When they were seen, Dialga and Palkia spread their wings and took to the air, Hyper Beams already charging in their mouths.
Lucario and Hunter loosed a volley of Aura Spheres at both of them, but the attacks were stopped by shields that protected the two ancient Pokémon. Hunter leaped onto a pillar as a Hyper Beam plowed along the ground towards him.
Lucario dove behind a fallen piece of stone to avoid another. He then jumped onto the fallen pillar and fired another Aura Sphere at Dialga, only to have it blocked.
Dialga roared in fury and a large yellow ball charged in the center of its crested forehead.
"Draco Meteor!" Hunter shouted from across the plateau. "Watch out!"
Dialga fired, multiple yellow shots streaming from its forehead. Lucario loosed a volley of Aura Spheres to counter the shots, and large, multicolored explosions lit the air as the two attacks collided.
Hunter turned his attention to Palkia, who was glowing. It raised its arm and then swung it in an uppercut. A large pillar of pink light shot across the ground towards Hunter, Palkia's Spacial Rend attack. He rolled to avoid it, pulled a chunk of pillar from the ground, and threw the chunk at Palkia. The shield came up once more, causing the pillar to shatter on contact with the barrier. A cloud of dust obscured Palkia's vision. It looked around, confused, but then roared in pain as something large, hard, and very heavy slammed into its back. The chunks of pillar sprayed around the plateau, and Palkia swung around as Hunter readied himself to heave another pillar.
The pillar broke as Palkia swatted the stone away with its arm. It launched a Hyper Beam, which Hunter narrowly dodged.
As he ran along the floor, Palkia fired another Hyper Beam at the pillars, breaking them and hoping to crush Hunter under their weight.
Hunter, thinking back to the canyon, shut his eyes and dodged them all, and jumped into the air in front of Palkia. The Pokémon's eyes locked onto him as he fired an Aura Sphere point blank into its face, too close to block with a shield.
A cloud of smoke obscured Palkia's head, but the Pokémon swung around, its tail hitting Hunter and throwing him across the plateau. He slammed into a fallen bit of pillar and heard something crack. Can't give up. Lucario needs me.
Lucario ran at Dialga, Metal Claws extending from his paws. He jumped into the air and slashed at Dialga's face, his claws glancing off of its crested head. He landed on Dialga's back and fired an Aura Sphere as he back-flipped off, causing Dialga to roar in pain.
Dialga fired another Draco Shot at Lucario, of which he dodged all but the last, which impacted behind him and threw him into a pillar.
Hunter and Lucario looked at one another. Dialga's crest suddenly extended and began to glow, a large, black ball of energy building in its mouth. "Roar of Time…" Hunter whispered.
Dialga fired, and the two ran to either side, but the massive explosion it caused threw them both farther away. Hunter quickly got up and jumped to the top of a pillar, running along them until he jumped, firing Aura Spheres at Dialga, who had not seen him coming and thus had not raised its shield. The deity roared in pain, firing a Hyper Beam at the pest attempting to bring it down. Hunter raised a shield from Aura, but was still flung backwards as the blast hit.
Dialga roared again as a number of Aura Spheres slammed into its chest. It had not seen Lucario, who had been running at Dialga while it was occupied with Hunter. As Dialga looked at Lucario, it was already in the air, landing a hard blow on its head with a Bone Rush.
Palkia swung its arm again, and Spacial Rend burst forward, hitting a pillar beside Lucario causing the shockwave to throw him backwards into the labyrinth of pillars.
Palkia was then crushed by a falling pillar. It didn't stay down for long; simply shrugging off the ancient stone like it was a blanket.
It turned to Hunter, who jumped as it fired another Hyper Beam.
He landed on Palkia's back, holding on with one hand while placing the other on Palkia's hide and firing an Aura Sphere into it.
The light shone for a moment, then a black plume of smoke accompanied a loud explosion as Hunter jumped away. Palkia turned towards Hunter but was knocked over again as Lucario, who had jumped towards it while it was distracted, touched his paw to its face and used Force Palm, blowing the ancient being into a group of pillars. Dust billowed as they all came down on top of Palkia.
Dialga came back swiftly, firing a second Roar of Time while Hunter and Lucario dodged and ran at it again, both charging Aura Spheres, which they fired while running between pillars. The volley distracted Dialga, which allowed Lucario to use Force Palm on it, too.
Dialga fell to the ground and lay there unmoving.
Hunter and Lucario stood there among the wreckage, awed. Both were injured, Hunter's arm badly sprained, almost broken, and one of his shoulders dislocated, along with a twisted knee and a head wound that was bleeding badly.
Lucario could feel at least two broken ribs, along with a fractured wrist.
Hunter looked at Lucario, his vision alternately blurring and focusing. "We…we did it."
Lucario's eyes grew wide. No smile was growing on his face.
Hunter turned around at a blue and pink light approaching him from behind.
Dialga and Palkia had recovered quickly, and had fired attacks, hoping to kill them while they were talking.
Lucario put his paw on Hunter's chest, using Force Palm to fling him out of the blast radius as he took the attack himself.
Hunter slammed into the ground, his scream of "NO!" as well as Lucario's roar of pain drowned out by the sound of the explosion. When the dust cleared, he limped quickly over to the blackened crater where his friend had once been, then turned to Dialga and Palkia, who were recharging.
Hunter felt anger. Searing rage and pain that these two...abominations of nature had seen fit to come into his world and take away the only thing he had left. His teacher. His friend. Lucario.
Hunter gave a loud scream of pure fury, then opened his eyes, which he had shut while thinking. They had a bright blue glow to them, obscuring the pupils, and he could feel Aura from the landscape all building up inside him, roiling in his body to be let out. He thrust his hands forward, regardless of his injuries. A large, black circle appeared behind Dialga and Palkia, and a howling wind began to suck at them. No matter how they resisted, they were being pulled in quickly.
Hunter gave out one, enormous pulse of his power, pushing Dialga and Palkia into the rent in space.
As soon as they were inside, the power faded and the rent closed, leaving Hunter to fall to the ground.
He didn't wait to see if he could stand. Running on adrenaline, he ran into the crater. He closed his eyes, and could see Lucario's Aura. It was fading rapidly. In the center of the crater, his body lay.
Hunter slid down the slope and ran to his friend, who was, as in Hunter's dream, lying on his side, his body burned and scarred, with one ear flopping over his face and his dreadlocks and tail hanging to one side, limp.
Hunter gently picked his dying friend up. He cradled his torso in his arms, and Lucario opened one eye and looked at him. He tried to smile. We did it.
Hunter, tears dripping from his eyes, nodded."Yeah. We did it."
Lucario put a paw on Hunter's shoulder. Together. My friend. He tried to smile again. Now I am through.
Hunter shook his head. "No. Don't say that. You'll live. We'll go back to the mountain. Together."
Lucario frowned. Don't fool yourself. You know…as well as I do…I'm done.
Hunter buried his head in Lucario's chest.
Lucario's paw reached up to Hunter's head, running it through the boy's hair in an almost fatherly way. You've come a long way since the day I found you. I've…taught you everything I know.
Hunter nodded. "I'm sorry, Lucario. I'm so sorry."
No. Lucario said, finally managing a small smile and shaking his head. It wasn't your fault.
Hunter took his head from Lucario's chest fur, his eyes staring into Lucario's half-open pupils.
Lucario continued. You promised…you'd never…forget…me. Right?
Hunter could only nod now.
Don't forget…ever.
Lucario nestled into Hunter's arms, resting his head against his student's chest. He smiled a little. I'll…miss you…my friend.
With those last words, Lucario's breath left his body. He went limp, the paw on Hunter's shoulder falling limply to dangle. Hunter gently lowered Lucario's body to the ground, then buried his head in his friend's chest fur. He cried until he blacked out from his injuries.
Whaaaa! Sorry. This might not actually be a tear-jerker, but I hope it is. Anyways, one more chapter after this! Sorry if it's a bit long, I tend to make longer-than-average chapters whenever there's a fight scene. To all of the people that have been reading this, thanks for all of your reviews. I hope my other stories are just as popular.