The New Normal - 18-6

The New Normal – 18-6 – Solo Raid

As much as I wanted to charge in, I knew that there was something else I had to handle first. With my allies now all completely incapable of defending themselves, I couldn’t leave them like this, where they were still at such great risk of further injury.

Therefore, I quickly gave out orders to Klaus, Klee, and Luna to start Teleporting as many of them out of the line of fire as possible. There was still a massive electric barrier that surrounded the entirety of Castelia City, but I could at least have my Pokémon bring them to a safer place beforehand.

But even still, I knew I wouldn’t be able to rescue them all, and definitely not quickly. Even with the combined abilities of my Elite-level Pokémon, trying to evacuate so many individuals and their Pokémon all at the same time was a herculean task. Doing this also deprived me of some of my best support Pokémon in the fight against Zekrom.

Yet I still needed to at least try, because my conscience wouldn’t just allow me to ignore them and leave them where they were.

So after giving out the orders, I finally turned my attention back to Zekrom – who had been staring down at me with what seemed like eyes filled with curiosity. It was as if it was questioning how I remained unaffected by its power.

However, I also recognized that behind that curiosity was a burning and furious rage caused by the loss of its awakener. I knew it in my gut the termination of its connection with N was what triggered it to making use of its full power – N’s control over it had actually held it back at first.

But there was no time for regrets now. It was time to fight.

“FORWARDS! FIGHT WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH!”

Fittingly, it wasn’t Regigigas or any of the Regi Trio that charged in first, but Tyrant himself. He launched himself forwards, leaping through the air as he jumped over a massive shockwave that washed over the ground, and used a Protect shield to partially block against another Thunderbolt before delivering an almighty Hammer Arm right into Zekrom’s face. Thanks to Tyrant already being fully buffed up, Zekrom once again stumbled backwards from the blow.

While all this was happening, I took flight on top of Zephyr, who had been staying back and buffing up the team with a fresh Tailwind. Similarly, Pixel flew next to us as it transformed itself into a Ground type and was blasting out repeated Tri-Attacks against Zekrom.

Not willing to be left behind, Regigigas followed up next with a massive Mega Punch that put Zekrom into the ground. Then, with their powers combined, a trio consisting of Vordt, Smough, and Regirock all unleashed a combined Earthquake + Stone Edge combo directly onto the fallen Zekrom. The powerful explosive tremors actually threw Zekrom into the sky, and it was less than a second away from being sniped in the air with an Ice Beam from Regice when it suddenly detonated with electricity.

Massive tendrils of blue electricity started flying everywhere, completely destroying everything that it touched. My Pokémon were instantly forced to take cover, as none wanted to take the risk of getting hit by any attack from a Legendary.

However, my slower Pokémon, such as Vordt and Smough, were unable to dodge out of the way in time and were brutally overloaded with electricity. Even though Vordt was supposed to be immune to Electric attacks, that immunity didn’t matter at all as Zekrom’s blue electricity fully paralysed both him and Smough and sent them collapsing to the ground in a twitching pile of limbs.

Similarly, the Regi Trio had not bothered to dodge either, and all three of them were hit by the blue bolts of Thunder. All three of them instantly shut down as well, as their golem bodies became fully paralysed too.

Zekrom immediately took advantage of our retreat by encasing itself in a blindingly blue draconic aura and charged forwards right into the middle of my team. Ornstein dashed forwards in a valiant attempt to try to block and parry the attack with an Obstruct, but Zekrom shot out another bolt of Thunder that forced Ornstein back.

Leaving Zekrom free to rush towards its intended target – Tyrant.

Many Pokémon, when they saw an enraged Legendary charging their way with a powerful attack, would likely scream and panic. They would be engulfed in fear, and abandon their previous training out of pure desperation. It was more than understandable, as the common Pokémon wasn’t ever expected to fight against a Legendary.

But not Tyrant. Tyrant was built different.

So when he realised that he was Zekrom’s target, all he did was let out a determined grunt as he crossed his arms defensively and braced himself for the attack.

The Protect shield that he threw up was instantly shattered by Zekrom, and Tyrant let out a growl of pain as Zekrom ferociously smashed into him with a devastating Dragon Rush. Even though I was a small distance away, I felt every bone in Tyrant’s arms shatter as he did all that he could to defend against the attack. His knees buckled as he forced himself to remain grounded – to not lose grip on the ground and be launched backwards by the impact.

This was the single, most powerful attack that Tyrant had ever had to endure against. Even when we had fought against Palkia, Tyrant was never in such a position where he had to take the full brunt of a Legendary’s attack.

So this was the moment when all of his previous training, all of his strength and endurance, was put to the test. Did he have the strength to actually withstand a real, unshielded hit from a Legendary? Would his determination be enough to hold his ground?

And Tyrant, as always, was up to the challenge. Even though he was pushed to the limit, the fierce and bloodthirsty smile never left his face. Channelling every last bit of willpower and fighting spirit that he had, even as every bone in his arms were crushed and broken, he did not break. He did not bow.

He held the line.

Because Tyrant never lost to anyone. Not even a Legendary!

And then, even as his body screamed in pain – Tyrant let out a savage roar, hiding his pain behind his typical veneer of strength. His eyes were mocking, as if he was taunting Zekrom for not being strong enough.

Better yet, he was now utterly glowing with power as he had converted all that stored energy into a Counter.

“SLAKINGGG!!!”

With a roar that shook the skies, Tyrant valiantly ignored his own injures as he rocketed forwards with his broken fist glowing brightly.

But it did not glow merely because of the power behind it.

It glowed because it contained the full and complete fighting spirit of a Pokémon that had already fought against Legends, and was now determined to match them in strength.

It glowed because it was the representation of Tyrant’s willpower – the desire to never lose a battle, no matter how strong the opponent.

It glowed because he demanded Zekrom to yield to his strength.

And that glowing fist violently smashed into Zekrom’s face, forcing the Legendary into the ground as a deafening sonic boom exploded out from the point of impact. The resulting shockwave caused a deep, V-shaped trench to be ripped out from behind Zekrom, completely destroying multiple streets in its wake.

Even with his arms both shattered and broken, it was the single most powerful blow that he had ever thrown in his life. And I knew right then and that this blow was almost as powerful in strength to Regigigas’ Giga Impact.

Tyrant had actually done it. Even if only for a single blow, he had actually matched a Legendary in strength.

So even though Tyrant collapsed soon after from the sheer extent of his injuries, he did so with a proud and satisfied smile on his face. For he had achieved something that would likely never be beaten for the rest of my lifetime.

Even if there might not be anyone recording this battle, Tyrant had proven to the world itself something that we had all thought was impossible.

He had shown the world that it was possible for a non-Legendary Pokémon to match a Legendary blow-for-blow.

Watching that nearly brought a tear to my eye. For I knew full well how much that meant to Tyrant.

But I couldn’t be distracted for long, because now that Zekrom had fallen to the ground, now was the time to pile on the attacks.

Regigigas, seemingly not wanting to be overshadowed, rushed forwards and delivered a crushing Stomp that smashed Zekrom further into the ground. The Legendary of Ideals tried to fire off a blast of blue Thunder at Regigigas, but the electricity merely bounced off the Legendary Titan.

A ‘weak’ attack like that wasn’t even worth defending against for Regigigas, who continued to brutally pound Zekrom into the ground.

That was something that I had noticed about Regigigas. Unlike Zekrom and Palkia, it didn’t have some kind of ‘special move’ that could instantly change the course of the fight. It didn’t have some esoteric power to make you lose yourself in an ‘Ideal’, nor could it warp space like it was putty. So in that sense, Regigigas lacked the raw destructive potential that the other two had.

However, the Legendary Titan made up for this by being all but unbeatable in a fist-to-fist fight. Its endurance and raw strength were second to none, even amongst Legendaries. That was why Zekrom, for all of its electrical power, was completely suppressed by Regigigas now that it was pinned to the ground like this.

And that wasn’t even including the assistance that Regigagas got from the Regi Trio or my own Pokémon.

I found it only fitting that Regigigas fought so much like Tyrant did.

The fight proceeded like this for some time. Now that Zekrom was visibly injured, it wasn’t nearly as aggressive as it used to be. As a result, my Pokémon fell back to taking on more supportive roles, as they focused on supporting the Regis while they did most of the damage.

Even for my bruisers, or at least the ones that were still in the fight, it just wasn’t worth getting in close to land a hit on Zekrom when that ran the risk of interrupting a much more powerful attack from Regigigas.

It was slightly unfortunate that they couldn’t get their ‘moment’ like Tyrant did, but they understood that it was not the time for ego and pride. Even with Zekrom suppressed like this, one single misstep could easily make things go wrong.

And just as I was thinking that, Zekrom let out another ear-splitting shriek that immediately caused me to stumble as my eyes momentarily glazed over. Simultaneously, it released out a massive burst of radiant electricity that shot straight towards Regigigas.

For a millisecond, I saw images of that false utopia flash through my eyes before I quickly snapped back to reality.

I growled; Zekrom had tried to control me again. But it had failed.

However, my Pokémon were also momentarily affected by that power too, and in that moment, they had stopped their attacks. Furthermore, Regigigas was completely speared through by that massive blue bolt of lightning, momentarily forcing it back as the attack was too powerful for it to simply shrug it off.

Zekrom quickly made use of that small window of opportunity to blitz up into the air, rapidly making distance from the Legendary Titan.

It was visibly wounded, with a litany of marks scarring its once-pristine black exterior. However, its eyes still blazed with determination – and the desire to see its awakener’s Ideals through to the very end – as it let out a roar of power so loud that it reached Arceus itself.

“ROOOOOMMMM!!”

An enormous orb of blindingly blue energy formed above its head – that crackled and burned with power. The sky itself quickly turned blurry from the sheer amount of Legendary power radiating out of it, which only increased as the orb grew bigger and bigger in size.

Almost as if the orb contained the full power of Zekrom itself – an almighty combination of both of its full Dragon and Electric power.

The sky, which had already been turned blue and black from Zekrom’s earlier attacks, were now all cleared away as Zekrom ripped out all of the electricity from within them. The same went for every single electronic device or machine in the vicinity – they were all absorbed by Zekrom in a demonstration of its total control over electricity.

My Pokémon tried to interrupt the attack with everything they could, but their attacks were literally disappearing once before they could even get close to Zekrom because of that orb.

I knew it in my gut that I was not going to survive this attack, nor was anyone else in Castelia. Zekrom was done with this fight.

And this was the ultimate attack from a Legendary, something that was supposed to be able to reshape the very world itself.

This was a natural disaster embodied in the form of an attack. And I was in the way.

My Pokémon could not block this attack. Tyrant had done his best last time, but even he wouldn’t be able to resist against something like this. And even if he could, the resulting collateral damage would instantly annihilate me regardless. Not just me, I was willing to bet that this was going to destroy the majority of the southern half of Unova. The resulting devastation would turn this entire place into a completely uninhabitable wasteland in an instant.

That was the true, destructive power of a Legendary.

No, the battle had escalated to the point where my contribution as a human being could no longer affect the course of the battle. It was just like how Palkia went all out and formed a blackhole right in front of me – there was nothing I could have done to save myself.

Worse, Zekrom was doing this of its own free will. It wanted to do so because it had inherited the will of N. Morality? Loss of lives? The destruction of a good chunk of human civilisation? None of that mattered to it. Not because it was evil, or actively sought destruction, but because it likely saw this as the path to enacting N’s ideals on the world, based on N’s last intentions before he passed away.

That was what it meant to be a Legendary – to them, only its concept mattered.

However, despite the incoming meteor of unrivalled destruction coming my way, I knew that there was one Pokémon willing to step up to save the day. One Pokémon that I knew I could rely on to save humanity whenever they were needed. One Pokémon that could defend against this attack.

“REGIGIGAS! PROTECT US ALL!”

The Legendary Titan stepped up to the plate, with both arms extended as if it was holding up an invisible shield. But that wasn’t all, as I noticed that a mysterious swirling energy had formed around Regigigas’ hands.

I didn’t recognise what it was but had no time to think on it as the attack from Zekrom came crashing down.

My instincts as a trainer suddenly screamed at me, and I quickly recalled every one of my Pokémon back into their Pokéballs for their own protection. At the same time, Regice, Regirock, and Registeel all surrounded me and formed up multiple layers of Protect shields to protect me against the incoming orb of annihilation.

And the moment the orb came into contact with Regigigas, a blindingly bright and deafening explosion detonated out in all directions.

The entire world went white. Like a nuclear bomb had just detonated in front of me.

All of the air left my lungs as I instantly fell to my knees from the resulting shockwave, which managed to pierce through all three layers of the Regi Trio’s Protect shields. Pain pierced through every part of my body as I felt the shockwaves ravage my insides. I involuntarily let out a pained gasp for air, but found none, as if a vacuum had just been formed from the attack alone.

Fortunately, I had shut my eyes reflexively, or I might have turned blind from just how explosively bright that detonation was.

I didn’t know how long had passed as I remained on the ground, twitching in pain and desperately grasping for air, but eventually, as the pain started to fade away, I was able to pick myself off the ground as I finally managed to catch my breath.

And the sight that I saw completely stunned me.

Regigigas was there, holding back Zekrom with both of its arms. Zekrom was trying to push forwards, while still surrounded by the very orb of overwhelming draconic and electric power that it had just formed. But somehow, Regigigas didn’t even move an inch.

Instead, the Legendary Titan seemed to be draining away the energy from Zekrom’s attacks with the swirling energies around its hands.

Regigigas was siphoning away Zekrom’s power and was transforming it into something else.

Of course, Zekrom didn’t just stand there and allow it to happen, but the Legendary Titan proved why it was possessed the title as it held down Zekrom with its titanic strength. Even if Zekrom was using its full power, the moment that it got into range of Regigigas’s colossal arms, the battle had shifted back into the latter’s favour.

Better yet, Zekrom was growing weaker and weaker as time ticked on as Regigigas continued to siphon away more of its power until its hands began glowing with the distinct blue and yellow aura of Dragon and Electric power respectively.

Eventually, the once massive orb of pure, seemingly unstoppable, force of destruction had weakened down into something much more reasonable. Regigigas had fully blunted Zekrom’s assault, and now it was its turn.

“REGI!!”

Letting out a deafening roar of its own, Regigigas smashed one of its colossal fists right into Zekrom, sending it skidding back. But instead of counterattacking, Zekrom slumped to the ground, having completely exhausted itself with that one attack.

I immediately sent out my Pokémon again as I looked to capitalise on the opportunity, yet I felt a sharp warning through my connection to Regigigas that told me not to.

For the Legendary Titan wasn’t done yet.

Lifting both of its arms into the air, the energy that it had siphoned off from Zekrom began to coalesce around its arms. Even though the energy looked harmless, I knew that this was the same level of energy that just now threatened to destroy most of the southern half of Unova.

Then Regigigas slammed both of its fists into the ground, letting all of that accumulated power flow into the ground – before they began to take shape into something that caused my eyes to fully widen.

Two forms began to be moulded from that very energy. One, made from Electric energy. The other, from Dragon. Slowly, they began to take the shape of Pokémon that I very much recognised, but never would have expected to see be created like this.

And then, once Regigigas was done with its craftmanship, it was like the world had frozen for a brief moment as the two new Regis were crafted into being.

Regigigas had just created life. And its names were Regieleki and Regidrago.

The Regi trio now welcomed two new Regis to their group.

I stared in undisguised awe as I took in the forms of the two new Regis. I had always thought that Regieleki and Regidrago were something that had already been created by Regigigas, but were just left dormant in Galar. Did something change? Or was I wrong about the history?

However, now was not the time for questions. We still had a fight to finish. But with the newly created Regieleki and Regidrago, the fight had once again turned against Zekrom.

Thanks to their ability to fully manipulate Electric and Dragon energy respectively, much of Zekrom’s offensive power was neutered by them.

It was different to when Registeel served as a lightning rod to absorb its Electric attacks, because that was more of a roundabout solution since Registeel would always take damage from the resulting electric overload. Now with Regieleki and Regidrago, every attack that came out of Zekrom that matched one of their types would be redirected into them.

Zekrom had even tried to make use of another Fusion Bolt, only for most of the gathered electricity to be ripped away and reabsorbed back into Regieleki – turning the once powerful attack into nothing more than a regular Wild Charge. Powerful enough to really hurt a regular Pokémon, but not nearly enough to put a dent in something like Regigigas. Likewise, the same happened whenever it tried to make use of any Dragon attacks, as Regidrago just did the same.

It was almost unfair how neutralised Zekrom had become. And Regigigas was proving that it could do much more than just brute strength.

At the same time, attacks from the other Regis and my own Pokémon kept on coming. Because of this, Zekrom was never given a chance to recover as we bombarded it with a myriad of different attacks. Not only that, but with so much of its offensive power now stripped away from it, and with it already so injured and tired, my own bruisers were more willing to get in close and land big hits on the distracted Zekrom.

Even the Pokémon that I had previously sent to help Teleport the others back to safety had now returned, and had joined in on the fighting.

But of course, Regigigas was the star of the show. With every swing of its titanic fists, it devastated the already-injured Zekrom with an unstoppable barrage of punches. Despite having just created Regieleki and Regidrago, Regigigas hardly even seem winded, and each of its strikes were backed up by the same immense level of power that it always had.

At this point, I realised that the fight was won. We were no longer in a fight for the continued survival of Unova, for Zekrom no longer posed a threat anymore as Regigigas dominated over it.

The once-unstoppable Legendary of Ideals had been badly beaten, and had been drained of almost all of its energy.

Somehow, we had successfully tired out a Legendary Pokémon.

And then, a final Ice Punch shattered Zekrom’s chin, knocking the Legendary of Ideals straight to the ground.

Its eyes were closed, and the signature glowing blue light coming out from its tail went dark.

We had done it. The Legendary of Ideals had gone down.

Then the world stopped in place.

I stood there frozen. Not out of fear, but because my body wasn’t responding to me. I couldn’t even look around, as my head was forced to stay in place.

It was almost like time itself had suddenly stood still.

But then I saw it. The Legendary of Ideals began to rapidly shrink in size, and it continued to do so until it was nothing more than a small black orb. Reality quickly reasserted itself as my mobility returned to me, and now the only thing in front of me was a familiar orb – the Dark Stone.

Zekrom had returned to its dormancy once more.

And now, seeing the Dark Stone in front of me finally allowed the situation to set in.

We had won.

We had actually defeated Zekrom.

Not driven off. Not survived. We had beaten a Legendary in a fight and knocked it out.

Before I could even realise what I was doing, I was already running towards my Pokémon as I pulled as many of them as I could into a tight hug. My body was in serious pain, but I didn’t care for the moment. All that mattered was the hug, and the relief of victory.

Someone, probably me, let out a loud cheer.

WE HAD WON!

A.N. I was very excited to write another Legendary Battle, and I hope that this full battle was as satisfying as the previous one. Like I said in the previous chapter, I tried to make sure that this fight didn’t reuse the same strategies as last time, as I wanted each fight to be distinct from each other.

And surprise! Here are Regieleki and Regidrago. I had been planning on introducing both of these Regis ever since I planned out the Unova arc, and they’re finally here. I understand that both of these Regis are normally found in-game in the Split Decision Ruins in Galar. However, the lore behind that was always shaky and felt a bit contrived, and so I wanted to ‘reinterpret’ their creation and introduce them this way. Furthermore, I also felt like this was a way to showcase Regigigas’ craftmanship abilities, which are often overlooked.

As for the fight itself, I wanted to emphasise the difference between Regigigas’ strengths and Zekrom’s. Like I said in the chapter, Zekrom is more destructive because it has better area-of-effect attacks. But with Regigigas, I wanted to show why it lived up to its namesake as the Legendary Titan, so I made sure that its physical strength was superior even to other Legendaries to make up for its lack of raw destructive power. Similarly, I also wanted Tyrant to have his moment too, as I only felt that he deserved it.

I hope you enjoyed this battle. The consequences will be discussed soon – and there will be many! And no, I haven’t forgotten about Ghetsis and the others yet. They’ll show up soon!