The Kalos Challenge

by Riku006

Chapter 4: Rescues & Reconnaissance

“Ugh, what’s happening?” Flora grunted, tangled in a cramped mess of sheets. The blinding light from earlier, coupled with the bags contents jostling from all the movement from outside was making her think this wasn’t the best way to sneak along with Celestia and Summer. Pulling her flower along, the young Floette heard a tense discussion outside as she found the closed zipper of the bag.

“Who’s Celestia talking to?” She mused to herself as she swung her flower around, the stem end edging towards one end of the zipper.

That’s when she heard the crack of an attack, as well as Celestia’s cry of pain.

“Celestia?!” Not wasting anymore time, Flora rammed the stem into the tiny gap left by the zipper and pushed. The stem, despite some resistance, found a way through. Flora immediately pulled the flower back out and opened the bag before rushing out.

What she saw sent a chill down her spine.

Celestia, sporting a nasty cut across her left cheek and standing before a terrified Summer, was shooting golden beams from her horns at the new agent sent after them. Said agent was a Druddigon, a red ribbon tied to its left arm the only indication it served the Empire. Celestia unleashed another blast towards the dragon, but this seemed to do nothing save energise the monster even more, a grin stretching across the hardened face.

With a flap of its rigid looking wings the Druddigon took flight, its speed surprising even Celestia as it swung a scaly fist at the princess. Celestia ducked, swiftly spinning around on her forehooves to deliver an almighty buck to the dragon’s chest. The sound of the blow thundered out across the mountainous surroundings Flora found the group in, but again the Druddigon grinned. Grabbing Celestia’s legs, Flora noticed a look of shock wash briefly across the pony’s face before she was swung over the dragon’s head and slammed hard into the ground.

Scared for her friend, Flora moved beside Summer and, summoning all the might her tiny body could muster, swung her flower at the Druddigon’s back, the sparkling gust of Fairy Wind rushing forward. The attack struck the Druddigon square in the back, forcing it to step forward from the impact. Swiftly the dragon’s red head looked back at her, it’s yellow eyes widening for a brief moment at the sight of the fairy type. With this lapse in judgement, the beast found itself surrounded in a golden aura., Flora watched, mouth agape as, with a flick of her head, Celestia tossed the dragon high into the sky. Both Pokémon and human rushed over to the princess as she unevenly rose to her hooves.

“Celestia, are you okay?” Flora asked, trembling slightly as Summer gave Celestia a hug.

Confusion crossed Celestia’s features. “F-Flora? What are you doing – Get down!”

Celestia’s horn blazed to life once more, a golden dome encompassing the three as an azure stream of fire rained down from above. Through the roar of the attack running over the shield, Flora looked up to see the same Druddigon diving towards them, it’s claws glowing a dark shade. Without warning, Summer held Flora close, the young Floette noticing fear in those teal eyes of hers as they both looked back to Celestia. The strain on her face suddenly intensified as the Night Slash was barely deflected though the shield began baring web-like cracks. Roaring in frustration the Druddigon, a male from the sound of it, slashed again and again, each attack fracturing the shield more and more. The end of the barrage brought Celestia to a knee. Flora tried to squirm her way out of the hug to help, but Summer held firm.

“Summer,” Flora yelled. “Let me go! Celestia needs help!” She thought the girl had gone deaf from the roar of all the attacks, but the slightest shake of her head disproved this. Summer simply stood there, staring with concern but also a sliver of determination as Celestia stood back up. Following her gaze, Flora found the Druddigon had backed up before charging, both claws primed to deliver another Night Slash.

In a flash of light, a wave of dizziness overtook Flora. Summer seemed less affected as Celestia teleported the three of them a few metres away, the Druddigon collapsing a now empty dome.

“Summer, run!” Celestia yelled before rocketing forward at the dragon.

“What? No!” Flora yelled as Summer turned and ran, leaving Flora to squirm until she could peak over Summer’s shoulder.

Noticing her approach, the Druddigon swung a shadow-engulfed claw at her. But Celestia ducked the attack gracefully, pivoting on her front hooves to deliver a kick to its chin. The sound of the impact rang out across the mountaintop, lifting the dragon a foot of the ground. He grabbed hold of her tail and swung her overhead as he did before, but this time Celestia was ready. In a flash of golden light, she reappeared diving behind the dragon, delivering another kick powerful enough to send him to the ground. Flora cheered, causing Summer to pause and look back. Celestia landed, her stance wide as she watched the Druddigon slowly stumble to his feet.

“Stand down!” Celestia yelled, her fatigue making itself known with each pant. “Let us pass!”

The Druddigon simply glowered at her, slamming his tail three times on the ground. A moment later, the ground shook. From it crawled out five metallic shapes, a splash of red strapped across their backs as they took their place surrounding the dragon. A chill ran down Flora’s spine as she recognised them, her mother’s descriptions summing them up perfectly.

Durants.

Flora had always assumed they were nothing but monsters from a fairy tale, evil beasts sent to punish naughty little fairy-type Pokémon. Her mother had warned her there was a chance she could run into them on this journey, but she wasn’t prepared to see them this soon, if at all. She could feel each breath becoming shallower as she took in the five that had appeared, seeing each wore additional armour on their backs in the red of the Empire. Red like their eyes, which were now focussed on Flora and her friends.

“Secure the human and kill the fairy.” The Druddigon ordered, a scaly claw pointed to where Flora floated; frozen in fear. “The horse is mine.” Without a word, the Durants dug back underground, trails of displaced rocks and dirt showing their rapid advance.

“No!” Celestia yelled, turning back towards the pair just as the Druddigon finished his leap and landed in front of her. She tried swooping past but Flora watched on in horror as, with glowing white teeth, he bit down on her right wing. Her own momentum carrying her forward, Flora’s eyes widened as she heard a crack. Celestia screamed in agony as the dragon held on with his teeth, swinging a Dragon Claw at her throat to slam her to the ground.

“CELESTIA!” Flora screamed but the mounds closing in on them suddenly burst open, the metallic bug Pokémon snapping their mandibles in sick delight. Panic flooding her system, Flora hastily swung her flower to launch a Razor Leaf attack at them. All she could do was float there in shock as the leaves merely bounced off the Durants like water off a Golduck’s back. Consumed by fear, Flora didn’t even notice as one of the metal horrors charged up a silver sphere of energy between its mandibles until it hit her.

Pain flared across her entire body, the intensity spiking across her back as she crashed to the ground. Her vision was blurry at best, the panic currently as dulled as her hearing was muffled from the attack. Losing all sense of time, it took all of Flora’s strength to wearily shake the grogginess away and take in what was happening.

She once again found herself clutched tightly against Summer’s chest, the girl running as fast as she could in a back and forth manner. Flora’s weakened mind was having trouble figuring out why until an eruption of dirt and stone erupted a mere few feet from Summer. The blast knocked the human off her feet, the jolt of falling over knocking Flora out of her grasp. Looking up Flora once again saw the Durants slowly advance, seemingly enjoying the look of hopelessness upon her face. As she tried crawling towards her flower, laying just out of reach, Summer stood arms outstretched in-between her and the steel monsters.

“S-Summer,” she weakly called out. “Run… G-Get away!” Summer did nothing of the sort, standing her ground against the aggressors as they formed a semi-circle, trapping them on a rocky outcrop on the western side of the mountain.

“Metal Sound, now!” The centre Durant called out, and as one the insects unleashed an ear-splitting sound. It scraped against the already throbbing pain in Flora’s head, and through the noise she saw Summer drop to her knees, hands covering her ears in vain. Flora’s vision blurred, the noise drowning out everything else as the lead Durant stepped past the slumping girl and towards her.

…No… Flora thought weakly as the Durant charged another shining sphere, this one at point-blank range. I… I can’t be this useless… I need to… help…

As the noise ate away at her ebbing consciousness, Flora thought she heard a faint voice cry out.

“Spitfire, use Flame Charge!”

\ \_(-o-)_/ /

Pain. It surged throughout Celestia’s body as she desperately dodged the dragon’s attacks. Her right wing was undoubtedly broken and she was only just avoiding falling into shock, nothing but adrenaline and her survival instincts keeping her awake. Her mind also ached; it was as if someone was hammering in a railroad spike into where her horn was. It had been an immense amount of time since she had used this much magic at once, and the pain threatened to pull her under as much as the shock.

But she could focus on neither; the dragon wouldn’t give her the chance. Celestia had barely staggered to her hooves before he appeared before her once more, delivering a stiff, emerald-glowing uppercut followed by a tail slap to her chest. The impact sent her crashing into a small outcrop of rocks, the pain from her broken wing enough to elicit a scream and immobilise her. The dragon capitalised; pinning her against the rocks with both claws around her throat.

“Pathetic,” he growled, unamused. “To think Command thought of you as a threat. Any last words?” Celestia knew he was toying with her. She couldn’t speak; his grip threatening to suffocate her. Opening his maw, the dragon charged another breath attack. She tried to summon her magic, any kind of spell to ward off his attack. But the dragon responded by gripping her throat tighter, as well as slamming his tail into her wounded wing. Her headache wasn’t making it easy either; each attempt at casting was like stretching her mind over hot coals.

At the last moment Celestia kicked with all the might her hind legs could muster, bringing forth a draconic roar of pain as the dragons’ attack was angled away, his knee bent backwards. Acting quickly, Celestia landed, pivoted and delivered a buck to the dragons’ throat. But the pain returned, lapsing Celestia’s concentration. A small stone rolling under hoof was all it took for the princess to slip, falling on top of her limp wing. Pain washed over her anew, Celestia’s injured throat robbing her scream of sound. Her vision was blackening at the edges, sheer willpower the only thing righting it. She tried to move but her body was starting to grow weak.

“How dare you…” Her ears picked up the dragons’ voice close by, yet he sounded fainter, further away. “I’m gonna skin you alive for tha-”

A blast of cold air flowed over her, followed by another roar from the dragon. Celestia couldn’t find the strength to move her head, merely shifting her gaze upwards to their new arrivals.

The first thing she saw was another human pointing a device at the dragon. He wore orange and black clothing and a cap to match. Above him floated what appeared to be a phoenix, and beside him a beige-armoured creature with spikes on the large shield on its back. Finally, bringing some small measure of both relief and concern to Celestia, she saw a weary Summer watching from behind the newcomer, clutching an unmoving Flora to her chest.

“A Ranger?” The dragon growled. Celestia glanced back to see the beast clutching his left shoulder, small shards of ice hidden beneath.

“Stand down”, the ranger yelled, pointing his angular device at the dragon. “This is your only warning!”

The dragon responded by firing another azure stream of flames at the group. Celestia’s warning cry to Summer and Flora died in her throat when the armoured creature stepped forward, a spiky shield forming from its arms blocking the attack. The phoenix swooped forward, darting around the dragon before striking it with wings that glowed with silver light. The dragon swung glowing claws at the bird but it always weaved out of reach. The dragon tried to take flight, but fell to a knee, a roar of agony erupting from him as he clutched at his broken leg.

A barrage of ice slammed into the dragons’ back, sending him toppling forward and freezing his wings. As he stood back up, the armoured creature was upon him, its hands joined together and arms glowing white as it swung them into the underside of the dragons’ jaw and sent him flying. The armoured one then inhaled before spitting forth large glowing green projectiles into the sky. Celestia couldn’t see where they were going, but she heard multiple explosions off in the distance.

Summer was soon kneeling by Celestia’s side, concern and fear filling the young girl’s teary teal eyes. Flora, though unawake, was still breathing.

“Thank goodness… you two are alright.” Celestia murmured, unconsciousness claiming her as well.

\ \_(-o-)_/ /

“Alright, you pathetic human. Listen up!”

Ressel sighed, downing his tools and turning to see his guest. A smirk emerged across his face at the sight of a familiar looking Karrablast glaring at him from the laboratory doorway.

“Ah, Carver,” he replied with sarcastic delight. “To what do I owe the ‘pleasure’ of your visit?”

“Don’t play smart with me boy!” The bug Pokémon yelled back, flailing his tiny little arms. “I could slice you to ribbons in an instant!”

“And then you’d have to explain to Lady Tethyles why she requires a new lead researcher. If that were to happen and I was her, I’d feed you to the Heatmors. I have wondered from time to time how roasted Karrablast tastes.” Ressel’s smile grew. Oh, how he enjoyed getting a rise out of the tiny little nuisance. How such a weak and self-aggrandizing Pokémon was accepted into the Empire’s fold was beyond even his understanding.

“Now,” he continued, getting up from his workstation. “I take it our fair lady wishes to speak with me, correct?”

Carver went from angry to flabbergasted and back again within the span of a few seconds at this. “Y-Yes. As a matter of fact, she does. So, get your useless rear end to her personal laboratory right now or I’ll… uh… make a complaint!” Ressel couldn’t help but chuckle at Carver’s correction and new threat. Not wasting a retort against the likes of him, the young researcher rose from his stool and strolled out into the hall, Carver agitatedly following him.

Looking out the window, Ressel looked down at his fellow humans toiling away in the frigid conditions that earned Snowbelle City its name. He imagined they were probably freezing to death; the grey long sleeve shirt and pants issued to each prisoner were thin and at times uncomfortable. It was for that reason Ressel preferred wearing the science coat provided to him instead of his shirt. It wasn’t going to keep him any warmer, but it was far more comfortable. As he stared out at the slaves Ressel sighed, pushing his glasses back up his nose before running a hand over his short blonde hair, a tuft of his light blue fringe sticking straight back up. And as always whenever he saw himself, his golden eyes drifted down to the dark metal collar around his neck.

“Nervous boy?” Carver asked, attempting to get under his skin once more. “I heard you still haven’t finished this stupid project of yours.”

“Not really,” Ressel said nonchalantly as they came to a stop before a large set of red sliding doors, the black Y surrounded by three spheres of light and a golden wreath completing the symbol of the Triumvirate. “But then again, at least I’m not a mere errand boy.” Ressel’s smirk returned as Carver looked set to explode, but both stifled their emotions as the doors opened and they walked in.

The laboratory always amazed Ressel. The entire back wall was covered in machines, some of which even he didn’t know their function. There were examination tables lining both side walls, some with sheets drawn over body-shaped lumps, as well as two doors along the left wall between large bookshelves. In the centre of the machines was a computer terminal, with no less than twenty-five screens towering above the keyboard. It was before the computer that Tethyles stood, her back to them as she watched the footage and data displayed on various different screens at once.

“I brought the human as you requested, Your Grace.” Carver said with a low bow. Tethyles barely paid him any attention, turning to wave Ressel over. He joined her side without a word, now devoting his focus to her and her alone as the closing door left Carver out of their discussion. Tethyles’ eyes glowed with a blue light, her psychic powers working the keyboard to bring up new images on the screens.

“Tell me; what do you make of this Pokémon?” She asked, pointing to the equine creature displayed on multiple screens. Ressel focussed first on a screen displaying basic information; she looked like a mutated Rapidash with a strange misty mane and tail and wings. He also saw the computer display its apparent name; Celestia. Next came the screens displaying this creature conversing with Lady Tethyles atop a mountain range. Though the sound was muted, Ressel read the subtitles as the discussion continued, as well as examining this Celestia’s posture; protective of a Floette and a human girl. He recognised the girl but paid her no mind. She wasn’t the one Tethyles wanted to know about. Finally came the images of Celestia in battle; both against a flock of Murkrows and a Honchkrow, and then against a lone Druddigon. Even zoomed in, the height the camera recorded from told him the footage was captured by a Fearow spy at high altitude. This made analysing the battle a tad tricky, but he followed the flow none the less, intrigued at this new Pokémon’s strength.

“Well?” Tethyles asked after five minutes of patiently waiting. Ressel nodded to himself, gathering his thoughts before turning to face her.

“Bear in mind, My Lady,” Ressel began. “With such limited data, I can only make assumptions in regards to this Celestia. Now, what do you wish to know?”

“How strong is she, and what weaknesses does she possess? Her typing and move set as well. Now that she has shown herself to be an enemy of the Empire, we must be ready for her to appear again.”

“Hmm,” Ressel looked back to the computer screens and brought a hand to his chin. “For starters, she’s definitely psychic type, with fire as a secondary typing. I did hear a rumour that a weird Rapidash scared away one of our Trevenants, correct?” Tethyles nodded, her expression neutral and guarded. “Well, apparently he tried to strike her with Razor Leaf and she threatened to send the leaves back, only they were on fire. Couple this with this strange variation of Flash she used against the Murkrows and her being part fire type makes sense.

“For her move set, alongside the already established Psychic and modified Flash, she has also displayed Teleport, Psybeam and… Barrier… Wait.”

“Now you notice it,” Tethyles replied, addressing his forming question. “No Pokémon in history has ever known more than four techniques at once. Not even His Majesty has displayed such mastery.”

“Perhaps it is common for Pokémon of her region to have evolved beyond the four-move limit, or maybe she is a legendary Pokémon? She could’ve also been a mutated Rapidash and this is a side effect of the transformation.”

“No legendary Pokemon could possibly be so inept against a single foe.” Tethyles pointed to the screen showing the Druddigon fight. “And Kalos was one of the most advanced regions before the war. I doubt there’s another research lab that has the capacity to perform such procedures outside our jurisdiction.”

Ressel’s brow furrowed. “The only other explanation is that she’s an Ultra Beast. While it’s true the only recorded examples of Ultra Beasts in this dimension were found in the Alola region, it’s not uncommon for Pokémon-like beings to enter our dimension. After all; all of the more powerful legendary Pokémon of Sinnoh reside in different dimensions.”

Tethyles nodded. “While I’m still uncertain as to what to designate her as, I imagine your hypothesis is the closest we will get to an answer for now.”

The two fell into silence, Ressel taking note of where Tethyles’ gaze fell; the screen displaying Celestia being carried away by what looked like a Chesnaught, a Ranger and a Talonflame escorting the young girl down the western side of the mountain and towards the sanctuary of Santalune Forest.

“How long since they escaped?” He asked nonchalantly.

“Just over an hour ago.” Tethyles sighed in frustration before locking her gaze onto the young man. “And I would very much appreciate some good news right about now. So, give me an update on Project Ghetsis.”

Of course she’d remember, he thought angrily, keeping his expression calm if not a little remorseful he offered her a small bow. “Progress is coming along, My Lady, albeit slowly. It seems the problem lies within the human subjects you keep delivering to me. They lack the power to survive the experiment. They lack… well, for lack of a better term, the will to pull through and survive.”

“Is that so?” Slowly, Tethyles’ mouth curled into a grim smile. Ressel had seen it many a time; right before pain would begin for whichever human had wronged or upset her. “Then perhaps I already have your solution.” With her eyes glowing once more and an arm outstretched, she opened one of the far doors to the left, a human woman being telekinetically dragged out of the shadows of the hallway by her chained wrists and falling to the ground.

“After all, it must take an awful amount of willpower to help someone escape from Snowbelle City.”

Author's Note:

So... this took longer than expected.
As always, any and all constructive criticism is welcomed. I imagine I’ve missed a few things seeing as I always seem to get into the groove of writing in the dead of night.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed it.

Comments

[Night_Moon60606]

hmmn, u have an interesting concept here at the very least, a few pacing issues as well as explaining how Flora got into the bag after getting caught by her mother and Tia being told she was grounded and confined to quarters. either that was a blunder or u mean to deal with it in the next chapter, i am not certain as to which

[PickleRickInAPickle]

“The horse bitch is mine.” “You… You bitch!”
C'mon. Don't curse in this fic to try and sound edgy. Or at least have their cursing make sense (in a pokemon world). Now I'm just wondering how they know the word bitch instead of thinking of how good this chapter was.

[Viper Pit]

nice use of the new games information very clever