A Battle for the Ages

Night had fallen on the land of Reveria, a once flourishing land of smiles and happiness. Pokemon coexisted, lived peacefully. Until all came to an end when the sun set for the final time. When one of the world’s most noble heroes fell from grace. Turned his back on his friends and the world, and seized power for his own gain. He destroyed the golden light, absorbed its power, and brought about civilization’s demise.

With the disappearance of the golden light, Reveria fell to anarchy. War, disease, famine, and all the misery locked away in Pandora’s box spread over the land. Tribes warred, Pokemon hunted each other, all while the fallen hero laughed from afar. 

And if Pearl had acted sooner, it could all have been stopped. 

With a determined look on her face, the Primarina made her way up a forested hill, her control over the water so strong she could surge up the hill, like a river in reverse. The slopes were soft, the blades of grass covered in dew drops, and her resolve at its strongest. She frowned, before looking towards the heavens above. 

“May the full moon be my guiding light on this day…”

The light of the moon augmented her control over the tides further. It may be the last echoes of the golden light, having weakened so much as to shed its colour, but it was the last beacon of hope in the world. The final reminder of better times, and the hope for the future. She clung onto its presence.

She’d need every last bit of strength to make it all end today.

This forested hill was the highest point in all of Reveria. Once, it provided a wonderful view of the nearby countryside, and the sleepy towns that could be seen in all directions. Now, it was but the stands of a theatre in which a tragedy played on repeat. A tragedy which the lone patron howled and cackled with amusement over. 

Pearl didn’t know what awaited her on top of the hill. She knew she’d find him here. She’d been tracking him for a while, waiting for just the right moment. No one accompanied him up here. It would be just him and her. 

Yet what would he be like after all these years?

She reached the top. There the Dragonite was standing on a rock, arms folded behind his back, red lines criss crossing over his scales. His large wings protruded from a coat long enough to double as a cloak, the clothing bearing runic inscriptions that Pearl didn’t know the meaning of. Only that it meant bad news. 

“Thurvan!” she shouted at him. The Dragonite slowly turned, bearing a wickedly evil grin on his face. 

“My, my, Pearl. You truly don’t know when to quit, do you?” he said, tilting his head back.

“It’s time to bring an end to this,” Pearl said, a bubble of water surrounding her body. “This has gone on for long enough. I won’t let you get away with it anymore!”

The Dragonite bared his teeth, his wings and cloak catching wind. “You’re far too late for that. The golden light is dead! And I, Thurvan, was the one who killed it!” He pointed at himself with a thumb. “Long live the silver light!”

“Not if I have anything to say about it!” Pearl shouted, the fairy light shining in her eyes. “You’re nothing but a sick, twisted monster! I cannot believe you are the same ‘Mon I was once just friends with!”

“Fufufufu! You’re a funny lady!” Thurvan hopped off the rock, and landed on the ground to the sound of a massive thud. Pearl gulped. “But your foolish acts are all in vain. Hope has long left this world. All Pokemon have no choice but to bow to me, if they want their suffering to end! Reveria has been reborn, and I have become its king!”

The Dragonite cast his cloak aside, the red lines running over his scales shining in the light of the moon. He had a fierce, ominous grin on his face as he lashed his tail out at the cloak, his antennas standing upright. It didn’t matter how clumsily he held his fists. This was no laughing matter.

Pearl held her flippers up. “No king rules forever… and your reign’s coming to an end NOW!”

Shouting, the Primarina summoned a wave of water, then forced it forwards over the mountain. Thurvan launched himself in the air, not a single scale falling out of place as the ground below flooded. The wave broke apart on the rock, and Thurvan rushed at Pearl with a white glow in his claws.

Pearl rushed out of the way, her flippers conjuring a tunnel of water for her to navigate through. Swift as she was, Thurvan was quick on her tail. He slashed – no, punched – no, slashed at her. One claw was open, the other palmed into a fist. Pearl steeled herself. The foe was enraged, and hell hath no fury like a dragon scorned.

As the Dragonite lumbered forward, punching and kicking away, she struck back at him with dazzling glows of fairy magic. Steel against fairy, the attacks deflected off each other, and Pearl opted to back away lest she’d be overpowered. 

“Come back here, fiend!”

“No… I won’t!”

Thurvan smiled at her. “Hah! Weren’t you here to redeem me? To save my soul?”

“Quite the contrary…” Pearl replied, putting up a brave front while raising her flippers. A wall of water materialised in front of her, which she then pushed away with a magical blast. She slid down the hill, eyes peeled for the enemy.

Thurvan blocked the water with an arm, the spatters sizzling on his scales. The red lines distorted like they were made of nothing; he grimaced. “Grr! You won’t get the best of me so easily! Quite the contrary, in fact!” 

Letting out a roar that resembled a kid trying to mimic a Lycanroc’s howl more than any dragon, Thurvan took to the skies. With a single flap from his wings, he soared above the trees, then barrelled down the hillside in search of the Primarina below. Simmers of dragonfire surged to his mouth, tufts falling and lighting up the woods below. 

It wasn’t long before he’d caught up with Pearl, who opted to flee rather than fight. Even with the tides of the full moon at her side, and the fairy magic within her shining bright, Thurvan’s great power overwhelmed. She had to tire him out somehow. In any way possible.

The great dragon barreled down at her, and what ensued was a race. Pearl turned the hillside into a raging river, while Thurvan smashed through the tree branches. They resembled tiny splinters, they were so fragile. 

All the way down to the bottom of the hill, into a valley. The chase kept going. Thurvan tried resuming his assault, but Pearl was one step ahead of him. Pearl countered his advance with dazzling displays of water and fairy magic, yet Thurvan dodged. Through the valley and through thorns, into the wind and the plains, crossing streams and hillocks. Yet this wild Quaxly chase never let up for even a moment. Pearl stayed ahead, and Thurvan kept up the pace. 

“Gotta finish this somehow…” Pearl muttered under her breath. Just then, a steep slope uphill appeared before her. She smirked. “Perfect!”

As the current directed her at the slope, and she launched into the air like a spear, she stuck both her flippers out. Moonlight gathered around her in the form of a ball, her momentum ceased. For a brief moment, the world was a stage, and she was the lead. 

“Take… this!”

She launched the ball of lunar energy at Thurvan, whose eyes went wide open as he came under attack. No time to escape; He threw his wings over his body, absorbing the ball as best he could. It exploded on contact, sending him tumbling.

“Aaaahhh! You’ll pay for that!!”

Struggling to stay airborne, the Dragonite reared his head back, and breathed a wave of reddish blue flames at the Primarina. She pulled up a barrier of water, but the flames broke through; her time in the air was running out, and her descent looked no prettier than the Dragonite’s. 

“Noo!”

Pearl landed with a splash. The water slowed her descent enough to not bring harm, but still hurt. And not a little either. She hacked up the air in her lungs, struggling to catch her breath. The fight wasn’t over by any means; they’d landed in a wide open field, far from cover and far from anything to build momentum off. She grimaced, head whipping around..

“Where is he? Where is he?!”

“Right here!”

A shriek came out of Pearl’s throat as a metal claw whisked past her head. The Dragonite landed right beside her, still grinning like a maniac. He wasted no time in striking again, slashing with both claws in the vague direction of Pearl’s head. 

“It’s the end for you!”

Triumphant as the Dragonite might sound, Pearl wasn’t going down so easily. She countered every tack coming her way, whether through fairy light or with watery geysers. A fierce duel ensued over the plains. Primarina versus dragon, former allies turned bitter enemies. It wasn’t just a fight for the world. This was personal.

“Still clinging onto that false light, Pearl? I thought you’d have gotten wiser over the years!”

“I should’ve known you’d stab us all in the back… I won’t fail again!”

Pearl’s frown grew deeper as the fight continued. Wherever the winds of battle blew, the land was destroyed. Grass scorched down to the roots from dragonfire, soil washed away, furious gusts of wind and fairy magic, and all in between. The struggle took its toll, and the price was a hefty sum.

“Thurvan… you had every chance to know better. To do better. To be better! And this is what you chose? This is what you wanted all along?” Pearl shouted, her voice echoing across distant mountains.

“It’s all I wanted, and then some!” Thurvan shouted, pounding his chest with a fist. “What a shame you didn’t see it for yourself! A queen to my king! That’s what you could’ve been!”

Sparks formed around the Dragonite’s claws. Moments later, a thunderous bolt of lightning shot out of them, surging across the sky like Zapdos’ wrath. Pearl put up a barrier, but the shock was too much for it to bear. Electricity surged into her body, every nerve burnin inside her.

“Ngh!”

“Take this!”

As Thurvan struck again, Pearl opted to throw a ball of water straight into the lightning’s path, diving out of the way moments later. The sparks punched into the water, producing a flash bright enough to blind. The water evaporated in mere seconds, taking the bulk of the electricity with it. And that wasn’t all it took!

“Mrph! What madness is this?!” Thurvan said, rubbing both his eyes out with the back of his hands, his tail lashing out wildly as his wings struggled to keep him airbourne. “I’ll get you for this!”

“There we are!” Pearl, sensing an open, summoned as much lunar energy as she could. Her flippers streamed full of the moon’s power, forming a ball that resembled a miniature sun, almost… it took a strong eyesight to know the difference. An eyesight her opponent didn’t have. She flung the ball at the Dragonite, concentrating as best she could.

“Aaaah!”

The ball of energy exploded in the Dragonite’s chest, and he fell to the ground with zero grace. He fell upon the dirt with a thud, then struggled to get up. Pearl waddled over to him, nervous. Was this the end?

“…mrph, Mrph! Not like this!”

Suddenly, the Dragonite jolted back to two feet, then stomped towards Pearl again, both claws coated in a silver glow. He struck back, clawed and punched at her, heaved on every swing. Yet he had become far more sluggish since the last melee. Each attempt to smack the life out of Pearl went nowhere. He struggled to stay standing on two legs, he couldn’t get his tail off the ground, his wings drooped and sank; and all the while, each of his breaths was laboured. Difficult. Harsh.

The Primarina deflected him with her magic, streams of water circling around her flippers. The blows that made it through were soft, and the water absorbed what little strength remained. It resembled a pillow fight. 

“Is this it?” wondered Pearl out loud, as the once mighty king struggled before her. “You used to be so strong, Thur…”

“Don’t you dare!” the dragon grumbled back. A flurry of attacks failed to break Pearl’s defense. It failed to break her emotional state, too. This was all that remained of the once mighty hero, her best friend…

“It’s time we put an end to this, isn’t it?”

Pearl summoned all the fairy energy she hadn’t spent yet, and directed it towards her tail. It took on a brilliant pink glow, in a display as dazzling as a diamond. She lashed a single time at Thurvan’s belly, and the once mighty Dragonite tumbled over backwards.

“Waaaaahh!”

He hit the ground with a big thud, and deflated as the air left his lungs. After the initial pain wore off, he stretched his arms beside him.

“Oh man…”

Pearl walked up to him, her serious and reminiscing gaze replaced with a smile. The kind of smile someone struggling to hold in their laughter would have.

“Wow. Are you okay?”

The Dragonite raised his head from the ground, his eyes shining in the moonlight. In defeat, he wore a smile much like the one the Primarina had. “Sure am… you know I can handle a lil’ sparring match, right?”

Both Primarina and Dragonite cracked up into a shared laugh. One started breaking, the other followed. Sometimes, laughter was like a disease. It takes just one to start, and everyone gets infected with it.

“Aww, come on! I was putting my all into that!”

“Yeah, but dammit; Arceus knows I’d have been a goner so much sooner if I couldn’t handle any magic!”

After laughing it out, Pearl dropped herself on the grass beside the Dragonite, lifting her head into the moonlight. In response, he rolled onto his side, making eye contact all the easier.

“So, how’s this roleplaying working out for you?” Pearl asked. 

Dragonite’s smirk grew all the wider. He rested his head on an arm. “It’s… so much more fun than I thought it would be! Granted, I never thought it was gonna be boring, especially with you involved… but still!”

Pearl patted him on the chest. “That’s what I’ve been saying, it’s very fun! Not just for an audience, but even for ourselves! Might be difficult at first, getting the plot right, the scene, what character you’re playing… but as long as we’re both working together, something good’s guaranteed to come of it!”

Dragonite used his free claw to touch the bottom of Pearl’s flipper. “You could say that… can’t lie though, it’s weird. Having to pretend like I’m this evil bad guy, and that we hate each other. Heck, I even have trouble with the name! Thurvan!”

“Aww, come on, it’s fun to play pretend!” Pearl mock-begged. “Especially when you’d never do it in real life. And there’s no way you’d ever do anything like that for real! Ain’t that right, Arthur?”

The Dragonite covered his mouth up with both claws. “o-Of course not! That’s why it feels so strange!”

“You’re too good!” Pearl reached for his neck. “Get those hands off your mouth!”

Arthur put up some resistance as Pearl ‘disarmed’ him. Instead of giving into her demands, he ended up holding her with both arms. It didn’t take long for her to do the same to him. And so they laid together on the grass, arms wrapped around each other’s backs, staring longingly at each other.

“Hey… Pearl? Thanks so much for tonight. I really needed it.”

“Always a pleasure, Art. I’m always here for you.”

“y-Yeah. But this week, especially. Family drama gets… real tense sometimes,” Arthur mused, flicking his wings behind his back.  

Pearl leaned in, nuzzling the Dragonite’s big nose with her own. “I’ve been there myself. You know how antsy some fairies can get about dragons.”

Arthur nodded. “And vice versa.”

“Exactly,” Pearl continued, rubbing his cheek with a flipper. “But we’re not letting that stop us from starting our own family, right?”

“y-Yes!” Arthur said, shaking as his eyes beamed. He sounded excited, yet struggled to get his stuttering under control. “s-Sorry, I just.. E-everytime we talk about our future I just… I feel like I’m melting on the inside.”

Pearl went from rubbing to patting. “That’s okay. Always good to be excited about the future, right?”

“Mhm. O-of course, it’s just a little…” Arthur awkwardly smacked his lips, tittering all the while. “It’s just weird sometimes! Getting so giddy over things, r-right in front of my girlfriend, and-”

“C’mon, I don’t bite!” 

The Primarina threw herself towards him, her head now resting on his. Arthur let out a soft yelp, then rolled onto his back with Pearl resting on top of him. 

“O–of course! Hahaha…” Arthur stroked Pearl’s back. “S-speaking of the future, y-you should go into theater. Professionally. Y-you’d be really good at it!”

“That’s the dream,” Pearl said, her face half coated in moonlight. “Well, half the dream… the other half is you also going into theatre. I think we’d both be excellent at it.”

Arthur’s cheeks puffed up. “W-well, I’d need to practise a lot then, hahaha… I-I’m not very good at acting.”

Pearl smiled at him. “Oh, you definitely need a lot of practice, no way I can lie to you about that! But you’ve got a big heart, and that’s the biggest thing you must have for it. You can put your all into it, right!”

“Y-yeah…”

A wind blew over the plains, scattering bits of dirt around. A few specks flew past Arthur and Pearl’s faces, their tails twitching and shuddering. It was getting colder. Pearl turned her head, looking towards the moon hanging high in the sky. The silver light shone brilliantly, far brighter than any diamond could. 

“Do… do you think we should go back?” Arthur asked. Pearl turned back towards him, smirking.

“Actually, we can stay out here a little longer. We’re all alone.”

The Dragonite blinked at her. “Do… do you want to sleep outside? A-are you sure we can-”

“Why, are you worried the Lycanroc’s comin’ to get us?” 

Both cracked up. “Well, I would be if I was still little,” Arthur chuckled. “Even if those stories are true, I can handle them!”

“Handle them?” Pearl giggled. “My guy, we’d be eating them alive!”

“But what if they taste bad?” Arthur winked at her. Pearl’s eyes rolled off to the side.

“You know, I haven’t actually thought that far ahead yet,” she said, before putting her arms around the Dragonite’s neck. “Sooo what do you say? Spend some time outside?”

The dragon below her smirked, lifting his claws around the Primarina’s neck all the while. “You know what, I’m pretty comfy like this, actually…”

As the night reached its apex, and the moon began its long descent from the peak of the horizon, Pearl and Arthur leaned into each other…