Chapter 637: Swords Meeting
~Azure S. POV~
[Unova Region, Later, Skyarrow Bridge]
*Clack-clack-clack*
Our footsteps transitioned from soft earth to the hard, resonant stone of the bridge's entrance. The Skyarrow Bridge was a marvel of modern engineering, an architectural spine uniting the wild, untamed flora of the north with the humming, steel-and-glass titan of Castelia City.
Huge white suspension cables reached toward the clouds like the ribs of some ancient, fossilized leviathan, and the road stretched out over the glittering expanse of water for miles. White whispered, her breath hitching, "Whoa…"
Her eyes were shining as she looked out at the horizon where the sun was finally cresting the jagged skyline of the metropolis. The morning light painted the sky in sweeping hues of burnt orange, violet, and pale gold—colors that vividly reminded me of the majestic, sorrowful creature I had just set free not an hour ago.
Black shouted, his earlier frustration, confusion, and exhaustion completely forgotten as he sprinted ahead like a loose-limbed Tauros, planting both hands firmly on the high glass-and-steel railing. Black said excitedly, "It's huge! Look at the container ships! Look at the suspension towers! Castelia is huge!"
I walked at a decidedly slower pace, hands shoved deep into my pockets, simply enjoying the crisp, salt-tinged sea breeze. On my right shoulder, Pikachu delicately nibbled on a sweet Oran berry I'd handed him, his long ears twitching to the distant hum of city traffic as he looked out over the sparkling water with a completely content expression.
Rotom chirped loudly in an excited tone, projecting a bright, holographic map from my Arc Phone screen that hovered just above my left wrist, "Zzt! Entering Skyarrow Bridge! Distance to Castelia City: 3.5 miles! Estimated time of arrival: 45 minutes at current walking speed—zzt!"
White asked, carefully shifting her face toward me, falling back from Black's manic energy to walk beside me, "Hey, Azure?"
Her expression was softer now, far more contemplative than her usual boardroom-executive demeanor. I replied, keeping my eyes fixed on the distant skyscrapers piercing the clouds, "Yeah?"
She paused, chewing her lower lip as she asked, "Back there… when you were talking to Virizion. You didn't just release her to humiliate her, did you?"
I glanced sideways at her. White was perceptive. It was what made her a brilliant businesswoman, capable of scouting talent and managing the chaotic personalities of the BW Agency.
I said quietly, keeping my voice low enough to be swallowed by the rushing wind, "She needed to see a human who didn't want anything from her. She thinks we're all greedy. She thinks we only see Pokémon as tools, weapons, or prizes to be locked away in a PC box. By catching her in a Master Ball and then just instantly throwing it away, I showed her that her legendary status and raw power aren't the most important things in the world to me. I broke her worldview. Hopefully, it makes her think twice before aggressively ambushing the next group of wandering trainers that happens to cross into her territory."
White offered a small, appreciative smile, the wind catching the edge of her ponytail. She said, "You're a weird guy."
I muttered, "I've been called worse by better people."
Gengar added, suddenly popping up through the bridge's concrete walking path, her purple, corporeal form drifting inches above the ground and making White jump with a sharp gasp, "Kee-hee! Like 'scary'!"
Gengar cackled, her eyes gleaming with mischief, and added, "Or 'smelly'!"
I muttered, rolling my eyes, "I don't smell, Gengar."
Pikachu added, squeaking indignantly and nodding in fierce agreement with Gengar's assessment of my hygiene, "Pika-pi!"
I sighed, scratching the electric mouse behind his left ear, "Et tu, Pikachu?"
A smooth, youthful telepathic voice echoed directly in my mind, 'Pikachu is right, boss. You smell like ozone and old library books.'
Zorua trotted up beside my left leg, his midnight-blue fur rippling in the wind, his mismatched blue eyes carrying a smirk that mirrored Gengar's. I thought back, suppressing a grin, 'Keep it up, and you're walking the rest of the 3.5 miles, illusionist.'
Zorua immediately zipped his invisible lips with a phantom paw and trotted faster. We continued across the vast, echoing span of the bridge. Behind us, hidden far across the shimmering bay, the dark, silent expanse of Pinwheel Forest watched our departure. I knew a legendary protector was likely still reeling there, trying to process an encounter that had utterly defied centuries of her expectations.
The Unova region was proving to be a lot more complex and fascinating than the history books suggested. Between ancient legends brooding in forgotten forests and young dreamers building empires in towering cities, there was a raw, palpable rhythm here—a heavy pulse of cultural and ideological change.
And I was standing right in the chaotic middle of it.
I reached into my pocket and pinched the smooth, metallic cold of the Master Ball. It was empty now. I'd have to find a tech-savvy PC specialist or a Devon Corporation affiliate in Castelia to get the high-grade master circuit recalibrated or recycled.
The air here felt distinctly different from the rural quietude of Hoenn or the snow-swept plains of Sinnoh—electric, fast-paced, and filled with the deafening, beautiful noise of a million human and Pokémon lives intersecting at once. It was a far cry from the ancient, reverent silence of the deep woods, but it was precisely where we needed to be.
Hopefully Virizion isn't a sore loser and won't have her gang of Justice attack me…
Hmm…
I wouldn't mind if they did. I could use that chance to battle them to give my team some training or get some exercise for my veteran team members. But for now, I got to enjoy the view, stepping forward onto the bridge.
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~Third POV~
[Unova Region, Meanwhile, Pinwheel Forest - Rumination Field]
Deep within the heart of Pinwheel Forest, in a hidden, secluded glade where the spring water ran crystal-clear, and the air hung heavy with the scent of damp moss and crushed ferns, Virizion stood trembling.
She stared down at her Rumination Field—a sacred space of quiet meditation that had just been utterly desecrated and torn apart by the sheer kinetic violence of her brief, humiliating battle against Azure and his small electric partner.
*Crackle*
Two massive, imposing figures emerged silently from the dense, shadowing thicket. The first was a colossus of nature, possessing a heavy, rock-like hide and sweeping horns capable of shattering mountain stone—Terrakion.
The second was lithe, fierce, tall, imposing, and regal, stepping forward with a golden mane that rippled like a gathering storm cloud—Cobalion, the undisputed leader of the Swords of Justice. Cobalion observed the devastated clearing with unblinking crimson eyes.
Using telepathy, his voice resonated in the minds of his comrades like a deep, bronze bell tolling in an empty cathedral: 'She is back. But she is… different.'
Terrakion snorted, heavily sniffing the ruined air, kicking up a shower of rich black loam with a massive hoof. He spoke through the shared telepathic channel, his tone dripping with gruff suspicion: 'She smells of burnt electricity and… human. And she is alone. Where is the device? Where is the ball?'
Virizion didn't dare look up at her brothers-in-arms. Instead, she stared wretchedly at her own fractured reflection in the still, glassy surface of the forest pool. She saw the minor physical scorch marks of the battle, yes, but more than that, she saw the profound fracture in her own ego.
For the very first time in her unimaginably long, legendary life, she felt desperately small when she clashed against them. Not because she lacked physical strength—she had felled armies of poachers and broken tectonic plates in ages past—but because of a terrifying, paralyzing lack of understanding.
She whispered telepathically, her mental voice shaking with a vulnerability she had never permitted herself to feel: 'He let me go...'
Terrakion let out a sudden, explosive snort of absolute disbelief, stomping his heavy foreleg so hard that a spiderweb crack split the stone bedrock of the glade: 'He what?! No human releases a Sword of Justice! They are greedy! They are scavengers! They—'
Virizion interrupted, her voice cutting through Terrakion's fury as she slowly turned her head to face her brothers. 'He didn't want me… He said I was unremarkable. He said I was stuck blindly in the past.'
Cobalion's dark eyes narrowed into razor-thin slits. The wind died down completely in the glade, the forest holding its collective breath. Cobalion asked cautiously, 'And what of the young one? What of Keldeo?'
At the mention of their young apprentice, Virizion's eyes flashed with a startling, alien emotion—not the righteous anger of a guardian, but a raw, deeply human fear. Not fear of being captured again, but the chilling dread of being entirely replaced.
She replied in a hesitant, trembling mental tone that immediately caught both Cobalion and Terrakion's undivided attention: 'He is coming for him. He explicitly said Keldeo is the future. He said… the colt was worth the effort.'
The three legendary guardians stood frozen in absolute silence as the rush of wind whooshed past them in the thick emerald canopy. The ancient forest suddenly felt markedly colder than it had that morning.
The ideological wars of the distant past were long over, but a terrifyingly novel kind of challenge had just arrived on their secluded doorstep—a human who actively rejected their divine power, seeking not to command them, but to force them to earn his respect.
And for the proud, insular Swords of Justice, that was the most dangerous kind of human of all to ever face. Virizion added, swallowing hard as she projected a memory of the strange boy's equipment, 'That is not all. He carries a device. And within it… I sensed something else. Something sleeping.'
Terrakion cocked his massive, boulder-like head, his confusion bleeding into the mental link. He asked telepathically in a bewildered tone, 'Another legendary? Did he catch a Thundurus? A Landorus?'
*Shiver*
Virizion corrected, shuddering as a phantom chill ran down her spine, and said firmly, 'No… Neither. When I brushed against his aura, I detected the faint, dormant frequency of one of the Dragons of Unova.'
The glade fell deathly still.
Terrakion stepped back, his massive form trembling slightly as ancient, terrifying PTSD memories flared behind his eyes. He demanded in a concerned tone, 'A Dragon?!! One of the same ones that brought ruin during the Blasted Wars? The ones commanded by the twin hero-humans who tore the Moor of Icirrius apart?!!'
Cobalion demanded instantly, his mental voice dropping an octave, carrying the heavy weight of centuries of vigilance, 'Which one?' The Hero of Fire paired with the Dragon of Truth? Or the Hero of Thunder paired with the Dragon of Ideals?'
Virizion paused, desperately rummaging through the sharp sensory impressions she had gathered during the clash. She shivered lightly as she explained, 'I pondered that myself. The residual aura matched the fundamental frequencies of the Dragons of Ideals and Truth… but the containment field of the device was different. Inside that sphere, there was absolute nothingness. An absolute, bone-chilling cold that felt entirely divorced from Reshiram's fire or Zekrom's thunder.'
*THUD—RUMBLE*
Terrakion shook his head violently, kicking up dirt. He exclaimed defiantly, 'That is impossible! The legends of the old world are absolute! There were only ever two Dragons born from the Original Dragon—the Light and the Dark! Having a third aura that matches them defies the natural order of Unova!'
Cobalion countered softly, his gaze fixed on the northern sky where the distant glow of Castelia City shone through the field, 'It is not impossible. Think back to the oldest texts, Terrakion. The Original Dragon was indeed a single, unified deity once upon a time. When the twin brothers fought and split the world, the dragon split into two... but it is no great mythological stretch to theorize that a third fragment could have splintered away from the core—a residual shell left behind in the ice.'
Terrakion and Virizion both winced at the implication.
Cobalion sighed, a heavy, world-weary sound that rustled the canopy above. He continued in a firm tone, 'We already knew they are all tremendously powerful entities, relentlessly hunted by mortals for their destructive potential. But for a human to casually capture one—and then release a Sword of Justice just to teach a lesson? It defies every law of nature we have ever fought to protect.'
Terrakion gritted his teeth, the stone of his jaw grinding audibly. He stated in a determined tone with a resolute expression, 'It changes nothing. Regardless of his arrogance, he is hunting Keldeo. An apprentice cannot be left unprotected against a threat like this. It cannot go unpunished.'
*THUD*
Terrakion declared boldly, stepping forward with a heavy thud: 'I will hunt him next. I will crush this human under my hooves!'
Virizion warned instantly, her voice tinged with genuine panic, 'Be exceedingly careful, Terrakion. Do not underestimate his companions. His strongest asset… a simple rodent, a Pikachu… completely outpaced me in speed and raw agility to such a terrifying degree that I could not even mount a counter-attack once it unleashed its full power.'
Cobalion listened intently, his expression grim, though a flicker of tactical caution danced in his red eyes. After a long, agonizing pause, the leader made his decision. Cobalion commanded firmly, 'Terrakion, you have my leave to track them. But you will observe before you strike. Gather intelligence. Do not rush blindly into a trap.'
Then, turning his gaze to the injured Virizion. He commanded her in a firm tone, 'Virizion, you will retreat deeper into the sanctuary. Rest and recover your strength in case Terrakion is captured or falls.'
Both legendary guardians dipped their heads in grim agreement. But as Virizion attempted to shift her weight, she flinched violently. Despite the miraculous, soothing warmth of the healing aura left behind by the pink-coated human medic-Pokémon—an Audino—her bruised muscles still demanded time to truly mend.
As his companions settled into the shadows to heal, Cobalion stood alone at the edge of the clearing, staring up at the moon. He pondered deeply what this catastrophic new variable meant for Unova: 'Another Dragon awakening? Humans warring over ideals once more?'
*Click*
He clicked his tongue in a mental gesture of profound disgust, feeling no surprise whatsoever at the endless, cyclical folly of mankind. Humans were creatures of perpetual division, inherently built on the tragic principle of rejecting one another.
Cobalion thought bitterly, his crimson eyes flashing in the dark, 'Tch. Another useless battle between Truth and Ideals with a new dragon on board. Just like those villains of Fire and Thunder. And that is precisely why humans are so utterly, dangerously horrible.'
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A/N: Hope you like the chapter!