Chapter 57: The Empress' Showdown!
"It's showtime!"
Lightning struck all over the room as Epsilon slowly floated down and stood in front of Team Polarna vatra in her robotic form.
"But this whole thing seems a bit unfair to me, don't you agree?"
"Spare us your pompous babble, Zoroark! 'Unfair for us,' am I right?"
The Plot Empress immediately raised her sword and pointed at her former team partner.
"Don't call me by this name! And who do you think I am? The bad supervillain from a novel? I'm a hero, Zeraora, whether you all accept it or not! No, I mean what I say. Five against one? I prefer five against four. And you can be the four! Kel, you'll be joining me!"
"Excuse me?"
The Arcanine didn't know if this announcement was meant to be a sick joke, or if Epsilon actually believed that anyone would join her voluntarily.
"I was not asking!" Another purple bolt of lightning struck, this one directly in Kel's unprotected neck.
"Kel! What..."
"So many times I wanted to give you my gifts! This puppy was actually supposed to help you in the final battle! But no, you have to refuse again and again. You don't deserve my gifts! That's why this guy will be fighting on my side today! Besides..."
Black smoke escaped from her arm again. The shadowy figures that Aurora had already fought in the relegation battle appeared.
"Day 0 has arrived! At the end of today there will only be one fighter of Plot left! The war will finally end! And the victorious warrior will let her ideals influence the world! And after all your sins, the seemingly endless forgiveness... today your journey ends, Plot Warrior Aurora! There is only one Empress! The true Plot Empress Epsilon!"
A final lightning strike right in the middle of the Feathersword marked the start of the finale!
/Music: Terraria Calamity Mod - Stained, Brutal Calamity/
Purple sparks pierced the fur of Aurora's friend as his eyes seemed to fade. The Plot Armor was completely useless in a situation like this, now that it was not completed. Calm and expressionless, Kel looked around the ranks of his actual friends.
"Come on, human, fight!"
Even these simple words from Epsilon triggered a change in the Arkanine's will. He let out a loud roar as the flames began to surround him. And he too threw himself into battle, at the side of the shadowy elite.
"Zeraora, Tyrantrum, Marshadow, we..."
"We will win this war right here and right now! Let's split up! Aurora, you take on Eternatus, I'll take on Darkrai. Marshadow, you take out Aurorus. Tyrantrum, Kel is your job. Once we've done that, we can all focus on Epsilon. So, who's in?"
In a situation where Aurora was stuggeling, Zeraora conveyed enthusiasm and hope. The motivation Aurora needed now.
"Tyrantrum, if you can somehow manage, then get Kel back for us! Let's go!"
Moments after her speech, she jumped to the side to avoid a lightning bolt that scorched the grass where we had just been standing. Or... the ground, rather. The entire landscape had now changed into a strangely surreal place. The ground was snow white. The dome around the field was pitch black. Nothing could be seen outside.
"Oh no Aurora, you will not! You will be facing me!"
It was a quick change of plans, but Aurora would never refuse. Without another word, she jumped at Epsilon, who immediately blocked the blow with her sword. Polarna Vatra's Plot Warrior was just about to attack again when flames scorched her.
"Do you really think I'm going to let you get involved in a one-on-one? No, you didn't want your two-on-one, so now you can fight against Kel instead of by his side!"
In front of Epsilon's floating body stood an Arcanine, full of purple electricity, without a will of its own. This was Aurora's finale. The evening before, they had promised each other to fight this fight side by side. And now... Kel was exactly what he himself had feared. And yet, it was too late to turn around. And too early to give up.
"Fine by me. Epsilon, you want your finale? You think you can use my own friends as a weapon against me? In the end, good will always win!"
"I know. It will. So stop talking and die already!"
Aurora immediately created her battle basis. Hail and Aurora Veil. Without this she would stand no chance, not from the start. She also immediately realized that she would not be able to harm Epsilon as long as Kel was still in the way. So it was up to her to bring him back. The moon shone brightly in the eternal blackness of this final battlefield. Aurora's moon, which was one of her greatest weapons. She immediately threw herself into the fight against Kel, a close combat that League fighters were reluctant to enter into against the Arcanine. But she was different. Because Aurora knew that Kel fought better at close range, but if you were could outplay him there, it would be a hundred times more effective than a simple fight at a distance. And Aurora had often watched her partner. She knew his tricks and gimmicks. Now she just had to hope that Epsilon's influence did not completely change his fighting style.
She dealt several small blows without being injured when she noticed that her opponent wanted to escape this situation and heat began to emanate from his mouth. The Ninetales had been waiting for this loss of patience. She immediately took off from the ground to use the confused Kel as a springboard to avoid Epsilon's sword strike, which whizzed past where Aurora had just been standing. Now the power of the moon struck the same spot and hit the Feathersword's user directly, who flinched briefly but did not appear to be further injured. As soon as Aurora landed, she jumped back again and then blocked to avoid Epsilon's blows. However, at the same moment Kel came running, with burning claws extended. This time, however, he was stopped by a Shadow Ball right in the middle of his unprotected neck area.
"You take care of Epsilon, Aurora! Aurorus' shadow is gone, I'll take care of Kel!"
While a short nod should have been enough of an answer, Aurora pushed Epsilon away.
"You've become so much stronger since our last battle on the iceberg, Aurora, I'll give you that. Back then, you had just evolved, young and inexperienced. As if nothing could spoil your perfect world. But you have learned. It's a real shame that you have to rely so firmly on your ideologies. If you would just give me my space, it would all be over soon. You and your team could live in peace. You could fulfill your dream, live the future that is meant for you."
An Ice Beam shot straight at Epsilon, but she blocked it.
"That's exactly the problem, Epsilon! I don't want to live a future that someone else has determined for me! No one should have to! Pokemon live to determine their own fate!"
"That's what they have been doing it so far, and it's leading them to ruin! If everyone can change fate, then Pokemon like Grimmsnarl will plunge the whole world into ruin!"
Somehow it felt wrong, but Aurora couldn't listen to these words about the league fighter in front of Epsilon.
"You just don't want to see the the good anymore! But it exists even in the heart of a Pokemon like Grimmsnarl. In the end, we were able to beat him in the league because he is also a Mon of Justice! He just sees justice differently than others do! Just like you do! Whether you want to admit it or not, you and Grimmsnarl are alike!"
Geysers of purple energy erupted from the ground, and new Shadow Elite Fighters appeared from the smoke surrounding the battlefield. "Never! I will never be so soulless and conscienceless! I would never treat Pokemon like garbage because they want peace in the world! I would never wound someone who only seeks good!" Now, with the appearance of a new Amagarga, Kel also returned to battle with Aurora. He seemed hardly wounded since Marshadow had started the duel. "Wouldn't you? Aren't you the one who emphasized just minutes ago that my team and I are also good Pokemon? That we only want good things? And yet here you are, floating in front of me, in a battle for life and death! Epsilon, you have become what you yourself tried to destroy. At the Polar Lake, you described the League to me as a pure exterior with a moldy core. Didn't you notice back then how much this description applies to you?"
The answer was a sword blow and the entire battlefield began to spin, just like it did at the iceberg.
"You accuse me of hypocrisy? Of a false ideal, just because you yourself don't accept the darkness! I thought you were special, Aurora! All this time I thought you were like me, as it should have been. But I guess... you are like him instead."
"Like... him?"
Epsilon paused for a moment, as if she had said something she should never have said. But ultimately she saw that she had now taken the step. So she had to follow the whole path.
"You. You and Marshadow. You and Polar."
At the mention of her deceased brother, Aurora took a step back. Marshadow, on the other hand, reacted differently...
"You... know? How! I never said a word!" "You underestimated me, Polar. But you also don't remember. I, however, do not forget. I never forgot!"
All the shadows vanished, only Kel remained as he was. But he too sat down quietly, while Epsilon stopped the room and floated in front of Aurora and Marshadow, who were now standing next to each other.
"Aurora! This spirit next to you, who has accompanied you for so long, is none other than the reincarnation of Polar! He had always believed that the Plot could give him a new chance to help you. And look what happened! A miracle!"
"Marshadow... is that true?"
The one addressed hesitated briefly, but then nodded.
"I only found out after a while, but I am very sure. However, I wanted to keep it a secret until this war was over. Because I did not know how you would react. Whether you would have believed me. But how Epsilon knows all this is beyond me!"
She did not ask for more details, not yet, instead Aurora looked at the Plot Empress who answered aggressively.
"I don't owe you two an explanation! You already know more than you should! Kel... fetch!"
The lion immediately jumped up again without hesitating for a second. Aurora was ready to continue this fight. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed that the shadows had also returned. This interruption had not changed the fight itself. It had only revealed a truth to her. A strange one... and to be honest she didn't really know what to think. But there would be time for that later. Now the duel against her friend continued, even more merciless than before. While Kel had fought like an athlete in the ring before, the beast in him now seemed to have been released as it attacked without any restraint, causing Aurora great difficulties. She had to focus all her attention on not being hit. So much so that ultimately she didn't have the attention to see Epsilon's blow coming.
Electricity ran through the Ninetales' body as the sword feather cut into her fur and flesh on her back and neck, also ripping apart the mane that was every Ninetales' pride and joy.
"Enough of this! Kel, finish her off! That will hurt more than if I do!"
Aurora got up again, tormented, but her muscles ached. The possessed Arcanine approached her slowly, growling.
"Kel... I know... that you're still in there. Please, you're strong enough to defend yourself! I know it! Please..."
Flames gathered in the Arcanine's claws. But the strike missed it's target. The claws struck the ground right in front of Aurora. Trembling, the Arcanine looked down at the ground, his eyes flashing. There was still hope. Aurora immediately jumped over Kel with her last strength and straight onto Epsilon, who was currently fighting with her old team partner Zeraora.
But she wasn't fast enough. Epsilon saw her attack coming and pushed Zeraora away to stop Aurora herself with an iron grip. The Ninetales was now stuck, defenseless, in the grip of her worst enemy, just as she had before on the iceberg. She had already died here once... and now it was going to happen again.
"It's over, Aurora! You should have learned where your place is! But ultimately it was all in vain from the start. I can't lose to you. Not to you two. Even if he played his dirties tricks, I am not above making sacrifices for ultimate peace! And if it is my own flesh and blood I need to destroy!"