A Light-Hearted, Low-Stakes Rescue Mission
The vast wasteland surrounded me. As my eyes scanned across the terrain, all I could see were piles of bodies and the ground stained a deep red. The war took a toll on everyone and the few that survived fled the continent. It’s not like anyone would want to stay now that the villages are gone and the war left the entire continent barren.
“(Where were they?)” I thought. “(We could have stopped this.)” Our job is to protect the world, but whenever I ask about their location I get the same response from those bureaucrats “they’re deployed elsewhere.” If there was ever a time to show up, it would have been yesterday.
All I can do now is search the field in hopes that among the, now, cold corpses at least one more Pokémon here is alive. I don’t even have a nose, yet it still smelled putrid. undoubtedly the smell of death. I’m supposed to be a guardian, but I was only able to protect a small handful of children. The villages disseminated, the earth made barren, and all the lives destroyed; it finally hit me and I couldn’t stop myself from tearing up. Even still, I had to remain resolute, “there has to be at least one left,” I kept telling myself. As I glided through the air, I tried my best to sense if anyone was still alive, but I searched for hours and not a soul left intact was found. I may be on the smallest continent, but it is still a continent.
“Tomorrow, I will find someone” I optimistically chanted.
The stars and moon filled the night sky and for a moment made my body unwind and relax. As my eyes closed and attempted to lull myself to sleep all I could think about was the battle.
I couldn’t even remember what started this war, but it escalated so fast that it hardly matters anymore. My position as a guardian forces me to stay neutral in all conflicts while simultaneously fighting on the side of “justice”. What even is justice? Is it some fundamental rule of the universe or just some subjective drivel that varies from Pokemon to Pokemon? The answer is clear, now. “Justice is bullshit!” I bet both sides thought the countless slaughter of innocent civilians was justice as they truly believed it was necessary to protect their ideals and way of life. Preserving their “way of life” by dying a premature and easily avoidable death, in combat, is the most ironic thing I ever heard.
During the final battle, all I was able to do was save a few children from the carnage. Their parents were adamant that they live. I managed to squeeze five onto my back and under heavy fire from both sides of the conflict I got them to a neutral zone where the Explorer’s Coalition was stationed. I’d say the biggest cowards of the entire war were the explorers, as soon as the conflict reached the town, not one pokemon there tried to defend it. The citizens of that town let them stay, in exchange for protection. However, when push came to shove, every explorer just left, doming the towns folk to a grim demise. At least they were gracious enough to take the kids with them. By the time I returned to collect the parents, the village was burned to the ground and all villagers slaughtered. At that moment I truly felt defeated, I wanted to help everyone and I wanted to make a difference. “Where were the others?” I kept thinking. “Surly they’d arrive soon, nothing is more important than this.” I waited for the 4 other guardians in vain, until an entire squadron of Pokemon appeared to search the village. I could sense that these ones were looking for a fight. Too bad for them, no one is left… except me. Eventually, one of the soldiers found me staring at the mother of the kid I saved. As I looked up, our eyes locked.
He had the narrow eyes of someone completely lost in their rage trying to reason with him was pointless. Regardless, I still attempted to get him to back off.
“You don’t want to fight me” I coldly exclaimed.
He didn’t even give me a response. He just charged at me. I knocked him out instantly, but the sound of my moon blast was loud enough to alert the other goons in the area. It was only a moment until I was entirely surrounded. Some of the pokemon charged in and the others were preparing their special attacks. I had nowhere to go but up. I launched myself into the sky and as expected the special attackers open fired on me. These cretins don’t know who they’re messing with. Due to my superior sensing and grace, I haven’t been hit by an attack since I was in training. Effortlessly I weaved around the fire, lightning, ice, and water until I looked down and took it all in; the bodies, the blood, the ashes. It was all their fault, I couldn’t take it anymore.
From my aerial vantage point, I shouted, “I’M NOT HOLDING BACK, ANYMORE!!!”
I fired moonblast after moonblast and I didn’t stop until not a single shed of aura remained. I’d lost myself in the same rage these thugs were in. I left them unconscious as the opposing side rushed in and, before I could act, they swiftly executed every last one of them. “Damnit! Why did it have to end like this?” I muttered. “If only they’d back off as I said from the start… if only the others had shown up… things would have been different.”
There was no way I could stop this war alone. “(This war would end only when there was no one left)” I thought.
The relentless fighting continued as I watched from a distance. The expansive armies that stood on this battlefield dwindled to a measly handful of combatants. The 100s that were left became dozens and those dozens became 10, then 8, then 4, and finally two opposing soldiers were all that remained. Both of them were coved in wounds and blood. Almost all of their energy had vanished they were too tired to even use moves anymore. They just kept punching and shoving each other until they collapsed and bled out.
The war ended but there was no victor and it cost everyone everything. As I was about to fly away and tell the Coalition what happened, I felt someone for a brief moment. Their aura was non-violent and extremely weak. Maybe there was one survivor. This was the last glimmer of hope, I didn’t even know, I had left.
My lingering thoughts faded and I went to sleep.
In the morning, I continued my rescue mission to find the last survivor. I had already searched the south of the continent so I tried the north this time. The north of the continent has so many windy valleys and canyons which made me take significantly longer in my search. I peeked into each crevice, cave, and hole I came across. However each place I looked just led to one of the same two discoveries: nothing and the remains of the dead.
My search continued well into the afternoon, that last bit of hope I had left was fading. I kept repeating “I will find them, someone has to still be alive.” However the more I said it the more it felt like a lie. As the sun started to set over the ravaged fields, I sensed, for a brief moment, the same aura I did when the war ended. Whoever was out there was still alive. My adrenaline levels shot up and invigorated my exhausted body, which gave me the motivation I needed to keep my pursuit going well into the night.
As I approached the center of the continent, I finally locked onto their aura. I used all the energy I had left and made haste to the survivor. Once I reached the location of the aura I peered down to see a large hole had opened up. The hole was perfectly circular and so deep I couldn’t even see the bottom. Whoever I was sensing must have fallen in. As I started my descent into the mouth of the pit, tremors started to shake the walls of the opening and large chunks of the earth broke off falling in.
“Whoever is down there would be crushed.” I needed to act fast. I dove further into the abyss and got ahead of the falling rocks. Then I unleashed a flurry of aura spheres and was able to destroy all of them… except one. The boulder was engulfed by the darkness of the pit, then a few moments later I heard a large “THUD!”, followed by a sharp yelp.
I feared the worst. Even in the overwhelming darkness of this hole, my abilities allowed me to still see clearly. I dove down deeper until I reached the bottom and saw him.
The kid's leg was crushed by the boulder, “(It would be a miracle if he ever walked again)” I thought. Next to him was a deceased Talonflame, clad in battle uniform, so I could surmise that he had to fight the Talonflame. As I got a better look at the boy, I noticed his eyelids were completely shut and blood poured out of them. It was like something straight out of a horror story. In the process of his fight, Talonflame must’ve scratched out his eyes. “(How did this Riolu manage to win?)” I glanced over at the Talonflame once more his wings and claws were extremely contorted. He most likely managed to get onto the Talonflame’s back and use him to break his fall, “Brutal.”
“Is… Is someone there?” the kid spoke. “Help, please… I can’t see”
I tried to console him, “Don’t worry, kid, I’ll get you out of here and get you medical treatment.”
The boy replied, “Thank ya, ma’am.”
Even with a shattered leg and scratched-out eyes, he was impressively calm. “(Tough kid…)”
As I got closer to the boulder, the entire pit shook and I noticed a massive energy appeared out of nowhere. They were suppressing their aura meaning…
“(This is very bad; we had better get out of here, pronto!)”
Just before I could fire my aura sphere a hole broke into the side of the pit. It was a large green figure in the shape of a Z. It was Zygarde.
“(Why here? Why now?)”
“What’s goin’ on, I can’t see?!” Riolu asked.
“Just stay calm, kid. Everything will be fine, I promise.” I responded.
There was a brief moment of silence as Zygarde stared down at Riolu and me. “(If Zygarde is awake for any reason, it would be to restore order. But restoring order entails… Oh No!)”
Zygarde finally broke the silence and, in a cold monotone voice, spoke, “THE WORLD IS OUT OF BALANCE, I MUST RESTORE IT!”
Without hesitation, Zygarde attacked and blasted a powerful stone edge directly at me. I avoided the attack just in time. However, I was much slower to sense their attack than normal.
“(Something is wrong!)” their mere presence was weakening my aura.
In addition, the pit was large but still restricted my maneuverability. Under these conditions, I would not be able to evade all of their attacks, I had to think of something. Zygarde can, clearly, sense my aura, but it's too dark for them actually to see me. Luckily, I have the perfect technique for that. I expanded my aura outside my body then compressed, contorted, and molded it into several shapes of me. The technique is called aura clones, which I originally developed to deal with highly skilled aura sensors. However, it only shapes aura, not my actual body, meaning if an opponent can physically see me, it would be easy to tell where I really am.
Zygarde was getting ready for another attack, I had to make sure they didn’t hit Riolu, so moved the aura clones closer to myself and changed my position. Now, when they targeted my clones and me, they would be facing away from Riolu. Zygarde fired up into the air many sharp green beams of light. I swiftly dived, spun, and weaved my way through the barrage of arrows, however, all of my aura clones were hit and faded. It's hard to control clones while simultaneously dodging a thousand attacks. I guess I needed more practice.
Zygarde looked in my direction and they must have noticed I was unscathed by their move since shouted “WHY CAN’T I HIT YOU?!”
Confidently I taunted, “Ha! I’m the Aura Master of Grace for a reason, you’ll never be able to land a hit on me. My evasion skills are unmatched.”
Zygarde didn’t verbally respond, instead, they just started to charge another attack. “(Do they know what the definition of insanity is?)” I wondered.
“(Here it comes…)” I thought, but at the last moment, Zygarde turned and aimed his attack at Riolu.
“(Crap! There’s no way I can pull him out of there in time)”
I had no choice, Extreme Speed was my only chance. As the move activated, I was fully energized and I dove down in just enough time to intercept the bright green beam. I was hit, but the attack didn’t hurt at all. Then the beam made two sharp turns and started to destroy the walls of the pit. Rocks came tumbling down, if I didn’t act fast more than Riolu’s leg would be crushed. Zygarde’s aura dampening ability made it much harder to charge up an Aura Sphere capable of destroying the boulder Riolu’s leg was under.
“(It’s my job I still have to try)!” As I was pelted with rock after rock, I had to remain focused to build up and concentrate my aura.
“Just a little… more…” it was only a few moments but I managed to pull off an aura sphere to vaporize it. Just as I was about to rescue him, Zygarde unleashed another onslaught of arrows.
“Damnit, Defense is not my strong suit!” I exclaimed. Nevertheless, I shielded Riolu. Taking the brunt of the attack caused my stamina to rapidly drain, if only I had time to charge Life Dew this wouldn’t be a problem. The arrows were weakening the sides of the cave, we had to move, and fast!
“Get on my back and hold on tight!” I shouted.
“Where are ya?! I can’t see anythin’!” the boy replied.
“Right here!” I quickly put my wing under his body and he latched on. Immediately I used the little energy I had remaining and took off. As I ascended for our lives, I noticed Zygarde’s aura level spiking, like he was absorbing something. “(Were they holding back the entire time?)” It didn’t matter, I just needed to focus on escaping the pit. Even though I was exhausted, my aura sensing abilities were getting better. I must have been leaving their range in which they could weaken my aura. I had just enough energy for one last Extreme Speed.
With my aura sensing at full strength, evading the raining rocks is easy even if I’m running low on health. Finally, I crossed the exit of the opening and landed on a plateau overlooking the pit, which had been completely filled in.
“(Their own attack did them in, and I thought legendaries were supposed to be smart.)”
Shifting my attention to more important matters, I asked, “Hey kid, are you okay?”
“I’m alive an’ that’s all that matters, Thank ya!”
“(For a kid with a broken leg and permanent blindness, I’m amazed how upbeat his attitude is. Honestly, it’s kind of infectious.)”
“Good, let's get you some medical attention” I responded. After several minutes of spamming Life Dew on the both of us, I thought we were ready to leave.
“This won’t be enough to fully treat you but it should hold us over until we get to an actual doctor, and the nearest medical anything would be on that air continent island just north of here. So come aboard” I said, while lifting Riolu onto my back.
Once Riolu was fully situated, I asked “Are you ready?” He just nodded with a big grin on his face.
Just as I took to the air, a massive green light erupted from the earth. Rising from the ground was the distinct aura of Zygarde, this time, however, it was much stronger. I braced for impact, but they totally blew me off “(Rude!)”
Zygarde just floated upward and looked down at the ravaged continent, then he started to charge another attack. Based on his Aura this was going to be intense. I ascended further into the sky until we were above Zygarde, then they released a massive blast of energy.
Once the explosion settled, I was stunned… The entire continent was gone, all that was left was a giant crater being engulfed by the ocean.
They looked in my direction and started to glow a bright white. Instinctively, I shut my eyes and as I reopened them there was no trace of Zygarde.
“What just happened?”
“Dunno, I can’t see,” my passenger announced.
“Oh, that’s right.” I felt bad for the kid, but I thought I could show him a thing or two.
“I might be able to help with that, only if you’re interested,” I said.
Without missing a beat Riolu replied, “If you can help me see again, then I’m wllin’ to do whatever it takes.”