Subject Alpha took off like a rocket toward his target with an intense purple aura marking his flight path. With a fist raised, the Mewtwo threw the first punch, only to have it blocked on the forearm of Light who counterattacked with a salvo of punches of his own.
"Do you see it now?" Slate asked from the sidelines, "The fruits our research has bared!"
"All I see is the evil you've produced." Light replied parrying yet another one of the Mega Mewtwo X's attacks.
"Still defiant I see, that will change soon enough. Alpha turn up the pressure with Psystrike!"
Alpha pulled back his fist and after imbuing it with purple psychic energy threw it his enemy. Caught aback by the sheer power of the blow, Light was sent flying backwards before regaining his balance. Pushing his slight advantage, Alpha teleported behind Light just as he returned to his feet and struck once again with another Psystrike.
Caught off guard, Light was once again sent flying across the room before landing abruptly against one of the many cages lining the room. Pressing the ad vantage even further, Alpha unleashed two orbs of raw Psychic energy at his foe, hoping to inflict major damage. Both attacks detonated on impact with their target creating a large cloud of smoke.
"Light!" Ashley cried, still processing all of the painful auras around her.
"You didn't think I'd fall that easily did you?" As the smoke cleared, Light was revealed with a Shadow Ball Shield in front of him and none the worse for wear. "Dark Pulse!"
"Counter with an Aura Sphere Alpha." Slate replied calmly.
The two moves met midfield cancelling one another out, but provided Light an opportunity to close the distance and launch a Night Slash attack. Unable to block in time, Alpha was forced to take the hit and braced himself for the Fury Swipes which followed.
I'm not doing nearly enough damage. The former NAA Commander thought. I need to find a flaw in Alpha's battling style.
"I believe we've let him have his fun. Blow him away Alpha."
At his master's command, Alpha used Psychic to push Light backwards. He launched forward in pursuit directly afterwords.
"Double Team!" Light yelled taking evasive action.
"Alpha. Mind Reader into Psystrike." Slate called
The Mega Mewtwo X's eyes glowed slightly, locking onto his target before attacking one of the many Double Team illusions. Sure enough it was the correct target. As soon as Psystrike hit, all of the other 'Lights' around the battlefield vanished and the true Meowth was sent hurdling back toward the ground to form a large crater.
"Grrr. I won't lose here." Light mumbled and yelled, "Shadow Armory!"
As a large number of swords and spears composed of Shadow Ball energy began racing him, Alpha didn't show a hint of fear. Instead, he grabbed the first Shadow weapon that tried to hit him, a sword, and used it to deflect any other projectiles that got near.
"Can't you see?" Slate asked. "Mewtwo was created to be the most powerful Pokemon and with the advances we've made here at Devon he has become even stronger. You can't win."
"Even if you day that, it doesn't mean I can't try." Light replied before materializing a sword for himself and flying into the air to fight Alpha once again.
As sword clashed against sword above her, Ashley continued her struggle to process the pain of the caged test subjects.
There's so much pain here that I can barely move, but if I don't do something, Light will surely lose. Grimacing against the pain, she forced herself to look at the intense darkness permeating the room. How can I fight like this? Should I accept the pain and use it to fight? Taking her own advice she tried to allow the pain to flow through her but quickly stopped. No! Last time I did that I ruined the sneak attack on Devon. There has to be another way.. The Aura user closed her eyes and forced on the sounds of the clashing swords above her. How does Light do it? How can he hold so fast to his beliefs in the face of all this evil? Looking upward, she found her answer in the form of a small light against the pitch blackness of the room. That's it! I can't let myself be beholden to the good and bad of the world. I have to be a light to pierce the darkness. That is how I will overcome this and that is how I will fight!
Empowered by her realization, Ashley's aura began to grow and glow brighter, giving hope to the caged subjects and illuminating her vision enough to join the battle. "Hey stupid!" She yelled, trying to get the Mewtwo's attention. "Take this, Aura Sphere!"
As the powerful attack neared its target, Alpha knocked Light to the ground and turned around in just enough time to block the Aura Sphere with the Shadow Ball sword. When the smoke cleared, the sword was gone, but Subject Alpha was unharmed.
"Well, well an Aura User..." Slate observed as Light forced himself to stand. "Alpha! Leave the girl alive. She may be a useful test subject."
With a slight nod of understanding, Alpha charged toward his targets once again.
"Rest up a bit Light. I'll take him on!" Ashley yelled before her comrade could respond. She ran to intercept Alpha's charge and caught a punch on her forearm. Turning the tide, the Aura User, went into a combo of aura enhanced strikes that her adversary was forced to block. Afterwords, she launched another Aura Sphere at point blank range. Although it didn't do much damage, it forced Alpha backwards and gave Ashley space to plan her next move.
Instead of waiting for his opponent to make a move, Alpha began running in circles around his foe, launching Shadow Balls and Aura Spheres from odd angles.
"Do you really think a weak tactic like that is going to work?" Ashley asked, going blow for blow against Alpha's attacks with Aura enhanced strikes.
Alpha teleported behind her just before Slate answered "And did you really think you could defeat Devon's ultimate weapon?" On cue, Alpha took away what little momentum Ashley had with a series of Psystrikes. The first strike took Ashley by surprise and landed a directly on her back. The next strike she was able to block but at the cost of a lot of her energy as she slid backwards across the battlefield. The combo continued as Ashley threw up an Aura Barrier to block the next strike. The barrier held for a second before shattering and Alpha's fist connected violently with her nose. As Ashley stumbled backwards, the final strike came from Alpha's tail which whipped around at an incredible speed to knock the Aura User to the ground.
"Ahhhh!" Beaten and bloody on the ground, Ashley began to scream as the Mega Mewtwo started to crush her chest with his foot.
"Have you realized it yet?" Slate asked as Alpha pushed his foot down harder, bringing another scream from Ashley. "Alpha is unbeatable! No one can stop us!"
"Dark Pulse!" Came the sudden attack from Light. The beam connected and sent Alpha backwards away from Ashley. "Are you Ok?" He asked his beaten comrade.
"I've... been... better." Ashley wheezed in reply. The back of her shirt was badly scorched revealing a large bruise and blood from her clearly broken nose was beginning to clot on her face. "How.. are we going... to beat him?"
"I'm not entirely sure." Light replied honestly. Although he was in a better position to continue the fight than Ashley, Light's body was covered in small cuts and bruises in addition to the large amount of energy he had spent earlier in the battle. Subject Alpha is too strong. I need more power if I'm going to defeat him. Light thought. Ashley's out of commission and the others are probably exhausted after fighting the city guard so I'll need to overcome the deficit by myself. How have I pulled through other tough situations? Thinking to himself for a moment, Light found the answer he was looking for.
"Ashley. I need you to find the others and get out of the city."
"Are... you... crazy Light?" Ashley croaked. "How can... you win?"
"I always pull through in these tough situations." The former NAA commander replied. "Just trust me and get the others. Can you do that for me?"
"Yes sir." She replied before running off to find the remainder of Light's strike team.
"What's this?" Slate quipped. "Your friend seems to be trying to run. Alpha! Put a stop to that!"
Before the Mewtwo could respond, Light yelled, "She is not you're concern anymore! You're battle is with me." The final statement was punctuated by entering a fighting stance.
"Very well." Slate replied. "You'll soon be dead anyway so it doesn't matter if I capture her now or later. The result will be the same. Alpha prepare yourself!" Subject Alpha nodded in acknowledgement and entered a fighting stance of his own.
Both sides were ready for one final bout.
In the city
"Taro watch your six!"
"Thanks Akiza! You have one coming up on your side!"
"Easily dealt with." The Gardevoir responded as the enemy was blown away with a Hyper Voice.
The team of Volc, Taro and Akiza had hit a rhythm since Light and Ashley went off toward the main Devon building. Each one looking after the others blind spots and coordinating their attacks appropriately, they had easily held their own against the hoards of Magnetons, Magnezones and Klingklangs that continuely appeared to fight them. Despite their growing teamwork, signs of fatigue were beginning to set in. Volc was breathing heavily and the fire on his back had begun to dim slightly. Taro's body was riddled in cuts and bruises many of which were still bleeding, including a particularly nasty cut above his left eye. Even the team's secret weapon, the Mega Gardevoir Akiza had begun to scale back many of her attacks in order to conserve power.
"We need a new tactic." Volc declared as he narrowly dodged an incoming Charge Beam. "Any suggestions?"
"This is still our best option." Taro replied. "If we try anything fancy they'll have a chance to separate us and we'll be goners for sure."
"We either need to find a way to break the enemy line or find land where we will have the advantage." Akiza cut in. "Any ideas on how we can break their line?"
"That's an easy one." Taro replied, running toward a building with his fist at the ready. "We do what you said and use our environment." With that, Taro threw his fist forward into the building, causing it to start to crumble and collapse.
As the plethora of Steel types began to scatter to avoid the building's rubble, Volc and Akiza were able to press the advantage and add to the confusion. Volc used Smokescreen to block the enemies vision while Akiza used Psychic to launch pieces of rubble into unsuspecting victims.
"Nice follow up." Taro said as he rejoined the others.
"You weren't too bad yourself." Akiza replied.
"The City Guard should be pretty shaken up after that so we'll have the advantage for a while. Let's make the most of it." Volc said, "Ready?"
"Yes."
"You bet."
Were the immediate replies from Akiza and Taro respectively.
"Then let's go kick some Steel type a-"
"Wait!" Ashley yelled cutting Volc off mid sentence.
"What are you doing here Ashley?" Volc asked. "Aren't you supposed to be with Light in the headquarters?"
"I was. But he wants all of us to pull out of the city."
"Retreat?! But we haven't killed everyone yet." Akiza replied.
"I agree." Taro remarked. "There's still quite a bit more pain I can soak up here."
"No. Retreating is the correct play." Volc decided. "Taro, you're barely standing and our attacks are doing a fraction of the damage they were at the beginning of the battle. We'll retreat but what about Light? Has he already gone ahead?"
"He's still in Devon HQ fighting." Ashley admitted, "But he seemed to have a plan."
"What sort of plan could he have to win that involved our retreat?" Taro asked.
"That doesn't matter right now." Volc replied. "We should take advantage of the confusion we caused and retreat. Light knows what he's doing. I'm sure he'll pull through. Now let's go!"
Devon Headquarters
Light and Subject Alpha clashed fists once more and the former NAA commander was sent flying across the room.
While Light was showing the affects of the battle, Alpha still looked none the worse for wear as he smacked the poor Meowth around the battlefield.
I've lost too much energy. He thought. None of my attacks are even holding a candle to Alpha's. I need to wait just a little longer and bank on one final attack.
"What do you have to say now?" Slate mocked, "For all your spouting about the evil of my work. It has produced results. You are the strongest fighter this war has seen and yet Alpha has still torn you to shreds. Alpha! Finish him with Dark Pulse!"
"Double Team!" Light cried in response, using the move to dodge.
"You've already tried that. You should know it doesn't work! Alpha! Mind Reader into Aura Sphere!"
Just like before, the Mega Mewtwo was able to pinpoint Light's location and the Aura Sphere landed dealing massive damage, sending Light flying backwards to land face first in the ground.
As Light tried to stand and rejoin the fight, his leg gave out and forced him to one knee. Both Slate and Alpha took this as a sign of victory and slowly made their way over to where Light had collapsed.
"It looks like this is the end Light. Even though you failed in your mission, take solace in the fact that you were the one variable the Devon Corporation could never account for." Slate smiled slight before asking, "Any final words?"
They should be out of the city by now. It's now or never. "Yes." Light replied as sparks began to fly off his tattered body. "From the very beginning of my crusade, I vowed to bring this war to an end by any means necessary." He forced himself back onto two legs before continuing, "This may have made me some enemies but I stood by my conviction. Now it's time for you to see just how strong my conviction is. Thunder!"
Electricity burst forth in every direction as Light called his final attack. Slate was vaporized instantly but Alpha still held firm against the Tower of Thunder which had vanquished so many of Light's other foes.
I need just a little more. Light thought. But if I pour anymore of myself into this attack, there will be no coming back. And yet I'm oddly at peace with that. He smiled slightly and mumbled, "With this, the world can truly enter a New Age. YAHHH!"
With one final scream Light's body disappeared and the Tower of Thunder, which had held steady at Devon Corporation Headquarters, suddenly expanded to cover the entirety of Rustboro City, vaporizing anything in its path. Not even Devon's greatest creation, Subject Alpha, could withstand the blast and was vaporized before he could teleport to safety.
All across the Hoenn region, people and Pokemon looked to the sky and saw the Tower of Thunder emanating from Rustboro but only a select few knew what it actually meant.
"LIGHT!" Ashley yelled, tears streaming down her face as she realized what Light had done. "Why? Why did you do this?"
"He knew it was the only way to win." Volc replied, "Looking back, he probably planned to sacrifice himself the moment he ordered the retreat. There was nothing you could have done."
"But if I'd stayed, I could have helped him fight. I-"
"You would have tied his hands." Akiza cut in. "Light ordered the retreat so none of us would be harmed by the attack. If any of us had been there, he wouldn't have unleashed the attack and we all would have been done for."
"If it's any consolation, it a Commander's greatest honor to die for the sake of his men." Taro added, "Light didn't just die for us but for the sake of the whole world. Tomorrow we'll go back and try to find a body to give him a proper burial."
The next day the four remaining members of Light's strike team returned to the city to look for their commander's body, but it was never found.
Epilogue
A few days later the New Age Alliance arrived to investigate the city and begin reconstruction. The force was greeted by a young girl and a Typhlosion who explained what had transpired.
With a camaraderie forged in battle and emboldened by Light's sacrifice, Taro and Akiza called for peace and disbanded their armies. Although certain radical cells remained, the peace and reintegration of regions was oversaw by the New Age Alliance from their new headquarters in the rebuilt Rustboro City.
With the world in a time of intense change, Silver kept her promise and led the New Age Alliance to the best of her ability but the guilt over her betrayal slowly began to weigh on her. After implementing policies that would ensure the peace, Silver confessed her actions to her her top lieutenants Nate, Grunt and Momo before giving command of the organization back to the person who started it, Momo, and stepping out of the public eye.
Several months have passed since that fateful day and the New Age Alliance continued to grow and expand into the other regions. With this expansion personnel needs have risen drastically. In response, recruitment drives were step up for eager volunteers.
"All right. Who's next?" Asked a young woman sitting behind the counter. "Welcome to the New Age Alliance's recruitment drive where you help to create our brighter future." She smiled before continuing, "And what is your name?"
On the other side of the counter was a very young looking Meowth with eyes that betrayed deep wisdom. "My name is Shoten. Shoteneko."
AN: And thus ends Pokemon New Age. Sorry for the long wait, this being the final chapter I didn't want to pull any punches, but hopefully it was worth it. I want to thank anyone and everyone who has gotten this far in the story and I hope you enjoyed. I especially want to thank anyone who contributed OCs to the story including Isetba(Ashley White), Valiant Blaze(Knight and Volc) and especially PsychicEevee0103(Tara, Grace and Silver). Hopefully I did your characters justice.
Before our announcement here are a few fun facts about Pokemon New Age
1. A large majority of the plot(including the ending) were based off of Code Geass.
2. I had a general idea about the beginning and ending of this fanfiction from day one. I just didn't know how to get there at the time(hence the long second arc)
3. Pokemon New Age was originally supposed to be an arc in my other fanfic The Adventures of the Slash, but I thought I would write it as a solo story to improve my skills. I have since fallen in love with the separate universe.
And now for the special announcement I promised you all. Drum Roll Please!
I would like to announce the sequel to Pokemon New Age! Pokemon New Age: Uprising! It should be posted in the next couple of days so if you enjoyed the ride and don't want it to end, go and check it out!
Until next time,
Orimorium