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Diego flinched.
Before him was standing a legendary pokemon, not that he hadn't faced something of the sort before, but Madame X's Yveltal was different.
The air he breathed instantly became heavy and he felt shivers everywhere on his body. It had defeated every single one of his pokemon, including Kratos, his unstoppable emboar.
"T-this can't be!" Aelita, his dear friend, exclaimed from across the room, shocked. She had never seen Diego lose this badly before.
Emma, a girl who offered to help Diego, Aelita and their group to escape Blacksteeple Castle, was surprised as well, her eyes wide open.
"Hmph, is this all that you can do?" Madame X taunted in a scary tone, while finishing off a short haired girl, who had sneaked in the room before the battle between Yveltal and Diego occurred to try and assassinate the Team Xen Leader, stabbing her in the back multiple times while she was trying to crawl away. Madame X had noticed her presence, cutting off both of her legs.
Needless to say that the attempt failed miserably. Now there she was, laying in a puddle of her own blood, devoid of life, with various stab wounds on her back.
Diego didn't get along well with her... yet, he couldn't help but respect her resolve. She died with honor against a stronger opponent. She had the bravery to stand up to the overwhelming circumstamces that tied her down. A life was lost.
"Fuck...how could I lose here?!" Diego thought, angry and frustrated at the situation he was in. Kneeling on the ground, unable to do anything while the life of a girl who wanted freedom was ripped away from her body in front of him.
As soon as Madame X was about to kill Diego, the latter was protected by Emma, who transformed in the process:
She was actually Melia. The girl who died back in Amethyst Cave. Diego knew it was her immediately, he recognized her blonde hair with ease, plus her eyes hinted at the girl's true identity, mantaining a shade of bright gray, even during her time as "Emma".
Everyone was taken aback by this, including the Xen dictator; who suddenly noticed that something else was up...she was feeling too tired.
The shock of Melia being alive and well was still very much present in her, but it was unusual that the person on the top of the Aevian food chain was suddenly feeling dizzy. Madame X felt her energy leave her body, as if a needle was piercing her left arm, constantly taking blood out of her body.
Utilizing everyone's shock in response to Melia's reveal as a cover, Madame X finally found the source of her unexplainable fatigue due to her inhumanly quick thinking and reaction timing. A blue ribbon was wrapped around her arm, and connected to that strand, there was a tiny sword.
Although she was wearing a mask, the woman was surprised as soon as she saw the Honedge hanging from her arm. Someone successfully tricked her.
The pokemon saw that it was spotted, and with partial control of his spectral powers, managed to graze Madame X's left leg by fazing through her armor, hitting her with a weak fury cutter. Of course, the damage was reduced because fazing through object required an absurd amount of concentration for a pokèmon like honedge, especially considering how low-leveled it was.
"This is our chance to escape! Hurry!" Melia exclaimed, snapping everyone out of it.
"Right!" Aelita replied. "Diego, let's go!"
"Damn it!" Diego was still scared, surprised to see one of his closest dead friends resurrect from the grave magically and was very VERY upset about his loss to Madame X's war machine of a pokèmon, but he listened to Aelita and ran away with them.
"Tsk, get rid of this pest before it absorbs one year of my lifespan!" Madame X ordered to her legendary bird, aware of the fact that Honedge can steal the life force of an organism it targets by wrapping it in its ribbon.
The Yveltal complied, and obliterated it in one shot, the knock back from its attack made the little pokemon slam into the nearby wall at an incredible speed. Yveltal couldn't finish the job, though, as Honedge was envelopped in a red light, disappearing from sight completely.
This was a very good moment for the group of teens to escape, because Madame X's fatigue due to the energy absorption. Since the tyrant had confirmation that the life-draining pest that attacked her had a trainer, she now had 2 objectives: find the Honedge's trainer and execute him, and follow Diego and his friends to try to end them or keep them as prisoners along with all of Akuwa town and the S.S. Oceana passengers.
The small amount of time that passed while the dictator figured out what to do gave the rebellious bunch a major advantage in getting the hell out of there.
"Yveltal, look for the worm who sent out the Honedge and bring me their corpse, they should be nearby." Madame x ordered, as her pokemon soared into the grey sky, exiting the building it was in, and momentarily parting ways with its trainer who chased Diego and his crew ferociously, wielding her sword.
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"...No way." Was all that Tomo could say.
In an instant, Diana, one of the only friends he made since he arrived in Aevium, was gone: laying on the ground with an empty stare directed at the void. That's what his Honedge, Saber, saw when he was hiding from Madame X, waiting for Diana's signal that never arrived.
Tomo felt an unyielding rage burning inside of him, their plan was a failiure, all of those sleepless nights wasted, Diana's life got stolen. He thought of every good moment that he and Diana shared in that shitty castle-prison, her rare but bright smiles, her strong personality, her burning eyes and passion for battling. Honedge felt his friend's anger. And attacked instinctively.
The little sword pokemon only managed to suck the life force out of the armored woman for 5 seconds, then he got knocked out by the legendary pokèmon of death, and Tomo returned him to his pokeball as soon as possible, before any fatal damage was dealt to his companion.
As this sadness and grief downed upon the young man, he heard Diana's words once again in his head, almost as if her spirit was whispering to him:
"No matter the conflict or war... there is no time to weep for the loved ones in the heat of battle...we...must...go...forward,...always."
The words she told him the night they became friends. Upon hearing these words again, Tomo regained his composure and stood up.
"God...you really are annoying..." He said outloud, hoping that his dear friend could hear him.
Since Honedge got immediately knocked out by Yveltal's move, he didn't get much information after Diana's death and the sailor moon-like transformation of Emma; but he managed to spot Diego, a friend he made on the S.S. Oceana before the travel was hijacked, and a group of people, sailor moon wannabe included, dashing towards the exit of the room.
"I need to get out of here as well then!" He thought as he began sprinting as fast as he could from a bench in the courtyard to the dock.
"YYYYYYAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"
A terrifying howl pierced the air, Tomo was suddenly taken aback from the sudden appearance of Yveltal outside of the castle.
The terrifying beast noticed Tomo running for his life almost instantly, and tried to hit him with a huge oblivion wing attack that barely missed the target.
"GAH, AMAZING, JUST WHAT I NEEDED RIGHT NOW!" Tomo exclaimed, legging it more as the literal incarnation of death was chasing him at high speed under the snowfall.
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"What was that?!" Valarie asked, while running along with her friends in another part of the yard.
"I dunno, but it sounded scary as shit! Wouldn't want to be face to face with whatever that beast of Satan is!" Saki added while panting.
“Saki, stop yapping and start running faster!” Adam exclaimed, responding to his friend
"That is Madame X's Yveltal." Melia explained. "And if it catches us, we're doomed! So I’d take his word and increase the pace!”
"Let's just focus on running if we don't want to die, then!" Diego exclaimed, angered by the slightly slower pace of everyone except him and Aelita.
"Wise words." Madame X said, running very fast behind all of them. "You shouldn't worry about Yveltal though, there is a different type of beast that's chasing you, after all.”
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"SHIT!" Tomo yelled, dodging another attack from the legendary beast through sheer luck.
"Okay Tomo, calm down and think... What do I do in this situation?" He asked himself. His expression lightened up in realization after some seconds. "Wait...would that work…? Ah screw it, let's give it a shot, got nothing to lose except for everything!”
The beast of destruction was following him, flying close to the ground now, attacking with air slashes and dark pulses.
Dodging them was insanely difficult for Tomo, he had to pay close attention to both the road he was running on and the monster behind him; but the young man soon ran into something he was looking for.
"A turn...perfect." He thought, smiling.
He made a turn and hurried to reach one of the five pokeballs he had. Yveltal made the turn as well, but he was greeted with a pokeball to the face, encapsulating him.
"YES! Pokeballs work on every pokemon for at least 2 seconds before the capture procedure begins! I have a bit of time to run ahead!"
Tomo ran even faster, almost reaching Diego and his group. Diego was the closest one to being completely slashed by the tyrant known as Madame X since he was stuck helping Saki not fall behind.
As soon as Tomo got closer to them though, Yveltal broke free from the pokeball one second before the supposed two, shattering the device completely.
"Ha, looks like the big bird got mad.... wait." Tomo's thought was interrupted by a really loud shriek from Yveltal and only the biggest air slash attack he had ever seen.
Seeing Diego's group in front of them, the only thing he managed to say to warn them before dodging was:
"MOVE!!!"
But it was in vain.
Diego's arm went flying after being cut clean from that attack.
Everyone's faces, Melia, Adam, Nim, who helped all of them escape, Aelita, Valarie, Saki, even Braixen, were instantly filled with alarm and worry as Madame X got closer and their friend lost one of his limbs.
Diego wanted to keep running and not pay attention to his missing right arm, but the pain was just too great to not flinch even for a bit.
"AAAAAARGHH!" Diego screamed in pain, while a waterfall of blood coming from his stump was crashing on the ground.
"Goodbye, interceptor." Madame X murmured, as she jumped with her blade in hand to deal the final blow to the young man.
"Why...? Does it have to end like this? All of the training I put my companions through, all of the battles that I won...no...NO! I won't die like this... I REFUSE TO DIE LIKE THIS!" Diego yelled in his mind, as he was still kneeling, holding his bleeding and aching stump as his inevitable death was coming, rushing at him rapidly.
Or so he thought.
He got tackled by a running Tomo, getting himself out of the trajectory of Madame X's attack.
"I KIND OF LOST AN ARM HERE, THIS HURTS MORE THAN A SLASH TO THE NECK!" Diego exclaimed, with his eyes still closed, now trying to lift himself up from the ground with his remaining arm.
"Sorry Diego, I had to do that if I truly wanted to save you." Tomo replied, helping his friend get up.
"Wait...that voice...it's familiar." Diego observed, opening his eye as he begun walking again, helped by his old acquaintance.
"Yeah, figured you'd forget about me." Tomo replied, "We'll catch up later."
"There is no later, you idiot!" Diego exclaimed, "I don't think walking nor running is gonna do a whole lot for us. Do you have any healthy pokèmon?"
"Oh don't worry, I don't, but SHE certainly does. Look behind you." Tomo responded, continuing to carry the injured Diego while smiling.
"Don't worry sweetie, I can hold them back until you're all on the ship." Nancy, Diego's mother, replied while her sylveon was putting her all into using reflect to stop Madame X's and her pokemon's chase.
"What?!? It was YOU who was getting chased by Yveltal?!?" Diego asked Tomo, in a surprised manner, one of his eyes still closed for the pain.
"Yup, but let's shut up for now." Tomo ordered. "You need to get patched up immediately, you're soaking my clothes with blood."
"...Alright... let's get on board.” Diego responded, clenching his fist. "Thank you... mom.” He said to his mother, who smiled in response.
The two of them proceeded to speed walk with the best of their power to the ship, while they were both covered in blood, Tomo for all of the wounds he received in Blacksteeple that had reopened after the various times he had fallen during the chase, and Diego because of his arm.
As soon as they got on board, Tomo, aided by Diego's friends as well, rushed his old friend to the medics, but this didn't stop the hot headed and prideful trainer from calling out to his mother:
"HURRY AND GET TO THE SHIP! I DON'T LIKE TO ESCAPE EITHER, BUT WE HAVE NO CHOICE! LET'S LEAVE!" Diego said, reaching out to his mother while he was beginning to get treated by medics on the ship.
"I-I'm coming!" She exclaimed, retreating her sylveon almost immediately after Madame X had broken the reflect with Yveltal's help.
"Hapi! Go help Ms. Nancy!" Melia yelled, sending out her shiny Togekiss and having her fly over to Nancy in order to bring her to the ship. But it was too late.
Madame X was too fast, and her blade slashed through Nancy's torso.
"Useless being..." the tyrant said, and tossed her corpse in the sea.
A moment of silence passed, and suddenly, the storm arrived.
".........."
In this moment, every cell of Diego was screaming. He was defeated, beaten, and he lost his mother...this time for good. Sadness, Despair, Grief, mixed with Anger, Hate, and Envy. Envy for the power that such a despicable person was able to wield...power that he lacked. In his battle against Madame X he was outmatched in EVERYTHING, Diego did not benefit from any aspect of this encounter. It was simply LOSS, AFTER LOSS, AFTER LOSS, AFTER LOSS, AFTER LOSS.
Everyone was looking at him, they were worried. Aelita put a hand on his shoulder, since she was his closest friend there, trying to comfort him, while the others didn't really know how to approach...his face was distorted, he looked like a different person. He wouldn’t turn to face his friends, his eyes were fixated on one person only, his enemy.
Madame X crossed the interceptor's blank death-stare with her own two eyes. Even if she was still leagues above him, the feeling of aggression that she perceived in his hollow eyes made her flinch. She knew that anyone with the role of interceptor would have been a BIG threat, but after this exchange of hateful looks from both parties...she realized that Diego having the untapped potential of the interceptor was the worst-case scenario for the operations of Team Xen.
The ship was slowly making its way towards the high sea, away from blacksteeple castle; they managed to escape, but the suffering that this day brought marked a change in everyone involved.
Through the physical pain and the utter defeat of today, another will made of pure metal appeared, ready to tear down anyone who stands in its eternal search for new ways to keep evolving and crushing his opponents like he wanted to crush the one who completely destroyed every single bit of pride he had in his abilities on a snowy December evening.