Pokemon - From the Brink

Chapter 48 - Shield Song

After that intense ordeal, everyone was exhausted – and rightfully so. When everything was said and done, it was a miracle that nobody on our side had met their end in the scuffle. Though Gabi almost fell to gunfire and Kai barely managed to escape Bedlam's clutches, nobody was seriously injured. In truth, it was the military force who had come that suffered the real losses, being out in the open when everything went down. They must have lost a great number of men – at least three quarters of the soldiers who arrived didn't leave.

On the other hand, though, the invasion had forced out three more legendary Pokemon in Zacian, Ho-oh and Zeraora. That brought our total up to 8, with Victor, Gabi and Chloe now possessing unique bonds with powerful creatures. Not to mention, Shu-ling and Shaymin had now awakened their true power, and that took us up to 9 people capable of summoning a legendary Pokemon at will.

It was that evening that Janus reminded us of the Fable of the Guardians, once again pointing out that this number was now about parallel with the heroes of the past. The dawn of early man called for 3 or 4 people who bonded with Pokemon to stop a catastrophe, and then the Great War took 7 or 8, so the theories suggest.

We were at 9, so if anything, we knew that the threat posed by Bedlam was at least equal to the destruction of the Great War 3,000 years ago – but it was likely that this was even more dire.

It was now, as we all stood in Megan's office, that the reality of it began to set in.

*

"It truly in incredible..." Janus smiled in wonder at us.

The table in the centre of the room had been pushed aside, and the 9 of us who had bonded with legendary or mythical Pokemon were standing with our companions.

Me and Azelf, Kiria and Meloetta, Midorima and Uxie, Caleb and Terrakion, Hikaru and Virizion, Shu and Shaymin, Victor and Zacian, Gabi and Ho-oh, and finally, Chloe and Zeraora.

Seeing all these incredible Pokemon all together at once was amazing in itself – you could tell that the sheer might and majesty of Pokemon like Terrakion and Ho-oh were barely able to fit in the room at all.

"Let me guess-" Caleb folded his arms. "Even with all this, it's not enough."

"Well..." Janus looked everyone over.

"That is correct." Uxie answered.

"Wow, couldn't even put it lightly, huh?" Chloe glanced over.

"It's the truth." Midorima sighed. "Which is honestly terrifying to admit, looking at us..."

"Nine isn't enough?" Xene looked at Jordan's uncle.

"I'm afraid not." Janus shook his head. "The power that radiates from you all – it's astonishing, to be sure, but..."

"Bedlam radiates something stronger." Kudou said.

"...Yes..."

"We're running out of time." Kiria spoke up.

"How would we even know if we were strong enough anyway?" Victor asked, making use of his voice that had come back to him.

"It's almost impossible to tell, considering that Bedlam itself grows stronger with each conflict it witnesses." Janus rubbed his forehead. "If only we had this kind of strength back when it first attacked the stadium that day, we could have wiped it out entirely..."

"There's no point in lamenting what's past." Azelf said.

"Unless someone here wants to bond with a Pokemon that can go through time?" Hikaru looked around at the others.