Chapter Text
“Koraidon! Tera blast, one more time!” Juliana was shaking. There was no reason she should be able to pull a win from this, but she refused to stop. She couldn’t when Koraidon was still standing, despite the odds and the Pokemon’s own trauma.
She shielded her face from the dragon type blast, and only looked up when she heard Nemona cheering. Juliana gasped as the AI’s Koraidon recoiled back into its Pokeball. She snapped her head upwards, to see the AI Sada had fallen, the tera shards breaking off of her inorganic body.
The quiet that overtook the room afterwards was suffocating. The rush of battle, the grating of the time machine, fighting for their lives, only for it to be now silent, was unnerving them all.
“We…did it, right?” Penny asked in a small voice.
The AI started to break, twitching slightly. The four of them braced themselves, not wanting to be caught off guard again.
“I am sorry, children. They never should have sent you,” the AI Sada said sadly, “and Arven…your mother truly loved you.”
“You can’t say something like that, now!” Arven bit back, seemingly fighting tears.
“I know. I know, Arven. Especially because…I can’t…” The AI shut her eyes as the machine began to come back to life, “I can’t stop it. I’m sorry.”
The four of them shut their eyes against the brilliant light, holding their ears as the time machine began to roar. Juliana tried to peer around the light, and saw the AI was entirely terastallized, engulfed completely by the crystals.
A heavy wind ripped the air from all four of them, and they all started sputtering. Juliana heard Penny give a breathless scream, scrambling as she began to be lifted off the ground. She tried to reach her, but being not much heavier than her, started to be swept up as well. Arven lunged, trying to grab them both, but was hit by Nemona on the way.
“It’s taking us into the time machine!” Nemona cried, flailing in the air.
Koraidon let out a cry and took flight. It could barely fight against the gale, only able to grab Juliana and Nemona by the ankles before they all went through the machine together.
–
Akari picked up the Ultra Ball, as she heard Irida stutter, “she…caught it...right? She caught the almighty Sinnoh?”
Akari didn’t bother to listen to Adaman’s response, and only turned around when she heard Irida gasp in pain.
“Sinnoh…no, Palkia…speaks to me,” she gritted out, “Space-time grows chaotic... The power fails... The frenzied one... It comes now to fight! That is why I am here!”
“There’s another one?” Commander Kamado barked, looking upwards.
Akari swung around to see another deity take Palkia’s previous place. Dialga, a small voice supplied the name, although she didn’t know if that was her broken memory giving her a clue or Arceus speaking to her again. She shook her head, trying to focus.
With a mighty roar that nearly knocked Akari over, Dialga screamed, as enraged as the pokemon that she would try to catch in a space-time distortion.
“Fall back!” she heard her Commander's order, and as much as she hated to do it, she obeyed.
“We can’t leave it here!” Adaman cried, looking up at his patron God with both fear and awe.
“We can’t do anything right now!” Irida yelled, “we need a plan!”
The Dialga stepped forward, light gathering at its maw, getting ready to release an attack. Roar of Time, Akari realized again.
But instead of the beam she was expecting, a portal somehow was ripped into the fabric of space, not dissimilar to the one Dialga arrived in this plane with. Figures were thrown out of the portal. Akari tried to parse what was happening.
A red flying Pokemon, two humans on its back, trying and failing to steer. Two more people, trying to reach each other. The red Pokemon – no small voice gave her any identification – landed harshly, throwing its riders off unceremoniously.
The taller figure was able to reach the other, and pulled them into him, using his rather large satchel to soften his landing. Akari wasn’t sure it worked, hearing the scream he let out when he collided with the ground over the noise of everything else.
Akari and Adaman looked at each other for a moment, before running to the newcomer’s sides.
“Wait!” the Commander barked, “you’re just going to run to portal people?”
Akari spun around and said harshly, “I’m portal people,” she said, “and Dialga is still angry enough to hurt them.”
Juliana had crawled back to Koraidon, seeing that the Pokemon had fully fainted. Despite being unconscious, the Pokemon was breathing heavily. She reached for their Pokeball, whispering a reverent thanks. She looked back to Nemona, and started as she saw that she had not yet gotten up.
Taking some time to stand up, she hobbled over to Nemona on shaky legs, who looked as though she had skinned her whole left side on the slabs below them. Her arm was seeping red, and her tights had ripped. Juliana shook her, which was answered by a groan, and Nemona opening her eyes, “what happened?”
“I don’t know,” Juliana answered, and then looked for the other two, “Arven!”
Penny and two other people she didn’t know were standing over him, as he was heaving on the ground, bleeding from the side of his head.
Juliana asked Nemona, “can you stand?”
“I can,” Nemona nodded.
Holding out her hand to help, Juliana and Nemona tried to hustle to Arven’s side, but were intercepted by a girl that looked to be their own age. She said something they both didn’t understand. The girl just shook her head and started steering them away
“But, our friend –” Juliana protested.
The girl gave her an odd look, before handing them off to a young woman far enough away to be relatively safe. She said something else, before running back to help Arven. Eventually, Arven and Penny joined them. Arven couldn’t stand unassisted, so he was sat on the ground gently. The young girl took off her handkerchief to hold it up to his head to stem the bleeding. The man took Nemona’s arm and glanced at it critically, before pulling bandages out of his pack. Nemona hoped they were clean, and not ones that he had worn, seeing his own bandaged arms.
Penny was beside herself, crying, “he protected me! Why did he do that?! I didn’t ask for that!”
Juliana tried to comfort the girl, but didn’t know what to say. The others were all talking in rapid, concerned tones, but Juliana couldn’t catch any meaning in it.
“I don’t think they understand us,” Akari said, worried, “I don’t know what language they’re speaking, either. Either way, we need to find shelter and they need first aid.”
Irida frowned slightly, “When Warden Ingo was first found in the Icelands, he also spoke a language no one could place. He had to learn ours. Maybe they speak the same language? His tent is not far. I’ll send a Starly out to Calaba for her to join us at his place.”
Commander huffed, “if that’s the case, I’m returning back to the village.”
Akari flicked a glance over to him, “am I still banned from the village?”
Commander frowned, “no. You may join me.”
Akari snorted, “I’ll make sure these people get somewhere safe,” she said pointedly.
Kamado’s mouth became a straight line, before he turned around roughly, “do not forget your duties. Dialga needs to be stopped.”
“He does, so I’m coming with you,” Adaman said to the Commander, “I need to talk to the professor.”
“Fine. No more delays,” Commander Kamado barked.
“How can we move the boy?” Irida asked Akari.
“I can call on Lady Sneasler,” Akari said, “and transport him with her basket.”
“All right,” Irida agreed, finishing her note and handing it to a Starly, “once the Lady arrives, we’ll head to Ingo’s tent.”