Pokémon Legends: Court of Kings

[Spinne Biss]

Glittering Cave - Diancie's Domain

She could repeat the process again. Take Tyrantrum up, hit him with all of her Pokemon instead of just Feather. Helena was prepared for the strategy when Tyrantrum crashed down into the ground and tried to take the cavern with him.

The first thing Helena did was recall her Pokemon, taking them to safety. She managed to jump out of the way of the first crashing rock, diving and pushing herself up to her feet. She didn't have the chance to dive out of the way of the next rock. Instead it shattered into a million pieces as a bright light slammed into it.

The dust fell upon her, clouding her vision further in the cavern - it's crystal light flying in all directions as it came apart. The figure of the Scizor was upon her a moment later, blasting apart the debris that fell at them.

He stood on one foot, the other lifted slightly and mangled. She looked up at him, the darkness deeper in the wake of the light flashing from his pincers.

It all came to an end with Diancie's intervention. Helena looked over to Ratio when he spoke of her survival and she let out a breathe she hadn't realized she was holding until that moment. It held relief and seemed to take a great weight off of her shoulders with it.

The Legendary pokemon had left her in awe and Helena's first thought was that she didn't hear Ratio say anything to the Pokemon. Her brain told her that she must have missed it, but she found no way to justify why the Pokemon would immediately listen to the man.

"You could say that," she said. It was true, but the whole thing was stressful enough to make her feel as if she'd been in a much rougher battle.  

[Marsuru]

Glittering Cave - Diancie's Domain

Ratio nodded very slightly. Cracks drew along Tyrantrum's crystal prison, splitting it into pieces. Its powerful muscles worked and strained, warping the translucent pink material to its breaking point. With a single loud roar, Tyrantrum shattered the crystal like glass, staggering forward and catching its weight. Ratio gave Ferox a hand signal, and the lean Arcanine darted into battle.

First, Ferox got the dinosaur's attention. She moved with Extremespeed, vanishing from her spot at Ratio's side and reappearing before Tyrantrum, kicking up a wisp of dust, keeping her body low to the ground and ready to pounce. The dinosaur reacted immediately, swinging its tail, aiming to smash Ferox in the side and send her crashing into the cave wall. Instead, Ferox shifted as little as she needed to, allowing the tail to pass by. She allowed Tyrantrum to reposition itself to her advantage, now exposing its scaly flank to her while being briefly off balance as it caught its momentum.

Then Ferox opened her maw, which was already spilling with licks of flame. She unleashed hell, overwhelming Tyrantrum with white hot flame that washed over it like a tidal wave, making the crystal cave seem black in comparison. The dinosaur's hide burned a deeper shade of red, and it was bowled over, hitting the deck, hissing in the open air. It lay still except for slight convulsions, soundly defeated.

'The world has changed,' Ratio said to the twitching heap of a pokémon. 'Your time has long passed. We no longer have need for tyrants.' Ratio pressed a pokéball to Tyrantrum's hide, absorbing the pokémon in a haze of light. The ball put up little resistance before going quiet. Ratio barely spared a glance for the blackened earth at his feet, nor for Ferox, who had incited the flame. The Arcanine waited in silence, as if she hadn't just decimated an opponent. Ratio looked quietly at the pokéball, then at Helena, and tossed the ball for her to catch.

'A gift,' he said in his radio crackle of a voice. 'And a challenge. I trust when we meet again, you will have that creature under your control. For now, I will suggest you leave this place, and take your brother's Kirlia with you.'

Ratio glanced to Serene, who lay still in the tunnel, halfway blanketed by crystal. 'I expect he's on the verge of tears with concern. We wouldn't want him to cry now, would we?'

With that, Ratio vanished. Ferox disappeared with Extremespeed, meeting her master in a fraction of a blink of an eye, then Teleported them both without so much as a speck of light. To an observer, it would be as if they'd disappeared on a gust of wind.  

[Marsuru]

Route 9 - Trail's End

Zack's skull split, consciousness welcoming him back with its usual tender touch. A headache, the perfect compliment to his everything-else-ache. His brain felt foggy, fighting off warped images of dark caves, a falling sensation that was now all too familiar, and being attacked by a giant bird that had landed on his shoulders, pecking madly at his face. His vision blurred, but he could make out black shapes; silhouettes on the blue sky. Voices.

'I think he's waking up,' said a young man with a soft Kalosian accent. 'Look how his eyes are opening, I'd say that's indicative of wakefulness.'
'Never mind that, check out his jawline. Mmm-mm.'
'Really, Sina. Now?'
'Oh come on, it's a complement.'

Two white suits, but no red and blue masks. Zack leant on an elbow, his head spinning like he was on Potion withdrawal, holding his hand to his forehead and applying pressure to ease the pain. He dragged his hand down, looking at the two trainers through his fingers. A thought popped into his head, and found its way out through his lips.

'You two were nearly the last thing I ever saw,' he said hazily.
Dexio's eyes went wide, and he brushed the skin at his temple, as if checking for something. But eased when he found nothing there. 'Oh dear. He's delirious.'
'Yes,' Sina said, 'Delirious.'

Zack shook his head slowly, and tried forcing himself back up. It was harder than he anticipated. His body seemed to weigh ten times as much as was normal, every muscle straining like it was on the last rep of a work out.

'So, I think introductions are in order.' Dexio said, helping Zack to his feet. 'I'm Dexio, this is Sina. And you, my friend, are very lucky to be alive.'

He gave Zack a swift, friendly slap to the back, and Zack's shoulder exploded. Fire shot through every inch of nerve. Now that the fighting was over, his body was counting up the damage it had taken. After several collisions, not to mention a dead-on Rock Blast, Zack's shoulder was feeling it the worst, though his legs and ribs were close seconds. He grunted, giving Dexio a dark look, and the white suited research aide froze upon realising his mistake, holding his hands up apologetically.

'Hiii,' Sina said with a wide smile, touching Zack on the forearm while he steadied himself. 'I'm Sina.'
'I already told him th- ow! That was my foot!'
Zack stared at the girl, too tired to take her on right now. He sighed through his teeth. 'Zack Redgrave.'
'That is so awesome. I mean, not as awesome as taking on a giant Aerodactyl, but pretty high up there. I've never seen anything like that before. Except for that fire wall, that was pretty cool too.'

Dexio nodded sagely. 'It seems today really is the day for things you don't see every day.'
'Aerodactyl,' Zack muttered, recalling the last few seconds before he'd passed out. It took an age, but he forced himself forward the few feet he needed to get to the silent pokéball. 'There you are. You little b*****d.'

With some strain, Zack picked up Aerodactyl's ball and turned it over in his fingers. Part of him had expected the pokémon to be too big for the pokéball, but whatever magic fuelled the device must have been enough. It was in there, after all that. It was his. He put the ball to his belt, not sure if he wanted it. He looked back to the cave, gemstones glinting quietly just past the entrance. A thousand eyes that made it seem sentient, thoughtful.

'I need to get back in there,' Zack said, seething sharply as a stabbing pain shot through his side. Dexio was on him, taking him by the shoulder but more delicately this time.
'You're not going anywhere,' the young man said, holding Zack up.
'Except maybe to the hospital,' added Sina.
'My pokémon are still inside,' Zack replied, pushing Dexio but struggling to make him budge even an inch. 'Get off me.'

'Like I said, you're not going anywhere,' Dexio said, his voice taking on a heavier quality. 'I don't know if you noticed, but this place is a war zone. You're not going in that cave until you've recovered. I won't let you.'

Dexio stared into Zack's eye for the longest time. Eventually the trainer flexed his jaw, relenting. His head bowed as he stared at his feet.

'Wow, Dex. That was pretty badass,' Sina said coyly. Dexio blushed, and Zack untangled himself from the research aide. He took a few hard steps towards Ambrette Town, seeing first the thick tendrils of smoke, and then the rubble. A rush of guilt hit him hard in the chest. He'd been off chasing the creature while the town was destroyed. He should never have gone near that cave.

'I thought there'd be trainers to protect the town,' Zack said, swallowing. Exhausted, he felt like he could keel over any second, but now he didn't feel he deserved to.
'There were,' Dexio said, standing a way behind Zack, a solemn look in his eye. 'Hundreds of trainers. Thousands of pokémon. Everyone fought to protect the town. But as far as we know, you're the only one who can tell us why. Zack, what exactly happened in Glittering Cave?'  

[Spinne Biss]

Glittering Cave - Aliana's Grave

Tyrantrum's escape put a knot in the pit of Helena's stomach. She turned to look at the beast and Écarlate moved with her. By the time the two looked upon the dinosaur, it was while the beast was bathed in white fire.

Sweat simultaneously escaped Helena's pores and, what was in the direct line of Ferox's flames, evaporated. She shut her eyes tightly, the flames coloring her vision even then as the intensity pierced through her eyelids. Her hands shot up to help cover her eyes in compensation.

When she did open her eyes - and lower her hands so her index and middle fingers rested against the sides of her nose - it was to darkness. The crystals were dull. Worse than even the light they'd lost when Écarlate had lit up the room with Flash Cannons. Helena's eyes were slowly adjusting, relearning to make out the images and movements caught in the crystal's light.

Ratio seemed more a monster in this darkness. The deeper it became, the more at home his presence seemed. He blended better, his movements were more subtle and terrifying. His voice, in the sudden silence, seemed a distorted whisper. If Helena had not seen his face she would not believe that he was human - and even then she had her doubts.

The world has changed. Had it, though? It felt more like the world had simply shown a part of its true side to her. As a teenager, Helena had grown used to the world suddenly seeming to expand, to all of the questions and curiosities she had not been able to comprehend before. Being out in Kalos had become a systematic process of setting aside the rationalizations she had made for things based off of her limited knowledge.

However, the last few minutes with this man made all of that seem so small and insignificant. Dealing with people, fighting, camping, trying to stand up for justice. All of it seemed like the shallow side of the pool that she had just stepped into it, lead by a man who seemed more monster than human.

It wasn't Helena who caught the pokeball but Écarlate. She heard every word he said, but with her mind racing the physical things were the ones she couldn't pay attention to. Something that would be hard enough in the darkness was made impossible. She took the pokeball from Écarlate when he offered it and bit her tongue when it didn't port to the box system. Having seven Pokemon, or the idea that she was suddenly missing one, was instinctively set to a lower priority.

"Where's Zack?" Helena suddenly found herself asking the darkness when Ratio departed. It took her a moment to realize that he was truly gone, and hadn't simply slipped into the shadows and decided to be still. The light brought from the coat of an Arcanine's flames were gone as well, the fiery body of it being the singular brightest source of light around and it only made Ratio seem more invisible when they stood side by side, and for a man who was already like shifting darkness that was terrifying.

Ratio was gone, and there was nobody that could answer her question. At least, not with words that she could understand. However, hope remained alive and Helena called out, "Selene?!"  

[Marsuru]

Glittering Cave - The Tunnels

Alas, Serene wasn't moving any time soon.  

[Spinne Biss]

Glittering Cave - The Tunnels

Serene was out of the fight. The Kirlia was draped over the Scizor's shoulders as the two of them moved back through the cave. Helena knew that she needed to find Zack still, and had Écarlate mark the way back to the entrance for her with his pincers.

Thanks to Écarlate's strength, the process didn't take any time out of their journey, but the tunnels were a maze. The idea of having to fight another Pokemon like Tyrantrum made Helena hesitate about calling out for her brother, but eventually she bit the back of her bottom lip and worked up her courage.

If Zack were here, and especially if he were moving, she wasn't going to find him unless one of them could pinpoint the other. "Zack! Are you there?!"

Écarlate tensed up and Helena kept her hands on her pokeballs, ready to go to war if she needed to.  

[Spinne Biss]

Glittering Cave - The Tunnels->Entrance

Helena didn't realize how hard Écarlate was pushing himself until he dropped to a knee partway down a tunnel. She turned and saw his legs and pincers cast in the glow of the crystals and felt the knot in her stomach grow tighter. It was made worse when she saw Serene, caught in the glow.

She could spend hours searching these caves and if she did find Zack, it was possible that Serene wouldn't survive the journey. Reluctantly, Helena turned back. She took Serene from Écarlate, despite his weak protests, and recalled the Scizor before she started toward the exit, following Écarlate's path.

It wasn't long, but it felt like hours, before she reached the cave opening. Serene wasn't heavy, but for Helena, and especially after all the walking, it was a hellish experience. Still, she pressed on, determined to help Serene and then find Zack.

***

Ambrette Town - Hero's Journey

"Excuse me!" shouted reporter Édouard Drumont. He ran toward Benedict, cameraman following close behind. "Could we have a word, please?"

***

Ambrette Town - Pokemon Center Ruins

Grant's back rested against the back of the pokemon center counter. His head tipped back to rest against it. As he closed his eyes he let out a deep breath and tried to relax. The battle had been rough. The walls of the center were all around them, the ceiling ripped apart and support beams scattered around everywhere.

The tile, what remained of it, was a series of shattered squares, broken almost completely across every piece. The only thing that had truly managed to stay intact was the Nurse's counter.

"That was rough," Grant said aloud as he opened his eyes. His entire skin felt like it had been through a human shredder composed of paper edges. He had little cuts all over and his clothes were disheveled and full of holes. His sponsors jacket was torn but useable. It looked worn but, Grant admitted, slightly more badass now.  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Ambrette Town - "Hero's Journey"

Benedict's first reaction at hearing someone yelling was to reach for a pokeball. Rhyhorn's ball, though the pokemon was still far from trusted. It would at least be a better wall for something attacking to run into than Ricard, since the dragon-type would just fly off.

Of course, he stopped before releasing the potentially-still-dangerous pokemon upon seeing that it wasn't someone that looked like they were in danger. "Ah. Salut!" He called back, and placed the pokemon's ball back in place.

What kind of crazy people come out like this before they're sure everything's safe? What if there's a pissed-off pokemon in the rubble next to me? The rookie trainer gave a grin to the two, partly to hide that he was uncertain of their sanity.  

[Spinne Biss]

Ambrette Town - "Hero's Journey"

"We just have a few questions about what happened here today. Can you tell us what motivated you to come to Ambrette's aid?" Edouard tilted the mic toward Benedict so that he could be heard clearly when he spoke.  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Ambrette Town - "Hero's Journey"

Wait, was he being interviewed? Benedict blinked as he realized this was the case. Not someone with a broken camera, he hoped. "Well, the place was in trouble." He explained, allowing the grin to slip. In its place was the weariness he felt. That would look better. Show the fatigue to let people know he really had helped. "I think that any pokemon trainer that was a real trainer would do that. Badges are nice and all, but the true tests are things like this, things that people won't always know you were a part of. Maybe it's not a test of our skills, but it's every bit as important of one. And I think that everyone that showed up here today passed."  

[Spinne Biss]

Ambrette Town - "Hero's Journey"

"Inspiring words," Edouard said, a genuinely inspired expression on his face. "What would you say to the people that didn't come to Ambrette's aid?"  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Ambrette Town - "Hero's Journey"

Benedict let himself think for a moment about his answer before placing a stern expression on his face. "They failed. Maybe there was a good reason, maybe there wasn't, but that's what it comes down to. Today, they failed. But today wasn't the only test we'll face as trainers, I'm sure of that much. So take the next chance. You can't erase a failure, but you can redeem it. And I hope they do." The stern expression turned into disappointment little by little as he had spoken, until that was what he had for those he could be seen as talking to.

"And for the ones that don't..." He shook his head. "I guess I don't have anything to say to the ones that won't try to be better."  

[Marsuru]

Route 9 - Trail's End

Dexio held Zack's gaze, eyes like fire. He was a stranger but seemed decent. Genuine. And right now, it felt like anyone else was better suited to handling this mess than Zack was. The trainer frowned, then stared at the ground, his fist clenched at his side. After a few seconds, his fingers relaxed and he decided to tell Dexio everything he knew. Where to begin? With Team Flare? With the creature? The words hovered on Zack's lips. He looked up, then past Dexio and towards the opening of Glittering Cave. Zack shuddered and his eyes became saucers.

'Helena,' he gasped. Pain as sharp as daggers stabbed his chest, and he winced. The two research aides followed his gaze, and soon all three were looking at the girl who had walked beyond the cave opening. Zack tried to make it forward, but the strain of his body was just as real as it had been moments before. He felt weak, powerless, but managed to soldier on a single step.

'Helena!' Zack shouted, desperate to get her attention. Sweat beaded down his face.
'Someone you know?' Dexio asked, placing Zack's arm over his shoulder and taking his weight, helping him walk.
'It's my sister,' Zack replied, voice a growl. 'Gotta get her out of there. That cave's a death trap.'

'Don't worry,' Sina said with a casual wave of her hand. She jogged backwards for a second and grinned, 'I'll bring her right over. And then we probably should get back to the lab, because death traps actually are something to worry about.'

---

A cold wind blew through the cave mouth. The plateau seemed massive from here; a wide open expanse, pockmarked by battle and littered with rubble. The sea glimmered in the background, a shade darker with the passing sun starting to fade. The cave mouth itself was no longer a smooth arch, but jagged and broken like a pumpkin's grin. Its missing pieces were scattered around the cave entrance and beyond, harrowing.

Despite the sun, the air was frigid. Shadows seemed to shift like they had a mind of their own, wobbling just at the edge of sight, where you couldn't be sure if you mind was playing tricks or not. She glided silently, passing through the barriers of piled up, broken rocks like they weren't there. Helena wandered, searching for her brother. Hazard had a different idea.

Just as her trainer's shouts began to settle, the Haunter swooped behind Helena and made to grab her by the armpits. She'd then heave Helena into the air, and carry the girl across the plateau to where Zack was with Dexio and Sina, cackling all the way.  

[Spinne Biss]

Ambrette Town - "Hero's Journey"

"Those are words of wisdom, misterrrr?"

Route 9 - Trail's End

Helena squeaked when Hazard lifted her up and took her to Zack, and she felt relieved to see him.

There was a slow process as she held Serene and looked at him, banged up but alive, of whatever stoic motivation she had to rescue him melt away.

"I saw you on the news," she said, already her eyes beginning to glisten with tears. Her view of him blurred as they welled up in her eyes but she pushed on. "I came because I was worried, but I couldn't find you. I found Serene and knew I needed to help her and that she might lead me to you." By the end of her explanation, her voice had broke and the last word was finished off with a sob.

"You big idiot, what if you died?" The tears ran down her cheeks and she wanted to hug him but she held on to Serene instead, until Zack took her away. Her arms were so tired and weak and they felt progressively and rapidly weaker as the seconds past now, but she held on. It was the last of the energy she had, of her willpower.

Zack wouldn't know it, couldn't possibly know it, but part of her that was coming unfrayed was thanks to biting back her fear, to the memories of being in the cavern with the creature, his Arcanine and the Tyrantrum.

She had watched a woman die, was afraid her brother was also dead, and standing here now only made everything feel more real, that this wasn't the end of what she had seen.  

[Klarp Glornharm]

Ambrette Town - "Hero's Journey"

"Benedict. Benedict Montgomery."