both sword and arrow exploded in a firework-like explosion. Several red and azure embers fell like rain as Lucia landed with a crouch right behind Beatrice and Ninetales. Ninetales' eyes were focused squarely on Salamence, and Beatrice slowly turned around to face Lucia.
Both girls slowly approached each other. Lucia flicked her wrist and her sword exploded and disappeared- and Beatrice did the same with her weapon, unsummoning it as she approached her rival.
The two continued to walk, and then suddenly, they started sprinting.
The moment they met, fists were flying, left and right the two girls threw punches at each other and dodged. Lucia used her smaller frame to dodge Beatrice's machine-gun-like punches. Beatrice's kicks were ducked under, Lucia's punches were parried and dodged. Their attacks started to move faster as the girls began to yell and shout, but neither of them could land a blow.
Finally, both girls threw a final punch- their fists connected and slammed against one another.
Both Lucia and Beatrice grit their teeth as they struggled against each other in a deadlock.
Meanwhile, Salamence descended to the ground as Ninetales glared furiously at him. The fox Pokemon's tails stood on end as he roared and summoned the same power he used when he and his trainer fought Aldrich.
Beatrice felt Ninetales' power flow into her through her invoker, and widened her eyes in fury as she began to shine with red light.
Lucia saw this and widened her eyes. She glared as she too began to shine with light- an azure light.
Both girls began to scream at the top of their lungs as geysers of their respective colors shot out from under them. Both Ninetales and Salemence began to roar at the top of their lungs in response. The flames around both girls exploded like fireworks- revealing their powered up forms. Lucia was encased in armor made of dragon flames. Beatrice's hair had become like flames, flowing with elegance and grace along with her fox-ears made of flames. She had a long flowing scarf that had the shape and form of one of Ninetales' tails.
The battlefield around them had erupted into flames, burning with red and azure colors alike. They were wild enough to cover the entire arena, but condensed enough to not touch the spectators.
Both girls glared at each other as they remained in their deadlock. Beatrice relented suddenly, and Lucia tripped into her enemy's kick that sent her flying. Immediately Beatrice summoned her bow and aimed it at her flying target, and Ninetales jumped in to join her.
As Lucia spun uncontrollably toward a wall, Salamence swooped in and had her land on his back. Lucia groaned as Salamence sped up, avoiding the salvo of flames and arrows coming his way. The arrows exploded on contact with the walls, spreading smoke in the air and forcing Salamence to soar upwards into the sky. The Dragon type flew with incredible speed- so much so that Lucia was struggling to hold on. Soon, the dragon type went above clouds, and him and his trainer could no longer see what was below them.
"Salamence…!" Cried Lucia, "You know what to do!" The trainer let go and tumbled off of Salamence's back. Lucia flipped as her own wings made of dragon flame erected from her back and allowed her to make a U turn and recover. The salvo of flame and embers that came from Ninetales and Beatrice was flying right for her. Lucia swung her shield made of dragon flame and blocked the attack. Each projectile felt like a hammer was slamming against her shield, but she held on strong.
Salamence's battle cry echoed from behind Lucia, and a grin came to her face. Draco meteors flew past her shoulders and down toward her opponents. Because of the clouds below her, she couldn't see if her attacks hit their mark, but she was certain that Beatrice couldn't have seen this coming.
Just then, Beatrice and Ninetales flew right past Lucia, who widened her eyes in shock. She spun around as the fire-type duo leapt from Meteor to Meteor and toward Salamence. Lucia grit her teeth and flew after her.
The spectators watched on in complete shock and awe.
"Lucia's definitely gotten stronger," Zennon said, pushing in his glasses, "But Beatrice seems to be a step ahead."
"What is she trying to do..?" Anastasia said. "She completely ignored Lucia.."
"That's because she's aiming for Salamence…!" Marie said.
Beatrice and Ninetales continued to leap from meteor to Meteor, firing projectiles at Salamence, who was stationary because he was attacking with Draco Meteor. Lucia swooped in front of the Dragon type and protected it with her shield. The flame missiles exploded and left behind smoke, and Lucia and Salamence could see nothing because of it. Soon, the smoke cleared, and the dragon duo could only see Beatrice leaping toward them.
Where was Ninetales?!
The howl of Ninetales echoed from behind them, and Salamence turned first, seeing the fox Pokemon open its mouth and release a massive flamethrower.
"Salamence! Protect!" Lucia cried. A round barrier formed around the Dragon and Trainer.
The dragon duo waited for Ninetales' attack to hit them- but it never did. Lucia blinked and furrowed her brow in confusion as she saw the flamethrower move over them and miss completely. The torrent of flame instead moved toward Beatrice- gathering and turning into a ball of flame in front of her bow.
Lucian's eyebrows rose. Marie's eyes widened.
"Oh my god-" Marie said.
"She missed on purpose…" Lucian said with a smile. "To bait Lucia's Salamence into using Protect!"
Soon, the barrier around the dragon duo faded.
"Why'd you miss on purpose..!?" Lucia cried.
"TAKE THIS!" Beatrice roared. "Full POWER!" The ball of flame in front of Beatrice shot like a bullet toward Lucia and Salamence.
"Salamence-" Lucia cried. "Use Protect agai-"
"Ninetales!" Beatrice cried. "Disable!"
Ninetales howled- and Salamence felt itself tremble. It couldn't use Protect. And if Salamence couldn't use Protect- Neither could Lucia.
Lucia braced herself with her shield,as the flaming blast consumed both her and Salamence, and a massive explosion rang in the air. A cloud of Smoke covered the skies.
"What happened there..? I don't understand…" Anastasia said.
"Think about what Disable can and can't do," Zennon said. "Disable can prevent a Pokémon from using a move, but only if they had previously used it."
"Right," Lucian said. "Beatrice used Ninetales' Flamethrower to bait Lucia into using Protect. And instead of hitting Lucia with that flamethrower, it was sent toward Beatrice to empower her next attack."
"Oh!" Anastasia said. "So, to prevent Lucia from protecting herself again, She told Ninetales to use Disable, and because Salamence previously used Protect… it couldn't use protect again!"
"In other words," Marie said. "Beatrice feinted her first attack so Lucia couldn't protect herself from the real attack...!"
Soon, out from the smoke cloud it came Lucia and Salamence falling down with steam emanating from their bodies. Lucia's armor was gone, and both Pokemon and Trainers' eyes were closed.
"Now, Lucia…" Lucian said, watching his daughter plummet toward the ground. "What will you do...?"
Soon, Lucia and Salamence's bodies hit the ground. Beatrice and Ninetales landed in front of them.
"It's all over," Beatrice said.
"Well, well," Lucia said, grinning as she looked up at Beatrice. "You think you've already won, huh?"
"Of course I have," Beatrice said.
"Yeah, keep lying to yourself," Lucia said, crawling to her hands and knees. "I have…one more trick up my sleeve."
"One more trick-...?" Beatrice said, raising her eyebrows. She shook her head and aimed her bow at her Rival. "No- you're spouting nonsense. It's already over."
"You sure- or are you too stupid to realize it?" Lucia glared and smiled at Beatrice as she slowly went up to her feet. "You should… know me by now.., Ugh..!" Lucia stumbled and fell back down. Beatrice furrowed her brow. "I'll admit it," Lucia said. "You could take me out, right here, right now if you wanted…"
Lucia finally got to her feet.
"But is that what you really want?" She continued. "If you do it now, you won't get a satisfying conclusion."
"What are you even-" Beatrice blinked before realizing. She chuckled lightly. "Oh- I get it. You're trying to use mind games. Adorable. It's ove-"
Lucia shot her hands out and fired a blast of dragon flame from her palms. Both her and Ninetales were forced to leap away to dodge. Beatrice fired arrows while in the air that flew at Lucia.
Everything moved in slow motion at that point. Lucia closed her eyes and clenched her fists.
'I didn't want to use this before my match with Dad...' Lucia thought. 'Though it's now or never. Mom… Dad… You both were able to use trust-borne fusion with Palkia and Dialga… Well...!''
Salamence's weakened but not unconscious body began to glow then and there His eyes remained closed, because he had full trust in his partner. He had been with her since the very beginning- the one who had granted him his wish to fly. Helping with all of his might was the least he could do.
Lucia slowly crossed her arms as the flying arrow came her way.
'of course... we can do the same!' Lucia thought.
Beatrice's arrow exploded on impact and erupted in a massive geyser that shot toward the air. Beatrice and Ninetales landed and watched the flaming geyser rise upward.
"Remember when I said that I was stronger than you?" Lucia's voice came out with a haunting echo, and Beatrice felt a chill run down her spine as sheer horror came to her face.
Suddenly, the flaming red geyser suddenly began to turn azure. The azure geyser slowly crumbled like broken glass and dispersed into dust.
Lucia had been encased in armor once again, but this time, Salamence was nowhere in sight. The helmet Lucia wore was in the shape of a Dragon's head, and she had a long, flowing flame cape behind her.
"I meant it."
As soon as Lucia said this, a massive explosion of Draconic energy erupted around her, and a blazing azure aura wrapped around her body. Red draconic wings erupted from her back and exploded with intense red, crimson flame.
"N-NINETALES!" Beatrice's panicked voice reached Ninetales' ears, and the two of them fired countless blasts of flame at their enemy.
Lucia just started walking toward Beatrice. The arrows and embers that hit her had absolutely no effect on her.
"You were always smarter than me," Lucia said, extending both of her hands in front of her. Dragon flames gathered to her hands and took the shape and form of a katana. She grabbed it. "Always a step ahead of me," she said, slowly drawing her blade. "But just like everyone else, you can't clip our wings."
"NINETALES! FULL POWER!" Both Beatrice and Ninetales combined their strength to fire a blast of flame that was like a laser- the same attack she used against Aldrich.
Lucia raised her Katana and swung it downward, releasing a vertical crescent wave that cut through the beam of fire and went straight for the duo.
"PROTECT!" Beatrice roared- A round barrier appeared around the fire duo- and the crescent wave pushed against it like a racing train.
Lucia sheathed her blade and stood still. She took in a deep breath through her nose, drew her sword and then moved with such incredible speed that her body disappeared.
Lucia suddenly reappeared behind the fire duo and sheathed her blade.
Several slash lines appeared on the barrier that protected the fire duo, and then it disappeared.
The crescent wave from earlier struck its target and erected a massive starlight-like geyser that shot toward the sky. Lucia's back was turned to the brilliant explosion.
Everyone who was watching watched in sheer and utter shock. Lucian had the biggest smile on his face then and there. He grinned widely.
The brilliant explosion faded, and Lucia still kept her back turned. Beatrice and Ninetales were still standing.
Static electricity started sparking about Beatrice's invoker, and then completely and utterly fell apart. Ninetales fell straight onto the ground.
"B- Beatrice's Invoker was destroyed!" The announcer cried. "And Ninetales is down! L-Lucia is the winner!"
The entire crowd around them started cheering.
"SHE WON!" Anastasia cried, "SHE WON! LUCIA WON!"
"To think…" Beatrice said with a chuckle. "That your stupid attempt at mind games actually worked. It was such a horrid attempt that I was just too baffled to realize it."
"Is that a sore loser I hear?" Lucia said, finally turning around.
Beatrice grinned. "If it worked, maybe it wasn't a horrid attempt at a mind game after all…"
"I did it because I wanted to be more like you," Lucia said.
Beatrice stepped toward Lucia and hugged her tightly. Lucia did the same.
"Words can't express how proud I am of you right now." Beatrice said.
"You were so cool and amazing," Lucia said. "You had strategies and everything."
"But you won." Beatrice said. "You are much stronger than me, like you said."So, you need to win. Beat Lucian. Become the Champion. And maybe then, I can start respecting you."
"Hey!" Lucia cried, pulling away and lightly hitting Beatrice's shoulder. Beatrice chuckled.
"By the way," Beatrice said, pointing at the red wings behind Lucia's back. "Are those…"
"Salamence's wings," Lucia said.
"Ahhh," Beatrice said. "Well anyway, I will gracefully accept my defeat. Good you, little sister," Beatrice said.
Lucia moved her hand to her helmet visor and raised it, revealing her face. "Love you too, big sis," Lucia said. "Let me know when you're done crying over your loss." She said with a wink.
"Heh, It's only a matter of time until I come back for revenge," Beatrice said, waving her hand as she walked away.
Lucia sighed deeply.
It was soon time for her final match.
-PLEASE READ THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE, ITS IMPORTANT!-
Author's note:
Dream vs Dream, one had to be shattered for the other to survive… But fear not, Beatrice fans!
Because I decided that after this story ends, I'm going to put in a 'what if' chapter showing what would happen if Beatrice WON against Lucia and went on to fight against Lucian!
Not only that, I'm going to make a comedy chapter where I make fun of everything that happened in the story, and make fun of myself a bit with how this story was written. I will also include little fun facts and what inspired me to do what in it. It'll be called "Extra Chapter". All just for fun.
I do have future Pokémon Fanfictions planned for the future! I will let you know what I may be thinking of doing in the next chapter. If you're interested, then read the next Author's note.
I am so grateful and thankful that you guys are reading it up to this point, and I'm happy to announce that this next chapter will be the last (cannon) chapter. So as soon as this next chapter drops, this story will be listed as Complete because the main story will be complete. However, do remember that Beatrice's "What if" chapters will be added, along with the comedy chapter.
This story's nearing its conclusion…! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the last (Cannon) chapter!