The New Normal - 18-5

The New Normal – 18-5 – The Power of Ideals

The alarms blared halfway during the day around the entirety of Unova, instantly pulling us to full alertness.

Before I could even say anything, Regigigas had already rocketed into the sky, and I was forcefully dragged along for the ride as Registeel picked me up and flew after it.

My radio became swarmed with voices as everyone scrambled to respond and find out more about the situation, but one thing was evidently clear to everyone.

Zekrom had finally shown up. And it was flying far faster than we had expected.

It was initially spotted just north of Icirrus City. Fortunately, even though it was well within its capability to do so, Zekrom didn’t rain down a barrage of destructive thunderbolts on the isolated city, and simply flew past it harmlessly. It instead was making a beeline for the largest city in Unova – Castelia City.

Several fliers were immediately ordered to intercept Zekrom, but it was no use. Even the fastest Flying Pokémon we had was no match for Zekrom’s speed as the Legendary flew forwards while leaving a crackling trail of electricity in its wake.

With how it had encased itself in a sphere of lightning, it was almost like it was moving as fast as a real current of electricity.

But we were ready for it. Given that Castelia City was the largest and most populous city in Unova, we had given it extra attention and reinforcements, since we figured that Castelia was going to be one of their likeliest targets.

Therefore, the second that we got the alert and had figured out Zekrom’s intended destination, an army of Jennys and International Police members stormed the Castelia shelter with as many Psychic types as possible as they Teleported everyone out of the shelter and into a different one.

Meanwhile, the trainers that were on guard duty instantly sent out their full teams and began to have them all buff up with as many setup moves as possible.

By the time I arrived with Regigigas, it was like an army of Ground types had flooded into the streets of Castelia. And they weren’t just on the streets either – there were many Rangers that had set up on the roofs with their Pokémon, just to give us another angle of attack.

Personally, I thought that it took a very brave person to willingly fight on an elevated position that could easily be destroyed, which meant that you were at risk from plummeting to the ground. It was undoubtedly dangerous, since it risked great injury unless you were caught by your Pokémon, but I admired their courage.

And if that wasn’t enough, sandbags and other fortifications had been set up all over the streets, with Nurse Joys tents dotted around every few dozen meters or so.

The entire city had been transformed into a battlefield. Or more accurately, a kill zone.

I landed near one of the medical tents, which I saw was fully stocked up with all sorts of Potions, Revives, Ethers, and many other recovery items that had been brought over for the emergency. Not only that, rubber suits and boots of all kinds were brought over for us to change into as an extra layer of protection.

One of the Jennys escorted me to the changing area for me to do so, and once I was fully decked out in my rubber suit, I looked around and realised that I was one of the first to arrive. But there were already a few trainers there that I recognised.

Burgh, Elesa, Lenora, Karen, Sidney, and Marshal were there already. All wearing the same rubber gear that I was.

It looked a little ridiculous, but safety was what was most important.

“You came quickly.” Burgh greeted me, his Pokémon flanking them as they all began to setup. Mine were doing the same, “We probably have just under two minutes before arrival. The others have already signalled that they’re on their way and should arrive just a minute or two after that. And Alder said he’s on his way from the League building too with Lance and Cynthia.”

“Got it.” I nodded, “You ready for this?”

Elesa nodded slowly, her hair looking more windswept and unruly than I had ever seen it before. She must have rushed over here like I did.

“I hope so, but I’ve never been in a battle like this before.” She said, “Legendaries were supposed to be things of myth – I never thought I’d be in a situation to actually fight one. But I know my duty, so whether I’m actually ready or not, I’ll be fighting alongside you all. Even if I’m not sure how my Electric types will be that helpful against Zekrom.”

“It’s not always about doing damage.” I replied reassuringly, “I mean, no offense intended to Flint, but when we fought against Palkia his Fire types weren’t the most useful either. But every little bit helps, and you can always take up a more supportive role – just like you did when we fought together. Make use of Helping Hands, or use your Electric types to help defend against attacks if you think it’s safe to do so. Be creative about it. You can contribute in many other ways than just damage.”

“Well said.” Marshal agreed, “We are currently in an extraordinary situation, but that doesn’t mean we can make excuses. The livelihood of Unovans depend on us. We must make sure we are worthy of their trust.”

Lenora chuckled, “This isn’t the way I wanted to study a Legendary, but I guess you have to make do sometimes.” Then she turned to me, “Oh, and I never thanked you for the tips you shared, John. They really helped.”

As part of our preparations, those who had been in the battle against Palkia had freely shared their own experiences during it, just to give everyone an idea of what to expect in the battle. Part of that retelling was how we were all basically thrown around like ragdolls as Palkia forcefully manipulated the space around us.

We didn’t hide the fact that we nearly died either, as we felt that it was very important to have realistic expectations going into the battle. It was better to be overprepared than to overestimate yourself and get yourself seriously hurt.

So I just smiled back, “No problem. I hope they helped. Just… brace yourself for some pain. Like I said before, the Legendaries don’t care if you’re in the line of fire. So I hope you have good pain tolerance.”

“Was it really that bad last time?” Elesa frowned.

“After I got thrown against the stone floor multiple times? My back hurt for days after the battle.” I replied seriously, “So just get ready for that.”

Elesa looked like she was about to reply, but she was interrupted as many other fliers started landing around us. Many of them were either more members of the Unova Police and Rangers, or were members of the International Police that had come to assist. Among them, many of my former colleagues and other Elite Four members had also arrived too. I spotted both Cynthia, Drake, Bruno, Steven and Lance somewhere among the crowd as well.

It wasn’t hard to recognise their signature Pokémon.

But we didn’t get a chance to greet each other as a massive thundercloud suddenly appeared in the sky above us, causing the sky to instantly darken. The sky crackled and thundered with electricity, and I felt every hair on my body stand on their ends.

And, as if to signal its grand entrance, an enormous wall of electricity was instantly erected around the entirety of Castelia City, trapping us within the tremendous barrier of lightning.

All around me, I saw trainers unconsciously flinching as their bodies screamed at them to run away, with many of them unknowingly taking a step back as a sense of primal fear started to consume them.

However, I had been through this once already. So instead of flinching, I rushed forwards towards Zekrom with my Pokémon and Regigigas by my side.

But then my instincts suddenly screamed out at me. And I looked up with grim realisation as I watched a horrifying tsunami of electricity wash over the entirety of Castelia City – electrocuting all in its wake. Buildings, telephone poles, and our very own bodies – nothing was spared.

Fortunately, Registeel appeared right in front of me and took the hit for me, absorbing all of that electricity into itself while remaining mostly unaffected.

My peers were less lucky. Some of their Pokémon were quick enough to tank the blow for their trainers, although their protection came at a great cost as Zekrom’s attack ripped straight through and all Protect shields, which practically guaranteed a paralysis on any Pokémon that was hit.

And for those who weren’t protected by their Pokémon, they all collapsed to the ground as their bodies were painfully overloaded by the enormous surge of electricity – their rubber suits doing little to help insulate them.

Luckily, the electricity didn’t linger for too long as Regigigas’ ‘insulators’ proved their worth and absorbed all of the excess lightning, preventing the ground from remaining electrocuted.

However, that one opening attack from Zekrom had been eye-opening for many. In just one move, Zekrom proved that it was capable of wiping out our entire army’s worth of trainers and Pokémon with utter ease. For those that never fought against Palkia and seen the power of the Legendary of Space for themselves, Zekrom’s power looked all but unbeatable.

But for me, I was actually a little relieved. I was worried that Zekrom would have some esoteric powers that would affect our ability to fight back, much like how Palkia warped space and held us back from counterattacking. Zekrom was still incredibly destructive, but at least it was the kind of destructiveness that remained understandable.

Nevertheless, as the first tidal wave of electricity receded away, the army of Nurse Joys and their accompanying Blissey, Chansey, and Audino all sprinted into action. Potions and Full Heals were rapidly applied as they worked to counteract the effect of Zekrom’s attack and free the Pokémon from their Paralysis.

In the meanwhile, our own counterattack begun. From almost every direction within Castelia, every sort of attack imaginable all bombarded Zekrom’s position in the air. It was like we had unleashed multiple’s artilleries worth of attacks. There was no thought or reasoning behind our attacks. Everyone just threw out their most powerful attacks in Zekrom’s general direction.

Ice Beams, Dragon Pulses, Stone Edges, Moonblasts, Dazzling Gleams, Fire Blasts, Psychics, Shadow Balls – it didn’t matter if the attack was supereffective or not, they were still sent Zekrom’s way. With all of us boosted to the max with the setup moves that we did, we were demonstrating to Zekrom that we were not just some meek Mareep waiting to be slaughtered – we were willing to fight!

At the same time, multiple Helping Hand boosts were set up, while Light Screens and Reflect shields covered almost everyone in the city.

However, taking down Zekrom would not be so easy. Most of our attacks bounced off a massive shield of electricity that Zekrom had wrapped around itself, and it looked like we were barely making a dent in it since Zekrom kept repairing it by absorbing the lingering Electric energies from its surrounding.

Worse, Zekrom wasn’t content remaining on the defensive. It let out another ferocious roar to the skies, causing a storm of devastating Thunderbolts to come raining down like electric artillery shells from above.

But before they could hit their targets, Registeel suddenly exploded with power as it became surrounded by a glowing, silvery aura. The ground around it began to rapidly metallicize as it flared out its Steel aura as much as possible before launching itself high into the air, and right into the path of the incoming Thunderbolts.

Registeel had transformed itself into a walking lightning rod, causing the many bolts of lightning to be redirected into its metallic body, sparing many of the nearby buildings from a grisly fate. Furthermore, Regirock had latched onto Registeel as well, and used its own body to help dissipate the buildup of electricity before it could overwhelm Registeel.

Meanwhile, Regice remained in the air and fired off massive chunks of Ice towards Zekrom, threatening to penetrate through its electric shield and completely freeze it over. So far, with Zekrom out of reach in the air, Regice was actually our most offensive attacker in this fight.

However, even with that, it still wasn’t enough to fully blunt Zekrom’s offensive. Registeel could only absorb so much electricity, so for the areas where it couldn’t protect, enormous spears of pure blue lightning ripped right through entire buildings, apartments, and skyscrapers – towering behemoths of pure steel – like scissors shearing through paper.

In a matter of seconds, large portions of the once beautiful city had been turning into a smouldering and electrified ruin by the destructive powers of Zekrom. And there was nothing we could do about it.

Yet in its mindless destruction, it failed to notice that our attacks were merely a distraction to buy time for Regigigas and the Regi trio to get in close. Zekrom didn’t even see them coming before an almighty Giga Impact smashed right into it.

A deafening explosion rippled out across the city from the force of the impact alone – the swarm of dark clouds that had been hovering above the battlefield were completely split in half, almost like they were running away in fear of Regigigas’ sheer might. The city wasn’t spared either, as windows and glass fences were all shattered from the resulting shockwave, while traffic signs and lights were thrown around randomly. It was like the city had been devastated by an Earthquake.

This was our true reply to Zekrom’s power. It’s blue electricity might look cool and all, but I had still not seen anything that could match the pure physical power of Regigigas’ fist.

Before it could fire back, Regigigas slammed another fist into Zekrom’s face, ripping apart the electric shield that it had surrounded itself with and causing it to fall out of the sky. The instant that it did, all three of the other Regis rushed forwards as they threw themselves onto Zekrom and Exploded at point-blank range.

Something akin to a pained growl came out of Zekrom’s mouth – the first sign of injury that I had seen on it since the battle had first started.

However, it was then I had realised something even more important.

Unlike Cyrus, who had been protected by Palkia by having the Legendary of Space place him in a different dimension from us – therefore making him immune to our attacks – N had been riding on top of Zekrom while being protected by another thick shield of lightning and had been actively giving it commands during the battle.

However, because of that, the triple detonations of point-blank Explosions right on top of Zekrom pierced right through whatever protections Zekrom had given him, and caused N to be launched away from his Legendary mount.

And he was now flying through the air like a limp ragdoll.

I wasn’t the only person to spot this either, and without any hesitation, someone sniped him out of the air with a precise Ice Beam, turning N into a frozen statue before a Thunderbolt ripped right through him.

Seconds later, I heard a radio announcement that N was confirmed deceased.

…I momentarily stopped what I was doing as I failed to comprehend those words. I almost didn’t believe what I was hearing.

I didn’t have many interactions in person with N, but I knew that his fate in canon was not as grim as this. In canon, he was allowed to live and become a better person. And in truth, he was an innocent and talented boy, who had been subjected to the manipulations of Ghetsis, leading to his beautiful ideals being twisted into something far more nefarious. But at his core, I knew he could be redeemed.

He didn’t deserve to be put down so unceremoniously like this – as if he was nothing more than yet another villain. And I felt a wave of sadness flood into me at that realisation.

However, I didn’t blame or begrudge whoever landed the final blow, as it would be completely hypocritical for me to do so. I understood that right now, N was the enemy. He was the controller of Zekrom, and had just launched an attack that had already devastated most of Castelia City. If not dealt with, he would grow (and already was) a region-wide threat. Taking him down was perhaps ruthless, but it was undoubtedly the right thing to do since it could mean that the fight could end right then and there. Without a controller and the person who awakened it, Zekrom might not continue fighting. So I couldn’t blame them for taking this chance.

I just regretted that it had to come to this, because I knew that this could have all been avoided had things been a little different.

But before I could think too much on the topic, a deafening and ear-shatteringly loud ROAR blasted through the entire battlefield.

“BAZZAZZAZASH!!!”

I was forced to the ground as I began to bleed out of my ears from the sheer volume of Zekrom’s roar. And as I eventually recovered and managed to look up, I watched with growing horror as Zekrom’s tail started to glow a brighter and brighter blue.

Worse, the storm clouds above us began to change colour. Before, they were dark like your typical thunderstorm, but now they too began to take on an ominous blue glow.

Oh shit. I was pretty sure that taking out its summoner just pissed it off.

My thoughts were immediately proved right as a massive blue orb of crackling electricity suddenly formed in the air, growing bigger and bigger for each second that passed, until it grew to be almost as large as an entire street.

My mind finally realised what I was looking at. A Fusion Bolt was coming.

“REGISTEEL!” I shouted out desperately, hoping that it could understand what I wanted it to do. Luckily, as if it could read my mind, Registeel had managed to quickly reform itself after its previous Explosion and threw itself right into the centre of the Bolt Strike after wrapping itself with a Protect shield.

The instant that Registeel came into contact with the growing Fusion Bolt, it triggered a detonation that sent a massive amount of electricity flying everywhere, which overloaded almost every electronic device in the area and sent us all sprawling to the ground as our muscles all painfully twitched with electricity.

Radios? Walkie-talkies? Earpieces? Phones? Computers? Healing pods? Everything was wiped out. The Fusion Bolt spared nothing, and Castelia City suffered for it.

And even then, I knew that this result was already far tamer than it could have been if not for Registeel.

However, Regigigas had not been standing about idly while we were doing this, and it had shrugged off the enormous electric attack as it took advantage of Zekrom’s distracted state to sneak up on it and smash into the back of it with another devastating Giga Impact. Zekrom tried to retaliate with a Dragon Claw, but Regigigas clamped its arms around Zekrom’s neck and brutally threw it down into the ground.

Meanwhile, my own Pokémon had managed to heal themselves off from the paralysis thanks to repeated Heal Bells from Klee, and were topped up with Life Dews from my other supporters. Meaning that they were roaring to get back into the fight.

Tyrant took the lead as he always did, and he was the first to reach Zekrom’s fallen form as he slammed down with a Helping Hand boosted Play Rough that sent Zekrom stumbling forwards.

All of our other Pokémon were quick to follow suit. Vordt followed it up by mercilessly smashing into its side with a Headlong Rush. Drake’s Salamence and Lance’s Emperor quickly did the same with a pair of powerful Outrage-boosted Dragon Rushes that slammed in from the other side.

Zekrom tried to retaliate with a Dragon Claw of its own, but that was interrupted by an enormous volley of Psychics from Lucian’s and Will’s Pokémon – causing Zekrom to flinch for a brief moment before Regice blasted it with another freezing Ice Beam from above. Taking advantage of the chaos, Cynthia’s Lucario and Garchomp erupted out of the ground as they ambushed Zekrom with a Dig into point-blank Earthquake combo – before retreating away as Bertha’s Hippowdon tanked the incoming Thunderbolt for them.

Not wanting to be left out, Bruno’s Annihilape – who had just been tanking hits for the entire battle – appeared like a spectre of violence as it threw itself around Zekrom’s neck as it began to pummel it with its massively powered-up Rage Fists. Zekrom managed to force it away by exploding outwards with a massive wave of electricity, but a volley of Dragon Pulses and Ice Beams from Drayden and Lorelei respectively blasted it in the face for its efforts.

All the while, the Nurse Joys were working overtime as they extracted any Pokémon that were wounded and were rapidly applying as many healing items as possible onto them, ensuring that they could stay in the fight for as long as possible.

Any time a Pokémon got injured, they were literally doused with Life Dews and Heal Pulses before being sent back into the battle after a quick checkup.

We were like a well-oiled machine as the battle continued in this fashion. And with the addition of the immense strength of Regigigas and the Regi Trio, Zekrom was completely suppressed in this battle. That single Fusion Strike that it tried at the beginning was the only major attack that it could really get off, because now it was forced to make use of quicker but weaker counterattacks just to try to make some space for itself.

Which just gave our Pokémon the opportunity to continue blasting and pummelling it with everything they had. Although each one of our attacks might not do all that much damage, but combined, the damage was starting to really rack up.

This was the difference between this fight and our fight against Palkia. With Palkia, we only had a certain number of trainers in the battle to fight against us. Our number advantage was not nearly as overwhelming as this. However, in this battle, we literally had hundreds of trainers and their Pokémon all attacking at the same time. We were not a squad, but a small army. And Legendary or not, it was starting to feel the pain.

Zekrom was being completely outmatched.

…At least until it reminded everyone why it was the Legendary of Ideals.

As suddenly, even as took a Mega Punch from Regigigas to the chest, Zekrom still managed to let out a strange roar that echoed through the air.

But unlike last time, where its roar was nothing more than a straightforward display of power, I knew immediately that this roar was different, because I instantly found myself losing control of my body as my eyes began to glaze over.

The battlefield in front of me rapidly began to disappear.

The destructive horrors of our battle against Zekrom faded into nothing.

The slight tingling sensation I felt throughout my whole body from the pain of being repeatedly electrocuted went away.

And instead, all of this was replaced by a beautiful dream.

All around me, all I could see were the sounds and sights of Pokémon playing happily in the ruins of Castelia City. But Castelia City was not in ruins due to a battle, but instead, it merely looked like it had been abandoned for decades as vegetation had grown over everything.

Furthermore, amidst these very ruins, all sorts of Pokémon could be seen living harmoniously with each other. No matter where I looked, all I could see was the happiness on the faces of all of the Pokémon.

The cheerful chirping of the Pidove. The adorable flapping of Cottonee’s wings. The playful antics of the Timburr. Everything that I saw just radiated a sense of pure and idyllic happiness.

And in the centre of it all was N, surrounded by all of these friendly Pokémon as he cheerfully talked with each and every one of them. Behind him were the Seven Sages, including Ghetsis, as they smiled on with pride and joy as they watched N play around with these Pokémon. Besides myself, they were the only humans here – and it just felt so right.

…It was so beautiful. Why would I ever want to leave such a paradise? Why would I ever want a world that didn’t look like this? From the moment I saw this vision, I knew that this was the world I wanted to create.

I wanted to live in this dream. I wanted to live in this ideal world. I wanted to experience this happiness for myself—

“GIGAS!!”

I was forcefully ripped out from this vision as Regigigas’ roar echoed through my head, causing me to collapse to the ground as my legs gave out from underneath me.

My mind raged with a massive headache, and I let out heaving breaths as I tried to recover from whatever that was. Before I could stop myself, the contents of my stomach evicted themselves from my mouth as I threw up onto the ground.

I could barely think straight as the headache threatened to overwhelm me. Fortunately, the pain receded quickly, and as I regained my ability to actually think, I realised with horror what Zekrom had done to us.

I had no idea that Zekrom was able to mess with our minds like this. It was not something it had ever displayed in either the games or anime. All that it demonstrated there was its incredible Electric powers. Not something as esoteric and as abstract as this.

Now that I could think straight and was free from its influence, I could tell that I had seen a vision of N’s ideals – what he imagined and hoped the world could be. That was why the Sages were there and no one else was, as he likely didn’t have any other human contact outside of them.

It had been a beautiful world, a place of utter peace and harmony, and a small part of me wanted to return to that false ideal – to lose myself in that vision once more. Even though I knew that it wasn’t real, that it had been no more than a projection of a dead man’s dream, it had a way of drawing you back in. And if it wasn’t for my connection to Regigigas pulling me out, I might have allowed it to do so.

This was Zekrom’s true power, and why it was known as the Legendary of Ideals. It wasn’t exactly mind control, it just showed you a vision of the ideals of its awakener and ‘persuaded’ you to willingly stand down – to embrace their ideals as your own.

That didn’t make it any less terrifying to deal with. Losing control of one’s own bodily autonomy was never something that could just be shrugged off.

And as I looked around, I realised that I was not the only one affected by Zekrom’s power. All around me, our once unified army of trainers and their Pokémon were now afflicted by the same condition that I was just in. Except, without their connection to Regigigas, they weren’t able to break free from this false vision as I was.

They were all just standing there with their eyes completely glazed over. I tried calling out to a few of them, but I wasn’t even able to garner even the slightest reaction from them.

They were completely lost in the false vision of N’s ideals. It didn’t matter if they were a Jenny, a Ranger, a Gym Leader, or a member of the Elite Four. Their personal strength meant nothing when it came to a mental attack like this.

And unlike with Palkia, where Regigigas and the Regi Trio were able to disperse the twisted areas of space around them, they couldn’t do the same with what Zekrom had just done. Probably because Palkia affected the world around us, which meant that it could be neutralised by Regigigas, while Zekrom’s seems to be a mental thing.

I suspected that only Reshiram’s flames of Truth would be able to disperse this effect. And I was only spared from it thanks to my connection to Regigigas.

So knowing that the others needed me, even though every part of my body screamed at me to rest, and my legs were almost refusing to support the rest of my weight, I forced myself off the ground and refocused myself to continue the fight.

Fortunately, thanks to the connection that I shared with my Pokémon, they were also, in turn, able to snap out of Zekrom’s false visions as well.

But it was only us. Everyone else was still trapped in Zekrom’s false visions, and unfortunately, I couldn’t think of any way of pulling them out of it.

Which meant from now on, it was just going to be me, my team, the Regi trio, and Regigigas against Zekrom.

Fuck it. If the others weren’t able to help, then I’ll do it myself.

It was time to solo a Legendary.

A.N. I spent a good bit of time thinking about and rewriting how I wanted this fight to play out, and just like with the fight against Palkia, I wanted to show off something that REALLY showed why Zekrom is considered a Legendary – besides its lightning powers. I wanted for Zekrom to be able to show off why it was known as the Legendary of Ideals, and this is what I came up with (And yes, that random scream from Zekrom is the transcript of its ingame roar).

It might seem overpowered, but just to put it into context, if Palkia wasn’t being held back by Cyrus’ false control over it, if it had truly released its true powers – the world would be gone in a blink of an eye. Zekrom cannot do this, nor can Regigigas. So while Zekrom’s ability might look quite powerful, it isn’t anything compared to the instant destruction of an entire world.

Also, I debated heavily on what I wanted to do with N. Like I said in the chapter, I actually like N, and a part of me didn’t want to kill him off like this. However, I also recognised that his survival was just not feasible given the circumstances he was in. Therefore, instead of giving him plot armour, he was unfortunately put down.

It was a decision that I’m still not sure with, but now that I’ve written it, I will stick with it and the consequences of it. Sadly, and I am sorry for this, but not everyone can get a redemption arc. Some fucked around and found out. But anyways, hope you enjoyed!