Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.
Author Notes: Chapter 33 is here! Enjoy!
I want to give a heartful shoutout to all the people that have decided to support me in my writing endeavors so far!
Thanks to CreeperMaster343, Aspergillus nidulans, and T_2the_homas77!
Special thanks to SGWarrior, RapidRotation, Aegi, and FinalDragon!
And, finally, Legendary thanks to ThatAverageDude, Roasted Cashew, and Caitou zzzzzz!
And, thanks to the support of you all, I will be releasing an artwork alongside this chapter! So, stay tuned for that!
You can visit my DeviantArt or Join my Discord for easier access to artworks for my story, we're up to 5 already! Insane! And we have 2 more on the way. Thanks to everyone for your continued readership and support!
Chapter 33 — Clash of Deities: Ocean vs Sky
A deafening sonic boom resounded across the open ocean as Skailyn charged down at such speed that the violent shockwaves of her movement blew away the storm clouds and rain near her. The uncanny empty glare of the black Rayquaza's sharp orange eyes focused on the downed Lugia, and her frightening jaws bared their blood-bathed teeth while letting out a deep snarl.
Phaedra instantly returned the snarl and glared back into death's eyes without fear. The giant Gengar's words echoed firmly in her mind. 'Stop at nothing until that Lugia is dead, eh? How dare you order Skai around!? She doesn't deserve that! I'll destroy that blasted orb!' she thought wrathfully.
As Skailyn descended from the skies like a vicious predator, a glow that reflected faintly off the falling raindrops emanated from the dragoness, letting her powers surge into the surrounding landscape.
Phaedra's eyes flashed with a gleam of deep blue light. 'She's trying to activate Air Lock and gain control of the weather,' the Lugia realized rapidly. 'However, her powers still seem to be in severe disarray based on the weak output. That's good.' The glow in her eyes intensified and spread to her body, swiftly enveloping her in a vivid aura of light that reflected dazzlingly on the water she was standing on and the raindrops that fell around her.
In response to Phaedra's will, the ocean's surface grew increasingly agitated and the rainfall poured down harder. The violent winds picked up in pace and potent thunderclaps boomed through the hostile environment, only to drown in the otherworldly rumble of the hurricane's howls and the ocean's increasingly fierce tides. The array of green flashes surrounding Skailyn's body dimmed noticeably as they struggled to influence the world around the two dueling deities, smothered away near-instantly by Phaedra's monstrous hurricane and powers.
"What's that?" the giant Alakazam asked uneasily while looking around with keen worry. His eyes and spoons glowed blue and a telekinetic shield formed around the titans to mitigate the hurricane's increasing hostility toward them. "That doesn't look good."
"It does not," Claydol agreed. Its eight eyes glowed in tandem with his psychic ally, aiding in levitating Feraligatr and Kabutops as well as shielding the entire group from the inclement weather.
"It doesn't matter," Gengar replied with an annoyed scoff. "As long as Rayquaza is between us and that Lugia, we'll be fine. Stay sharp, though." The massive ghost-type froze when he noticed a thick line of bubbles and ripples forming steadily across the ocean's surface.
"This… this should be impossible," Feraligatr murmured in awe. "How in the world…?"
"Are we even fighting a Pokémon?" Alakazam wondered.
A violent succession of powerful waterspouts erupted in a line that went as far away as the eye could see, letting loose the deafening roar of an unmeasurable amount of water moving and crashing against itself as the ocean tore open in half right under Phaedra's feet. From horizon to horizon and throughout the vast chasm, violent gales surged up from the darkness and mixed with the Hurricane's relentless winds to form monstrous tornados along its jagged edges. A steady rumble permeated the environment like constant drumming from the hundreds of waterfalls that formed along its edges and poured into the abyss' depths.
Phaedra, without the water's surface to support her immense weight anymore and lacking her left wing, immediately plummeted into the newly-formed fissure. The falling Lugia angled herself so her back was facing the ocean floor that was still miles below and shrouded in darkness, thus allowing her eyes to keep an unbroken focus on the incoming death goddess.
As Phaedra fell, the rainfall near her left side condensed and swirled in place like a whirlpool. Its turbulent spins grew in speed and intensity as the water compressed into a tighter space with each passing second. 'Skai is approaching fast!' Phaedra noted direly. She glanced at her left side and the revolving torrent of water on it. 'Almost there, almost there!'
Phaedra scowled and refocused her attention on Skailyn. Six large orbs of water condensed around her plummeting body. The orbs drew water from their environment at such a rate that they emanated intense glows of bright sapphire light. The water orbs hummed with the steady sound of rippling currents as the pressure within them swelled to the breaking point.
Phaedra took careful aim and launched three of the orbs with a potent swipe of her right wing. The Origin Pulses soared up at immense speed and pulsed with an intensity and power that creased the chasm's walls at their sides. A trail of bright blue bioluminescent moisture formed in their wake and illuminated the darkness of the ravine with a vibrant blue hue.
Skailyn deftly dodged her way through the three vibrant water spheres with several acrobatic twirls of her long serpentine body, causing them to harmlessly fly through her coils. Phaedra growled and exerted her unwavering will over water. The Origin Pulses arched behind the dragoness and flew back to the two dueling deities while spreading more effectively. Phaedra's eyes emitted a potent gleam of blue light as she psychically accelerated the attack's descent, allowing them to swiftly catch up with Skailyn. The remaining three Origin Pulses in front of her spread out and whizzed ahead as well.
Skailyn's eyes darted around and swiftly took note that the incoming strikes now blocked the most feasible escape routes. The dragoness simply rocketed ahead without any regard for the attacks around her. The six Origin Pulses collided fiercely with the black Rayquaza's body, unleashing brutal highly-pressurized detonations of water that ripped through the weakened scales and inflicted numerous deep wounds in the flesh underneath her armor. Skailyn winced and continued her trajectory unabated, despite the numerous bursts of blood-laced mist that erupted from her body.
Phaedra grunted and exerted her willpower once more, taking advantage of the disorientation of the sky goddess caused by the aftermath of her Origin Pulse, even if briefly. The towering water wall at their right side rippled with potent tremors for a moment and then burst open due to a large ocean current emerging from it. The dark mass of water collided heavily against Skailyn's body and violently smashed her against the oceanic wall on the opposite side.
Skailyn let out an incensed growl and abruptly lashed her enormous tail with immense physical strength behind it. The armored tail ripped through the ocean current with a thundering crash that reverberated throughout the water canyon, instantly detonating it into a vicious maelstrom of misty water. The waves of air pressure that formed in the aftermath continued their path and ripped a massive gash on the water wall opposite of her.
The water coalescing around Phaedra's left side steadied into a near-exact replica of her missing wing. The ocean goddess willed her prosthetic wing to spread, testing if the pressure and volume within it matched the weight and balance of her other wing as closely as possible. 'This will do.' She nodded in satisfaction and angled her body upright just in time to violently crash-land feet-first against the seafloor. The impact of her immense weight ripped the stone and sand below her and sent out a noticeable aftershock to her surroundings.
Phaedra looked up as the Rayquaza recovered and charged down at her anew. "I know you're in there and can hear me, Skai," Phaedra said gently, a soothing undertone in her voice. "Don't worry, I'll free you from that thing in a bit." Her voice hardened with resolve. "I promise."
Phaedra's eyes gleamed with a stormy blue light. A deep groan reverberated forebodingly around the chasm as the water on its walls grew further agitated. Powerful earthquakes rattled the seafloor and massive spouts of water erupted from the walls as they collapsed on themselves. The glow in her eyes shifted to a brighter shade of light as she exerted her vast psychic powers, telekinetically grabbed Skailyn's serpentine body, and pulled down.
Skailyn rocketed down as her speed increased drastically. As the dragoness descended, another massive ocean current emerged from the collapsing water walls with a rumbling blast. This time, however, it collided against Phaedra instead. The ocean goddess flapped her wings—both real and prosthetic—as the water crashed into her and used the added push to dart to the side in a swift motion that was far faster than what she could normally accomplish.
Not an instant later, Skailyn tore through the undersea current and violently crashed into the exact spot the Lugia had been. The seafloor cratered with a potent shockwave while a resounding detonation of billowing sand and water rose into the air while flinging large chunks of bedrock and rubble in every direction.
Even as countless rocks collided and pulverized into dust against her feathers and powerful shockwaves of energy battered her mercilessly, Phaedra rode the remainder of her water current, flapped her wings, and dove into the nearest part of the crumbling water wall. Immediately, Phaedra's body spun and formed a violent underwater tornado that caused her to surge ahead to the surface.
Skailyn let out a fierce roar and recovered near-instantly from her abrupt collision. She made a complete spin in place, swatting her tail and the tendrils of energy weaving from her body in a wide arc that hurled any debris around her away. The torrential rainfall and falling waterfalls quickly washed the cloud of sand away, revealing the black dragoness at the center of a deep mile-wide crater that was rapidly filling with water. Skailyn glanced around hastily, focused her attention on the retreating Lugia within the ocean, and took off like a rocket after her.
The crumbling water walls bore down on the sky deity and crashed together with a deafening thunder that seemed to spread through the vastness of the ocean and briefly drown out the howling winds of the hurricane raging above. Skailyn swam through the water after the ascending Lugia as fast as she could, but found the pressure of the ocean increasing around her with every passing moment, making it harder to swim and severely slowing her down.
Phaedra sped toward the surface and emerged from the ocean with a triumphant spread of her wings and a victorious melodic roar. She furiously glared at Azrael's titans and wasted no time in flying after them.
"Incoming!" the massive Alakazam shouted in alarm, a shiver running down his spine at the sheer anger present in the Lugia's red eyes. It felt as if her murderous intent eclipsed the hurricane around them.
"That thing's more persistent than I thought," Gengar admitted sourly as he readied himself. "No matter how strong she is, we must fight regardless!"
Phaedra grimaced and glanced behind her out the corner of her eyes. 'Unsurprisingly, she's caught up already.' The Lugia stopped in midair and whirled around to face the ocean below. 'I can ignore those giants for a moment. No matter what they do, they're incapable of inflicting any lethal damage on me. Skai, however…' Her eyes glowed a deep shade of blue as she exerted her will over the ocean once more. A powerful blue ripple spread across the sprawling waters as the undersea pressure heightened further and the surface tension increased dramatically. Phaedra's psychic powers surged from her body like a fierce flurry, radiantly lighting up the ocean's surface with a dazzling coat of blue light that telekinetically reinforced it.
Skailyn crashed against the surface violently, causing a massive geyser to erupt from the impact and thick sparkling cracks to rip through the psychokinetic reinforcement. The ocean's surface bulged noticeably as the Rayquaza struggled against the surface tension, which barely held against her powerful pushes. She rammed with her head and lashed her tail and tendrils against it with all her remaining strength, releasing potent outbursts of water with every impact.
Phaedra cringed and bared her teeth as visible strain formed on her expression. 'Hold, hold, hold, hold!' she repeated over and over to herself. The aura of dark blue energy around her increased in intensity as both her power over the ocean and her psychic abilities struggled to contain the trapped Rayquaza underwater.
"Now's our chance!" Gengar shouted heatedly. "Get her!" He opened his mouth and gathered an orb of swirling shadows within it. The orb glistened sinisterly as it grew until it was dozens of feet wide and faded near-perfectly into the murky clouds and torrential rainfall around it. With an angered shout, the colossal Mega Gengar fired the Shadow Ball with acute precision.
The pulsing orb swiftly soared through the air and collided against Phaedra's back. The oozing shadows spread throughout the Lugia's plumage without restraint and ignited into an explosion laced with large purple sizzles and black wisps. However, the oozing shadows broke down amid the alluring blue glow emanating from the ocean goddess, who largely seemed unresponsive to the attack that struck her from behind.
Gengar growled and his clawed frontal appendages trembled in frustration as the raging winds swiftly cleared the attack's aftermath and fully revealed its ineffectiveness. "That stupid Legendary…"
Alakazam and Claydol telekinetically hurled Kabutops and Feraligatr at Phaedra, even after noting that Gengar's attack did not affect her. The psychic pair's eyes glowed with further intensity as they unleashed a vast wave of telekinetic energy at the Lugia. Their psychic attacks collided fiercely against Phaedra's own psychic emanations and immediately shattered into nothingness, prompting the two massive psychic-types to let out pained cries and recoil in noticeable distress.
The giant Feraligatr scoffed and opened her jaws, which erupted with a frenzied torrent of water. However, as she approached the ocean deity, it felt as if time slowed to a crawl for her. 'What's going on?' Feraligatr wondered in alarm. It felt as if every fiber in her body resonated with a primal instinct of fear and reverence, causing uncontrollable trembles and chilly spasms to rip through her. The monster could see Phaedra's intense glare in her mind, obscuring every other sensation and sapping away all strength and willpower left in her body the closer she got to the Lugia, whose comparatively smaller body seemed to encompass everything before her. Her eyes widened and she shrieked in agony as the nascent Hydro Pump still in her jaws brutally blew up in every direction, tearing deep gashes into the innards of her mouth and blowing away many of her teeth.
"She has control over all water, don't use any water-type attacks on her. They will backfire!" Gengar warned after swiftly deducing what happened.
The giant Kabutops winced at the sight but carried on with her attack. The rock armor on her arm rumbled as the rocks grew and crept up her remaining scythe, forming jagged edges framed by a sharp blue glow.
Feraligatr roared angrily, with some of her strength returning to her out of sheer spite. Dark energy formed around what remained of her sharp jaws and lengthened them with a gleam of sleek darkness. "I'll fucking rip your other wing off!" she screeched as she collided against Phaedra's back and wrapped her jaws around the base of her right wing. She bit down with all the strength that she could muster in her jaws as she used Crunch. Yet, much to her chagrin, even though the attack once again managed to rake off some of the tough feathers, it completely failed to pierce the skin on the goddess' wing.
The giant Kabutops followed through and swung her Stone Edge-infused Scythe into Phaedra's back with as much force as she could muster while letting out a fierce war cry. The jagged rocks shattered into pieces upon contact with Phaedra's astoundingly resilient feathers, though it still managed to shred off noticeable patches. The razor-sharp scythe barely managed to pierce several inches into the Lugia's skin, successfully drawing out a trickle of blood.
Phaedra let out an annoyed scoff as she fell several dozen feet off the air from the impact of the two titans' weight crashing on her back and tensed her wings to sustain her flight balance. She growled defiantly and, having grown accustomed to the output of power necessary to contain Skailyn, abruptly spun while swatting her muscular wing forcefully at the two pests.
Kabutops and Feraligatr recoiled back with pained cries, the powerful impact leaving an unsightly bruise on the two monsters' sides. Both monstrous water-types flew away at a rapid pace, tugged away forcefully by the psychic powers of the giant Alakazam and Claydol.
Phaedra glowered at them. Her face still showed the noticeable strain and her eyes emanated a potent shine due to her continuous exertion, as the entirety of her powers remained focused on keeping her best friend trapped under the surface tension of the ocean. She flapped her wings and charged at them. "My turn!"
"What's the plan!?" Alakazam asked desperately while reflexively levitating backward. "Everything we try to do fails!"
Gengar looked at the incoming Lugia with apprehension and then at the momentarily-trapped Rayquaza while pondering their options. "Retreat!" he shouted abruptly. "Our mission is to stall, not win! Without her wing, we should be faster!" He turned and scurried away from the area at a surprisingly fast pace. "Rayquaza, follow us and protect us from that Lugia!"
Alakazam and Claydol immediately turned and levitated after the retreating Gengar while psychically pulling Feraligatr and Kabutops along with them. Skailyn, having received and acknowledged her new orders, stopped her assault on the surface and swam in the direction of their retreat.
Phaedra snarled with exasperation and flapped her wings to fly after them. 'They're surprisingly annoying, and they're big and resilient enough that they can move through my hurricane without faltering that much,' she noted drily.
Gengar glanced back and gladly took note of the distance they were gaining from the chasing Lugia and the Hoenn region at large. "Keep going, don't stop!" he encouraged. "Rayquaza, where are you!?" he hollered. Now that Skailyn was far enough from the area that Phaedra's powers reinforced, she emerged from the waves with a sprawling torrent and dutifully flew to their side.
Phaedra flew at a steady pace after her fleeing enemies. 'What to do now…?' she pondered. 'I could pick up the pace and catch up to them if I want to.' Her eyes narrowed and focused on her best friend. 'But if I catch up, I'd end up in close quarters and above water against Skai.' She frowned at the continuous pain still beating on her left side. 'With my reduced mobility, she'd catch me in a heartbeat. And when she does, she'd kill me instantly.' She hummed in thought. 'That means I need to force them to fight while keeping a safe distance from them.'
Phaedra glanced behind her and grimaced. Even with her powerful senses, the Hoenn region and the events happening there had largely faded away by now, succumbing to sheer distance. 'It's only been a few minutes, but I need to end this right now. Every second I take is a second Azrael has with the twins.' Her jaws clenched the moment her thoughts drifted to Latios' family. 'Everyone's counting on me. Skailyn, the twins, and their parents… it's all on me. I won't fail any of them!'
Phaedra pressed her wings to her flanks and steeply dived toward the water. She spread her wings and gently landed on the ocean's agitated surface. She firmly planted her feet and tail on the water and tensed her body, which trembled and flared an intense stormy blue aura of pure power that spread into the world around her like a monstrous shockwave. Her power and consciousness merged into the restless ocean and spread through it with an ethereal pulse of divine light, illuminating the murky ocean in a majestic shade of blue that made it pulse and hum for miles upon miles on end.
Gengar looked around worriedly mid-flight as the howls of the hurricane's gales died down, smothered by an otherworldly rumble that sounded akin to a lumbering beast stalking its prey. "What is that?" he asked slowly.
"That doesn't sound good," Alakazam replied anxiously. "And it doesn't feel good, either. It feels like my psychic senses are going into overdrive. Something very bad is about to happen."
Gengar glanced back to scout what their opponent was up to and almost froze on the spot at the sight that greeted him. He remained speechless for several agonizingly long seconds as he tried to comprehend and make sense of what he was seeing. "Can we…" he began, barely finding the courage to muster any words through his incessant trembling. "Can we… do something about that?" the ghost-type wondered nervously. The rest of Azrael's titans looked back and gasped in horror.
The ocean was rising.
Like a towering mountain that stood proud and imposingly over a landscape, a pulsing crest of water so vast it completely blotted out the horizon ascended further and further into the sky until it swept past the swirling grey clouds of the rampant hurricane. The continuous rumble of such a vast swath of an ocean surging up drowned every other sound in the environment and dwarfed everything around it but the hurricane itself, whose bands of clouds moved away under such a nature-altering force.
The monolith of water stretched out for dozens of miles in each cardinal direction, giving the rising water summit a vague semblance of a cross. The rumblings worsened as the center of the mass detached from the seafloor and only remained connected to it with two thick pillars of water each several miles wide. As the mountain's center surged upright, it left an expansive almost hollowed-out basin of shallow seas from the sheer volume of water it kept dragging into its growing form.
The air around Phaedra distorted with eerie ripples from the sheer amount of power emanating from her. The ocean deity reared her head back and let out a fierce roar into the sky that made vibrant red runes and a pulsing alpha-shaped sigil form on her body. The ocean-born summit pulsed with a titanic red rune that ran parallel to the one on Phaedra's body as it raised off the battlefield.
The leviathan rippled with immense shockwaves of power in all directions as the appendages of water that spread in each cardinal direction coalesced together into forms that took a shape akin to a Lugia's wings, tail, and neck. The front-facing appendage bulged across out at the front and split by the middle like fierce jaws, while the ones at the sides fanned out at the edges like a Lugia's wings. The lumbering monster rose to its full height, which badly distorted the hurricane and wind patterns around it from its sheer scale alone. Such was the volume of the water making up numerous parts of its form that a deep and uncanny blue settled on it like the ocean's depths, while the edges and ends of its appendages retained the lighter blue of the ocean's surface.
"That thing looks just like her," Gengar realized in horror as he gazed at the gargantuan form that dwarfed them by nigh-infinite orders of magnitude. Even from the elevated position of his levitation and his powerful vision, it was so incomprehensibly vast that its tail and wings shot far past the horizon and out the boundaries of his eyesight, leaving them to blur and fade into the distance.
"That's because this is me," Phaedra bellowed in a deep voice that boomed out through every bit of the titanic form and the ocean landscape all around them, giving her voice a divine echo that sent chills down her opponent's spines.
The ocean's manifestation shifted its right wing—which easily spread over a vast length of close to a hundred miles—and reared it back in a slow and agonizingly heavy motion. With the monstrous weight of entire seas behind it, the figure swiped its wing in a destructive wide arc of nearly incalculable force that swept vast swathes of the hurricane's bands along with it and caused enormous tidal waves to form underneath it.
"Teleport above!" Alakazam shouted urgently. Both his and Claydol's eyes glowed in a bright shade of blue light, which extended to the other three titans. Five potent booms rippled throughout the hurricane's struggling winds as they teleported away and reappeared high in the atmosphere. Skailyn, following her earlier command to tag along with them, abruptly shot upward to meet them where they had reappeared.
Gengar looked down and gazed with stunned fascination as the ocean's wing tore through hundreds of miles of the ocean's surface and distorted the very fabric of nature below them. Colossal wind currents and thunderstorms followed along with the wing's swipe due to the sheer mass of its movement, as if its strike was a cataclysm of its own. "We… we can't outrun something of that magnitude forever. We must do something about it."
"Can we do something about it?" the giant Alakazam asked weakly, as if the will to fight had left his spirit. "We… we're powerless against that. It's like we're fighting a force of nature itself."
The ocean's manifestation of Phaedra's might rose far above the hurricane's clouds in a deific manner, allowing the sunrays to light its upper side in a myriad of blue and white hues, which contrasted deeply against the dark blue of its interior. "That's because you are," Phaedra replied through the ocean with a deafening voice as its 'head' turned to focus solely on them.
Its left wing slowly lifted into the sky and pushed far into the atmosphere until it towered over the high-flying titans as if they were diminutive bug-type Pokémon. As the 'wing' pierced through the heavens, its end swiftly froze solid from the sheer cold embracing it in the upper echelons of the earth's atmosphere. With earth-shattering force, the ocean opened its jaws as if it was roaring and brought down its wing like passing a divine judgment.
"Rayquaza, stop that!" Gengar screamed in pure desperation with widened eyes and trembling pupils.
Skailyn shifted her attention to the incoming wing, narrowed her eyes, and rocketed forward fearlessly. The black Rayquaza snarled as she charged at the behemoth's strike even as it overshadowed her ominously and, despite her powers still reeling from the continuous damage inflicted by the Jade Orb, barely managed to release a fractured torrent of dark green draconic energy. The orange tendrils of power that weaved out of her body flashed in vivid pulses and held steady along her flight as the draconic energy burst like a ferocious gale around her.
Skailyn's speed increased dramatically as the blinding outpour of green lights solidified into a splintered shroud that encased the dragoness in a thick veil of draconic energy so dense and powerful it appeared like a cracked crystal, which was immediately coated in a vicious inferno from the sheer friction of her movement along Earth's atmosphere. With as much energy gathered as her badly torn powers and the limits of her injured body allowed for a Dragon's Ascent, Skailyn let out a deafening roar and collided like a meteor against the miles-wide frozen wingtip of Phaedra's water construct with all her strength.
The fierce clash of deities detonated in a harrowing crash so powerful it almost blew out the five titans' eardrums and tore throughout the vast reaches of the sky in a radiant blast of blinding flashes of green energy and red flares that spread throughout the atmosphere. The Dragon's Ascent cleanly cleaved through the ocean's frozen wing and carried on with its straight path into outer space. The entire wingtip shattered into uncountable chunks of ice and icicles from the ensuing shockwaves that scattered in every direction like a hellish blizzard, which tinted with the green hues of draconic power that continuously ripped through it.
Skailyn let out an agonized shriek as enormous flares of green draconic energy gushed out her body in all directions and massive chunks of ice rattled against her form, ripping large chunks of scales off her armor and cleaving deep wounds into most of the exposed flesh of her body, nearly knocking her out of the sky in the process.
The ocean's embodiment recoiled back a couple of mountainous steps that set off earthquakes on the earth below from the aftermath of the collision. Its left wing rippled with a thundering pulse of green energy that disintegrated most of it into endless waterfalls that rapidly joined the distorted hurricane's rain.
Phaedra winced noticeably as the strike rattled throughout her powers, even though she was safely located at the hurricane's eye. 'Damn, even weakened, Skai still hits hard. However, now's my chance!' The Lugia opened her jaws and formed a translucid sphere of light within them. She tilted her head back and shot the Weather Ball straight into the sky, being careful with her aim to ensure it stayed within the hurricane's eye.
The empty Weather Ball soared into the sky and drew in the surrounding weather. Phaedra's eyes glowed with increasing intensity, her body tensed visibly, and she let out a growl as the dark blue aura around her erupted wildly to the point the strain caused her feet and remaining wing to tremble from the sheer amount of power she was exerting.
The walls of storm clouds framing the hurricane's eye imploded in stunning displays of lightning and colorful rainfalls as they flowed into the Weather Ball, which caused it to swiftly grow and tint with a stormy grey hue. The sharp whizzes of wind echoed throughout as the Weather Ball's pull grew steadier and absorbed the hurricane into it at a faster pace.
Gengar looked on from afar as the hurricane's eye imploded near the monstrosity the Lugia had conjured. Instead of spinning around the eye, the clouds now spun inward like a whirlpool and disappeared into something he couldn't quite see yet. "She's doing something, and it can't be good."
"There's more!?" Alakazam asked in frustration, almost dropping both of his giant spoons. "There's no end to this!"
Gengar glared at the hurricane's collapsing eye and let out a frustrated scoff. "We can't just stay here. If we can't run from that, then we fight, no matter how hopeless it is. We must follow our King's orders to the very end." The Jade Orb contained within his third eye flashed as he looked at Skailyn. "Rayquaza, stop whatever that Lugia is doing. Now!"
Skailyn shook her head to recover from the rather bad headache the impact had given her, let out an angered growl, and charged at her opponent confidently. She soared through the sky and angled her trajectory downward, aiming straight for Phaedra's location.
The ocean's enormous form arched its head down and opened its vast jaws as it lunged at the incoming Rayquaza. The endless water walls framing the jaws' interior rippled with violent tides and formed deadly torrents of pressurized water as it came down.
With the incoming attack too expansive to dodge, Skailyn doubled down and sped into it head-first. The jaws collided against Skailyn with monstrous force, causing her to let out a pained cry at the powerful impact. The colossal water bursts and crossing tides tossed her around mercilessly for several moments inside the hellish prison until Skailyn recovered and valiantly pressed on through the continuous water jets.
Skailyn reared back and pressed her flight with far more force, tearing through the ocean with such uncanny ease that its head burst open with a massive burst of rainfall that unceremoniously fell into what remained of the ocean below, thus allowing the black Rayquaza to charge ahead unabated.
Phaedra growled and tensed visibly. 'Here she comes!'
"Keep hitting that barrier, Crobat! Use Shadow Ball!" Brock commanded while pointing ahead.
"You too, Pidgeot and Pikachu! Keep going!" Bianca shouted, encouraging Ash's Pokémon to continue attacking.
Crobat let out a shrill cry and took a deep breath. An orb of crackling shadows formed within his maw. He spread his four wings for stability and fired the attack with a defiant screech at the purple barrier that stood ominously before them.
Pidgeot flew straight to the barrier as fast as she could. A dazzling sphere of bright golden energy formed in front of her, which then erupted fiercely into a golden and purple veil of pure light that completely encased her and reflected brightly on the endless raindrops near her.
Pikachu's red cheeks sparkled with intense arcs of yellow electricity. He let out a shrill shout and released a large blast of bright electricity that shot far into the sky and then arched back down.
The three attacks collided against the barrier mightily and caused it to crack and pulse visibly in response. However, despite sustaining clear damage and noticeably straining to remain active, it resisted the three Pokémon's powerful onslaught.
"This isn't working," Bianca commented with pointed worry. She looked on as Pidgeot's mighty Giga Impact and Pikachu's rain-boosted Thunder pushed relentlessly against the crackling barrier with only minor success. She cupped her hands around her mouth, leaned forward, and shouted, "Come on, Pidgeot and Pikachu! You two can do it! You're the strongest here!"
"We must keep trying even if it's not working. It's all we can do," Brock responded with a sigh. His hands tightened into fists and his arms trembled. "We can't allow this to continue any longer, even if we don't know what it is yet."
Bianca paused and turned to look behind her. She frowned at the fact she could only see the beach and Petalburg Woods stretching into the distance before the intense rainfall blurred them away. "Should we go and get help?" Bianca asked while glancing at the younger trainer. "Steven and Cynthia are in Rustboro City, after all."
Brock frowned and appeared thoughtful for a moment. "Rustboro City is several hours away on foot. By the time we get there and back, it's likely that whatever's going on will be over. Besides, I'm not sure we can get there fast enough with this rain hindering us to begin with."
Bianca let out a dejected sigh and shook her head in disapproval. "I guess… huh?" Almost prophetically on cue to the former gym leader's words, the relentless downpour that had been battering the beach and forest for the last few minutes rapidly lessened into a drizzle. Bianca looked to the heavens and stared incredulously. "What is wrong with the weather today?" she questioned in frustration. Bianca let out a short gasp as the wind kicked up noticeably for a moment, making her reach up and hold her white beret in place with a hand.
The storm clouds overhead moved through the sky rapidly, as if pulled away by an unseen force toward the open ocean. Eerie rumbles and sounds came and went from the ocean now and then, which Brock noted made Pikachu, Pidgeot, and Crobat appear uneasy from time to time. Though, even with the sense of dread that permeated the environment, the three remained steadfast in their attempt to free Ash and the twins from their inexplicable prison.
Brock stared at the sky disbelievingly. "I… I think I know what's causing this," Brock began with a shaky voice. "There's only one thing that I've seen kick up storms of this magnitude and move them around so easily. It's a Lugia. It must be. I saw it on TV over a year ago at the Orange Islands, and lived through it not too long ago at the Whirl Islands."
"I remember seeing that on TV as well," Bianca recalled while putting a finger to her chin. "But I don't remember that much of it off the top of my head. Is Lugia a Legendary Pokémon?"
"Yeah, they are," Brock replied with a nod. "That would also explain the blast we saw in the distance earlier as well. But, what's a Lugia doing here anyway? And… what is it fighting?"
Bianca looked at the ocean worriedly. By now the storm clouds had left the entirety of the coastline and only appeared as a black mass on the horizon that headed deeper into the open ocean. "If a Lugia is fighting nearby…, is it trying to help us… or trying to attack us?"
Brock took a deep breath. "I don't know. Ash described the Lugia at the Orange Islands as entirely benevolent. The Lugia we met at the Whirl Islands was generally kind as well, despite a small misunderstanding regarding her child." Brock looked at the crackling barrier that blocked them from Ash and the twins. "A Lugia can't be bad or want to harm Latios and Latias, right?"
"I don't know," Bianca muttered uneasily. "But I would definitely appreciate a Lugia helping out right about now, if they're that strong."
"Regardless, we need to keep trying." Brock reached into his vest and retrieved Onix's Poké Ball again. "The rain being gone means I can use Onix. We can't give up!"
'It's almost done,' Azrael noted in delight. He threw a quick sideways glance toward the sprawling beach. 'The humans and Pokémon out there are of no concern. They've damaged the perimeter barrier but they won't pierce it in time.'
"Who's there?" Ash's words carried out through the void, only to fade into the nothingness without granting him even the consolation of an echo. It felt cold and lonely, especially now that the dazzling lights had largely disappeared and left the place an endless sea of black once more. Yet, eerily, it felt like a cold and distant presence was there with him. Was it part of the void or not? He could not tell. "What's almost done?"
Azrael winced at the sensory readings that he got from the orb atop the staff. 'What's going on out there?' he wondered. 'That's terrifying. Ozul was spot on about Phaedra. The battle will end soon no doubt. In that case, I think it's time to leave.' He gazed at the golden staff. By now, the orb glowed with a blinding glare of red and teal lights from the power amassed within it. 'That should be a large enough sample of their powers.'
Ash recoiled apprehensively. "Who's there!?" He asked again, looking on with worry as the fiery blue aura that emanated from him vanished completely and left him in an increasingly exhausted state. He frowned.
Azrael paused for a moment and stared melancholically at the swirling energy within the orb. 'Their power feels just like their mother's…' He shuddered at the upsetting similarities. 'I still remember it vividly. The day Pokélantis and everything I built ceased to exist, all on the whim of an arrogant god.'
Ash looked around nervously. It felt extremely unnerving. He knew he was no longer alone in the void, yet at the same time, it felt obvious that he was indeed alone. Which was it, then? He could pick up faint words and impressions laced with what he could describe as frustration, fear, and anger. Were they his own? Or someone else's? "Power? Mother? God? What are you talking about?" he asked the void tentatively.
'How long have I hidden in my squalor? I lost track of time long ago. Legendary Pokémon… it's like there's nothing that can oppose them. Such invincibility… always forcing me to hide at their mere presence…' Azrael focused Ash's eyes on the glowing staff, causing a twinkle of hope to spark in them for the briefest moment. 'I will figure out a way to beat them if it's the last thing I do. I swear it.'
"But why?" Ash asked loudly into the void, scratching his head in confusion. "Are you angry at them? What's going on? What happened?"
Azrael paused and finally took note of the distant voice echoing in their shared headspace. 'He's growing conscious of the possession. He's quite strong.'
"Possession?" Ash gasped. It all made sense now. "Who are you!? Are we in my mind!? Get out!" he shouted angrily.
'For what it's worth, it's nothing personal kid,' Azrael responded solemnly. 'You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The power in you will be very useful, and I thank you for that.' Ash doubled down and clutched his chest as a searing pain erupted within him. It felt as if something that he couldn't quite understand was being ripped right out of him.
Azrael froze and looked out in alarm when a blinding red light suddenly pierced through everything and came to encompass their entire world in a hot flash.
Alakazam, Gengar, Feraligatr, Claydol, and Kabutops stared with awestruck and frozen expressions at the horrific attack growing in the distance. The five simply couldn't move or react, stuck in their hopelessness and the realization of the impossibility of challenging one of the planet's deities.
Phaedra's Weather Ball—now a colossal entity of its own many miles in diameter—levitated over the ravaged ocean like a dusky sun, containing within it the violent swirling mass of hyper-compressed storm clouds from the deceased hurricane it had just assimilated. A steady and overwhelming howl echoed through the landscape along with the continuous faint booms of thunderclaps. The nearly-drained ocean below the orb creased and rippled from the nigh-limitless mass of energy held above it, occasionally exposing the seafloor across vast sections. With the hurricane completely gone, the bright sunlight finally cast over the battlefield once more, except for the eerie shadows of the embodiment of the ocean and the levitating Weather Ball.
"So, this is the power of a god…" Gengar muttered in stunned amazement. "They really are monsters."
Skailyn roared and charged at the Lugia with relentless ferocity, her bloodied jaws bared and the flowing tendrils of draconic energy spread threateningly. Phaedra tracked the sky goddess' movement and willed one of the ocean's vast wings to make a mountainous swipe across the landscape once more. The appendage of water collided against the black Rayquaza like a rolling tidal wave and dragged her along for miles within its violent tides.
Phaedra glared at the still-distant Rayquaza and tensed visibly. A dozen orbs of water condensed near her and spun around her like a vortex as they drew water from the humid environment. The aquatic orbs pulsed and released an intense gleam of sapphire-blue light as the pressure within them increased drastically.
Skailyn abruptly shifted her immense body upright with such strength that the whiplash ripped the tides around her and sent torrents of water in every direction like divine waterfalls. Now free of the water prison, she shook her head several times and glanced around to regain her bearings.
Sharp whistles echoed around as the Origin Pulses soared through the air and collided against Skailyn without mercy. The attacks detonated with a dazzling flurry of sapphire flashes and unleashed potent bursts of highly-pressurized water in rapid succession. The Rayquaza let out a brief shriek that died down among the deafening booms of the attacks that pushed her back and smashed her aggressively into the ocean's surface, leaving only a torrential splash in the aftermath.
Phaedra's eyes narrowed as she spread both her real and prosthetic wing gallantly. "I promised that I would free Skailyn from your control." The ocean's manifestation rumbled ominously as its vast wings mimicked the Legendary Pokémon's movement, forming a complete circle with them so incomprehensively immense it nearly spread beyond the horizon's line in all directions.
The monstrous Mega Gengar looked around nervously as the deity's wings surrounded them and disappeared past the limits of his vision at times and blurred unrecognizably with the distance, seamlessly melting into the blue hues of both the ocean below and the sky above.
"I keep my promises!" Phaedra boomed. She let out a deafening roar that thundered across the oceans and swung both of her wings ahead with as much strength as she could muster, causing a flare of stormy blue aura to emanate brightly from her body. A deep ravine formed on the drained ocean and winds violently kicked up in every direction as the enormous Weather Ball abruptly surged forward and headed straight at her enemies.
Gengar's eyes widened in horror as the incoming compressed hurricane grew larger and larger. "Rayquaza, be ready to fight that!" he screamed out of pure desperation.
Skailyn emerged from the ocean in a swift motion that left a potent geyser behind her. The draconic goddess shot skyward and obediently flew to the titans. She placed herself defensively in front of them, angled her body in an aggressive stance, and awaited her next command.
Alakazam and Claydol's eyes glowed a bright blue as they prepared to teleport to escape Phaedra's wrath once more. However, they both let out alarmed shouts when their attempted teleport backfired and left them with a searing headache. "It failed!" Alakazam cried out while clutching his head in pain.
Gengar looked around urgently. He could not sense a psychic field nearby that might have inhibited their abilities. 'So, what is it!?' His eyes widened when they focused on the distant and blurred water wings from the monster the Lugia had constructed out of the ocean. 'That thing's imbued with her power, so she most likely made sure we can't teleport past it! It's confining us to an area too large for us to make it to the edges to break through it again…'
The hyper-compressed hurricane traveled through the air at a surprisingly swift pace, casting an ominous shadow on its intended targets. The sheer amount of energy barely contained within it twisted the oceans below it and the sky above it with a harrowing trail of destruction. Gengar looked at the incoming Weather Ball and trembled uncontrollably. 'And then created an attack big enough to cover the entire area with one strike.' The ghost-type glanced at the other four titans apologetically. "She got us." He turned translucent and phased away from the physical plane.
"I will not fall here!" Feraligatr roared angrily and defiantly opened her maw. Seeing the water-type's bold reaction, the rest spurred into a collective response as best as they could. Claydol let out a drone and held both of its bulbous appendages forward. Alakazam raised both of his spoons and angrily held them out in front of him. Kabutops opened her mouth and let out a sharp cry. Four enormous spheres of extremely volatile orange energy formed in front of all four of the colossal Pokémon.
They let out a collective war cry and let loose four massive beams of intense orange and yellow energy in the last stand against Phaedra's divine might. The four Hyper Beams soared through the air with immense strength and, as soon as they neared Phaedra's incoming attack, rippled with sharp distortions. The beams abruptly imploded into thousands of meek and dying fizzles when they came close to the energy emanating from the Weather Ball.
Alakazam let out a resigned sigh and slowly lowered his arms in defeat. "We did what we could, King. I hope we served you well."
Claydol stared in frozen fascination, accepted its defeat, and remained silent. Feraligatr and Kabutops unceremoniously dropped from the sky, as Alakazam and Claydol stopped levitating them after completely giving up and resigning themselves to their fate. Skailyn remained motionless ahead of them as she had received no further orders from Gengar.
Phaedra looked on with a glare as the Weather Ball impacted the spot titans and Skailyn were like the cataclysm it was, completely vaporizing all the water under it from the intense waves of pure energy in an instant. A violent tremor shook the oceans as the Weather Ball unleased all the built-up energy of the hurricane compressed within it in a tremendous blast of deific proportions that ripped through the land and surged far into the atmosphere, sending out powerful shockwaves that ripped across the skies with such intensity that all leftover clouds cleared away for thousands of miles in all directions.
The worst of the blast collided against the vast wings of the ocean, which mercifully contained it to the area and prevented it from spilling over any further. Massive chunks of rock ripped off from the ground as the strike pierced through the seafloor so deeply that magma erupted from the violent crevices and chasms that formed throughout the Earth's crust.
Phaedra relaxed and let the ocean's manifestation lay down to rest at last, having fulfilled its intended functions. The colossal entity leaned forward and collapsed on itself like a never-ending waterfall coming from the heavens. The collapsing torrents of water rained down on the still ongoing blast and the torn crater, smothering them away with endless jets of pressurized steam as the ocean worked on settling itself back to normal.
Phaedra spread her wings and flapped them, immediately taking off to fly into the calamity that she had created. 'I must get the Jade Orb!'
'Why does it hurt so much?' Latias wondered as she looked faintly at the dazzling lights of the energy rings that spun wildly around her. It felt as if every breath took more effort than the previous one and like she was no longer levitating by her own will anymore. Her eyelids felt heavy, and every conscious thought felt hazier. 'What is even happening? Why us?'
Latias' golden eyes slowly closed for the briefest instant and then abruptly shot open. 'No! Stay awake, stay awake, stay awake, Latias! You can brave this,' she told herself repeatedly. She shook her head and winced as another ripple of energy ravaged through her body and left her in the form of a glowing red aura that freely flowed into the rings that bound her.
Latias' unfocused eyes looked around aimlessly. She let out a weak gasp when her attention focused on her beloved Ash. For a moment everything in her vision cleared, which caused a growl to involuntarily scape her tightly-clenched jaws. She could sense it with aggravating detail, that monster that had taken control of Ash oozed a malicious and angry aura that vibrated repulsively against her empathic senses and constantly reminded her of his presence as if mocking her.
'Why us? What have we done to you? We don't even know you,' Latias thought dejectedly. She growled in frustration. She felt so helpless, so impotent, so weak. 'You killed our father. You ruined our family. Are you trying to kill us now, too?'
Latias froze on the spot and held her breath. 'Kill us? Am I going to die here? Is this DMA mock-up going to kill me?' She looked around through half-lidded eyes, gazing from the spinning rings to the energy field cutting her and her brother off from the rest of the beach. She could vaguely feel the presence of Brock, Bianca, Onix, Crobat, Pikachu, and Pidgeot just outside the barrier. They were so close yet so faint and distant at the same time. Their fear, their impotence, their frustration, it all felt so vivid to her.
'They're trying their hardest… but are they going to die too?' Latias wondered dimly. 'Are my friends going to die as well? What will happen to them once that Azrael thing finishes with us?' She could feel the buildup of tears under her eyes, but they refused to come out and only succeeded in blurring her vision further.
Latias' entire body tensed and her claws flexed anxiously. 'Dying… Latios…' The red dragoness could feel sensations that mirrored hers coming from him. However, his presence felt frighteningly empty and distant. 'Are you okay, Latios? I almost lost you at Alto Mare. I almost lost you at Rustboro. Will I lose you for real this time? But we just promised each other…' Latias' nostrils flared with a coarse exhale. 'We promised…' Her half-lidded eyes opened completely and focused as if life itself had returned to them. The golden tone of the pupils brightened into a vivid and intense red hue, and the tears that had accumulated under them evaporated into droplets of steam. 'We promised that this would never happen again.'
Latias' teeth bared and her breathing turned erratic as a sharp pain spread like a scorching wildfire throughout her body. Much like at Alto Mare, much like at Rustboro City, something snapped. It felt as if a searing rip tore through her soul and split her in half. It felt intoxicatingly liberating. She was free. She was strong.
Latias let out a snarl as her hostile glare focused on Ash and the entity possessing him. 'We are not dying here.' She trembled in place and could feel her heart pounding in her chest with a frantic rhythm from the sweltering rage burning within and around her, obscuring her vision with the distinct crackling embers of deep red fire. 'Fire?'
Everything came to a screeching halt for an eerie moment.
'Why am I on fire?'
A ferocious plume of extremely intense fire erupted from Latias' plumage like a scorching veil of red, white, and orange. "LEAVE US ALONE!" she roared at the top of her lungs, eyes blinded with rage and psychic senses obscured by frustration focused on the possessed human before her, whose alarmed expression only seemed to register for the briefest instant before Latias' vision went dark and her mind slipped into blissful unconsciousness and peace at last.
The bright red fire spread in all directions with unyielding fury. The very air lit up in a roaring inferno and the sand under them melted into an oozing mass of bright orange liquid glass that surged like a wave in all directions.
Azrael immediately abandoned Ash's body and swiftly hid in the safe confines of his staff, leaving the startled and disoriented boy unable to react and only catch a brief and final glimpse of the incoming hell.
The runes and rings covering the sand washed away by the sweltering waves of molten glass and the fierce jets of flames, which collided with blinding ferocity against the barrier meant to contain the ritual. The spiritual barrier crackled for a moment and then collapsed in a paltry display of purple sizzles and black cinders, consumed by the blinding blast of fire in an instant. The unrestrained inferno spread across the beach and left everything in its path scorched down to ashes and molten glass.
Chapter End
Author Notes: Chapter's done! I hope you all enjoyed it! I feel overjoyed to finally be able to show the scale and power Legendary Pokémon have in my works. After so many stories depict them as nothing more than rare Pokémon who can easily be captured by 10-year-old kids and shown around, I'm happy to finally show the deific manner I plan to write them with.
(I say as my story is largely about a 12-year-old capturing a Legendary and showing him around, but technicalities, right?)
Anyway…
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