35: Motives

Umbreon

The palace shakes again. Stronger this time. Enough that dust is falling from the ceiling. At this rate these tremors will soon tear apart the entire palace.

“I hope we end this soon.” Espeon says, observing the falling debris. “Our time appears to be extremely limited.”

“It’s like Alex said. We’re going to fight to our last breaths. And I agree with him. Better to die on our feet than to surrender to our doom.” Something catches Umbreon’s eye. Ahead was a room. One with a barred door and windows. “Well, now. What’s this? A cell?”

   “Umbreon… I’m picking up a consciousness in there. There’s someone inside.”

“Friendly?”

“Can’t tell without probing. And they’d likely feel me poking around.”

“Let me get a closer look. Then I can try and gauge their willingness to help.” Umbreon cautiously approaches the cell, peaking in when he is close enough. What he sees inside catches him completely off guard. “Holy mother of Arceus! Espeon! Come here! You’re not going to believe who this is!”

Alex

“Munna… I had a feeling we’d be seeing each other again… Especially when Purugly got away.” I say to my attacker. It didn’t actually take long at all for her to take us on. Surprisingly, she opted for a direct strategy over an ambush. Though with fate backing you up it makes sense that you’d be a little careless. She has brought along Toxicroak, a Chandelure and four Gigalith to aid her in the fight. They have superior numbers and a greater type variety than the prior encounters. We’ll need to play this smart to succeed. 

“Yes. I must stop you four here. I just don’t get it. Can’t you see? This planet is beyond saving. The world is just too broken.”

“You use that to justify the murder of billions?” I say to try to get them to see our side. “Killing everyone won’t solve the problem. Who says the next civilization the legendaries make won’t follow the same path? What then? Kill them all as well? You can’t just blow the world’s problems up and expect that more won’t appear later.” 

“With guidance it can. Stricter guidance. Enough talk. I say we put an end to this once and for all.”

“So be it… Alright, New Hope! Time to show them where we got our name from!” We ready ourselves for a grueling fight. Here’s hoping we can conserve enough energy for our final fight with the Bittercold. 

Munna is first to strike, hitting me with a psybeam. A decent hit, but not enough to put me down. “Spread out!” The team scatters, picking their targets and wailing on them with every move they have. Meanwhile Munna sets her sights right on me. I reach out with my vines to grab her, only for her to psychically knock them away. Seriously? She gets telekinesis? That’s hardly fair.

She fires another beam at me. This time I manage to dodge it and counter with an energy ball, throwing her backwards. Taking the advantage I try to hit her with a leaf tornado, only to be blasted back from her psychic move, slamming into the back wall and causing some ice to fall off the wall.

“Is that all you got, Alex?” She taunts. “I expected more from you.”

“I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve still…” In a swift motion, I grab a chunk of ice with a vine and swing it at her like a club. I could tell that hurt from the impact alone. The strike has left her dazed, trying to reorient her senses after the strike. But I don’t let up. I start slinging ice at her, continuing to deal damage to her. Eventually, though, she gains the upper hand, grabbing them with psychic and winging them right back at me. 

The stones pummel me, hitting hard and fast. One of them hits me right in the side of the head, causing me to blank out for a second and fall over. I can feel pain surge through my head. Instinctively reaching for the impact point with my hang I feel a liquid trickling from the wound. Blood. 

“I’ll admit,” Munna says, hovering over me. “You nearly had me there. But you can only hold out against fate for so long. Goodbye, Alex.” I ready to counterattack, but I’m never given the chance. The room darkens and a familiar mystical sound echoes through the room. A Magnagate. I think reinforcements are on their way. Sure enough the portal opens in the northwest corner of the room. When the spectacle dies down, I am surprised by the sight of three figures. Umbreon, Espeon, and…

“Keldeo?!” Virizion calls out in surprise. “Is that you?!” Keldeo appears to be badly wounded. With blood caked onto his cream colored fur.

While Virizion is transfixed with the appearance of her former friend, Umbreon and Espeon waste no time jumping into the fray. Umbreon shadow balls Toxicroak and a Gigalith while Espeon hits the Chandelure with confusion. The extra firepower turns the tides in our favor. Soon, Toxicroak falls, followed by the Chandelure and the Gigalith. Soon, only Munna is left.

“I don’t understand…” She says to us. “Why do you want to save this evil world?”

“Because there’s good in it still. And we fight to protect that.” Is my response.

“You know… I used to think like that too. That the light will always win. But… Soon the truth became clear. We are powerless to stop the darkness… A lesson I learned when my mother was killed… Since then I’ve watched as people got worse and worse. The light of the world is getting dimmer by the day. Then Kyurem came to me and my friends here. Told us about the Bittercold. How it will cleanse everything. End the suffering. All the evil is destroyed and the victims need not suffer any longer.” So that’s why she was fighting us. To put an end to the suffering of everyone she cares for, by killing them… It’s a dark path to go down…

The palace rumbles again. It’s starting to feel like we’re in an earthquake. “Munna…” Thunder says softly. “I understand… You want it to end. But this isn’t the way to do it. We have experienced some of the evil firsthand. Gurdurr. A former carpenter who saw his work torn down. Resorting to scams to live when he couldn’t bring himself to build. We helped him. We brought him back to his old ways. 

“All it takes is one spark, one group to begin a change. That’s what we’ve been doing. Changing lives for the better and bringing the fallen to the light. Like Alex said, we fight for those who need it the most. And we will show you that we can save this world. Not just from the Bittercold, but from itself as well.”

Munna looks at us, a slight glint of hope in her eyes. “You truly believe you can make a difference…” Another quake. This one is particularly violent. A massive piece of one of the walls sheers free, heading straight toward Thunder and me! There’s no time for us to react. We’re going to be crushed! 

Without warning, something slams into the both of us, knocking us over to safety. We slowly get back up as the massive chunk of ice carves its way through the floor mere inches in front of us. When the dust settles the room has been effectively split in two. Thunder and myself on the far side, everyone else on the other. 

“What… Just happened?” I say, confused. 

“Look! Down there!” Thunder exclaims, pointing into the newly formed chasm. And at the bottom was Munna, trapped under a huge pile of rubble.

“She… Saved our lives… She pushed us out of the way… Is she alive?”

“I don’t know… But we can’t stay. Let’s let her sacrifice mean something.”

“…You’re right, Thunder. We need to hurry.”

“Good luck you two!” Virizion calls to us.

“Go save the world for us, will ya?” Emolga adds.

“Will do, guys. Come on, Thunder. We’re almost there.” And thank you, Munna… Sincerely, thank you. Here’s hoping we’ll see you alive after this is all over…