15. Legendary Thunder Pikablu

The ongoing battle between Lucario and the Garchomp came to an abrupt stop as both the combatants stared at Pikablu, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

"Holy sh…" Lucario whispered in disbelief, "That speed's unnatural!" It reminded him of a passing train, but with perfect coordination and much smaller size.
"It's called 25%, a technique he uses to…" the Gallade started explaining, but stopped himself, "… Actually, I should keep it a secret in case we need to use it to beat you up later."
"Still mad?" Lucario asked mockingly, feeling a bit more confident since Pikablu was on their side.
"You've seen better days, by the way" the Gallade chirped while looking over the burnt off fur on Lucario's left chest and shoulder, "Need any backup?"
"Nah" Lucario replied cockily, his confidence growing to match his pride, "This one's slow and predictable, I'll have this wrapped up in a few minutes… I've totally got this."

"You…" the Tyranitar finally said, speaking with an unexpectedly light and low voice, "… What are you…?"
"In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have wasted all my electricity by going for 50% right away…" Pikablu said menacingly as the aura of lightning appeared and surrounded him once again, "… And in retrospect, you probably should have surrendered five seconds ago."

A trail of electricity followed Pikablu as he approached the Tyranitar at blinding speed. The giant beast remained still, not flinching the slightest while taking several hits from Pikablu across the lower parts of its body.
"… Weak…" the giant beast said, Pikablu running several meters away from it before suddenly launching back like a slingshot, ramming the back of the Tyranitar's left leg. He stifled a shocked noise as his leg bent itself, forcing him to land on his right knee for support.

The moment the knee touched the ground, Pikablu ran up the body of the Tyranitar like an arrow of lightning and headbutted his chin. The blow was so hard that the Tyranitar tipped over and fell back, Pikablu soaring up into the sky before landing behind him.

"Skin's tough, all right…" Pikablu scoffed while spitting on the ground, "Let's see if your eyeballs are the same."
Pikablu charged himself up by taking a step back, but his valiant dash towards the Tyranitar was abruptly halted as the electricity surrounding him suddenly disappeared, making him trip and land on his face.

"… Oh hell… Already out of electricity…" he mumbled with an embarrassed tone as he rose to his feet and looked back at the Gallade, "Your voltage's pathetic!"
"Hey, I'm not even supposed to have ANY voltage!" the psychic type responded, "Why don't you just hit that Tyranitar with an Aura Sphere or something else you can't do?" The familiar term made something click in Lucario's head as he pondered trying to use it once more. The pondering was cut short when he looked over the Garchomp and understood just how badly he would get beaten if it failed this time.
"Can't risk it..." he whispered to himself, the Garchomp seemingly preoccupied with staring at Pikablu with surprise.

Lucas exhaled a large amount of stressed air now that the Pikachu's unexpected attack had ceased. He started wondering if the strong being was a legendary Pokémon in disguise, but had to stop himself when he noticed that there was a more pressing matter at hand.

"A Weavile… Dark and Ice…" Lucas whispered to himself while looking at Zerobi, fingering his Pokedex once more without actually using it, almost as if he was draining the knowledge out of it. He realized that out of his three remaining Pokémon, two were extremely weak against this particular duo of types, and the third wasn't a prime candidate either.

However, a wave of relief washed over him just as he realized exactly who his remaining Pokémon was.

"It's time…" Lucas said, pulling out a very large Pokeball in the colors of white and black, "I'm counting on you, Celebi!" Instead of throwing this Pokeball, he held it between his two hands and somehow managed to open it, a green light leaking out of it and enveloping itself into a circle in the middle of the air.

The green light faded, but was replaced by an even more radiant one from the being underneath. Instantly reminding them all of a blooming sapling, she was small and had a simple form, but every inch of her being seemed to be a work of art and purity. Zerobi and Lucario were both positively stunned, while Pikablu genuinely smiled for the first time in forever at the familiar sensation.

As if someone had released a cloud of endomorphines into the air, everyone in the area suddenly started feeling a notch better than earlier. Lucario's burnt torso stopped aching, Pikablu's torn muscles were put under less pressure and Zerobi had something to think about besides her bleeding forehead.

"W-What an insane presence…!" Lucario whispered to himself, stifling a gasp when Celebi slowly moved the eyelids covering up her beautiful sapphire eyes, so deep and that he did not even know how to stop himself from becoming lost within them.

Zerobi was unaffected by the whole ordeal, but could not help but notice just how much of an impact it had on the rest. It struck her more on a mental level, recognizing the legendary being from the many fan arts she had seen in her occult magazines. No matter how vibrantly they had been painted, she felt that they did not do the actual creature even a hint of justice.

Celebi viewed the area with a surprised look on her face, remaining completely stationary in midair save for some subtle floating movements.
"Celebi!" Pikablu shouted happily, making her look at him with her calm sapphire eyes. Their eyes locked for a few moments as Pikablu awaited some kind of response, but was given none.
"We're here to save you, and that Weavile over there…" Pikablu continued while nodding over in Zerobi's direction, "… Claims to be your sister, Zerobi!"
"I… I never said I was her sister!" Zerobi corrected Pikablu, not wanting to anger the magnificent legendary in front of her with dishonesty, "I'm just named Zerobi, and never knew my biological parents…"
She felt a bit disappointed as Celebi looked at her for but a second before looking away in another direction.

"Hey…" the Gallade mumbled while looking at the silent yet curious Celebi, "… Is she alright?"
Celebi stared spookily at him with a dazed expression, as if she had no idea of what was happening.
"Celebi!" Lucas shouted while pointing determinedly at Zerobi, "Use your Miracle Eye on the Weavile!"

Celebi looked back at her trainer, then slowly followed his hand and fastened her eyes on Zerobi who got nothing but an ominous feeling from the whole situation. Celebi blinked once before strange multi-colored lines suddenly appeared around her, almost making the whole thing look like a shoddy drawing.

"What the… It's the Miracle Eye!" the Gallade shouted in disbelief, "Something's wrong, alright!"
"Celebi! It's us!" Pikablu shouted while needlessly pointing to himself, "Your friends! Your sister! And some Lucario who's not half bad!"
"She doesn't recognize us!?" Kabuta yelled with confusion, "But… Being brainwashed by a Pokeball… I thought it was just some urban legend!"

"… Crap!" Pikablu exclaimed angrily before turning his head to his left, "Zerobi, run!"
"Don't worry, I'm a Dark-type!" Zerobi replied with faked confidence, "No matter how strong, I'm completely immune to-"
"That's the Miracle Eye, it'll make you vulnerable to psychic attacks!" the Gallade explained as the lines around Celebi started spinning around and twisting themselves in inexplicable motions, "If that one gets you, it's all over! She'll toss you around like a ragdoll!"
"YOU DIRTY @%#! YOU DIRTY @%#!" Pikablu repeated loudly and desperately, "@%#! @%#!"
"Dude, what the hell?" Lucario asked with a disgusted look, completely snapping out of his pleasurable trance, "How's that going to help?"
"Damn it, I'm trying to jog her memory!" Pikablu shouted back while clenching his fists in despair, "This can't be… What's happened to her!?"
"W-We're not fighting Cell, are we…!?" Kabuta stammered, the pleasurable emotions from earlier being replaced by sheer terror, "Oh, man… This is bad…"

A loud noise from Celebi signaled that the attack was finished, the lines coiling themselves behind her like snakes ready to strike at their target. Celebi's emotionless face was telling them nothing of what she might be thinking.

"How do I dodge it!?" Zerobi yelled while being taken aback by the strange nature of the attack.
"Too late! Here it comes!" Pikablu shouted, hating himself for being able to do nothing to prevent the rapidly approaching tragedy.

The lines all left Celebi in an instant, shooting through the air like colorful laser beams. Zerobi did not even have time to blink as the beams curved around and raced towards her, aiming directly for the open wound on her forehead before passing over it. Everyone gasped collectively as the beams instead kept going, instead hitting the Tyranitar behind her.
The Tyranitar took a step back in surprise, glowing in various colors as the beams remained connected with him and seemed to fill him with their energy.

"I… I feel it!" Lucario suddenly shouted as a familiar sensation came upon him, "That thing's getting an aura!"
He then almost choked on his own spit as the gigantic Tyranitar lifted off the ground, quickly boosting up through the air like a rocket.
"Not again!" Lucas yelled with shock before shaking the black Pokeball in his hands, "Celebi, come on! Return!"
The recall was instantaneous, the green beam hitting Celebi in the back before anyone could react. However, the moment before transforming into the green light, Zerobi could've sworn that Celebi turned her head and looked at her with a warm smile on her face.

"Oh, crap…" Lucas whispered to himself as looked up and realized his mistake. Like a meteor from outer space, the Tyranitar had entered the lower parts of the stratosphere and was ready for a hasty crash landing. Lucas fumbled with finding space for the large Pokeball in his hands while trying to locate the right one to recall his Pokémon, but couldn't do it in time.

The Tyranitar smashed into the ground, crushing several layers of dirt and creating a massive hole where it landed. The ground shook with an extremely loud crash, but even so the sound wasn't enough to drown out the collective cheering from the quintet.

"EAT DIRT!" Lucario yelled triumphantly.
"SUCK ON THAT!" Zerobi shouted happily.
"HAHAHA! YOU'RE THE BEST, CELL!" the Gallade laughed, clutching his sides.
"Celebi…" Pikablu mumbled while smiling to himself, "… Pretty awesome display, right there..."
"Lucario! She looked at me!" Zerobi said cheerfully while looking at her friend, "That was Celebi, and she totally smiled when she looked at me!"
"Maybe she was actually aiming for you and just missed?" Lucario pointed out, making Zerobi visibly cringe.
"Don't be a jerk" Pikablu chuckled, "Celebi's on our side. Also, clever."

Meanwhile, Lucas' patience was rapidly running out. Both of his newly caught Pokémon had instantly turned on him, making him feel less secure of victory as well as his capabilities as a trainer.

"Rayquaza!" he shouted with all his might up into the air, "Cancel the Air Lock! Come down here and finish them off! Garchomp, take out the Lucario as quickly as possible!"
"Uh… Oh cr-" Lucario started, but was interrupted as he dodged a tiny explosion of fire to his right, formed by the mouth of the advancing Garchomp.
"… Finally" Pikablu said with relief as the darkened clouds above them started appearing again, "All of you, get down. Leave everything to me." The Gallade and Kabuta instantly hit the deck, leaving Zerobi standing in confusion.
"He's not kidding, you know!" the Gallade yelled which made Zerobi reluctantly lie down, not wanting to get involuntarily tackled and groped again. Rayquaza landed on the ground, roaring with all its might as Lucas thanked his earplugs and recalled his trusted Tremor into a Pokeball.

A flash suddenly filled everyone's vision as lightning came down from the heavens above and struck Pikablu. Lucas felt all his fears become confirmed when a spiky blue aura of electricity ran around Pikablu, stray bolts of lightning flying in every direction.

"GRAAAH!" Pikablu screamed loudly, suddenly shooting out a great wall of thunder at Rayquaza who coiled itself up to braced itself as best it could. Pikablu did not wait for confirmation of a hit before also throwing a massive pillar of light in its direction, as well as several streams of lightning of varying size.

When it was over, Rayquaza was still coiled up, seemingly unharmed by the attack. Pikablu drew a heavy sigh, smiling while the serpent tried one last time to raise it upper body but instead toppled over and landed on the ground, no longer mobile.

"R-R-R-R…" Lucas stammered in shock over what had just happened, "R-RAYQUAZA! No way!"
"It's over" Pikablu snickered confidently, "Let's finish this. Line 'em up, I'll knock them out."
"Oh… Oh my…!" Zerobi stammered in shock, looking up from her lying position.
"Yeah, that's right! Behold!" Pikablu yelled triumphantly, "This is the power that six years ago overwhelmed even the Legendary Celebi! You think YOU'VE got a chance, loser!?"
"Lucario!" Zerobi suddenly yelled while standing up, shattering Pikablu's triumphant moment. Their eyes turned over to the Garchomp who was standing over the defeated mess that was a crouched over Lucario, now missing fur with reddened diseased-looking skin showing through all over his body. One of his eyes were closed, a particularly nasty burn covering the left side of his face.

"… Guys…" he whimpered pathetically while trying to raise himself with his arms, "… I don't got this…"
"Stand up" the Garchomp growled with a deep, cold voice before moving closer.
"L… Lucario!" Kabuta yelled with a terrified voice, seeing several scars all over Lucario that she hadn't noticed before, "What the hell happened!?"
"T-This thing's a bloody monster, that's what happened!" Lucario responded with a shaky tone, "I roundhouse kick it in the head three times, and it doesn't even give a damn!"

Meanwhile, Lucas could feel himself trembling. Never would he have imagined that Rayquaza could be defeated so easily, and by a wild Pikachu no less! Years of training Pokémon told him that it was simply not possible, at the very least not natural.
For a moment he analyzed the Pikachu's actions so far, and in a split second remembered another particularly powerful Pikachu he had come upon during his travels. He also remembered the one thing that the other Pikachu had despised more than anything else, and finally came up with a possible solution that would bring him victory.

"Worth a try…!" Lucas mumbled while signaling for his Pokémon, "Grace! Come here, I've got an item for you!"
"Don't bother, it won't have time to use it" Pikablu said sinisterly, "Unless it's a Focus Band… Which just means more fun for me!"
The Garchomp moved back to her trainer who took a small object out of his backpack. Skillfully attaching a string to it, he climbed up the Garchomp's back.
"You're doing great…" Lucas said with a reassuring voice while putting the string around her throat, "… But leave the Lucario alone from now on. It's down for the count."
Lucas finished tying the item around the Garchomp's neck and gave her a pat on the head.
"I know I can trust you, girl…" he told her as he jumped down, "We've been through worse together. Remember, I'm behind you all the way!" The garchomp gave off a low growl, something like a smile appearing on her face.
"Hah! Not unless you want to get charred, too!" Pikablu laughed, but his own smile quickly faded when he saw what item the Garchomp had been equipped with.

A Thunderstone.

"… That's…" Pikablu muttered, once more feeling his heart and hopes sink, "… Oh shit…"
"What?" the Gallade asked, recognizing the hopeless tone in his voice all too well, "Damn it, stop sounding so pessimistic!"
"… I'm out" Pikablu muttered before shouting at the Gallade and Kabuta, "You two! Get ready to fight!"
"OUT!?" Zerobi shouted, "Explanation, please!"
"If I get near that stone, I'll evolve into a Raichu" Pikablu explained with his eyes firmly closed, "My worst nightmare aside, I won't be able to use 25% or any of that stuff anymore… Ever."
"Why!?" Zerobi asked hopelessly as a thought hit her, "Does it matter!? Just hit it with lightning from a distance!"
"As a Raichu my electricity will be stored in my tail, and maybe even become stronger…" Pikablu said while thinking to himself, "… But that won't matter. It's a Ground-type, so thunder doesn't affect it, anyway."

"Whatever" Kabuta said while shrugging her shoulders and trying to act cool, "We'll show this idiot what happens when you pick on Lucario!"
"Yeaaah!" the Gallade chimed in cheerfully, "Except for the Lucario thing! I don't care! But you do! So YEAAAH anyway!"
"Hmm…" she muttered as she saw Lucario collapse on the ground from exhaustion, "Let's hurry!"
"No, like, seriously, why do you even give a crap?" the Gallade asked curiously, "Don't tell me… You actually like him!?"
"He's got you beaten out by fifty million points in my 'like' department" Kabuta replied sarcastically, "... And no, that still doesn't mean that I like him."
"So you say…" the Gallade said, trying to think of the most infuriating thing he could tease her with, "… Hah! But it's obvious that you're in love!"
"W-WHAT!?" Kabuta stammered angrily as she was at a loss for words, "Shut your mouth! Shut it 'bout things you don't know nothing 'bout…"

The two of them walked towards the Garchomp, Lucario still not having been able to rise to his feet. The Garchomp walked towards them as well, and Lucario cowered as she was upon him. But instead of kicking him when he was down, she just walked past him, completely focused on the two enemies in front of her.

"So, yeah, you hold her off while I charge up" the Gallade said while taking several steps back, "Then I hit her with my best shot, we celebrate, you can be together with your love, Pikablu with his… And Kabutops too, I guess."
"I'll hold her off for sure" Kabuta responded confidently, extracting what little value she could find in what he had just said, "I'm a stonewall, after all." They both felt surprisingly calm as the Garchomp approached.
"By 'love', I don't mean your dad, by the way" the Gallade added, hoping to get Kabuta raging for the fight.
"Shut the hell up!" Kabuta roared with a fire igniting in her eyes, showing the Gallade that his mission was a success, "Graah! Come over here already, I'm pissed and I'm gonna kill you!"
"Grace! Use Crunch!" Lucas suddenly yelled, making the Garchomp leap towards them. Kabuta jumped in front of her with scythes outstretched, ready to absorb the blow. The supposed tackle canceled itself, the Garchomp instead using her massive fangs to grab a hold of Kabuta's right arm.

"Kuh…!" Kabuta growled as her arm was put under crushing pressure. The jaws of the Garchomp provided her with more pain than anything she had ever felt before. She did her best to remain tough and not scream.
That's when the Garchomp started twisting her head around.

"G… GAAAHHH!" Kabuta screamed as she felt the bones in her arm loosen from their sockets with each powerful pull.
"K-Kabuta!" the Gallade stammered frightfully, the glow around his arms growing stronger as his attack charged up.
"MY ARM'S BEING PULLED OFF!" Kabuta cried loudly, trying to knock off the Garchomp but not even being able to make her budge. Instead, the Garchomp picked Kabuta off the ground with her hands, increasing the pull on Kabuta's arm.
"Do something, for crying out loud!" Pikablu roared at the Gallade, who instantly ran up to the Garchomp with brutal uninhibited steps instead of his usual dance-like maneuvers.

On his way there, he saw the defeated Lucario creeping up behind the Garchomp, before suddenly climbing up her back in a clunky motion. She noticed this and started twisting harder to get him off, only causing Kabuta to scream louder.
"Aura…" Lucario mumbled to himself as he pressed as much of his body as possible against the violently rocking Garchomp, "… EXPLOSION!"
He closed his eyes, expecting to be met by the most painful experience in his life, but was instead met by both disappointment and slight relief as nothing happened. The sensation for activating the aura was within him, but for some inexplicable reason he simply could not get it moving.
"Oh, you useless piece of bod-" Lucario groaned, his arms failing him as a particularly powerful motion from the Garchomp tossed him in front of her, making him crash down on the ground where he remained still.

A loud snap was suddenly heard from Kabuta's arm, making her stop crying as a sinister smirk formed by the sides of the Garchomp's open mouth. Kabuta stared up into the sky in shock, unable to comprehend what had just happened. She fainted, her left arm falling by her side and her right scythe falling down on the ground beneath her.

A single explosion of blood sprayed the two of them from the open wound, dripping down their bodies. The Gallade roared madly in an uncharacteristic move, crossing his arms in the shape of an X as he approached the Garchomp with a speed comparable to Pikablu's 25%. She dropped Kabuta and moved her head back in surprise as the Gallade made a small leap, striking her directly on the throat with his glowing arms, flames erupting from where the blow connected and engulfing her head in fire.
The Gallade did not even have time to land before the Garchomp's head came back, headbutting him so hard that he flew back and landed on the barely conscious body of Lucario.

"H… Ha… Ha ha ha…" the Gallade snickered weakly with a very dazed mind, "Strong against… Fire, huh…?"
He coughed a bit before looking over at Kabuta, her right arm missing and the grass around her having turned red. With a faint glimmer of hope, he looked up to see if his attack had destroyed the rope holding the Thunderstone around her neck, but saw that it was still as intact as ever.
"Sorry, Kabutops… You were right…" the Gallade mumbled sadly while looking at the dismembered Pokémon in front of him, "In the end, I'm nothing but a failure…"

"Grace! Be more careful!" Lucas yelled out, relived that he was finally winning but still disgusted at what he had just seen, "There's a limit to how much the Pokecenter can do!"
"Zerobi!" Pikablu yelled accusingly, "What the hell are you playing at!? That thing's extremely weak against Ice!"
"B-But…" Zerobi stammered, shaking a little as the horrific display reminded her a little too much of her own past, "… She's so strong!"
"SHUT UP!" Pikablu roared, exploding into a frighteningly large aura of lightning, "My niece just got her arm pulled off, my best friend is about to die and there ain't nothing I can go about it! You wanna trade places!?"
"… Yes?" Zerobi asked hopefully before sighing and shaking the cowardly thoughts from her mind, "Alright, damn it, I'll see what I can do!"

Not wasting another moment, she ran towards the Garchomp at high speed, flinching as she noticed that the Garchomp was positively covered in Kabuta's blood.
"Pretty clumsy way of dismembering someone, if I say so myself…" she said in an attempt to make herself seem confident instead of deathly afraid, "A clean cut doesn't leave as much of a mess."
However, the Garchomp responded only with silence as she lounged at Zerobi, jumping over the bodies of Kabuta, Lucario and the Gallade.

"You ARE slow…" Zerobi admitted, exhaling a cloud of cold at her. The Garchomp felt a freezing sensation hit her side before suddenly noticing that she was slowing down, the cold covering her entire body like a shell of ice and reaching into her very bones like the coldest winter's night.

"Too easy!" Pikablu shouted triumphantly, "Cut 'er open and finish it off!"
"… I can't!" Zerobi shouted back, standing as frozen as the living icicle in front of her, "I'll get her blood splashed on me!"
"You've got to do something!" Pikablu yelled, "Just leaving it frozen isn't gonna cut it!"
"… I'll punch it!" Zerobi responded, clenching her hands into fists.
"No!" Pikablu shouted, "Look at Lucario and Galls! She's got some kind of shock resistance, they couldn't even hurt it with blows!"
"Damn it!" Zerobi screamed angrily, "It wasn't supposed to come to this!"
"Stop freaking out, for crying out loud!" Pikablu bellowed with unparalleled rage, "You're the only one left! Do it or we're all done for, and I SWEAR I'll kill you myself!"

Zerobi clenched her fists harder in despair before suddenly feeling something hit her shoulder. Looking behind her, she noticed that Lucario was standing to her side, and as a reflex scanned his arm to make sure that there was not a single drop of blood on it.

"… Ugh…" Lucario groaned, struggling to keep to his feet, "Just do it, already…"
"It's… It's not just that I'm scared!" Zerobi replied, "If I get blood on me…"
"You won't have to!" Lucario kept going, sounding a bit stronger than at first, "Cut it fast enough and you won't get any on you!"
"… Fast enough…?" Zerobi repeated, feeling slightly more confident at the thought.
"Cut 'n run!" Lucario said, "Do it fast enough and you'll be fine!"
"I'll…" Zerobi whispered to herself, seeing how the Garchomp was starting to thaw out.
"Or, you know, don't do it and get publicly executed instead…" Lucario reminded her, smiling a bit before resuming his confident demeanor, "… Only you can beat that thing. If that's not reason enough for you to d-"

A slight noise suddenly came from the Garchomp, making Zerobi's determination return and her desperation soar. Instantly she leaped towards the Garchomp, creating a single powerful slash across its abdomen while still running past it.

Stopping herself a few feet away from the Garchomp, she kneeled down without even looking back. Suddenly, the Garchomp gave off a gurgling sound, lowering her head and seeing a red gash of blood over her chest. For half an instant her panicked mind felt dirty and tried to wipe it off herself, before the pain hit in and she slowly became unconscious. The body of the Garchomp landed in a patch of grass that was soaked with her own blood, much like the Weavile that had defeated her.

Lucas gasped. Seeing his trusted friends go down one after one felt like a noose tightening around his neck. His breathing started coming harder as he hyperventilated, fear clouding up his mind while staring at the monstrous Weavile before him. The blood flowing out of Grace made him sick to his stomach, making him recall the earlier dismembering of the Kabutops… Its shrill screams, begging for mercy as he tried to tell her to stop…

What struck him even harder was the knowledge that it was his failure as a trainer that caused this. He had let his Pokemon run wild and maim a wild Pokemon, he had been negligent of the Pikachu's capabilities for too long, and he had sent his very best friend against a type that she was extremely weak against.

Celebi and the Kabutops had been right. He was no trainer. Attempting to stand up to run away one last time, exhaustion finally overtook his body as he blacked out.

"He's…" the Gallade said while trying to stand up, "… He's down!"
"YES! HAHAHA!" Pikablu gave off a prideful and loud laughter, "We did it! We won! Victory is ours!"
"Way to go, Zerobi!" Lucario yelled, the happy feelings of having won turning his joy into actually feelings of being a professional coach. He ignored his pain and smiled brightly at his partner, who still had her back turned to him. Her black and unusually red back…

"… Blood…!?" Lucario exclaimed, angry at himself for not having noticed it sooner. Zerobi stood where she landed after the final attack, her body covered with tiny speckles of blood from the Garchomp. She wasn't saying a word, but was instead shaking profusely.

Lucario got worried and tried to run to her, noticing just how badly damaged his right leg had become from fighting the Garchomp. Whether it had been the constant fiery attacks or the fact that his roundhouse kicks might as well have been directed at a brick wall he did not know. All he knew was that if someone was to happen to Zerobi now, he would…

"… Zerobi…?" Lucario slowly asked, patting the shoulder of his partner.

In an instant she spun around with a claw outstretched, cutting through his throat with a quick slash. Blood splayed across the field as time seemed to stop all around them. Pain filled Lucario's head while a gargling sound escaped his throat as he tried to draw breath, but the passageway to his lungs had been completely severed and he began choking instead. He felt his warm blood running the fur on his neck, holding up a hand in a futile attempt of stopping the flow. Falling to his knees from the lack of air, all he could do was stare deeply into the eyes of the smiling Weavile in front of him.

Inside of them, he noticed that there was something unusual.

Nothing.