***
Warning this contains death and dismemberment and mature content. This is a work in progress that does include Lemons. I do not own Pokemon or associated media. If you do not like the described content do not read. Also if you are under the legal age to read mature content DO NOT READ.
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Wrath of the Champion

Nicole felt herself floating in a cool yet comfortable space.

"A-Arthur?" she found herself saying. Upon mentioning her mate's name, terrible memories came flooding back to her dazed mind. The Victini clutched at her chest where the icy spear impaled her but found nothing.

"What? I-I'm a Pokemon again?" she observed. "But, where am I?"

All around Nicole was nothing but a golden mist lit with a pink light. She tried to fly around but either she wasn't moving or the space was so large that flying wouldn't be plausible. The frightened Victini then reached out with her mind scanning for any sign of life, but again nothing seemed to be within the void.

"Am, Am I dead?" Nicole squeaked. "H-hello? Can someone, anyone hear me?"

When no reply came she began to cry. "Arthur, I'm so sorry."

"It is alarming to be here, yes?" a warm gentle voice spoke into the void.

"H-hello?" the Victini sniffled. "I'm lost, I don't know where I am."

"You are here, in between," the voice answered.

"Am I dead?"

"In a form yes, should your mate fail."

"Fails?" she asked. Before her a great white and gold horse formed from the mist, "Who are you?"

"I am the father of your world, and those who know of me call me Arceus," the Divine Pokemon greeted.

"My lord..." Nicole gasped. "I didn't..."

"Fret not young one, I seldom appear before the eyes of mortals," the legendary soothed. "But to return to your original question, you are in a fragile state and unable to survive the journey up to Mount Coronet. Your mate must bring your power to you."

"How?"

"There are many roads before him and I cannot guess to which one he will take," Arceus answered cryptically.

"I don't understand."

"Do not worry, we have time. But tell me, what do you know of the azure flute?"
***

"Nicole please wake up," Arthur wept. "H-Helen help us."

However when the teen looked to the ghost she hung limply in the air. Jack wept alongside his trainer. He helped with her insecurities, helped her relationship with Arthur blossom, but now she was gone.

"Glaceeeeon!" he howled in sorrow. "Glace- Glaceeeeon."

The ice type paused for breath when he thought he saw a wisp of breath escape the unmoving Victini. Arthur shifted the body as he tried to once again to rock her awake.

"Glaceon," Jack urged as he pressed himself into the teen to keep him from moving; moments later he saw the ghostly wisp slip free of her lips and dance upon the frigid air.

"Jack, I'm sorry but she's gone," Arthur choked, oblivious to what the Glaceon saw. The Ice type simply ignored the trainer as he pressed his ear to the Victini's chest. He listened long and hard until he heard the very weak heartbeat of his friend.

"Glace, Glaceon!" Jack joyfully exclaimed.

"She's- She's alive?" Namiko gasped in surprise. "Jack said we must get her to the Center!"

Arthur stared at the two Pokemon in disbelief. "She's gone..."

"Glaceon," Jack offered.

"He said to check for yourself," the Lucario translated. The teen swallowed hard and carefully lifted Nicole's body to his ear. Sure enough, Arthur heard the same gentle heartbeat his Glaceon heard.

"She is alive, but it's a blizzard out there how are we going to make it back?"

"Indigo can teleport," Lupen offered.

"No, he is too weak, the mere effort would kill him," the trainer explained, the happy revelation giving him time enough to assess his situation. "No if we are to make it back, we're going to have to head back on foot."

"Glace," the Ice type nodded.

"Thank you Jack. Everyone I need you all to return except Jack," Arthur announced. With incredible care the teen slowly stood with the Victini's body. While he still hated putting her in her pokeball, he carefully touched Nicole's cherish ball to her. The ball clicked into hard stasis confirming that she was indeed still alive.

"Alright Jack, let's get out of here," the trainer beckoned. The Glaceon led the way from the Froslass's lair and into the entrance way of Acuity cave. Arthur affixed a flashing red collar to Jack's neck while he lit his last road flare. Once they were prepared for the zero visibility of the storm that raged, both trainer and Pokemon set out into the blizzard. Wind, ice and snow buffeted the pair but Arthur trusted his Glaceon to lead him back. He didn't know how Jack could see through the blizzard but he never gotten lost in the ones on the Moor.

An hour ticked by but there was no sign of the town. Arthur silently thanked the tailor of his coat as it effortlessly repelled the storm and ultimately thanked Nicole for pressuring him to get it.

"I promise I will settle down after all of this is over," he breathed.

"Glaceon!" Jack howled over the storm after another hour passed. The trainer looked up to see the corner of the Pokemon center through the blowing snow.

"Good job Jack," Arthur thanked as he used the wall to guide himself to the entrance.

"Nurse! Nurse Joy!" he called into the crowded center.

"Just a moment!" the teen heard her call over the crowded chatter. "Here you go, your Buizel only had minor frostbite."

"Nurse I need to enact legendary clause two-five-oh-one."

"Sir, I cannot grant that to anyone save for the champion or a licensed holder of a legendary, and I recall that you do not..." the nurse retorted when Arthur slammed his trainer card down onto counter.

"I need help," he seethed.

"Then I will need the legendary's ball and you can follow me," she relented with an annoyed huff. The trainer produced the Victini's cherish ball and followed after the nurse despite the outcry of anger from the other trainers needing the center's service.

"Namiko, Lupen, go help out the Chansey," Arthur placated as he summoned his Lucario and Zoroark.

"Chansey, put a patch on that Zoroark's eye before he can help," the Nurse ordered. "I don't know what happened, but I can see that your Zoroark lost his eye."

"You can see to him after you see to Nicole and Helen,"

"Nicole? As in your Girlfriend Nicole?"

"It's complicated, and I don't have a lot of time." The trainer growled. Nurse Joy's hostile mood quickly dissolved when she undid the stasis lock on the ball and released the non-responsive Victini.

"How long has she been like this?" she asked.

"A few hours, but she was in hard stasis." Arthur answered.

"Her energy is dangerously low," the nurse observed. "I'm going to see if the energizer can snap her out of this."

"Can I use your healing machine over there?" he asked as Nurse Joy carefully laid the Victini in an incubator like machine.

"Yeah sure," she replied. Arthur pulled Helen's Pokeball out of his coat pocket and clicked it into the machine. A quick diagnostic flickered onto the screen. It showed the reason why Helen fainted after she returned from the reverse world.

"Residual curse, Pain split damage, severe energy drain," the trainer listed as he read through the diagnostic. With a flip of a switch the healing coils rattled to life and poured energy into the pokeball.

"How is she doing?" he asked as the machine worked.

"She's stabilized but she hasn't woken up yet," the nurse sighed. Arthur nodded before releasing the Mismagious from her pokeball. For several moments both trainer and Pokemon merely stared at each other.

"If you two are about to fight I suggest you take it out into the snow," Nurse Joy interjected. "I don't need the added stress of you two coming to blows while I work on this patient."

"She lives?" Helen asked.

"Yes but she..."

"She does not wake," the ghost finished.

"No thanks to you, why did you let her run in there like that?" Arthur snapped.

"Arthur yelling like this will not help our situation, think for a moment before pointing fingers," Helen calmly retorted. "That was a set-up."

Arthur's eyes widened as he recalled the events in the cave.

"That Froslass singled you out and stole the sacred fire," she continued as she held up the vial of living fire.

"Why would she steal that, it has no use to her," the teen observed.

"It has use to Giratina if she succeeded in killing you."

"He would have leverage against Nicole," Arthur concluded. "But she said she didn't follow Giratina."

"I am not the only Acolyte of Giratina," Helen explained. "She was likely placed there as an expendable and deniable asset."

"So your master has been playing Nicole and I from the start?"

"He is no longer my master; the price of my failure has stripped me of my powers. I am banished from the reverse world."

"I see," Arthur huffed. "So, how do we wake her up?"

"We go to Mount Coronet and somehow carry her power back," the ghost answered.

"That's the problem. Her power is infinite and the only thing that can contain it is her," Arthur shrugged. "Living beings can carry a fraction of it for a time, but too much and you end up with this."

The trainer stripped off his glove to reveal the V shaped scar on his hand.

"Um," a squeak came from the doorway.

"Namiko, whats..." Arthur paused when a tall blue clad man stepped in behind his young Lucario. "up?"

"You know me?" the Man asked.

"I know of you, Sir Riley," the teen nodded. "I don't have to use my aura to see what you are."

"Indeed," he smiled. "Though I see what initially led me here, alas I am unable to help."

"What do you mean?"

"I sensed that Pokemon's aura was dangerously low," Riley explained. "But I thought it belonged to one I could help."

"So there is no other way you can help?" Arthur pressed.

"Wait, you are an Aura Guardian, yes?" Helen asked.

"Yes, in a matter of speaking,"

"Then you should be trained in sealing, do you have a Key stone?" the ghost pressured.

"Alas I do not, but I do know who does," the man explained. "There is a trainer that's been tangling with Team Galactic, and he's been rather successful at it too. Now I've heard that Team Galactic gathers at Mount Coronet and chances are he will be in the middle of them. He has a Key Stone."

"I see, thankfully Mount Coronet is where I must go," Arthur nodded. "Thank you, Sir Riley."

"Be careful, strange auras are collecting there," he warned. "Now I must go aid Candice."

"Yes," the teen sighed before turning his attention to his Lucario. "Namiko, I want you to go get Lupen; I have a very important mission for you both, okay?"

"Yes master Arthur," the steel type nodded timidly.

"What are you planning?" Helen asked.

"I got a feeling that Giratina will not part with my mate's power willingly," he turned. "I'm getting Aura."

The trainer quickly made his way back to the lobby where several of the trainers trapped by the blizzard still waited for their Pokemon to be healed.

"Look who thinks his Pokemon are made of solid gold," one of them sneered. Arthur simply ignored the comment as he sat down at the transfer machine and dialed for home.

"Namiko, Lupen, come here," he beckoned. "You two are going home to keep my and Aura's families safe alright?"

"What about my eye, I can't see shit with it," Lupen protested.

"My mom used to be a nurse; she will be able to help you out."

"Yes son?" the teen's mother answered, her face distorted by the long distance call on the monitor.

"Mom I need you to get Aura and my gear," Arthur relayed.

"What's going on? Where's Nicole?" she asked.

"Nicole got hurt, and I need... it's complicated and I don't have time."

"I'll get your gear, Aura!" Mrs. Kiles yelled. "My son needs you!"

The trainer's Lucario quickly joined Arthur's mother in the moniter's view still wearing an apron stained with baked goods.

"I'm sending Namiko and Lupen back, but please see to his eye when he gets there," the teen instructed.

"Alright, give me a moment to get your gear and Aura's pokeball," she nodded. The Lucario quickly pulled the apron off and turned a questioning gaze to the display.

"Nicole got hurt and Giratina set us up," Arthur seethed. "I need you to go to my room, third drawer down you'll find the key to my lock box."

Aura swallowed hard with what the teen asked for, but still she dutifully left to retrieve what was stored in the lock box. The trainer's mother soon returned with a heavy duffle bag and an old pokeball.

"Where's Aura going?" she asked as she sat the bag down onto the transporter.

"She's getting something from my room, she'll be back in a moment," he replied. True to his word his Lucario returned with a round velvet sack. Arthur's mother touched old pokeball to the steel type, returning her for the first time in many years. The transfer took only a few minutes to complete but once it was finished Arthur took both bag and ball in hand and returned to the ward which held his mate.

"Ah your back, right now she's stable so I'm going to transfer her to the intensive care ward. She'll have a twenty-four hour surveillance by the Chansey," Nurse Joy greeted as she carefully shifted the Victini to a stretcher. "But I need to get back out there so if you need anything else now is the time to ask."

"No, I don't need anything else," the trainer spoke, his voice held even to keep himself calm. He followed the nurse to an adjoining room where several Chansey monitored equipment that sustained some of the more critical Pokemon. Arthur took the time to release his starter as the Nurse tended to Nicole.

"Burr," Aura shivered. "I wasn't expecting it to be this cold."

She quickly shrugged off the cold as her attention was drawn to the comatose Victini receiving an I.V. in her tiny arm, "What happened?"

"Froslass, she was a crony of Giratina sent to kill me; Nicole intercepted one of her ice spears," Arthur explained as he set his bag down. "I tried to save her with Yoshi's mask."

"The wish backfired," Helen added. "It wasn't strong enough to replicate her power."

"I see, so how does all this connect to Giratina?" the Lucario continued.

"He was after this," the Ghost sighed as she produced the vial of living fire. "It would have been leverage against Nicole. I don't know what he was going to use her for but I know that it would not be good."

"More reason to get her power back," the teen growled. He opened the duffle bag revealing a set of old battered armor used to combat the life draining effects of Cofagrigious.

"It might not fit Arthur," Aura warned.

"I don't need it to fit," he spoke. The trainer pulled out his knife and carefully dissected the padding where underneath were several Spell Tags remained taped to the hard plastic plate.

"The armor is practically useless; It just looked cool. This was the real protection," Arthur explained as he applied the spell tags to his coat.

"Well the plating did save you from some of the scrapes you've gotten into," Aura enlightened.

"Against a god it's useless, that's why I had you grab that," he gestured to the velvet bag the Lucario held.

"Arthur, you can't be serious with this," the steel type urged.

"I don't much care for it either but I have to get Nicole's power back, and that means using whatever I have available."

"We should leave now if we are to catch that kid with the Key Stone," Helen added.

"Yeah," Arthur agreed.

"However, if we cannot catch him before... the portal opens, I will be the one to carry her power," she continued.

"We'll find him," he nodded. The teen looked back to his mate. "Go get ready, I just want to say goodbye to Nicole."

"We'll be outside," Aura soothed. Arthur knelt close to the bed and pulled his old silver Victory charm from his neck.

"You need this more than I do my love," he whispered with a kiss as he tucked the coin into her tiny hand. "And you have my word that Giratina will pay for this."

The trainer stormed from the ward back to the crowded lobby where his Pokemon waited.

"Alright, everyone return," he commanded. Arthur pushed his way through the crowd to the entrance of the Pokemon center.

"Hey!" one of the trainers snapped. "Just who do you think you are?"

The young hot blooded teen followed out into the blizzard and spun him around by his shoulder.

"You come here barking orders, cutting to the front of the line and now you're..." the boy quickly lost his bluster in the hard glare given by white clad teenager.

"Ace," Arthur spoke causing the young trainer to jump. The Flygon huffed indignantly when a particularly strong snow filled gust buffeted the group.

"Ace I need you to fly me to the summit of Mount Coronet."

"Flygon," the dragon protested.

"I know you can do it Ace, for Nicole," he sighed. The Pokemon looked around for a moment until he realized that the changed Victini was not present. The desert flyer solemnly nodded and allowed his trainer to climb onto his back. Feeling the weight of the teen the dragon took off and headed south for Mount Coronet.
***

End chapter 18
Sincerely Kolofox