“I believe you two have already met, so I’ll get to the point. Zed here was inspired after meeting you back at the village, and I’ve been working with him to learn the ins and outs of human culture.” The beast of a man explained, ruffling the black and red hair of the smaller human. “While you’re stuck here, I’d appreciate it if you could teach him as much as you can. And before you say anything–”
‘Zed’ pulled out a Holo Caster, hunt-and-peck typing a few buttons before a familiar buzz sounded out, [HELLO]. “We took the idea of your text-to-speech device, and I’ve had a buddy work on adding something similar to every Holo Caster in Kalos. As far as the public’s concerned, this is an inclusive push to help mute individuals communicate with others. The keyboard version was simple, but until he can read we just made him a series of pictures in a menu system to find the correct pre-set message.”
“The pictures are easy to understand, so I know what it says,” Zed added, a set of sharp teeth flashing as he spoke.
“A little research on his species from Unova revealed that– with time– he’ll be able to speak just like I can. But as that takes years of practice, he’ll just have to bear with facing the same challenge you did.” Wulfric beamed with pride. “So, what do you think?”
Chad broke into a laugh, coughing after a pain in his ribs interrupted his expression of joy. “I think if I had the ability to disguise myself as a human, I never would’ve experienced any of those nights where I slept in my pokeball.” Wulfric looked confused, until the fire type motioned to borrow the Holo Caster. [I WILL HELP]
“You know, if I took him to Unova for a bit, I could drop him off with some Zoroarks living amongst humans? Would give him some valuable experience and expertise from his own people.” Dragonite suggested, flapping their wings with a smile.
“What?” / “What?!” The two dragons asked together. “But, didn’t we both finish our stories?”
“We’ve got a problem, and I need you to come back for one last ride, Dragonite.” She informed, as the mood quickly soured in the hospital room.
“Ooh, ooh hold on I’ve always wanted to do this!” Dragonite exclaimed, practically bouncing in joy before grabbing a chair, facing the window, and dropping their voice a few octaves. “I told you, I’m retired. You’ll need to find someone else to do your dirty work.”
“I’ve tried; Yvetal, Solgaleo, the Regis– hell I even asked the big R himself. They all sent me back to you.” She rattled off, leaning into the bit.
“Damn, even Rayquaza? I guess you are screwed, huh?”
“Not completely. I managed to put together an elite team; the best of the best. All they need now is a leader, someone who knows how to unite and wrangle a squad of high-powered dragons.”
Alexandre opened his mouth to complain, before being forcibly ‘shushed’ by Ginette who offered him a bag of popcorn from somewhere. Dragonite sighed in disappointment before standing up and pretending to crack their spine. “Fine, I suppose I can help you out one last time; what’s the target?”
Renamon laid out a map on the table of an island, with a large red circle around the city of Hammerlocke. “The main protagonists in Galar screwed the pooch; they failed to find the relics to summon the two legendary heroes, and now Eternatus is about to breach into our world. You won’t be able to find the relics in time, just head for Hammerlocke and try to beat back that dimension-hopping bastard before it can gain a foothold here. Any questions?”
“Just two,” Dragonite drawled. “First, are you up for joining me again, big guy?” In confirmation, Gaston’s pokeball shook twice. “Good, always reassuring when you have my back. The second question,” they began, drawing out the pause, “is when are we leaving?”
The room was silent for a moment before Dragonite, Renamon, and Chad broke into laughter. “Oh god, that was great; peak cinema.” Chad commented with an upbeat smile.
“In all seriousness, I do need you and Gaston to come beat down an alien dragon before it can destroy Galar. I got the old crew together, along with a few new faces from across the globe.” She clarified, relaxing her shoulders and stance to be more casual.
“For something like that, we’re gonna need a lot of firepower,” Dragonite hummed, before noticing the second wristband of pokeballs. “Who’d you manage to convince into participating?”
“Well obviously the old gang; Haxorus, Salamence, Dragalge, Hydreigon, Garchomp. But for new faces, I had to do a bit of travel. You may recognize some of them, but I’ve got a few surprises you shouldn’t know about as well.”
“Alright, I’ll take that challenge. Keanu, right?” Dragonite asked of the tan owl. “A certain voice informed me you needed a ride to Galar; I can drop you off when we arrive?”
The avian shrugged, plucking his personal pokeball from the belt. “Chad, it has been an experience. Not necessarily one I would choose to repeat, but not one I regret having.”
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
The fire type nodded in understanding. “I wish you luck in finding your trainer’s grandson; hopefully he remembers you.” The owl’s stern visage cracked for a moment, before he vanished in the red light of his pokeball. “And you two! Don’t get hurt so badly we’re stuck in here for another week or more!” Dragonite gave a thumbs up, carrying Gaston and Keanu’s pokeballs as they followed Renamon out of the room.
Once outside, near a safe takeoff area, Renamon paused, withdrawing a small box from somewhere about her person. “Feel free to say no, but as a safety measure I repaired this from Lysandre’s possessions. For in case you can’t push it back.” Dragonite lightly lifted the lid, allowing a smidgen of light to peek in and reveal a purple dome with an ‘M’ and two light pink bumps.
“Only as a last resort,” Dragonite ordered, closing the lid shut. As she clambered atop the golden dragon’s back, the two were up and away, racing north to the Galarian shoreline.
Soaring through the air, Dragonite spotted a few other fliers headed their way. Three were headed in from the west; a black dragon, a white wyvern, a green dragon, and an emerald wyrm which swam through the sky. From the east, another green wyrm and a white dragon were on approach. And from the north, a black and blue wingless drake zipped through the air while carrying something brown that was almost the same size as itself.
Each group converged on the same spot outside the front entrance of Hammerlocke stadium, the opulent castle seemingly quiet and devoid of any humans or pokemon. As each of the other dragons touched down, Dragonite broke into an excited happy dance. “Oh, My, Arceus! Kommo-o, Dragapult, Reshiram, ZEKROM?!” They turned to the ones from the east, then the two green dragons from the west. “I don’t even recognize these!?”
Renamon laughed, “Relax, I’ll do introductions once our last team members arrive. Which is funny given they have no excuse to be late.” There was a buzz in the air, as a sphere of space seemed to twist on itself, fuzzing the view around it as a light blue head and a white head emerged from opposite sides, the two dragons stepping clear of the odd wormhole before continuing to yell and argue with each other as the odd transit method collapsed in on itself.
With a nod, Renamon released the remaining team members from their balls, as well as Keanu before handing over his pokeball and wishing the owl good luck with his own personal mission. To gain everyone’s attention, she gave a sharp clap that disrupted all chatter before stepping into the center of the circle. “Greetings everyone, and thank you for your participation today. As a reminder, I have gathered you all here to help push back an invader who seeks to corrupt and destroy our world. Each of you are the pinnacle of your type, and while it may be short notice, you’ll need to work together as a team.”
“Hai-hai, sillyehabnida!” The bipedal dragon shouted with a bounce, his excited face accentuated with a pair of off-white whiskers, wearing what appeared to be a traditional Korean hanbok with white floral patterns on a pink cloth. His white scales and pink eyes threaded the needle between ‘fairy’ and ‘albino’. “Do you really need all of us? This feels like overkill.”
“Yes, Gippeum-ui, for plot reasons we needed to assemble a dragon of every type.” She responded, as Dragonite raised an eyebrow, scanning the crowd.
“Do we have all types? I definitely don’t see a normal type…” They asked, being met with a harrumph from an absolutely ancient Drampa on their left. “How did you do that..?” Dragonite whispered in a mixture of surprise and amazement.
“We do have all types,” she announced before going around the circle to introduce everyone. “Drampa for Normal, Salamence for Flying, Dragalge for Poison, Haxorus for pure Dragon, Garchomp for Ground, Hydreigon for Dark, Tyrantrum for Rock, Palkia for Water, Dialga for Steel, Kommo-o for Fighting, Dragapult for Ghost, Zekrom for Electric, and Reshiram for Fire.”
“The ones you likely aren’t familiar with are Serperior for Grass–” An emerald Serperior floated in the air, with two arms crossed to express their annoyance at having to socialize, their more draconic head frowning while looking away from the group. “Flygon for Bug–” The light green dragon had two sets of fragile bug wings, as a set of compound eyes underneath the signature red goggles. “Jihyeui Ryong for Psychic–” The forest green wyrm nodded, their wood-like horns soft and organic as a pair of whiskers wiggled in place. “Gippeum-ui Ryong for Fairy, and Borealis for Ice.” The white dragon seemed to tower above several group members, with literal patches of ice forming armor at key points on their limbs and body.
Above, the sky darkened, as a roar flooded out from above the stadium. “That’s our cue! Let’s go save the world, again!” Dragonite cheered, as every dragon let loose a shout or roar together. Across the world, dragons everywhere felt the two echo in their souls. The first a demand to obey, to submit, promising untold punishment for resistance.
The second was a reminder not to go gently into that good night.
Dragapult, the first to arrive on scene, sped straight for the lone human, right where Dragonite had predicted they’d be. They were certainly surprised at being grabbed with such speed, and seemed thankful when a massive purple claw crushed where they had been standing barely a moment ago. “Thanks,” he offered, as Dragapult sped back around to drop him off with the yellow fairy.
“Everyone pair up! We have no cure for its poison, so focus on avoiding getting hit by anything. Pick a buddy, and keep each other safe! Stay at range if you can.” Dragonite called out, as the dragons self-selected their duos and ran off to destroy the invader. “Except you two,” Dragonite followed-up, pointing at Gaston and Zekrom. I need you two to stick with me for something.” Reshiram laughed at their counterpart’s misfortune, swooping off with an excited Haxorus in their talons.
“Sorry, but this is rather important. Gaston, I need you to make me as strong and sturdy of a platform as you can. Big Z, I’m gonna need you to create the strongest electromagnetic field you can, preferably spinning…” Dragonite looked at their right hand, spreading their thumb outward and curling their remaining two fingers. “Uh, clockwise?” A head-tilt from the black dragon led Dragonite to tracing the path with their hand in the air. “Like that, just channel a ton of electricity in a circle in that direction, and when I signal you, push everything you can into it for power and speed.”
“What are we even doing?” Gaston asked, already working to reinforce the building’s ceiling below them. Zekrom, with some difficulty, figured out what Dragonite wanted, and began to experiment with maintaining the circular shape.
“We’re making the strongest cannon possible in the pokemon universe, and then using it to kill an invading legendary.” Dragonite explained, before shrugging. “That, or we just hit it hard enough to catch it with a Master Ball. Either works!”
"All of You is All of Me" aka "The Bullshit's about to begin" song
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Gaston continued to throw up more and more rocks, building as solid of a backstop as he possibly could. To the degree he was raising stone supports from beyond the edge of the castle. Zekrom nervously stood before Dragonite, having learned the optimal position to support the spinning electrical ring was right beneath it, as opposed to somewhere safe like on the side. All the while, Dragonite continued to charge up a hyper beam brimming with power beyond any sane level.
“That’s all I can do; any more and it may damage the castle or weaken the rest of the backstop.” Gaston announced, nervously watching as the rest of the dragons continued to harass the invader. He was visibly worried, as not even the gods of space or time seemed to be having much impact.
“And this thing’s getting unstable if I try to push any more power to it!” Zekrom added, as Dragonite raised their arm, readying the pre-determined signal. Instantly, the bright white sphere seemed to be drawing in more energy like a Snorlax at a buffet.
“INCOMING!” Gaston shouted, forcing the attacking dragons to break off and clear the shot.
With a grimace, Zekrom supercharged the ring, spinning it with so much speed and power it shot off several lighting bolts. Then, as Dragonite dropped their arm and fired, the beam went straight through the ring, which caused it to accelerate, thinning the massive beam into a surgical shot that slowly expanded as the spinning ring destabilized and collapsed.
The shot went through Eternatus’ core, expanding the opening as the beam grew, and eventually swinging upwards through their neck and head as the destabilized electrical ring redirected the overwhelming attack. The force of it pushed Dragonite back, crushing the stone barricades and supports setup behind them, crumbling over half of the stonework before the attack finished.
Eternatus crumbled, disintegrating as it’s component particles began to drift up and back through the tear in reality, spurring the assembled dragons to cheer for their victory. Dragonite, emerging from the pile of crushed stone and pebbles, dusted themselves off before walking forward, extending a flat open palm towards the yellow vulpine. “Just in case he tries anything,” they said, palming the purple pokeball and continuing to move towards the open red rift in the sky.
The celebrations were short-lived, as from within the rift came another draconic roar, promising untold violence and suffering, accompanied by a red and purple glowing five-fingered hand which struck out and crushed part of the ceiling. Eternamax, not accepting defeat, attempted to pull its larger amorphous body through the rift. Dragonite, hefting the Master Ball, shouted out to the alien interplanar traveler. “Last Chance! Leave or Else!”
Eternamax, screeching back with the non-verbal equivalent of several swears and slurs, seemed to pull harder to emerge in their dimension. “Fine; I’ll be sure to put you to good use.” Dragonite admitted, chucking the Master Ball faster than the oversized hand could dodge. With a familiar red light encompassing the giant invader, its massive size shrunk down, sucked into the purple orb before it closed and gave a soft chime of success.
“Could you have done that the whole time?” Jihyeui asked, dumbfounded and stunned.
Picking up the purple and white ball, Dragonite locked and shrunk it. “Yea, but I really didn’t want to. Eternatus is cool and all, but I was kinda hoping to save this one for something like Necrozoma.” Someone asked ‘who’, but Dragonite waved it off, as Renamon handed them an empty magnetic wristband, to which the Master Ball clicked on and slid over the gold dragon’s left wrist.
“Anyway, now that we’ve saved the world, who’s hungry?”