In the center of the valley, the smoke cloud was gone, allowing the sunny sky to shine down at last. That sight, after what they had just seen Ho-oh do, brought the war to a halt as people and Pokemon alike took a moment to stare up into the bright blue sky. However, that dreadful cloud still fell upon the northern and southern edges of the valley.
Through the smoke, along the northwestern edge of the valley, the sound of boots stomping on cracked ashes pervaded the comparative silence. One squadron had slipped past the valley center amidst the chaos in wake of Ho-oh's dance of color. The Black Suit leading them held out his arm to stop them, then nodded to something in front of them.
"That's where the Enyo went in," He told them, pointing toward a large hole in the Tree of Beginning. "A heli's gonna be meeting us here to deliver more Toxic mines since the Enyo plan went up in flames. Clear the perimeter."
"Yes, sir," They replied, saluting, before splitting off into different directions.
The laser pointers of their guns penetrated the cloud of dust in search of any stray beast that might be using it for cover. One planted their back against a rock wall's edge, then swiftly turned it, pointing their weapon at whatever was beyond.
"All clear," He spoke into his transceiver before turning away.
Before long, the squad reconnected. "Sector appears clear on land and sky, sir," One of them reported with a salute.
The Black Suit at their helm nodded, then brought up his own transceiver to deliver the news. "Heli-149, northwestern sector is clear for landing. I repeat: northwestern sector is clear for landing, over."
"Copy that, BS-023, ETA in T-minus three minutes, over."
"Understood. My squad will wait here, over." With that, the Black Suit hung up and placed the transceiver back into his suit's front pocket.
A voice from behind suddenly spoke. "Dreadful, is it not?"
The Black Suit and his squad instantly drew their weapons and pointed them into the smoke. That voice came from the hole in the Tree of Beginning, emanating out in a soothing tone for how mournful it sounded.
"Who's there?!" Shouted the Black Suit. "Show yourself!"
There was no response for some time. Then, a light cyan glow appeared from just in front of the hole in the tree. Its emanace grew in the form of a flower sprouting up from beneath the blackened ground, and from it, grass crept up to abate the dead ground.
Glimmering wisps of color danced along the ground around the Black Suit's squad to bring life to the ground where there was none. Their eyes went wide. It was like a miniature version of what Ho-oh had just done.
That cyan flower grew larger, gradually unfurling its petals. From it, a certain Pokemon appeared. Her skin was translucent, with cyan fur growing upon it. Colorful wisps floated between her large horns, bringing their color onto them. Xerneas had made herself known. And she was weeping.
"Never had I expected this conflict to grow to such lengths," She admitted sorrowfully. "If this continues, there will be no world left to inherit. Surely you know this as well, misguided humans."
But the Black Suit and his men did not reply to her. Rather, while they kept their weapons trained upon the Pokemon of Life, the Black Suit drew his transceiver swiftly and shouted, "Heli-149, Xerneas has appeared! I repeat: Xerneas has-"
A vine crawled up from the ground beside him, which he instinctively leapt back from. However, he was unable to prevent the vine from wrapping around his transceiver and ripping it from its wire. The Black Suit scowled in anger and pointed at her.
"Open fire!"
The men tried to raise their weapons, only to find resistance. They glanced down to see more life rising from the ashes, wrapping around their ankles and weapons. They cried out as they struggled against them, but they only grew around them further.
Noticing the ground splinter near his foot, the Black Suit dodged backward and took out his plasma knife. However, the sound of deep buzzing above caught his ear. Xerneas noticed it as well and turned up her head to see the blades of a helicopter parting the smoke.
Those blades sent the smoke outward, causing Xerneas to narrow her eyes as it irritated them. However, as that smoke covered the Black Suit, he hatched a plan. He dashed toward his companions, trapped in the plants, and raised his barrier around them before firing up a violet flare.
As another Black Suit in the helicopter noted this, he turned around to a large casing carrier and pulled out a single metal suitcase before tossing it down upon Xerneas. Her eyes narrowed and she summoned thick wooden branches in front of herself.
Taking out a handgun from his belt, the aerial Black Suit shot down at the suitcase, causing it to erupt. Following an explosion, toxic material fell in all directions like rain. The plants made by Xerneas blackened and withered, and the wooden branches began melting away.
Xerneas scowled and backed into the Tree of Beginning to take shelter from the toxic material. Her eyes gleamed white as she used Geomancy upon herself, and then, she plunged into the smog.
Instantly, the Black Suit on the helicopter pulled himself onto the gun on its side and began rapidly firing on her, but her speed was too intense for even him to follow. She sped out of the cloud of poison and took a deep breath before craning her head back to where the soldiers were.
At the very least, the poison pinned those on the ground down as well, leaving them to stay inside that barrier or perish by their own hand, so they could not get into the tree. But neither could her plants surface to isolate them. It was quite the conundrum indeed.
Her eyes centered onto the helicopter, of which she could barely make out the shadow through the smoke and poison. "Let's try…"
Near her, several large branches emerged and began reaching up over the smoke. Hearing the crackling of wood, the Black Suit on the helicopter turned his gun toward its source and began firing. Steel met with wood in the air as he tried to abate the progress of the branches with the helicopter's gun.
"Raise altitude!" He shouted over at the pilot, who merely nodded and did as ordered. The chase of the plants below continued with hastened speed as Xerneas used Geomancy for a second time.
Suddenly, the helicopter stopped rising, irritating the Black Suit. "Pilot, what are you doing?! Move up!"
"I'm trying to, sir! It isn't responding!"
The Black Suit glanced over the edge and, to his horror, saw the branches clinging onto the helicopter's leg. "Max thrust, now!" He ripped out another Toxic charge and threw it out toward the branches at length, but as he raised his sidearm at it, his arm was pulled down. To his horror, small wooden branches had clung to his wrists.
More branches had sprouted out from the main source to catch the suitcase before it could fall, then wrapped around it to cover it in thick wood too hard for a bullet to penetrate easily. Xerneas let out a solemn sigh of relief as all appeared to be over, only to be brought back to reality when bullets began flying toward her from the base of the tree.
The poison in the air now dissolved, the Black Suit on the ground and his men were now free to move, and had opened fire. Xerneas's enhanced speed let her easily dash out of the way, trotting across the barren ground as fast as the bullets fired at her.
She was intercepted by another stream of bullets from above, and saw that the Black Suit above had managed to free himself already. These men were certainly as crafty as they were tenacious. As these two streams of bullets converged upon her, she stopped and stomped her front hooves into the ground.
Around her, a Protect barrier emerged, and life flowed from her hooves like great colorful wisps. They flew across the ground, spreading life as they went. More trees emerged around the men on the ground. However, they shaped and twisted in bizarre fashions, growing holes along their bark that looked almost like a face.
Suddenly, these bizarre trees rose up from the black ground and stood tall upon their roots. Those roots twisted into spindly legs, and their branches braided into arms with clawed ends.
"What the-?!" One soldier cried. "The hell are these?! Pokemon?!"
"They look like Trevenant," One pointed out, keeping his gun steady, "But I've never seen any like this."
Xerneas let out some form of a hum, catching the attention, and aim, of all the soldiers. "These are not Pokemon," She corrected, "But mere effigies. Creatures imbued with enough life to be animate, but not to think or feel, so you may not harm them."
Her eyes gleamed, and suddenly, the collection of tree effigies were upon them. There was screaming of anger, loud gunfire, and the croaking of wood. Xerneas, meanwhile, set her gaze upon the helicopter. Evidently realizing his weapon was making no dent in her Protect, the Black Suit set the helicopter's gun upon the bark entombing the toxic charge.
Frowning, Xerneas raised her hoof to try to shift the branches containing it away from them before they could do more harm, until she saw the man in black suddenly stop and reach for something she couldn't see. It wasn't difficult to guess what it was, and so she caused the branches holding onto the helicopter to grow once more.
In mere seconds, the entire vehicle was covered, as well as those within. She sighed with relief that the situation appeared to be settled, so she turned her soft gaze toward her enemies upon the ground. They struggled and writhed against the effigies, but all of them were firmly held.
She walked toward them, and spite of everything, spoke gently. "Sorrowful, misguided humans. Do you not know that every blow you strike against the Tree of Life is a strike against yourself?"
The Black Suit snarled back, "Save your lies! That overgrown weed is a haven only for Pokemon! For us, it's a parasite!" His face was wild. Even as his eyes were blocked by his shades, Xerneas could see his maddened fury. "You won't find us as easy to mislead as those other weak traitors you met before. They lost sight of our goal!"
Xerneas had a difficult time believing this man was sane. There was a deep, tangled knot of pain she felt within him. "Your goal? Do you seriously mean to destroy all Pokemon? Surely, you know this is folly. Do you not know who created our world? Who sustains it?"
This only incited a chuckle from the man in black with a wry, crooked grin. It was then that Xerneas noted the scar tracing from his lip to the side of his head.
"You think you know everything, don't you?" The man's voice was shaken and unstable. "Our boss has plans the likes of which this world has never seen. This world will be rewritten, and the loss of that plant won't deter that." He struggled futilely against his wooden binds and shouted to the skies above, "Humanity will be slaves no longer!"
His words caused Xerneas's eyes to widen. "Slaves? Human, by what do you speak of? What has caused you to think this way?"
But the Black Suit merely scoffed, no longer having the stomach to speak to her. Instead, he leaned his head as close to his transceiver as he was able. "Heli-149, this is BS-023. Engage Protocol 133-T. I repeat: Engage Protocol 133-T, over."
There was only silence and static on the other end. And then, a resigned sigh. "This is Heli-149 and BS-148. Copy that. Over."
Xerneas tilted her head at the man in black before her. Befuddled by the code, she tilted her head and slowly looked up at the trapped helicopter. "What are you-?"
There was a flash of light. And then, the helicopter erupted into flames. Toxic material flew out from all sides, covering the sky. Xerneas was not given time to even process this, so she raised another Protect and created thick layers of wood around the Black Suits.
When the material fell in a thick deathly hail, it slid off of Xerneas's barrier, but ate through the wood like fire through paper. Seeing this, Xerneas desperately created more and more layers of wood to replace the ones being destroyed. Yet, no matter how much she created, it seemed like the acid was faster.
Something stung her back with a hiss, making her wince. She looked back to see her fur smoking slightly, and when she looked up, she saw that the material had begun even to seep through her barrier.
She glanced back at the men, wrapped in her layers of branches, and renewed her efforts to grow more plants to protect them. But the Toxic material had already dissolved into the air in a great haze. Her plants had already blackened by the time they grew large enough to shield the men, and each new layer withered shortly thereafter.
Each shield created seemed to last more briefly than the last, and to make matters worse, the material in the air was beginning to thin her barrier. Bowing her head, Xerneas accepted that there was little she could do, and turned to run out of the cloud.
Briefly, she heard the short lived cries of the men before she was out of earshot. When she emerged from the cloud, she quickly shook off globs of stinging material from her body and gasped for air. With weak legs, she glanced back and saw nothing.
The man's fervent cries, declaring humanity would no longer be slaves, rang out through her mind. Did they truly believe they were slaves? What fanciful nonsense had spring up in their minds to have taken this so far?
She took in a deep breath and looked forward to face the war front. Whatever they believed, this insanity needed to end.
"There you are!"
The man wreathed in shadows briefly ceased his steps as he heard a familiar voice. He, and his Red Suits with him, turned their heads toward it with a disturbing amount of synchronization.
Hoopa floated above them a little ways away. The little genie Pokemon held her hands to her hips as she narrowed her eyes down at them. Though, a bead of sweat dripped down her forehead at the sight of how bizarrely they moved.
Trying to conquer her own fears of staring into the eyes of Nova, Hoopa pointed a finger down at him and shouted, "Y-you! I owe you for what you did to me back at Dahara City!"
Without bothering to answer, Nova snapped his fingers and kept walking toward his destination. Hoopa sputtered over her words. "Wha-?! You-! Hey, get back-!"
As she called after her tormentor, she cut herself off upon seeing one of the bizarre masked men in red suddenly leap up at her. She gasped in shock and confusion at how a human could move in such a way, recoiling backwards.
She managed to knock them back with a Dark Pulse and gain some distance. Taking the twin rings off of her horns, Hoopa tossed them down onto either side of the Red Suit that had attacked her.
Far below the Tree of Beginning, a golden ring opened within a chamber of superheated magma to catch an oncoming corona. Far away in an ocean, amidst a powerful sea current, another ring opened to take in the water.
Magma and water shot out at the Red Suit on either side. It used Protect upon itself, but the brutal liquids of opposing elements collided upon the barrier with hissing steam, entombing the Red Suit in stone.
When the other five Red Suits saw what had become of their comrade, they set their sights upon Hoopa. Their empty looking gas masks made Hoopa shiver, and she quickly retrieved her rings.
"Come and get it, freaks!"
One of the Red Suits clasped their arms together, grinding them at the wrists to summon Leaf Blades upon its arms. Another of them held out their fingertips and used Smokescreen from them to obscure them from vision.
Hoopa scowled in annoyance. "Great. Like this place didn't need more smoke after Ho-oh got rid of it."
She tossed her rings to the side and they grew, a cyan rift opening within each. Elsewhere on the field of battle, a tank raised its cannon to take aim at a Salamence in the air. Within, a soldier loaded an Ice-Type shell and covered his ears.
"Bring that monster down!" Shouted the driver. "Fire!"
A small plume of mist shot out from the cannon's head as the Ice-Type shell was loosed. The Salamence's eyes went wide as it looked down and saw the oncoming projectile. Just in front of it, a golden ring emerged and swallows the icy explosive whole before disappearing.
The Salamence and the soldier in the tank peered at one another, each with slack jaws. Before he could give the order for his comrade to load another shell, the Salamence sent down a hail of Draco Meteors that ripped it apart.
Further east, one soldier found himself surrounded. Bereft of allies and with dwindling ammunition, the scarred, battered soldier fought with all his soul to keep the inevitable away.
He roared more monstrously than any Pokemon as he fired into the hordes with an automatic. His bullets struck at the wall of Pokemon around him, leading to the swift ends of those with softer hides. When he noticed a Mankey leaping at him from his side, he ripped out his sidearm and intercepted it with three shots, letting its body fall past him.
Clicks from his main gun made the man scowl. Instinctively, he reached for his next belt, only to find empty air. So, he tossed it away and reached instead for his next magazine. Yet again, it was empty.
The man's scowl deepened as he growled in frustration. The dust and mud on his face, and the wild glare of his eyes as he looked around himself at the living wall closing in, made even the Pokemon unnerved.
At last, his anger faded, and he laughed with a wicked smile and broken teeth. "I guess that's it then. You win, you damned beasts!" He took from his suit all he had left: a single grenade, which he raised proudly over his head.. "But don't think for a second that I'm going down on your terms!"
An Aggron shoved its way through the horde and roared at the man with a bestial fury. That soldier chuckled at the sight of its broken horn.
"Didn't like my earlier trick, didja?" He pulled the pin, keeping his fingers down on the striker lever to stop its detonation. With his free hand, he urged the Aggron to attack. Unbeknownst to him, a golden ring had emerged over his head.
"Come on, you pansy! I'll take your other horn and-"
A gust of wind from above made the man quiet. Before he could react, the grenade was ripped out of his hand, and the ring disappeared. He could only stare up into the empty air despondently, and then slowly, his eyes fell upon the Aggron and all the surrounding Pokemon.
Hoopa, with a smirk, said, "I'll be taking these." From one ring, the Ice-Type shell shot down into the smoke and detonated. From the other, a grenade flew and did the same, shattering whatever was frozen beneath the smoke.
Swelling with pride, Hoopa threw her head back and laughed at her ingenious strategy. But then, from the smoke, she saw the five men in red inside a barrier, one of them holding up their hand to use Protect.
Another of them slid out from the barrier, holding an orange light in their hand. From it, they launched a Hyper Beam up at its target. Hoopa's eyes went wide, and she quickly intercepted the beam with one of her rings.
The beam went in one ring and out the other back down upon its maker, and another Red Suit leapt in front to use Mirror Coat to send it right back up. Scowling, Hoopa went to intercept it a second time, only to feel something wrap around her waist.
She looked down, her face paling as she briefly saw a Vine Whip from the wrist of one of these men in red before it swung her down. She scarcely had the time to cry out before she impacted the powered-up Hyper Beam with a thunderous crash.
Each of the Red Suits had to use Protect against the shockwave from it, and the rocks trapping the sixth of them shattered as they, and the 'man' inside, were blasted back.
Hoopa cried out as she fell from the ensuing smoke. Her two rings clattered to the ground beside her and chimed as they struck the stone. Wincing, her head rose just in time to see a crimson boot hurtling toward her.
Pain raced all across her face. The world spun around her, and though she was disoriented, she righted herself midair. When she reached out to summon her twin rings, she saw one of these strange men clasping onto them.
Her face fueling with irritation, Hoopa shouted, "You think that's gonna stop me?!" The rings in the Red Suit's hand began to enlarge, and though it tried to clasp its hand around them to stop them, it could not hold them. "I'm way outta your league!"
The rings broke free and soared up toward their owner, only to be stopped by vines from the wrists of two Red Suits. Hoopa growled and yanked them back with Psychic.
"You punks clearly don't know who you're dealing with. Why don't you-"
A fist, wreathed in darkness, smashed into the back of her head. She again crashed into the ground with a cry of pain. In an instant, like a pack, the five Red Suits were upon her. With claws, fists, and all the elements of the world, they savagely beat and tore away at her skin.
Hoopa's shouts of anger as she tried to repel them quickly became cries of terror and pain as she realized how overwhelmed she was. Through grit teeth and narrowed eyes, she spotted something through the legs of her adversaries.
"Ha!" She cried out triumphantly. Just ahead of her, in the far distance, Hoopa spotted Suicune. And where Suicune was, so too would its comrades. "Hoopa, Hoopa ring! Come on, Beasts of Johto!"
The rifts of Hoopa's rings gleamed, catching the attention of the Red Suits momentarily. One by one, the Beasts of Johto fell from the rings. They barked in slight surprise at the sudden change of location, glancing around in confusion until their blood ran cold.
Ahead of them, they stared into the empty glass eyes and gas masks of the monstrous men they fought earlier. Even though Ho-oh had taken away their injuries, the memory of them remained, and they whimpered, backing away.
Cheerfully, Hoopa pumped her arm and shouted, "Yeah! You guys are done for now! With the Beasts of Johto, you losers don't stand a chance!"
Her laughter and boisterous cheer slowly but surely caught the attention of the Red Suits once more. And the Beasts, with their tails between their legs, turned and fled from the monsters posing as men. They were not eager to reopen the wounds Ho-oh had so carefully shut.
Hoopa's face instantly fell. She looked up at the empty faces leering down at her and paled. They lunged down at her, and scarcely, she managed to use Dark Pulse around herself to momentarily keep them off of her long enough to fly through their legs.
She pulled her rings back toward herself, crying out as she was impacted by a potent Fire Blast. As she fell to the ground amidst the flames, she hissed at the sting of the heat. The sight of the five Red Suits marching toward her made her blood curdle.
Rolling over, she activated her ring and crawled toward it. But as her fingers met the rift, she heard a rasp from behind that chilled her bones. Slowly, she dared to turn and saw the sixth Red Suit.
Steam from the boiling stone she had encased it in still rose off of its body. It stood stiff, locked onto its target. And its face, in lieu of its mask, left Hoopa mortified. Half a pale skull peered at her with its eyes or lack thereof. Where they ought to have been, there were only two black voids.
It marched toward her, and she scrambled into the ring. She landed face first within the stony tunnels of the Tree of Beginning. But when she turned back to close the ring, a red hand reached out to grab her.
Hoopa cried out as red fingers wrapped around her neck. Though she tried to pry them off, she was powerless to. Slowly, she was pulled toward the rift. In an act of desperation, she closed the ring.
She and the severed arm fell to the floor. On instinct, she swatted it away and crawled backwards to distance herself from it. In her hand, she readied a Dark Pulse as her wide eyes held steady upon the arm.
Each second crawled by like an hour. Each heavy breath she took felt like a weight being lifted. Yet the arm, thank Arceus, did not move. So, she lowered her hand with a sigh and fell back upon the stone ground. And as Hoopa cling onto her two remaining rings, a single mournful thought entered her mind.
"…I miss my big self."
Streaks of light filled the air around Reshiram and Zekrom. With their wings, they endured the onslaught from the massive tank they were faced with. Even with its main cannon gone, the auxiliary weapons adorning nigh every inch of its hull were making up the difference well.
Around the Dragons of Fate, the war was boiling over. Pokemon that had attempted to intercede against the tank in aid of Zekrom and Reshiram were in turn met with the soldiers' guns. The elite ones accompanying the Ares tank made sure to pile on the bodies of those who tried to near it.
Reshiram, amidst the explosions wracking her wings, watched with boiling blood as one of them stopped an Aggron from drawing near by holding a Butterfree by its wings and holding it as a living shield.
The Aggron growled, but stepped back. With his thumb, that same soldier loaded in a single Fighting-Type round into his handgun, hastily drew, and fired right into the Aggron's eye. It staggered back, as if not even realizing it was dead, and then fell. The Butterfree cried out in despair until it too was silenced by the man's knife before being thoughtlessly tossed away.
Her anger boiling over, Reshiram readied a Dragon Breath beneath the cover of her wing before firing at the shield of the Ares tank. When the attack erupted against that barrier in a plume of dust, Reshiram launched herself into the air and shot another Dragon Breath around herself in a ring to incinerate many of the common soldiers.
With their final cries as fading dust in the wind, therein was revealed to the Pokemon around them a new means of entry. Which soldiers remained nearby quickly found themselves overwhelmed. Their cries for orders and backup were drowned out by the vengeful roars of their enemy.
The more elite soldiers near the Ares, seeing their dwindling numbers, began firing rapidly into the approaching horde. Within the giant tank, Commander Thorn scoffed in annoyance at the dust covering his vision on each screen before him.
"Bold of you to think I need to aim," He mused to himself before bringing up a transceiver to contact his men. "This is Commander Thorn to Squad Alpha, how are the supply convoys looking?"
On the other end, there was much static, and the heavy bass of explosions and gunfire. "Negative, commander. The carrier vehicles still remain in the rear lines because of the heavy fire. Supplies are being distributed on foot."
Grumbling, Thorn looked upon his remaining ammunition and saw that the remaining ammunition was at only forty-seven percent.
"That's not good enough!" Whined the short commander. "Order them to reroute all ammunition compatible with the Ares to this location!"
There was sputtering on the other end in disbelief. "B-but, sir! That would leave the tanks and much of the infantry without restocks!"
Thorn's face contorted with anger. "I don't recall requesting your opinion. I recall requesting supplies! Deliver that order, and I'll clear a path for the supply convoys!"
And with a final, resounding clack, Thorn slammed the transceiver back into its holster and readied the Ares tank's weapons. Before him, many of the soldiers were crying out as they were lifted into the air and piled together by an Alakazam.
"Not going to happen!" Shouted Thorn, his voice ringing out from his tank for all to hear and setting their attention upon him. On the side of the tank, one of its myriad of weapons was a round, silver disk. Dark energy coalesced like a ring, and Thorn roared, "I, the great Commander Thorn, will not let harm come to my fellow soldiers!"
From the disc, a Dark Pulse was shot toward the offending Alakazam. "Behold my grace and glory as I, Commander Thorn, humbly save my-"
Wreathed in the lightning of a Fusion Bolt, Zekrom intervened to stop the pulse before it could reach its target. Through the crackling lightning, the glare of Zekrom's crimson eye made Thorn shudder.
Orange flames spiraled around Zekrom, gradually rising higher to take the lightning from him. Reshiram, with her wings held high, took from her counterpart his lightning to merge it with her fire as she summoned forth the complete and total might of Fusion Flare.
With a harrowing howl, she launched the gigantic ball of fire up toward the soldiers. They didn't stand a chance, one moment being there and gone the next as the orb sailed into the sky before exploding in a blinding flash.
Thorn sat still, his eyes bulging wide as he beheld the orange shockwave racing across the sky. Slowly, his trembling hands grabbed onto his transceiver. After a brief pause, he managed to find the power to speak."
"I-" He cut himself off to cough as his voice broke. "I have just been informed that General Nova requires me at the front lines. Hold the line for me!"
And with that, the loud whir of the Ares tank treads filled the air. It skidded back, forcing many soldiers and Pokemon to dive out of harm's way. It spun, uncaring of the soldiers shouting after it, and with speeds unbecoming of such a vehicle's size, it raced away in a cloud of dust.
"Hey!" One of the formerly accompanying soldiers barked out after it. "Commander! You can't just leave us here!"
Zekrom stomped forward, preparing to give chase to Thorn when Reshiram held her wing out to stop him. When he glanced at her questioningly, he traced her vision back toward one of the few remaining soldiers, and the fallen Butterfree at his feet. When that man turned back around, flapping his arm at the tank dismissively, he froze in place as his eyes met hers.
A jet of blistering fire raged up the side of the Tree of Beginning, carrying with it a screaming black mass of fury and metal. Upon one of the tree's many gargantuan branches, Latias and Moltres reeled back as a pillar of fire shot past them, followed swiftly by a loud clank from behind.
They turned, and their hearts skipped a beat when they saw the Burned Man crouched down and wreathed in steam. Slowly, he rose back to his full height and his empty visor locked onto the object of his nightmares.
Latias's face wrinkled in anguish as she got a better gaze on the armored man. "You…!" Visions of that day in Alto-Mare flashed across her vision, making her wince. Her claws furled in anguish, resulting in a long, green Dragon Claw emerging from them.
A scream of fury erupted from the lone Eon Dragon, only to be swiftly cut off by a backhand from a large metal fist. Flames erupting from his back, Harper shot past Latias to get to his true goal.
Moltres reared back and roared in defiance at the approaching man. It beat its flaming wings to set the air around it alight and fly, bringing up its sharp talons. This time, things would be different. This time, it wouldn't be surprised.
It was wrong.
The moment Moltres tried to intercept Harper with its talons, Harper drove his fist into Moltres's gut and shot across the branch toward the base of the tree. Moltres's eyes shot wide, and it let out a choked cry from its beak.
With a thunderous crash and blistering smoke, Harper smashed Moltres's back into the tree's thick bark. It laid there, stunned, as it was embedded in that bark. Yet Harper have no reprieve. It was just like before.
Over and over, Harper rapidly beat Moltres's soft flesh, which could not repel his blows as Registeel could. Spurred on by small bursts erupting from the elbows of his suit, Harper's devastating blows only grew more rapid until he suddenly froze.
A red glow covered his suit, freezing him in place. Far behind him, Latias smirked, wiping the small bruise his backhand had left on her cheek. An enraged Moltres screeched, loosing itself from the tree with an explosive Overheat that sent Harper skidding back.
His hands and knees sent sparks flying beneath him as they grinded against the branch beneath, and when he looked up, he was face to face with an approaching Drill Peck. Moltres's spinning beak drove straight into Harper's visor.
Harper fell back and clutched at his visor while Moltres flew past. His screams of pain and rage filled the air. Latias, admittedly, found a disturbed pleasure in hearing it.
"I hope you liked that," she began, priming a Dragon Claw yet again, "Because I have a lot to pay you back for, you monster!"
Harper rose back up by smashing his fist into the branch, cracking it. His growls echoed out from his suit as his massive body heaved. As his visor locked onto Moltres, flying near Latias over the side of the branch, he roared and opened fire.
Latias quickly evaded, as did Moltres, though with Moltres's greater tolerance to heat, it decided to meet Harper head on. It spun through the countless streams of flame headed his way, bringing up its wings to drive through one of them.
It opened its talons once more and gripped Harper by his shoulders, holding him tightly as it brought back its head to deliver another blow with its beak. There was a whine and bright lights from the gaps in Harper's armor. As they opened, a fearsome explosion erupted and threw Moltres from him.
He roared and shot toward the Bird of Flame, and in kind, it screeched and sprinted toward the metal man. They met in a furious clash of fists, talons, and fire as they rapidly beat each other. The display became utterly blinding.
Latias could only watch on with squinting eyes. The heat was too much for her to bear. "What's with this guy?! Why is he so focused on Moltres?!"
Opening her mouth, Latias prepared a Dragon Pulse attack and shot it down at the Burned Man. With how single-minded he was upon Moltres, he didn't notice it until it exploded on his shoulder. It stunned him long enough to let Moltres smash into him with a Steel Wing that nearly sent him careening off the edge of the branch.
The flames spewing from his back managed to cancel out the inertia, scarcely sparing him from a free fall back to the valley below. Though parts of the branch's edge crumbled and fell, he pressed his feet down and threw himself back into the fray without missing a beat as if Latias wasn't there at all.
Growing irritated, Latias's eyes gleamed crimson with Psychic energy, and this time, she sent down a Psybeam aiming straight for Harper's vulnerable visor. Like before, it struck true and caused him to falter as he cried out in pain. And again, it earned another free strike from Moltres.
This time, Moltres seized the opportunity to clamp down on Harper's shoulders with its talons and used Brave Bird to shoot toward the tree's base in spite of the weight difference between it and its adversary.
Moltres slammed Harper into the tree's thick, rocky bark and soared higher, dragging the armored man across that bark as it flew. Suddenly, it kicked against Harper to plant him firmly in the tree before flying back and delivering a potent Fire Blast his way.
For a brief moment, Harper disappeared in a plume of smoke, earning a satisfied smirk from Moltres. That was, until a shimmering light emerhed from the smoke and Harper flew up from it in a cascade of white flame and plasma.
He let out a bellow no mere man could loose as he shot down upon Moltres. By a hair and with wide, fearful eyes, the Bird of Flame managed to dodge back just before Harper could hit it. He sailed down like a comet, smashing his fist into the tree branch.
The resulting shockwave echoed out across the entire valley. Latias had to swiftly bring up a Light Screen to endure it before it could carry her halfway across the sky. And as the dust raced past her, she could hear several audible, deep cracks.
Where the branch met the trunk of the tree, there were a myriad of creaking noises. To Latias's horror, the branch began to tilt. Between the Azathoth and all else that had happened amidst the war, the branch could simply no longer hang on, and Harper's fearsome blow sent it over.
Finally, there was an audible set of snaps, and the branch went into freefall. Spotting many Pokemon below, Latias's felt her boiling blood suddenly run cold. She dove down like a rocket.
People and Pokemon alike abandoned the fight to run for their lives while the colossal branch fell, until a crimson glow and a racing dragon swept them off their feet. The branch fell upon the valley's jagged stones and sent up a massive geyser of debris.
Latias and those she managed to gather emerged from the dust near the top of the valley's edge, on a spot that overlooked the war. With a sigh, she set them down. The soldiers and Pokemon were stunned silent. Utterly shell shocked.
When Latias's adrenaline died down, she looked upon the very humans she saved with surprise at herself. "Why did I…?"
Her ears suddenly rang, followed by flashes across her vision. Of Ash, and of her family in Alto-Mare. As she shook her head to rid herself of these things, she glared into the eyes of the humans.
"Just get out of here."
And then, she dove back down into the valley. The soldiers and Pokemon were all left stunned. Their nerves had left them, and their legs were like jelly. Many of them collapsed to their knees then and there, and even as the soldiers and Pokemon exchanged stares and locked eyes, none of them had any desire to fight any longer.
Latias, spotting Moltres floating down, neared it. They stopped in the air beside one another until they heard a high-pitched noise from below. There was another fearsome explosion from within the branch, forcing the two Legends to cover their eyes.
They watched with wide, unbelieving eyes as gargantuan shards of burning wood flew out in all directions from a pillar of white flame. And from those flames, a man in black armor emerged.
The Burned Man knelt down, gathering heat to his hands and feet with a loud, rising whir until it erupted, sending him flying toward his target. Latias quickly pulled Harper out of the way with Psychic and flew down. Though Harper flew past them, his suit spewed flames to twist his body midair and he took aim.
Every gap in his armor opened to let loose a veritable rain of fire upon the two Legends. Still holding onto Moltres, Latias dove and weaved through the falling stars all around her. Each one sent up a terrible explosion. It was like flying through a minefield on all sides.
Her eyes caught the fallen branch, and an idea struck her. Tilting her wings, she flew down into one of the gaps Harper had made in it. At supersonic speeds, Latias shot through the tunnels in the branch, flying past the remnants of the tree's cells within it.
Occasionally, blasts of white fire would pour down through the roof, causing Latias to have to dodge back and forth to prevent herself from being cooked.
Suddenly, her vision went white and she felt burns all over. A pained cry escaped her mouth as she and Moltres erupted from the side of the branch. They slid to a brutal stop against stone walls.
While Latias coughed and sputtered to get the smoke and dust out of her lungs, a metal clang made her freeze. She dared to look up and saw that terrible, terrible man wading through the smoke.
As if Latias didn't exist at all, he set his sights upon Moltres and knelt down. Flames burst from his back, sending him shooting toward the fallen Bird of Flame like a rocket.
Latias's eyes went wide. "No!"
Moltres scarcely had the time to hear her cry and look up before the man was upon him. Harper's fist was primed over Moltres's head. And as it honed in on its mark, a red blade emerged between them. It sliced up at Harper's visor, making him cry out and lose his flight path.
Harper fell face first into the ground and twisted to his side, crashing into the wall between Latias and Moltres. As he fell from the wall, a hoof clacked against the ground and caught his attention.
The ever-resolute Keldeo stood between Harper and Moltres defensively while the bird regained its senses. With a smirk, he nodded his head up at the man in armor. "I thought I saw your ugly mug when you were falling from the sky. After what you put me through on that island, I just knew I had to pay you back."
Slowly, Harper rose back to his feet. His head rolled slightly as he stared at the new obstacle between him and his nightmare. He stomped his foot into the ground and knelt down. Keldeo knelt with him, preparing to intercept whatever it was Harper planned.
Blasting forward, Harper lunged toward Keldeo. In turn, the Sword of Justice brought forth his Sacred Sword attack once more. Harper tilted his head out of the way and grabbed the blade of energy, then swung Keldeo at Moltres.
With a screech from Moltres and a cry from Keldeo, the two were sent skyward in opposite directions. Harper launched himself up at Moltres and clutched the bird's neck. When he brought up his fist, a red and white blur smashed into his side from above to dislodge him.
Latias tackled Harper into the stones below amidst a fearsome battle. All around the two, more Pokemon and soldiers fought savagely, only stopping briefly when they spotted Harper and Latias.
Latias shot up and unleashed a Dragon Pulse down upon Harper's chest to keep him in place while Moltres descended from above. A wire and hook wrapped around its legs, and Moltres's eyes went wide as its memory raced.
It turned and prepared to unleash a Flamethrower at the approaching Black Suit, only for its flames to impact a flashbang. Moltres, Latias, Harper, and many people and Pokemon were rendered blind and deaf by it.
On instinct, Moltres launched flames out in every direction, unaware of the barrier the Black Suit raised from his wrist to block them. He stood atop Moltres's back and aimed down with a spear gun. As the spear rotated rapidly in its holster, the Black Suit grinned wildly.
That grin faltered when the Black Suit heard a shout growing louder. He turned and saw Keldeo, promptly being launched off of Moltres's back by a Double Kick to his shield.
The Black Suit scowled as he fell back to the ground and raised his arm. Beneath his shades, he glanced between Keldeo, Latias, and Moltres.
"Three Legends all at once? It must be my birthday." The Black Suit raised his arm and cried out, "All men, priortize the Legends from the briefing and open fire!"
Just as Moltres and Latias regained their senses, they suddenly found themselves under fire on all sides. Keldeo kicked into the ground to send up a Surf attack toward the soldiers, and though it swept away many before much harm could be caused, his eyes went wide when he saw a grenade fly over the wave's crest.
Keldeo darted back and winced, but the pain never came, a red glow caught the grenade and flung it toward another group of soldiers, who cried out and dove for cover before it exploded.
With a relieved sigh, Keldeo grinned up at Latias. "Hey, thanks!"
She nodded back down at him. "No big deal. Now let's get these creeps out of the way." Though she said this, inwardly, to say she had reservations about killing any except the Burned Man was an understatement.
Moltres, however, had no such reservations. It screeched with fury as bullets pelted its already-bruised and battered body. It sent out a Heat Wave all across the battlefield, spraying fire on the soldiers. When the soldiers tried to evade, they found Fire and Rock-Type Pokemon blocking their way. And then, the air was filled with screams.
More vulnerable Pokemon assisted from behind by spraying attacks up over the heads of their allies. With them and the three Legends diving into the frey with horns and claws, the soldiers nearby were quickly losing ground.
The Black Suit scowled and glanced around, eventually spotting Harper still embedded in the ground with steam rising from his body.
"Hey!" He shouted at Harper. There was no response, so he went over and kicked his helmet. "Up and attem, tin man! We're dying out here and you're taking a…" Upon spotting the reflection of Moltres's flames in Harper's visor, the cogs in the Black Suit's head began turning.
He traced a finger back and forth from Harper toward Moltres. "Wait. You're…that Black Suit who got messed up by…"
Suddenly, the man became pale, and a white hot heat began to rise from the suit of the Burned Man. Taking off sprinting with his barrier raised, the Black Suit shouted into his transceiver.
"All men, pull back! Black Suits, shields at the ready! I repeat, shields-!"
An eruption of white light completely swallowed him. Latias turned and swiftly brought her fellow Legends together behind a Light Screen before the blast struck. The light was utterly blinding. No matter how hard they screamed, none of the Legends could hear their own voice.
It was only when the light died down and the Light Screen, pushed to its limit, shattered, that the Legends behind it could see what was left. There was nothing. No people. No Pokemon. Just them and a monster wearing metal, wreathed in smoke like a devilish gown.
Latias stared around with utter horror at the sheer emptiness around them. "Wh-what have you done?!"
"You killed them all!" Roared Keldeo angrily. "Even your own men! How could you do this?!"
Moltres similarly roared at him in fury.
But that man merely stomped toward them. He waded through the smoke to slowly approach his target. His eyes went back and forth between the other two besides Moltres. For the first time, Harper audibly addressed them.
"They were in the way."
The jaws of the three Legends collectively dropped in utter disbelief. Latias glanced around with wide eyes at the barren landscape. Everything had become so much more quiet, with the sound of cries and gunfire being more distant than before.
Her wide eyes narrowed upon Harper, and her slack jaw clenched shut. "How could you do this? You're more of a monster than any of us, so why are you waging war on Pokemon?!"
But the Burned Man only let out a metallic scoff. "I don't care about that. I don't give the slightest Rattata's rear end about this war."
Keldeo snarled at Harper and summoned Sacred Sword upon his broken horn once more. "That's pretty difficult to believe in spite of what you just did—in spite of everything else you've done!"
He raised a black finger at Moltres, and a whir rose up from his suit that set the three Legends on edge. "I'm here for the hell bird. Everything else is just in the way."
Moltres reared back its head and let out a shrill caw at the Burned Man in defiance, spurring the armored man to begin to let loose red flames from his suit that quickly became white as the crystal within empowered him.
Floating between Moltres and Harper defensively of the bird, Latias could feel her heart beating just being in his presence. This man, this horrible man who took almost everything from her, only continued to make her blood curdle with each passing second.
"Why?!" She suddenly cried out at him. She had so many questions and demands; more than she could ever properly put into words. "Why Moltres?! Why did you do all these things?!" And at last, her burning tears, stinging her eyes with salt, fell from her eyes to the ashen ground below.
"Why did you kill my family…?"
Keldeo could only look at her with shock.
But Harper remained silent. His arm remained firmly held still, continuing to point his finger at Moltres accusingly. "You try being burned alive and see if your every thought isn't spent solely on the monster that did it." Then, his empty black visor turned to face Latias, whose eyes widened at his words.
"In fact," He spoke, "Isn't that why you're here?"
Latias pondered his words for a brief moment. Her eyes went from place to place, but did not see where she looked as much as she saw only her racing thoughts behind them. At last, she wiped the tears from her eyes, pushed the memories of that day out of her head, and used Dragon Claw.
"Yeah. You're right."
Then, she launched herself at him like a rocket. Before Harper could feasibly react, she slashed her draconic claws against his visor and made him recoil. Sensing an opportunity, Moltres flew after her. It took Keldeo a brief second, glancing back and forth between where Moltres was and where it went, for the idea to follow to click in his mind.
Before Harper could recover, Moltres was upon him. It batted into him with its wings rapidly, not giving him a moment to lift his arms in defense before smacking him high into the air.
Keldeo hopped off of Moltres's wing to deliver a Double Kick with his two front hooves onto Harper's chest which sent him hurtling into the ground. As he tried to rip himself from the ashen ground, Latias held him still with Psychic. She attacked with Psybeam, Keldeo with Secret Sword, and Moltres with Fire Blast.
The three projectiles honed in onto Harper and impacted him all at once. As he became engulfed in a plume of smoke, it wasn't long before he erupted in a pillar of flame, howling with rage. A burst from his back shot him toward Moltres, at which point his hand clamped around Moltres's neck before smashing it into the ground.
Moltres scarcely had the time to let out a choked gasp before the Burned Man was racing toward the tree like a rocket, with Moltres in tow beneath. It was Harper's intent to drive his enemy straight through until a red glow forced the plates on his back shut.
The sudden lack of propulsion knocked Harper off balance, and he tumbled forward across the ground. Much to his fury, Moltres was loosed from his grasp, at which point he instantly dug his fingers into the ground and tried launching himself back into the fray.
He stumbled forward when nothing propelled him forward. His back was still sealed shut. Before he had time to contemplate this again, Latias was upon him. Narrowly, he managed to duck back and clamp his massive fingers onto her wing, at which point he threw her toward Moltres.
She crashed into the Bird of Flame with a mutual yelp, and when the red faded from Harper's back, he instantly exploded with flames from the gaps in his armor as he shot toward them.
A shouting Keldeo, spurred forward by Aqua Jet, struck into the metal man's side with the intention of knocking him aside. While this succeeded, what Keldeo didn't account for was Harper twisting his body around, grabbing Keldeo by his face, and slamming him into the ground before dragging him along toward his target with blinding speed.
When Harper reached Latias and Moltres, he set his hand alight and threw Keldeo up into them. It was like a geyser of fire erupted, sending all three into the air. As he knelt down to leap up after them, he felt his body freeze yet again once that infuriating red glow coated his body again.
Above, a singed Latias smirked down at him as she kept him in place. Keldeo launched down with another Aqua Jet, and Moltres with a Drill Peck. The two swerved down from the sky to meet him. The blow from Keldeo knocked him back, and the one from Moltres that followed sent him skidding across the ground.
As the bird's drilling attack slowly grinded into his armor, Harper's murderous instincts flared. Yet Latias's hold on him would not relent. Moltres was right in front of him, and while his rage flared, he had no way to release it.
Within his suit, he snarled like a mad monster in frustration. The crystal shard, just above the head of the charred husk of a man, spun more and more rapidly to charge the suit in response to his boiling fury. It wasn't long before that fury boiled over.
White flames spewed out, held still around Harper for a time by Latias until he, with an echoing bellow, let out a blinding explosion that at last rent apart Latias's grasp. Moltres was immediately engulfed, and a wide eyed Keldeo quickly sped away with Aqua Jet to avoid being caught up in the blast.
Latias shielded her eyes until the light faded, then quickly swept the ensuing smoke out of the way with her wings to find Harper's fist wrenched around Moltres's neck, and Keldeo quickly speeding in once more. So, she followed suit.
As Keldeo's broken horn elongated into a Sacred Sword, Harper grabbed the energy blade, tossed Moltres up, and swung the equine Legend into Moltres's side to send it flying up toward Latias. She narrowly twisted out of the way to avoid the crash and caught Moltres with Psychic.
"Are you okay?" She asked. A cry escaped her lips when a massive rock smashed into the Bird of Flame, whom she had unintentionally kept a still target, and exploded. Moltres erupted from the debris, howling amidst a blaze of rage before shooting back down at Harper. Latias followed suit.
All at once, Harper found himself attacked relentlessly from three sides. He brought up his arm to block Keldeo's horn, shot flames from his front to back away from Moltres's talons, yet was stricken along his back by Latias's Dragon Claw.
Yet Harper's focus remained eternally locked onto Moltres. His fists beat back against Moltres's wings, and their flames raged against one another. As Keldeo approached from above with Double Kick, Harper clamped a hand around Moltres's leg to swing it into Keldeo's attack.
And when the shock of accidentally attacking his ally overtook Keldeo for the briefest of moments, Moltres was swung into him to send him flying back. Latias, meanwhile, darted around Harper to slash at any point that looked relatively weak. Harper's blind response was to continue to swing Moltres around at everything and anything to try to swat her away.
A peck from Moltres into Harper's visor at last dislodged it from his grip. As he recoiled to grab at the stricken area, he was once more beset upon on all sides. When Latias struck at his arm, he fired after her, but she was already gone. Keldeo kicked him to send him stumbling forward into a strike from Moltres's wing.
He swiped and punched and blasted and raged, each time missing or grazing his adversaries while they, at last gaining some ground, attacked from his blind spots. Each blow knocked him off his intended course toward Moltres, and each strike only served to heighten his anger.
As Moltres leapt higher into the air, Harper held up his hand to aim and knock the damnable demon bird back to the fiery abyss it crawled out of. And just as he was about to pour the height of his fury out from his raised arm, he felt a sharp, burning pain in his chest and back.
As his head turned down, he saw a bright red blade piercing straight through the hole Moltres had made. On the other end of that blade was a panting, smirking Keldeo.
"Hah…I got you." Keldeo, though swelling with pride, was forced to pant for air between nearly every word he spoke. "Maybe…don't get so hung up on…just one target."
Harper remained still, neither moving nor responding. Within the massive suit of armor, the charred half-corpse within hung limply amidst the endless tubes and wires keeping him alive. Above his head, the crystal spun rapidly, as if in defiance of the idea of Harper's demise.
That energy pumped itself through the Burned Man and his armor. Soon, the motionless suit began to emit white flames that wiped the smirk off of Keldeo's face. And then, he began walking through the blade.
"Agreed."
Then, Harper launched forward like a rocket. Keldeo only pulled back in time to see Harper flying at him with a fist poised to strike. As a burst of fire from Harper's elbow shot the arm forward, Keldeo's vision went white.
Black steel fists began to beat every inch of Keldeo's body with more rapidity than bullets. Harper carried him across the battlefield while the other two Legends gave chase, constantly smashing his fists into the young Legend. At the end of each punch was delivered a flaming blast, coating the air with white hot flames and singing smoke.
When they came across more battling, Harper's flaming rampage drove through ally and enemy alike before any but the Black Suits, whom swiftly shot out of the way with their hook wires, relentlessly. When they had reached the eastern side of the tree, Harper grabbed Keldeo by his broken horn and launched him with enough explosive force to send him into the branches where he landed.
Harper was given a brief moment to catch his breath and look down at the gaping wound made. Crimson liquid dropped from the shell of a body left by Moltres's handiwork. Near, he spotted some discarded equipment, of which a slight shock of recognition flashed across his mind.
The repair kit for his armor, used by the men of his squadron, was ripped apart nearby a scattered stack of weapons. Steadily, he stomped over to it to glance down into its reflection as if in deep thought, before promptly melting the last remnant of his old team down onto his armor to cover the hole Keldeo had made.
With Keldeo out of the way, Harper next faced Latias. At bullet-like speeds, she raced ahead of Moltres to face her enemy alone. He raised his arms to stop her from driving her claws into his visor.
"You took everything from me!"
"I'll take more."
Harper shot his arms out to knock her back, and following this, fired many streaks of flame from all across his armor as its platings shifted to allow it. She dodged and weaved between each one before firing a Psybeam through them that struck true.
With her enemy stunned, Latias then used Psychic to force the plates on his armor shut. His own white flames spurned him, making his suit steadily grow hotter. Memories of Moltres on that day accompanied the heat, and with it, his endless stock of fury.
A loud bellow rang out from his armor. Recognizing this, Latias gasped and dodged back. The blinding explosion that followed suit was evidence of her right judgment. Yet Harper came flying out of the fire faster than she anticipated, and it cost her.
His two fists beat down onto her head to send her into the ground where he then attempted to drive down into her. Though she narrowly managed to escape that blow, his head snapped up toward her, and he shot a massive stream of fire from his palm she couldn't dodge in time.
Latias howled with pain as the flames scorched every inch of her skin. Memories of Harper on that day accompanied the heat, and with it, the same sorrow and fear as the stark realization she had bit off more than she could chew set in.
She was sent hurtling into a rock before falling face first into the blackened ground. Harper stomped down near her with enough force to splinter the ground and send her into the air, where Harper proceeded to drive his fist into her body over and over.
She was driven further and further into the rock with each punch, but her cries were drowned out by the echoing clangs of his fists beating against her scales. When at last Harper left her helpless and broken, he stepped back and held out his palm to unleash a blast that would finish the job.
And then, Moltres drove into his side with a Brave Bird. He was sent skidding across the ground, though he dug his fingers into the obsidian ground with a shrill grinding noise before raising an arm to deliver the intended blast.
Moltres stood in front of Latias to shield her with his wings. Through red tears, Latias managed to open her eyes to see Moltres smirking back at her as if to say 'now we're even' before turning to face Harper and driving back against his flames with its own Heat Wave.
The two intense cascades of fire drove one another apart, leaving Moltres and Harper alone to rip one another open. They shot at each other and collided so harshly that the ground around them was thrown apart.
Their flames, fists, and wings sent them higher into the air as they rapidly beat into each other. Harper's fists bruised skin and cracked bone. Moltres's talons rent apart steel and its wings made dents in Harper's waning armor.
They had risen past the planes and branches, spiraling around one another in their clash, before at last, Harper clutched Moltres by its chest with a vice grip.
"You're finished!" Harper roared triumphantly atop Moltres. The plates along his back opened wide and let loose, sending himself and the Bird of Flame on a downward spiral back to the ground below.
Moltres howled and pecked and clawed, even at Harper's visor, yet even this did not deter the hollow man. At last, he had it. Vengeance, sweet revenge, was his at last. And gleefully, he laughed while Moltres howled with rage and fear.
They impacted the ground with an eruptive blast just near the base of the tree and disappeared in a colossal plume of smoke and fire. As Latias slid down from the rock, scarcely managing to keep herself floating, she heard, amidst the explosion, the sounds of crackling rocks.
Just at the edge of the smoke, she saw, with wide eyes, the ground collapsing. Near the tree, aligned central to the valley, a massive crater had opened to swallow the flaming man and Pokemon whole, as well as many crying souls who fell in after them when the ground collapsed.
And Latias was left alone to hear those screams. The screams of man and Pokemon alike as they met their untimely end by the same manner. They rang in her head over and over without cease. And Moltres…
She had achieved her revenge, some part of her had been lost. It felt very, very bitter.
Author's Note
Pokextinction Fact of the Day: You'll notice that revenge is a central theme of this story. It might be the most central theme, but maybe there's a greater one under our noses that the reviewers could find. Here are some notable examples.
Deoxys against Necrozma
Lugia against everything
Ash against Necrozma
Arceus against Necrozma
Genesect against Ryder
Harper against Moltres
Latias against Harper
Giratina against Arceus and Mew
How has revenge changed these characters from how they were in their introduction to now?
Deoxys was always a bit odd, but eventually became so single minded to the point he could barely think.
Lugia is self evident.
Ash nearly got himself killed if not for Aura.
Arceus used all of his might and left himself defenseless for months, as well as permanently weakening himself to try and take back his strength from the cosmos.
Genesect is reduced to a pure killing machine that can't even really be called a Pokemon anymore.
Harper went from just another cocky Black Suit to a hulking husk driven to the point of self destruction for the only thing occupying his thoughts and nightmares.
Latias was already severely lost from the death of two brothers, and then Harper took what family she had left.
And while Giratina genuinely seems to wish for what he thinks is best for his family, his hatred for his father and mother is blinding himself from his true goal.
Where will these ties of fate lead these characters? Destruction? Or redemption?
Creator: A lot of stuff has happened in my life to make this chapter take so long. Certain scenes took me a bit to reconcile with at times to try to frame them right. I've been wrestling with faith to say the least, but I can proudly say I've gotten baptized in more ways than one! Praise the Lord!
I often wonder how God sees this story. I imagine fiction is mostly fine as long as it doesn't influence us. Luckily, I can safely say I won't be orchestrating a war against animals any time soon. And mech suits probably wouldn't be involved either way, so Harper and Ryder wouldn't be involved.
Hydra: Hello my friends! We finally got this chapter done and oh boy was it a doozy to write. We finally got to see some more hard core fight scenes reminiscent of arc 1 and oh boy it felt good. In other good news I just got hired today to work at a water park this summer so Im super excited!
G: "Great chapter, so the war continue. Well, it was interesting to see the interactions between Reshiram and Zekrom with Keldeo, to considers the fact that since some perspective, their respectives factions; Tao Trio and Swords of Justice are related, particulary for Kyurem, making fitting to see Keldeo interacting with the parts of his old pal Kyurem, adding to see their teamwork to fights the troops.
Adding that i found interesting to see the action of Reshiram when she pinned down a soldier with her wing, to after kills him with a Dragon Breath, because if you analyzes it, you can notes that her manner to kills this soldier, was very similar to the action of Moltres when burnt severely Harper, as both Legendary fire pokemon had some Nova branch soldier pinned on the floor, and both put their wings above them, though that in the case of Moltres, it ended burning Harper as result of has fire in its wings, while Reshiram simply to has pinned the soldier with her wing, she killed him with a Dragon Breath. Even to the point that Keldeo and Zekrom were slightly shocked by the cold blooded behavior of Reshiram.
And talking about Moltres, yeah finally, so the Burned man settled score in the Fire bird for his grievious injuries. Though that even if this battle was short, to considers the obsession of the Burned man, it was actually logical that Moltres won't last very long against him, after all, the Fire bird is a lesser Legendary pokemon, adding that the Burned man was giving it all to attacks it, it was logical that Moltres would be defeated quickly by the rage of the Burned man.
Though that Moltres was saved by Latias just in time, before the Burned man could killed the Fire bird, adding that now Harper could ends facing not only Moltres, but others Legendary pokemon that he caused a lot problems. Well, this is becoming more interesting, because the Burned man is a living proof that the Revenge can ends becoming a vicious cycle, in that for seeks for revenge, you causes pain and suffering others, whom could seeks revenge in you as well, making that this even can become a constant cycle of suffering, like the saying; "who seeks revenge, must to digs two graves."
As other point, it was sad to see the sacrifice of Ho-oh, because when the Phoenix pokemon was using her power to recovers the pokemon forces, for a moment looks like that the tides were turning in favor to our heroes against Nova Corporation, until that they deployed an experimental weapon that used the spacial powers of Palkia to injures notably Ho-oh and causes more damages to the Tree of Beginning, forcing Ho-oh to makes the ultimate sacrifice to heals everyone, to gives them a last chance to counter the Nova Corporation.
Also, regarding your point The Creator, i agreed about the concept of Reshiram and Zekrom, in the sense that as Reshiram represent the Truth, this implies a more realistic, pragmatic and slightly pessimistic mindset, in the sense that even if the truth is ugly and cruel in the world, you can't do anything to changes it and defies the fate itself. While that as Zekrom represent the Ideals, this implies the believing in that you can changes your fate, and hope for a better future, making that even the current personalities of Reshiram and Zekrom, represents this ideologies, without count the ironic touch, in that Reshiram is a ruthless pokemon despite to has an angelic appearance, wihle Zekrom is a reasonable pokemon despite to has a demonic appearance.
And regarding your point Hydra, about an Evil Mew, it could be an interesting concept, especially as i noted that you are very interested in this prospect, making me thinks that perhaps when you and The Creator finishes this story, perhaps considers makes another story focused in Mew, as the main villain.
To finishes, i would likes to see if Mew could return to the battle field, for a second round, as maybe the Ho-oh sacrifice helps her to recover her strength, adding that after saw the casualties suffered by her children, Mew could considers attacks Nova Corporation without holding back this time, making that perhaps this battle ends with a phyrric victory for the Pokemon side; with the Nova Corporation being forced to a retreament, but with grave causalties from their side.
PS. I will miss Ash Ketchum, his Pikachu and Team Rocket trio, the Anime will never be the same without them.
Keep the good job."
Creator: Reshiram is definitely a funny girl. A real silly one, she is. An absolute goofy goober. I hope this fight with Harper was more satisfying than the last. A dynamic trio certainly makes things more interesting. And Harper certainly dug himself many, many graves with that last attack.
I'm going to miss Ash so much! I've been waiting til the finale comes out in dub before I watch it.
Hydra: An evil Mew fanfiction does sound really cool now that I think about it… Hopefully this chapter was more reminiscent of how you originally thought the fight between Moltres and Harper would actually go. The war seems to be getting worse and worse, not many left for either side which really begs the question of who is going to come out on top in the end. It's anyone's victory at this point.
SilverWolf1130: "And the harsh battle continues…
The Truth hurts, Keldeo…
Man. Moltres got massacred. That wasn't even a battle… it was a slaughter.
That part with Suicune… just… damn… Brutal…
And Jesus, that part with Ho-Oh was even more so. that one really hurt since she's one of my favorite Legendaries.
But wait, she's not down for the count as she rises from the ashes like a Phoenix. How fitting.
And with her last act, Ho-Oh has brought a glimmer of Hope for the Pokémon world… but at the cost of her own life…
And damn. Articuno is gone? Why is it always my favorite Legendaries?
Thank you, Lugia. Finally, that bastard Ryder is out! ….Or is he?
Gira, I know you weren't in this chapter but still, it's time to stop being a dummy and get your butt in gear!
Hoping Mew is back in action next chapter. God knows they really need her.
Best chapter so far, guys. Can't wait to see what happens next :)"
Creator: Wow, best chapter so far, huh? I guess that means we've gotta be even better from now on. Personally, I'm still attached to good old Chapter 5. I feel like that Necrozma fight was when something first clicked. Some of the only old writing where I don't cringe while reading it.
Speaking slaughter, now Harper gets a triple dish of two-way vengeance. And boy, did he go all out on the buffet. I can only imagine the grudges being piled on all sides as people and Pokemon meet their ends to one another…and each other.
The Red suits are nightmarish, aren't they? Like guard dogs with prey instincts of a hornet. Relentless monsters, more monstrous than any Pokemon. Well, almost any Pokemon. Next chapter, we'll be seeing some who might give them a run for their money in that regard.
Hydra: That scene with Articuno has got to be one of the most chilling in the story. He was killed off so swiftly that it just shows the harsh reality that even one small mistake can lead to a swift death. At least Articuno doesn't have to feel anymore pain….. And Ryder finally got what was coming to him for his actions at last.
Creator: Next chapter, life and death meet someone who doesn't give a damn about either. Two old friends will meet up in the worst of ways. Things all across the war go from bad to worse as the Azathoth gets back in gear. Oh, but Lugia's right there, isn't he? Could he stop it?
Hydra: The future is looking very bleak at this point. Both sides have lost so much that in the end it makes you wonder if victory is truly possible after losing so many lives. Well that does it for this chapter guys. I hope you all did well in school this semester and hope you all have an absolutely amazing summer! We'll see you on the next one!