Mega Evolution Battle

Arco's POV

Facing against Daniel's Gallade wasn't something I was looking forward to. I knew Gallade's strength, and he was right when he said Flame was the only one able to defeat him. I may have Ethan fighting with me, but neither of us were a good matchup against Gallade. Regardless, we had to fight to win.

[Come on, Arco. Let's show this guy who's on top,] Ethan growled.

I nodded before taking off at full speed towards Gallade, my right fist charged up with Meteor Mash. Gallade responded with a Psycho Cut and our two attacks slammed into each other. I struggled to hold Gallade's attack back, but I wasn't trying to win the power lock. Just keep him in place.

Ethan then fired a Dark Pulse in Gallade's side, sending him crashing into a building. I then made things worse by firing Dragon Pulse at the area where Gallade was, causing even more damage to the building, but that hardly mattered to me.

Me and Ethan then stood side by side, waiting for Gallade to appear again, as I knew that wouldn't have finished him. Sure enough, Gallade burst out of the smoke with a Shadow Claw ready and uppercut me with it before I could react.

I vaguely heard Ethan shout my name before I crashed into someone's apartment, which was thankfully abandoned at the moment. As I stood up to regain my senses, I heard Ethan cry out in pain. Approaching the window, I was surprised when Gallade immediately filled my vision. In sheer desperation and instinct, I fired off two quick Aura Spheres which managed to knock Gallade back.

I then focused one stronger Aura Sphere and managed to fire it at Gallade, who jumped higher in the air in a vain attempt to dodge, but it wouldn't work. Aura Sphere followed Gallade's movement and hit the Blade Pokémon from below, hitting him with an Aura explosion.

As Gallade crashed down to Earth, I looked around in hopes of spotting Ethan, and I did so, seeing him starting to get back up down the road on my left side. I jumped towards his position, landing a bit short, and ran up to him.

[You alright?] I asked.

[Been better, but we can't stop now,] Ethan groaned as he finally stood up, though I could see his legs were a bit shaky. I turned back to where Gallade was, only to see him directly in front of me, arms glowing purple in an obvious Psycho Cut.

The first one slams into my head, then I hear the sound of Ethan's Dark Pulse firing as I hit the ground. Quickly pulling myself up, I was about to fire an Aura Sphere when I felt something new.

What was this? Before I could think about it, Gallade was already speeding towards us with a glowing blue orb over his head, which I recognized as Zen Headbutt. I felt my aura burst from my body as I met Gallade's attack with Aura Assault, countering his head with a punch of my own before sending my other fist into his gut.

Gallade staggered before being sent up by a kick to his chin. I then leapt up and delivered a spin kick to Gallade's side, sending him crashing into a building. My body then locked up and I realized I got the recharge effect. No, not now. That wouldn't have taken Gallade down!

Sure enough, Gallade reappeared and slammed both me and Ethan with Close Combat, sending us both flying back. We both skidded across the ground before I ended up right next to an abandoned car. Gripping the side, I managed to stand up, my body free from the lockup.

I growled as I looked towards Gallade, who was simply watching us with disappointment in his eyes. I moved my arms to form an Aura Sphere, my body protesting against the movement with a burning sensation under my skin, but I had to push on. Who knew how much damage Gallade could do if he was left alone.

As I started to charge up my attack, I noticed that it felt… different, this time. I wasn't tapping into my own Aura this time, instead, I was using another energy. Looking, I saw that it was indeed not Aura Sphere I was charging, but Shadow Ball.

As soon as I saw it, I threw the orb of Ghost energy at Gallade, who failed to block the attack in time, taking its full effect. As Gallade slid back, I wasted no time and continued my attack, firing a Shadow Ball from each hand as I charged in.

Gallade had recovered from the first attack by that point and barely managed to deflect the two Shadow Balls just sent at him, only to be surprised as I hit him in the face with Meteor Mash. Gallade was sent flying back and slammed into a nearby vehicle, bouncing off it only to smash through the glass of a shop.

[Ethan! You good?] I called out towards the Umbreon, not taking my eyes off where Gallade went.

[I can still battle,] Ethan replied as he walked up next to me before shifting into a fighting crouch.

Gallade then pulled himself out of the rubble and glared towards me and Ethan, the two of us preparing for the fighting to resume.

[You fight well. Both of you,] Gallade started as he walked towards us, his arms glowing purple as he started up Psycho Cut again. [But it's time for me to end this. Lord Daniel won't approve of me taking so long with you,] he added before rushing towards us.

We both managed to evade Gallade's attack and I managed to kick him across the back of his head with my spiked foot, doing more damage than normal. This forced Gallade off balance and we gained some distance before me and Ethan fired Shadow Ball and Dark Pulse, respectively. The combined attacks caused an explosion on Gallade's position, and gave us the opportunity to fall back and recover for a moment.

As the smoke cleared around Gallade, it was quite clear that he was now pissed. I barely even saw him before I was slammed by Zen Headbutt and sent through several buildings. As I fell to the ground, I heard a feminine scream close to me and I heard the sounds of something moving nearby.

When I finally opened my eyes, I saw I was in some kind of small shop, and nearby were a pair of humans, most likely a mother and her son, based on what I could see.

"Kento, no! Get away from it!" the mother shouted as I saw the boy walk up to me as I moved to stand.

"Are you okay, mister?" he asked, with a curious look, but one I could see held concern. I was about to respond when I felt Gallade rapidly approaching, and put myself between Gallade's Shadow Claw and the boy and took the hit with my left paw. I then threw a Shadow Ball with my right and sent Gallade out of the building.

I looked back towards the two humans and saw the mother grabbing the boy and holding him close, looking at me with clear fear in her eyes. It was a bit unsettling to me, as Lucario are normally looked at with respect and gratitude due to our nature. Another reminder that I wasn't back home anymore.

From the noises outside, Ethan was engaging Gallade, and I needed these two to get as far away as they could. From the looks of it though, the mother was too terrified of me to even do so. I knelt down near them, the mother visibly recoiling as I held out my right paw and began to connect to her aura.

Her confusion was quite visible as I started to calm her down. She looked me in the eye and with a new sense of understanding said, "You aren't the enemy?" she questioned in quiet shock.

I gave her a toothless smile and nodded as I disconnected our auras. Then at that moment, I heard a crash from behind me and turned to see more of the building had been damaged, Ethan's body laying in the rubble as Gallade stood over him.

Me and Gallade locked eyes as I stood up protectively in front of the two humans. Gallade scowled at my actions. [Look at you. Defending a pair of worthless people. They have the power within themselves to fight back, yet they just sit there and let you do the work,] he said condescendally.

[The rules are different here. While I admit, it is a flaw in their society that doesn't make them worthless. You and the goons working for your trainer would slaughter the entire city just because! Hasn't there been enough pain?! Enough death?! After everything that happened back in our world?!] I questioned in anger. The emotions running through the people of this city were filled with terror and fear. I had managed to block out most of the feelings so far, but now that there was a bit of lull in the fight, it was coming in.

[It seems that you still don't get it. It's always been the way things are. The strong rule over the weak. And those that refuse to use their strength don't deserve to have it. That's what we do. Give the people with strength the opportunity to use it,] Gallade declared before launching towards me with Psycho Cut.

I managed to react in time and block the attack with Meteor Mash, the two of us locked in and unable to move without giving the other an opening to complete the attack. The two of us put in more power into our attack, trying to overpower the other but only causing the energy to build till eventually, it hit its peak.

The resulting burst of energy sent us both flying back into opposing walls, and as if to make matters worse, I heard the building start to fall apart.

Without thinking, I grabbed both the woman and her son in my arms as I saw Ethan start moving again, who also quickly noticed what was happening. [Run!] Ethan shouted as we both sprinted out of the building as both it and the buildings around it all collapsed.

After running down the street away from the collapsed buildings, I set the humans down and looked them both over, and thankfully both were without injuries. "That… that was way too close. Thank you," the mother said, the fear starting to leave her eyes.

I let out a sigh of relief and looked back towards the ruined buildings. [Don't think that took Gallade down, but I'm sure hoping it did,] I commented, trying to sense Gallade's Aura. Unfortunately, my focus was diverted when I felt people come from behind us.

"Beasts! Back away from those people now!" a male voice shouted and I turned to see four heroes ready to attack both me and Ethan.

"Leave them alone! They just saved us from those falling buildings!" the boy shouted at the heroes.

"Kid, be quiet and let the professionals handle this," the lead hero said dismissively, though I could see the other three heroes looking a bit uncertain.

Before any of us could respond, I felt a presence behind me and managed to turn just in time to see Gallade slam me in the back with Shadow Claw. I yelped out in pain and was knocked to the ground before my vision became a blur.

Third Person POV

Ethan watched in shock as Arco was taken down, before it quickly turned to anger. Using Psychic, Ethan did two things. First was to move the mother and kid away from the fight and towards the heroes, and the second was to throw Gallade up into the air, exposing his back to the Moonlight Pokémon.

Ethan then unleashed Fowl Play directly into the exposed back and slammed Gallade into another building. Then firing a Dark Pulse at the ruined area, knocking down another building. [You'd think with all the villain fights they would start constructing tougher buildings,] Ethan thought.

Gallade then burst out from the rubble and landed in the center of the street, looking at the group with a rear anger in his eyes, his body showing signs of damage.

"Does that thing even stay down?" one of the heroes questioned.

Arco, who was just starting to recover from the heavy hit, managed to see the situation and realize something. [We can't beat him. Not like this. I know Father forbid me from using that part of my power but… I guess I don't have a choice,] he thought.

Arco closed his eyes again, focusing on himself and his own aura, soon finding his mind in a void lit up by a massive blue flame that represented his aura. If one looked closely though, they could see chains wrapped around it keeping it in place, almost like a seal preventing it from growing out of control.

Arco's manifestation floated in front of the ball of aura and pressed a paw onto it, feeling his mind and aura start to become one. His intention was clear, and his aura responded in agreement. Arco then grabbed the area where the chains all met, and tore them off his aura with a snap. Then, it exploded.

Ethan and the heroes, who were desperately fighting against Gallade, were losing badly. Two of them were severely injured and if this went much longer, they would die. The mother and her son were frozen in place as whenever they tried to leave Gallade would focus on them in an attempt to kill them.

Suddenly, Arco's aura burst forth in a blue light then stopped everyone in their tracks. The two remaining heroes and civilians looked at where Arco was in confusion of what the light meant, while Ethan looked excited, but it soon turned to fear as he got a good look at Arco.

The Mega Lucario's aura engulfed him in a terrifying glow, the once controlled and calm expression now replaced by that of a wild animal. Arco's eyes barely visible and teeth barred in an almost permanent scowl as a near constant growl was heard.

His eyes focused on Gallade, feeling his aura. Everything about Gallade was now exposed to him. Lucario were well known for their mastery of aura, but something that few people knew was that Lucario could fuel their own aura off of the sins of others. However, this came at a risk, as if the Lucario wasn't careful they could lose themselves, essentially drowning in the opponent's sins. And the sins on Gallade's aura were vast. His intentions; the desire to destroy those that stood in Daniel's way, no matter the cost, revenge against Alec and Flame for stopping them over a year ago. But also, what he had already done; killed hundreds of people and Pokémon for his goals. The slaughter of Anistar City when they tried to take the Sundial being one of the most prominent.

With all that evil and the plans to do more evil, it fueled Arco's aura to untold levels. He had already removed his self-imposed limiter on his Aura, and combined with Gallade's malice, turned a roaring river into a tsunami.

Ethan and Gallade could both sense this, both Pokémon backing off in fear. Gallade even more so as he realized that the Aura Pokémon had now let loose his full power, but calmed himself as he prepared for what very well might be the fight of his life. The humans, meanwhile, were now getting concerned and also backed off.

Arco let out a shrill roar, laced in with his aura became an aura scream that ripped through the air, damaging the street and shattering every piece of glass nearby, as well as forcing everyone to cover their ears from the sound. The enraged Lucario then burst forward in a flash of aura directly in front of Gallade and slammed multiple heavy hits with his aura, sending Gallade flying through the air with multiple fist-shaped aura burns on his chest.

As Gallade crashed and rolled across the ground Arco quickly moved to close the distance, but the Blade Pokémon was far from finished. Maintaining his roll, as Arco attempted to strike again, Gallade used his momentum to flip over the Aura Pokémon and slash Psycho Cut across his back. Arco cried out in pain as his cream fur was now stained crimson at the slash.

Growling, Arco tried to backhand Gallade, but he ducked under the strike, only to get his left arm slammed with a sudden Shadow Ball. The shadow energy exploded on impact and the residuals stuck themselves around the impact zone, slowing down the response time in that arm.

Gallade glared towards Arco while preparing another Psycho Cut and realized that this was no longer a normal battle between Pokémon now. This was a fight to the death, and only one of them was going to come out of it alive.

The two mega's charged towards each other, Psycho Cut and Aura Assault colliding and creating a massive shockwave that sent debris flying everywhere, added in by the torn up road beneath them and the newly destroyed buildings. As the debris flew towards the humans, the two remaining heroes tried to shield the civilians and two downed heroes with their bodies, but wouldn't have to, as Ethan got between them and using Psychic, created a shield of Psychic energy to force the debris away from them.

This kind of technique was developed during the war, and was quite useful for deflecting enemy bullets away from the defenders, and while Ethan knew of it and still kept in practice, he wasn't a Psychic-type, so his shield wasn't as effective as a Psychic type's. Still it served its purpose, despite the strain it put on Ethan's mind, none of the debris harmed the humans.

Back in the fight, Arco and Gallade were still going at it, trading blows faster than the eye could track, both Pokémon appearing to be equally matched as they fought. However, if one were to be able to see them at the speeds they were going, they would have noticed that Gallade was starting to tire out, which the Blade Pokémon noticed.

He knew the Lucario would only get stronger the longer the fight went on, absorbing more and more power until Gallade couldn't contend with it. He had to end this fight now, before Arco reached that point. As Arco threw a left hook, Gallade dropped down and hit Arco in the side with Shadow Claw, the shadow energy cutting into Arco's side and forcing him to falter in his attacks.

But the Lucario managed to respond by kicking Gallade in the gut, knocking the wind out of him before being launched into the air. Arco then jumped up and slammed Gallade back into the ground with an overhead kick, crashing into the street and damaging more of the surrounding area.

Gallade laid on his back for a moment while in the hole made by the impact, trying to catch his breath after the vicious assault he just took. It didn't take long, but as he tried to stand, his whole body protested the action, almost leaving Gallade in complete agony before he was forced to the ground again when Arco's right foot was placed on his chest.

Keeping the Blade Pokémon pinned down, Arco held up his right paw as an Aura Sphere began to form, and while the Aura Pokémon stood strong, Gallade could tell he was worn out as well. But that didn't matter. Gallade couldn't even fight back anymore, and as a result closed his eyes in acceptance.

But the finishing blow never came, as one of the massive arms of Hoopa Unbound came from a portal and knocked the Mega Lucario away, before a second portal opened beneath Gallade and he fell through it, the arm soon diving back into the portal it came from as both vanished.

Arco pulled himself up and looked around, seeing his prey missing after the surprise attack. His aura was furious at being denied the kill, seeing it as someone filled with evil being allowed to escape, but it was soon distracted, as the adrenaline started to die down and the pain came, which caused Arco to fall to his knees. As Arco regained control of himself and reengaging the limiter, he noticed Ethan running up to him.

[Arco! You alright?!] Ethan asked as he approached before seeing the damage on the Lucario. In addition to the shadow energy still in the scratch on his right side, he had multiple bruises across his entire body, some worse than others, but not any less concerning. Arco didn't even respond, soon falling to the ground as a rainbow shell briefly surrounded him as his Mega Evolution faded. Falling unconscious before he hit the ground.

Whooo boy, this took way longer than I expected it to. I had planned to get this one out in late January/ early February at the latest but it seems life just wasn't kind to me and kept being a pain when it came to giving me the time to write this out combined with writer's block delayed this considerably. Sorry about that, everyone.

I'll do my best to get the next chapter out soon, probably during April if work and school is kind to me, but otherwise, I hope you enjoyed this very late chapter.

Also, I took the time to edit the previous chapters in this story, nothing too drastic, mind you, mostly grammar things I noticed recently but there are some minor changes in a few chapters, so wouldn't hurt to reread those if you're interested.

Until next time: Legend vs Myth