Chapter 23: Fall of the False King
Lloyd woke up the next morning, his back aching from lying on the stiff ground with only a thin, stiff mattress between them. He heard a lot of talking nearby, so he decided to get up right away in case it somehow involved him.
He went outside and saw literally everyone in the camp gathered together, in the same place where Lloyd was interrogated the night before. He joined the circle of pokemon to listen to what was being said.
Meryl stood in the centre of the circle, half way finished giving a speech to everyone around her.
"... King Noah didn't want to command over this nation because he cared for its people, no, he only cared about the power and money. This island could sink to the bottom of the sea for he cared, as long as he had a boat full of poke ready to leave for safety. I say that we return the title to someone who cares not of themselves, return the throne to the true heirs of the crown. Today is last day of King Noahs rule over us! We have a plan to get into the castle, and once we're inside they don't stand a chance against us! My daughter, Rita, by some miracle, survived the merciless sea, the unforgiving wasteland, and still managed to become the perfect young woman that she was always meant to be, lets not let a cowardly false king be the death of her!"
She looked over and saw Lloyd standing there, she went over to him and pushed him to the centre of the circle.
"Hey! What are you..."
"This young man is our ticket inside! He owes my daughter his life, its time we help him pay her back! Now, this will be a dangerous mission, some of you might not be there when we celebrate our victory, but rest assured we will have it, and your name will be remembered by the people of Oasis Island until the end of time! Who is with me!"
Dozens of voices called out, all of them agreeing to help, all of them cheering for their queen.
"Umm... Meryl?" Said Lloyd.
"Yes? What is it?"
"How exactly do you expect me to get us inside the castle?"
---
"Excuse me! Hellooooo!"
Lloyd stood at the walls gate, calling up to the guards that stood up top. One of them looked over the corner and saw him.
"Yes? What is it?"
"The king made a mistake, he gave me too much money for my reward, I thought it be the honest thing to do and return the extra coins to him!"
"Umm... One second!"
The guard disappeared, a few seconds later the gate opened about half way, and the guards both came down to see Lloyd.
"We shall give the money to him right away. I'll be sure to mention that you returned it."
Lloyd went to hand the Grovyle the bag of coins, when he grabbed the money, Lloyd electrocuted him with a thunder bolt attack.
The other guard was surprised, hesitating for a moment. Lloyd ran over to him and tackled him to the ground before he could call for help and knocked him out with a kick to the head.
"Sorry guys, not my plan!"
Lloyd climbed a set of stone stairs that reached the top of the way, when he got there he was a massive wheel used to open the gate. It was hard to turn, but using all his strength put into it he managed to turn it slowly. A few seconds later the gate was completely open.
Lloyd opened the bag of coins and pulled one out, he held up the platinum poke and moved it around. The light from the sun caused the coin to sparkle brightly, this was the signal that the gate was open and the Renegades were free to enter.
Out of the forest came at least one hundred pokemon, all lead by Meryl. They ran past the gate and spread in all directions, all except Meryl who went straight to Lloyd, who was already down the stairs to meet with her.
"Ok Lloyd, I need you to go to the dungeon and free Rita, then meet in front of the keep, we need everyone we can to get in there."
"Right."
Lloyd already knew where the dungeon was, the Renegades kept a map of the entire castle with them, and Meryl had shown him step by step their plan.
While the Renegades were busy retaking most of the castle, Lloyd was to slip in unnoticed and free Rita. Once she was free he was to go to the keep, where Meryl predicted most of the remaining soldiers would go once they realized the castle was under attack so that they could defend the king.
He was successful in avoiding detection until he reached the stairs down to the dungeon itself. It was guarded by a pokemon he didn't expect to see on an island full of grass types, a Growlithe.
When Lloyd thought about it, it made sense for it to be a guard, Growlithe were known for there strong senses and its fire type attacks would be devastating to practically the entire island.
I don't want to risk getting caught, so I cant just fight it... What should I do?
Then Lloyd saw something at his feet, it was the Growlithe's food bowl, in it was a large bone. Lloyd grabbed it and threw it beside the guard dog. It looked towards the noise and growled, but when it saw what made the noise, it happily went over to it and began to noisily chew on it, not paying any attention to the dungeons entrance at all anymore.
Lloyd snuck down the stairs, successfully avoiding detection, and once he thought he was out of ear shot of the Growlithe, he ran the rest of the way.
Lloyd yelled into the dark, damp room. "Rita!"
He heard he yell back, the voice coming from the second cell the his left. "I'm here! Help!"
Lloyd grabbed a ring of keys he found on the wall, hanging off a nail in the wall, and rushed over to her cell. He was happy to see her, and he was especially happy to see her unharmed. He opened the cell door and swung it closed.
Rita jumped on top of Lloyd, much like she had done when she first met Kane. "Oh Lloyd, thank you so much for saving me! I was so scared!"
"Yeah, so was I."
"Huh?"
"I was scared they might have hurt you or something, I don't know what I would do without you."
"Oh Lloyd..." She stepped off of him. "So... What are we going to do now?"
"We're helping Queen Tropica take back her throne, we're supposed to go to the keep."
"Wait a sec, THE Queen Tropica?"
"The one and the same, and she wants to meet you about something."
"What?"
"I think it'd be better if she told you, now come on!"
---
"Keep fighting! Victory will soon be ours!"
The Renegades had already taken over the rest of the castle, King Noahs troops didn't stand a chance, they were all unprepared and outnumbered. The Renegades were now battling the remaining soldiers in the square in front of the keeps huge, wooden gate.
Meryl stayed back, away from the battle, she needed to wait for Lloyd and Rita to arrive. "Where are they? Did Lloyd get caught?" Then she saw him running along side Rita, running towards the keep. "They're here! They're here! Everyone fight, only the false king remains and we've won!"
Lloyd and Rita ran up to Meryl. "Ok, what should we do now?" Asked Lloyd. But Meryl didn't respond, instead she stared at Rita.
"I can't believe I'm meeting you after all this time... I..."
"Umm, hey?" Rita didn't know what was going on.
"Dear Rita, do you know who I am?"
"Yeah, Lloyd told me, your Queen Tropica, the real ruler of this island."
"That's not what I mean, I.... I'm your..."
But Meryl was interrupted by the loud groan of the keeps gates opening, out came Regal, the Caterpie that served King Noah.
"Solider's of the King! Renegades of Oasis Island! Hear me!"
Everybody stopped fighting, the soldiers went towards the gates, and the renegades went to the queen. They all stayed quite, so as to hear what message Regal was passing on.
"The King wishes to challenge the renegade Meryl Tropica, and the one known as Rita, to a duel! The prize of course, is the throne and the crown! What say you Tropica?"
Meryl shook her head. "Why should I do such a thing when your men were just moments from defeat?"
"You think that these were all the men the king had to spare? No, inside the keep itself is a hundred additional soldiers, more then a match for your little party. But the King would rather end this himself, and prove he is the one destined to be king!"
"Then I guess I have no choice, but why have both of us fight the king? The duel would be two on one!"
"The King will be accompanied by his champion, Lord Zar of the wasteland!"
"What?!" Said Rita and Lloyd together. "Your lying Regal! We defeated Zar ourselves and is in Havok City prison as we speak!"
"Oh really?" Yelled a familiar, yet somehow different voice. Out of the keep came a giant, red pokemon, with wings, deadly looking claws and an unmistakable face, It was Zar, now evolved into a Charizard. "It looks like they misplaced a prisoner then!"
"It can't be!" Yelled Rita. "How did you get out? And how did you evolve?"
"A good friend let me go, someone you know very well. And I have evolved because the boss thought I needed more power if I was going to be useful to him, and he promised more power if I captured your friend!"
"Who is this boss?" Yelled Lloyd. "Why does he want me so bad?"
"That's none of your concern, what is your concern is that when I win this duel, I'm taking you with me!"
"Lloyd." It was Meryl. "Don't worry, me and Rita can handle them both. Right?"
"Uh, right."
Meryl yelled back to Regal and Zar. "We accept your challenge!"
Regal nodded. "Then come inside, our soldiers will wait outside, as will yours."
Regal said something to someone inside the keep, and a moment later many troops marched outside, joining their injured companions.
Rita, Lloyd and Meryl and climbed the steps, everyone watching them, and went inside.
---
The doors closed, the only ones inside the enormous hall was Noah, Zar, Regal on one side, and Meryl, Rita and Lloyd on the other.
"The rules of the duel are simple." Said Regal. "The battle continues until both pokemon of either side are knocked unconscious, killed, or are forced to surrender. Does everybody understand?"
"Of course." Said the King.
"Agreed." Said Zar, his voice was much deeper now that he was a Charizard.
Rita and Meryl merely nodded.
The four of them walked towards each other, Regal stood off to the side, and Lloyd stood behind his friends.
"Ready?" Asked Regal. "Begin!"
Zar was the first to make a move, at a speed nobody could have predicted he was capable of, he took flight, swooping right at Rita. Meanwhile Noah extended two vines, which went straight for Meryl.
Rita barely was able to dodge a mid-air claw swipe from Zar, but Meryl wasn't so lucky. The Kings vine whip attack wrapped around her and tossed her aside, sending her flying into one of the large stone pillars.
Rita tried to counter attack Zar, but he already managed to turn around and fly towards her again before she had time to use a Razor Leaf attack, so she was forced to dodge him again. Zar was unbelievably fast, and she was sure he was much stronger as well.
Meryl was having even more trouble fighting Noah, Rita had no idea how much experience fighting the queen had, but obviously Noah was much tougher then he let everyone believe by hiding in the keep.
Rita had to help Meryl, so after dodging a third swipe from Zar. She ran towards Noah and mid-sprint launch a Razor Leaf attack right at Noahs vines, cutting them clean in half. Noah roared in pain and in anger.
"How dare you! You'll pay for that!"
With both Noah and Zar focussing there attacks on Rita, she knew she wasn't going to last long. But just as Zar came in for another flying attack, Meryl leaped over Rita and tackled into Zar, causing them both to crash hard into the ground.
Wow, the queens a pretty good fighter.
Zar pushed Meryl away, and got up. He breathed deep and exhaled a huge Flamethrower towards the queen, but she managed to avoid it just in time.
Rita suddenly got an idea. "Hey Zar! Didn't you learn not to mess with me from your last beating?" Rita could see this got his attention, he looked at her and got ready for another Flamethrower. Rita ran towards Noah just as Zar attacked. Rita jumped over Noah and the Flamethrower hit him instead of her.
"Ahhhh! You moron! Watch your aim!"
"Don't you DARE call me a moron, or a swear I'll kill all three of you!!!"
Rita attacked Noah while he was distracted, she jumped on top of his head and fired as many Razor Leaf attacks as she could straight down. Noah was obviously badly injured, he barely managed to shake off Rita.
"Zar... Help me! Now!"
Zar was about to take flight, but suddenly a sound came from a bag from around his waist, everyone stopped to see what it was. It was a radio.
"...ar... Come in Zar."
"What is it?"
"The King didn't pay us the money, and I need you to do something for me. Return immediately."
"But sir, I have the target right here and I..."
"Don't argue Zar, you owe me far too much to be arguing."
"... Yes Boss." He turned towards Regal. "I surrender."
Zar took flight and flew right into the door, causing it to open wide instantly. He roared once, then disappeared, leaving Noah all alone.
"No! NOOOOO!" The duel was finished, Noah was defeated and Zar had fled.
"Your finished Noah, your just lucky I don't kill you like you did my husband." She walked over to him and spat in his face. "You a despicable man. And as my first act as queen is to banish you from the island, your to be escorted to the boat and taken to the wasteland. Where and what you do there is your decision."
She turned her back on Noah and walked outside, not waiting for anyone else to follow. Outside the gates she looked out to everyone. "King Noah has been defeated!" The Renegades cheered. "All those once loyal to him have a choice, go with him in exile to the wasteland, or remain here to work very hard until I've decided that you've learned your lesson."
Noah, escorted by several Renegades, walked out of the keep and out of the castle. None of his once loyal guards followed him to join in his fate.
"And I want you all to cheer for the one who made this victory possible, Lloyd of Team Valiant!"
The Renegades cheered again.
"Lloyd is the one responsible for getting us inside, but more importantly, he is the one responsible for returning my long lost daughter, Princess Tropica, to us!"
"A Princess?" Said Rita. "I didn't even know there was a princess, where is she?"
Meryl went up to Rita, a tear forming in her eye. "It is you dear Rita, you are my long lost daughter, you are the future queen of this castle."
"What?!" Rita was rightfully shocked. "... Mother?" Rita ran up to her mother and hugged her, crying. "I thought I'd never get to meet you! I.... I...."
"Its ok... I'm here now."
Lloyd walked towards the large audience. "Um, you I think you guys should go clean up the castle or something, I command you as friend of the princess!" Lloyd meant it as a joke, but they actually did as he asked, all of them going in different directions. "Whoa, awesome."
"Rita... I must ask you, what do you plan to do now?"
Rita stepped back from her mother and wiped the tears out of her eyes. "I don't know..." Should I stay with Lloyd? Should I stay here? I just cant decide...
"Rita..." Said Lloyd, putting his paw on her back. "It's ok if you want to stay, I understand."
Rita didn't say anything for what felt like forever. "I... I'm going to go back with Lloyd. I still have to help him, I can't leave a friend in need."
Meryl smiled. "Im proud of you, putting the needs of others first is the most important aspect of a queen. You'll always have a home here, feel free to return whenever you want." She looked at Lloyd. "This goes for you too, Team Valiant will always have a home here."
"Umm, madame?" It was Regal. "What will happen to me?"
"Oh yes, most faithful servant of the former king, what ever shall I do with you?" Regal looked terrified, he knew he was in huge trouble. "I got it... Your going to serve your future queen, your going to join Team Valiant."
"...What?" regal was baffled, he expected something much more different.
"You heard me, you can fight better then any Caterpie, they need you more then I do."
Rita and Lloyd looked at each other. Rita smiled. "Sure, we could always use someone to carry our bags for us."
"Noooooooooo, Have mercy!"
"Sorry Regal, its decided. From now until Rita returns, you will assist Team Valiant, specifically Rita, in what ever they ask of you."
Regal lowered his head and crawled over to where Rita and Lloyd stood, sobbing silently.
"You three better be off, the boat is making its last trip for quite awhile, you wouldn't want to miss it."
Lloyd dropped the bag on top of Regal. "Carry this." and started to walk down the steps towards the castles main gate. Regal followed behind him, barely able to catch up with the extra weight, still sobbing.
Rita went up to her mother and hugged her again. "I'll come back as soon as I've helped Lloyd, I promise."
"Good bye my dear, I'll always love you."
Rita took one last look of her mother, and ran down the stairs to join her friends. "Bye... Mom."
---
They waited at the dock for the boat, which was just arriving. Regal still carried the bag, but had stopped sobbing to himself about half way.
"So Lloyd..." Said Rita. "Did you still have that money Noah gave you?"
"Uh... Oops... Left it at the castle."
Rita sighed. "Well, your lucky you reunited me with my long lost mother, otherwise I'd be kicking you right now."
"Haha, your welcome."
They all boarded the boat, all (well, not Regal) ready to go back to the Brotherhood and tell Isaac of their adventure.