"Hahaha, that's what you get!" Lucario laughed cheerfully as Entei made a massive leap over a large crater. The battle had been raging for hours now, and among the hundreds of those once present the vast majority had fled, or been put out of commission. Yet spirits were high for the fifty or so Pokémon and trainers still working together to bring down their common enemy. Although not a lock for the beauty pageant from the start, the repeated assaults from both Pokémon and Pokéballs had left Groudon nearly unrecognizable from the proud legendary he had once been. Bereft of his defensive scales, multiple sections of his impregnable body had turned into a soft and pinkish marshmallow wide open to any form of attack. Fire, freezing, cutting, impact; if it had a name it had already been employed in great amounts in an attempt to destroy him. Going by the missing bits of flesh, exposed bones and ripped sinew, they were succeeding. The question now was when Groudon would stop moving. Lucario mournfully recalled that being completely deprived of oxygen hadn't done a damn thing to stop it. But the beast would have to fall eventually; whether or not this meant reducing the living mountain to a pile of gravel remained to be seen.
The worst of it was when Groudon had tried to fire off another Hyper Beam and ended up blowing off part of his own mouth. Lucario looked at the still majestic legendary with half of his face missing and felt a tinge of sympathy. He recalled the story he had been told about how Groudon was once worshipped as a protector of mankind, but ended up reduced to a mindless beast after crossing Darkrai. Since both Celebi and Zerobi had left, Lucario realized that nobody but him knew about that. Perhaps it was best that way, he thought. The descendants of those Groudon protected so long ago were being gruesomely slaughtered at his hand, while he himself was fighting back a hopeless and pointless battle with no other outcome than to seal his fate. For a passing moment, Lucario could see himself in Groudon's place. Tainted by Darkrai and begging for death.
Groudon gave off a mournful cry as a large projectile of unknown form and origin struck him in the face and lodged itself into his right eye. Although the legendary was being constantly pounded by attacks of every type and form, there was a certain force behind this one attack that shook everyone present to their core. Lucario's ears had already taken quite a beating from all the shouting, a not inconsiderable amount of which stemmed from his own vocals, yet he could distinctly make out a deep explosion from somewhere far away.
Another projectile struck, this time right into an unprotected part of Groudon's left arm. Again it distinguished its power by making the giant behemoth slump down, not from agony but from the sheer power of the blow. Confused and startled, the Pokémon closest to the impact suddenly backed off as a large tower of some sort of metal found itself partially lodged into the giant's front leg, most likely recognizing that what would have happened had they come between the hunter and its prey. Lucario looked back to where the noise had come from, and suddenly noticed a large cloud of smoke obscuring three strange boxes silhouetted by the horizon. Before he could properly determine what they were, it happened again; a boom, smoke and then a large slab of metal rocketed towards Groudon, heading straight for the monster's right arm.
What happened then was too fast for almost anyone to consciously perceive. Some of the Pokémon with more developed eyesight that just happened to be looking right at Groudon at that moment could, were they not distracted by something else, see the mass of metal glance off against a piece of Groudon's protected scales that had been left on his right arm, and turn slightly to instead strike deep and hard into his weak and unprotected underbelly.
What followed after that was also close to instantaneous, yet truly a sight none of those present could ignore nor ever forget. In one last attempt to stop what was about to happen, or perhaps merely as whatever instinct was left in his rotted mind, Groudon tried to close his mouth, but missing most of his cheek and made this a futile effort. Turning his head towards the soil, the lamentable legendary suddenly began to spew forth bile and blood by the hundreds of gallons. While a disgusting sight for sure, many of the unfortunate standing close by could see that the liquid was quickly heading towards them like an unruly flow of lava.
"Everyone, run!" Zoroark's firm yet slightly panicked voice suddenly echoed over the battlefield, "Fliers, carry them to safety!"
The mass of people and Pokémon closest to Groudon turned to run, but the speed of the vomit was not to be underestimated. It also appeared to be accelerating, as the hulking monster refused to let up.
"Oh my f- Entei!" Lucario shouted while pushing down his own urge to bring back his meagre breakfast to once more see the light of day, "We gotta help them!"
Soon there were flying Pokémon swooping in to pick up as many as possible to transport them to safety, while a few brave Pokémon of the larger sort tried to withstand the cascading waves of filth. However, even the largest would soon find themselves mired in a mixture of stomach acid and god knows what and toppled over, unable to escape. All except one.
"Grab on!" Lucario shouted as he reached down to whoever they were passing by, Entei proudly leaped through the bile and sending droplets the size of water balloons flying in every direction. Lucario first managed to grab an adult trainer and haul him up onto Entei's back, where he clung on for dear life. Despite the considerable number of Pokémon and people, all but the heaviest had soon been rescued and brought to safety by the many flying Pokémon present at the battle, except for those simply too heavy to carry. They relied entirely on Entei's bulk and Lucario's strength to escape the horrible swamp.
Once Groudon had stopped puking, the giant began to slowly drag himself through his own blood and vomit and continue towards his destination. Unable to even get near him due to the ground being untraversable, Zoroark had temporarily called off the attack, but even without any specific order it was clear that the battle was more or less over. Groudon made no attempt to fight back even against those who were able to hit it from a distance, and feeling there were more pressing matters at hand a proper rescue effort had been started. Zoroark had arranged a sort of field hospital nearby, where the water Pokémon with anything left to give helped rinse off the disgusting mixture from those that had been saved, and the many trainers volunteered their backpacks of healing items to anyone in need of it. Lucario passed by while riding on top of Entei, dropping off a fat Pokémon with large hands that had long since fainted. A Chansey ran up to them and began to fervently check for signs of harm or open wounds that might be infected, as Lucario and Entei went back to look for heavies to pick out.
"Stay calm and don't worry! We'll pick you up!" Lucario proclaimed loudly as he focused his senses, picking up traces of aura all around them, "Entei, there's someone to the right. Turn around."
Entei complied and carefully trod through the bile as Lucario used this moment of relative calm to make sense out of the events that had just transpired. Whatever those three box-like figures were that had dealt the mortal blow to Groudon, they had disappeared in the tumult. He had not sensed a particularly strong aura from any of them, although the one in the middle had felt strangely familiar anyway. It was still quite difficult to determine anything through the lens of aura as Groudon's gigantic presence overshadowed everything else, and Entei provided his own source of power was adding to the complexity, but Lucario had become fairly used to both by now and could, from a certain distance, pick out the poor individuals stuck in the muck.
Pick up and bring back, rinse and heal. Groudon kept moving just barely as everyone recouped and prepared for another attack as soon as the behemoth ended up on less volatile ground. As luck would have it, the scent that permeated the air was more of a distinct fragrance than the stench one might find by the veranda of some partygoer's house. It almost seemed as if Groudon had been eating nothing but rocks for the past century or so.
"You're the last one," Lucario muttered to a very much unconscious Pokémon clad in an armor made of iron, hauling him up on Entei's back. He had yet to see any of his old Pokémon among those rescued and hoped they were OK. It had started raining, and he was eager to get back to camp and make a more thorough investigation, but didn't want to rush the already overworked Entei. His once proud steed had slowed down to a crawl, and limped across the vile marsh in a manner not unfamiliar to the badly wounded Groudon always in close proximity.
When they finally made their way back on solid ground, Lucario jumped off Entei and carried the ironclad Pokémon on his back, towards the Chansey he had spotted before.
"This is the last one! I can't sense any more!" Lucario shouted, and carefully put the Pokémon down on the ground. The Chansey looked up at the Pokémon and gave Lucario what probably passed as a nod from a creature with no neck. However, her gaze fixated on him as her expression suddenly turned to one of horror.
"Oh my-!" she exclaimed, rushing over to him, "Are you alright!?"
"I'm fine, better than ev-" Lucario started confidently, but stopped himself and stepped aside as the squishy creature bumped into him and wobbled past him. She had been staring at Entei, who stared back without response.
"Answer me, Entei!" the Chansey asked with determination, allowing her many years of medical studies to overshadow centuries of instilled primal fear. She was very much aware that this was the same creature that had broken into No Man's Land two years ago and inflicted terrible wounds that she had been forced to treat, and in most cases her efforts had been futile. Many a Chansey in her position would see themselves in this situation as a giant marshmallow ready to be roasted. But she had brought him back from the brink of death before and was not about to let her efforts go to waste.
"Sorry… He only listens to me," Lucario mumbled while scratching the back of his head, somewhat miffed at being ignored.
"Then tell him to lie down right now!" the Chansey exclaimed with a panicked gaze towards him. Lucario looked back with confusion before shrugging.
"Lie down, Entei," he said. Entei complied, though not in the graceful manner Lucario had come to expect of him. Instead of kneeling, Entei simply flopped over, landing on the ground with a solid thud. Wondering if his canine companion was fishing for a belly rub, Lucario suddenly noticed something that made him wince with horror.
"Entei, you…!" Lucario stammered in shock. The Chansey ran up to the underside of the once towering legendary, pulling out potions and burn heal from her egg pouch.
"Tell him to not do anything anymore!" the Chansey continued and desperately began to apply the various ointments to Entei's paws. If they could even be called that anymore. While the prolonged exposure to the stomach acids of a creature that ate its way through mountains was a forgone conclusion, Lucario had not expected it to be this bad. The stumps were corroded black, leaking blood with bits of flesh hanging loosely and threatening to be blown off by the powerful wind as the storm around them began to pick up.
"Entei…?!" Lucario gasped with exasperation, not understanding how it could've come to this without him noticing, "Why?!"
"Why what, master Ethan?" Entei replied in a mostly calm voice, though one that was apparently struggling to hold back and not show any pain.
"Why didn't you say anything?!" Lucario shouted and fell to his knees, hastily looking around for some sort of healing potion, some way to help the Chansey. Her bulky body pushed him aside as she wordlessly continued to treat the wounds. Entei also remained silent, either not understanding his question or simply refusing to reveal his true feelings.
"You didn't have to… Go that far…" Lucario whispered defeated, feeling guilty for not having noticed anything.
"We saved them all, master Ethan," Entei suddenly spoke up, looking away from him. Apparently the seeing his master sad was a greater pain than mutilation. Entei had followed his command and by doing so saved countless others, not voicing any discomfort despite experiencing pain that would rend the mind of anyone else. He was not a dumb brute, just too loyal for his own good.
"You did. You saved them," Lucario answered desperately as he felt the wind completely taken out of him, "I was just-"
"Of course. I see it all now," a familiar voice sounded from behind. Lucario had been unable to sense anyone approaching, which means it had to be…
Zoroark stood proud as always. A true masculine specimen, not a hair was missing from his body, not a smudge of grime was found anywhere. Though what state she was actually in beneath those illusions was anyone's guess, perhaps even her own. Chansey fought her instinct to stand at attention and salute, instead opting to begin cleaning up the first Entei's many damaged ligaments before they were lost forever.
"Seems you've been reunited with your true master at last," Zoroark said to Entei with a warming smile. Entei's gaze was fervently whipping back and forth between Zoroark and Lucario, as if he was suddenly having trouble making up his mind about something. This wasn't really the kind of behavior that Lucario had come to expect from Zoroark over the years, but he had more pressing matters on his mind.
"Zoroark! Can this thing heal him?" Lucario asked while pointing at the Chansey, who was about to interjct at having her profession downgraded to "thing", but Zoroark raised a claw to stop her.
"He's recovered from worse," Zoroark stated bluntly before moving forward and starting to pet the scruff of Entei's neck, "You did great, Entei. I am truly glad that I took you in.
"Zoroark, please," Entei suddenly spoke in a hushed tone, "Do not tell master Ethan about…!"
"Oh," Zoroark exclaimed as she withdrew her claws, not entirely sure if she had already told Lucario or not, "Of course not."
Entei seemed relieved. Lucario was also relieved but also shook up. Noticing that his elated mood had been completely crushed, Zoroark interjected before it could develop into another mental breakdown.
"Lucario. We need to finish this," Zoroark stated in the same blunt manner as before as Lucario straightened himself up, "Are you ready?"
For a moment Lucario had forgotten that Groudon was still alive, though hardly much of a threat anymore and considerably worse for wear. He slowly began to open his mouth as Zoroark ushered him away from Entei and back towards the even bigger behemoth.
"Don't worry," Zoroark insisted while all too clearly remembering their scuffle back when No Man's Land was new, that had culminated in the legendary dog crashing down from the top of their tallest building, "Like I said, she's gotten him through worse."
Lucario blinked a few times as he snapped out of his trance. He still had a job to do, both as a fighter and as a trainer. He quickly outmaneuvered Zoroark and zipped past her back to Entei, crouching in front of the dog's head.
"Entei. I order you to rest until you are fully healed," Lucario spoke sternly while gazing into his Pokémon's eyes, "Is that clear?"
"It is clear," Entei replied before suddenly swallowing nervously, as if he was about to do something more difficult than fight a legendary beast, "Master Ethan?"
"Yes?" Lucario asked.
"When I am healed, will you take me back?" Entei asked. Lucario smiled and opened his mouth, before quickly closing it. Spend the rest of his life with a giant dog? He had been fairly impressed by his prowess, but until just a few hours ago his only memory of Entei was being chased out of Saffron City by him. Plus he wasn't exactly a riveting partner for conversation. However, Lucario noticed that Entei had completely frozen up and even stopped breathing in anticipation of his answer.
"Of course," Lucario said without really thinking, deciding that he would fulfill his duty for better or worse the same way Entei had, "You have my word. Now hurry up and heal."
Many a tale would be spun about this day. For this was a day full of events that would come to change the world and its inhabitants forever. How the fearsome Groudon had broken free from the crust of the earth and eradicated the proud city of Saffron in the blink of an eye. How the call of Celebi had rallied people and Pokémon together to do the impossible and bring down a living legend. The landships that had crippled it. The revolutionaries that had outwitted it. The brave yet foolhardy spikeless Lucario who had mounted a steed of fire to fight Groudon up close and personal. It all came to a head as a group of over two dozen Pokémon assembled to deal the finishing blow. The plan had been to coordinate a series of repeated projectile attacks, so those without the means or power to contribute had retreated to tend to the wounded or mourn their dead. They gathered by the side of Groudon's badly damaged head, just in case the beast decided on one last hyper beam. In reality this was a wasted precaution. Groudon could barely even cling on to life, much less fight. Yet as long as life remained, he would keep moving towards his destination. No matter the agonizing pain, no matter the obstacle, nothing would stand in his way. As it had always been, as far as he could remember. But there were other memories in there as well. Memories of people who chanted his name with love and adoration instead of fear and hatred. Visions of giants like him that roamed the land and called him their companion. It all seemed so very long ago, in a world so very different from this one. A world of calm and peace, without all this strife and suffering. Although his will was not to manifest itself, his very being craved a return to the world he once knew.
From the skies, a devastating purple beam fell down and surged Groudon's brain with cataclysmic lightning. In an instant, the legendary Groudon died.
There were no cheers, and no celebrations to be had. Instead the crowd of assembled Pokémon turned their heads upwards, a certain Lucario noting that even as Groudon's aura dwindled into nothing, there was an immense power in the air. The sensation of a different aura, yet one of equal strength crept up his spine.
Lightning struck. The strong winds picked up even more in ferocity. Lightning struck once more. Among the infinite sea of clouds above, a serpentine figure over a hundred feet tall revealed itself. Sleek scales stained in emerald and black, with long gleaming feelers of red hovering slightly in the eye of the storm. Massive plates of dragonbone jutting out of its body. And its eyes were soaked in rage, and all too familiar to those below it. Many of the Pokémon screamed in terror, and scattered in every direction. Some, like Lucario, found it impossible to turn away. Lured by the smell of its now dead enemy, or perhaps by some deeper unseen connection, Rayquaza towered in the sky like a dream. The storm danced around it, abiding by its master and creating a vision of moving clouds that should not be possible. Yet there it was, in the flesh, to the astonishment and disbelief of everyone. Its fated enemy had been slain in a single motion, and its anger had not been abated. It yearned for destruction. In a graceful motion, the serpent began to spin its body in strange rhythmic patterns, before opening its mouth and firing a purple beam towards a few of the fleeing Pokémon. A sizeable explosion followed by a cacophony of purple lightning bolts whipped the ground and those unfortunate enough to find themselves nearby were incapacitated by the violent thunder or ripped to bits by the explosion.
Those that weren't running simply stared, dumbfounded. Lucario found it difficult to remain standing and fell to his knees. It was so unfair.
"It… Never ends…!" Lucario gasped with horror as Rayquaza quickly turned towards a new ground of fleeing Pokémon, once more raining explosive death upon them. It was sharp. It was quick. It was accurate. Yet it was every bit as powerful and destructive as Groudon had been. It was just so unbelievably unfair.
Zoroark was grappling with a similar level of disbelief. Rayquaza was killing even those that were trying to flee. In fact, it was specifically targeting them, to ensure that none left the area alive.
It was culling them. She had led her people into a slaughter. Shouts and pleas were coming from all around for her to announce a retreat, yet she knew there would be no escaping this monstrosity. Nor would they be able to put up a fight, considering how difficult it had been to take down Groudon. But the most pressing notion, the one that truly ate at her soul, was the realization that their chance for victory was gone. Too many people of their army were gone, scattered to the wind in fear or in bits. For her and No Man's Land, there would be no hope to ever fight again. Their struggle for freedom was over. It was all in vain. All that remained was to join the bloodshed one last time, or flee and hope for another possibility in the future. Without any muscle to back up her words, what mercy could her and her people expect? It was back to eternal servitude. Yet despite her inner turmoil, she realized that her decision had already been made. She had to try. She had to hope. She had to live.
"This is Zoroark!" she shouted as loudly as she could muster, "We can't fight it! Scatter and retreat!"
She quickly turned to her close associates and set to work on bringing the wounded with them, but yet another beam sealed the death of yet another group of fleeing Pokémon and snapped her out of it. There would be no time to do anything. Her heart was pounding out of her chest; any second she could be next…!
A tall Pokémon with a long beard next to Lucario teleported away, suddenly snapping him out of his frozen state. He had to, he had to do something! Now!
"SHIT!" Lucario shouted as he stood up defiantly, realizing he was going to get himself killed just sitting around, "C'mon then, goddamn it! I've kicked your ass before and I'll do it again!"
He began to charge up an aura sphere in the palm of his hand when suddenly the sky flashed in a bright yellow light. In the mark left inside his retina, he saw a perfectly vertical light across the sky. When the sound caught up, the was a massive sonic boom as Rayquaza flinched as if struck by something. Flying erratically around him like a pesky fly, a certain avian or screaming yellow color and spiky feathers made herself known to everyone.
"That's enough killing, you filth!" Zapdos shouted, rearing back to send a monstrously huge thunderbolt at Rayquaza. This seemed to have very little effect on the far larger legendary though, who immediately retaliated by showering Zapdos with purple beams of electric death, all of which Zapdos managed to deftly dodge with immaculate speed and airborne control.
"Yeah, that's right! Aim for me! Don't look behind you!" Zapdos laughed in a mocking way as Rayquaza suddenly flinched again, quickly spinning around and throwing its entire body backwards. The silhouette of yet another bird had appeared among the clouds, and a mighty blizzard of sharp icicles piercing through Rayquaza's storm. Lucario recognized these as the ice shards Zerobi used to make; this creature was conjuring thousands of them at a time.
"We own these skies," the icy cold bird spoke with disdain as she swooped low, a large pillar of fire coming up from behind her and engulfing Rayquaza's upper torso. Yet another bird appear, this one wreathed in a fire that lit up the entire sky and made the clouds glow like murky walls behind a candle's ember.
"Finally. This time I'll show what I can do," Moltres said as Rayquaza reared back to retaliate, only to be smacked in the head by Zapdos' lightning-fast dive attack. Meanwhile the blue bird slowly made her way up again and began to encase Rayquaza's lower segment in frost.
Like everyone else that had been left alive by the previous onslaught, Lucario stared amazed at what was happening above.
"Lucario!"
In all the turmoil he suddenly heard someone call out his name. It was a voice he had hoped to never hear from again.
The Human Species Ch.123 - The Final Episode (Part 6)
Imported from SF2 with no description.
5 years ago
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