Session 40, VP1

Awash in cosmic energies, our heroes readied themselves for the final battle. The air roiled around the Radiant Solgaleo- it seemed to have become a Fire type!

Both lions surged forward, & everything vanished in a flash. The trainers found themselves surrounded by static of different colors, split into halves. The fractured teams each stood against a different Solgaleo. Something about the dimensional space seemed charged, granting a benefit to one Pokemon type.

From here, the fight began in earnest. Massive attacks were volleyed back & forth. Every few seconds, the area surrounding each battlefield warped to a different color. When this happened, a different Type was powered up, & the trainers were shuffled around between their two foes.

Though the circumstances made it difficult to strategize, the parties gave no quarter. There were multiple knockouts- both people & Pokemon- but they could tell they were grating Solgaleo’s defenses down. Finally, Reinhold landed a blow that caused the Radiant Solgaleo to dissolve into the aether.

With the group now able to unite against a single foe, they poured it on even harder. Solgaleo began to lash out in a berserker rage as it was backed against the wall. Dodging under one of its swipes, Reinhold karate chopped into its jaw from the side. Several teeth went flying as the beast roared in pain.

Their foe stumbled back & forth for a few seconds in a daze. When it regained its footing, the dimensional distortion came to an end. Our heroes found themselves standing upon the South-Eastern edge of the caldera once more. Was the battle over?

Tremors began to rock Sol’s Bed, dashing their hopes immediately. Solgaleo appeared to be gathering untold amounts of fire energy within himself. In a few moments, he would erupt.

Only a few minutes remained to prepare, & the group quickly coordinated a defense. Sylvie reached out with her psychic senses to the Steelix the group had released weeks ago: it came rushing in their direction to repay its debt. The rest of the trainers all released any Pokemon they possessed that could affect the earth.

Solgaleo’s body was becoming increasingly bright, & everyone began to sweat in the growing heat. Though they were exhausted, the parties knew they couldn’t lose a single second in this race. Their combined efforts were carving a massive trench between them & the lion, towards the sea. If they could build it strong enough, it should divert the monster’s lava flow safely away. If they could build it strong enough……

Sooner than they would have liked, their defenses were put to the test. Blazing gouts of lava surged forth as Solgaleo let out one final, ear-shattering roar. The trainers recalled their Pokemon, & began to run down the lip of the caldera.

Even facing away from the eruption, a growing light began to wash out everything in their sight. But when it simmered down, our heroes found themselves unharmed. Where once ash had filled the top of the volcano, it had now been plugged with still-cooling rock.

The trench worked exactly as they had hoped- it had even helped form a natural “slide” of sorts down towards the coast. Panting, & no longer able to stand, Solgaleo splayed in the center of the mountaintop. Reinhold did his best to browbeat lion into leaving. Unable to assuage its pride, the beast growled as it attempted to stand repeatedly. The Martial Artist shrugged, readying himself to finish Solgaleo. Which is when Sylvie placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

Could there be a way to end this dilemma without needless bloodshed? They all knew that Solgaleo wasn’t evil by any means; the beast was a force of nature, that had its natural life cycle broken by the bombing in Frigga’s Womb. Might had taken them this far. It was time to try an open hand, instead of a fist.

No words passed the Empath’s lips as she reached out to Solgaleo’s mind. Though the sheer temper of its thoughts threatened to burn her, she opened her heart wide. She explained to the beast how this situation had begun, why Heatran was not yet awake. Her visions showed the lion how much it had been disturbing the lives of the natives.

When her communion came to an end, she uttered one final word: “please”. For a moment, everything teetered on a knife’s edge. Until both Psychics could feel Solgaleo’s rage slowly withering away in a manageable flame. The beast gingerly got back to its feet. It locked eyes with Reinhold for a tense moment, threatening to overturn the newly-birthed peace…before limping off to the North-West.

Collectively, our heroes let out their held breaths. The threat was finally over- now only cleanup remained. After giving thanks to the Steelix, the group descended beneath Sol’s Bed. The artificial sunlight was already weakening drastically, allowing them to start removing the spicy Berry bushes.

Before taking their leave, they attempted to explain the situation to Wilford the Spicy Swalot. It was hard to tell, but it seemed like he would be able to lead the swarm back aboveground. As the trainers hiked up the tunnel to the surface, they noticed another set of footprints besides their own. It looked fresh, maybe only a few hours old.

A single person, ascending from beneath the volcano. Someone who heavily favored their right leg. Lauren & Sylvie shared a look. Both of them had seen visions, glimpses that showed Donner trapped in a faraway place by Solgaleo’s portals. Had he been able to return? His footsteps came to a complete stop at the end of the tunnel, as if he’d somehow disappeared again.

As much as the pair wanted to search for him, they knew getting back to Forgerun was their top priority. Silently promising to return, they followed the rest of the group. Before they could even begin the trek down the mountainside, the entire continent began to quake.

Though they feared this was perhaps the volcano reigniting, the sheer scale of this assault proved that this was something more. An impossibly loud sound drifted in from the ocean. Our heroes turned to the South in silence.

Out in the deep, they could see a patch of dark water. Circular in shape, it seemed to be undulating as it approached the surface. When the creature breached, its size sent chills down everyone’s spines.

Its gaping mouth must have been at least a mile across. Across its blubbery hide, mud dripped like pus from a wound. And its teeth…its teeth must have been as tall a house.

The worm arced briefly in the air, before plunging its head beneath the waves once more. The group watched in awe as its body followed suit. By the time they had decided to leave, nearly half an hour later, they had still not seen the other end of the monster.

Though none of them had seen anything like this before, Lauren mentioned that something had “bitten off” a chunk of Ohmslo a month or so prior. Needless to say, this topic dominated discussion for much of their journey back to Forgerun.

When they reached town a few days later, they could see that the townsfolk had already begun rebuilding what was damaged. Windows & doors were no longer barred, & smiling faces once more filled the streets. Both pride & relief dawned on our heroes as they saw the fruits of their labor.

They stopped off at Ivar’s house to check in on their friends. Only the historian & a few others remained inside, tidying up the place. Ivar greeted them warmly. The crushing weight of his trauma had clearly been lifted off of his soul. He let them know that Brunick should be at his home, before returning to work.

Strange…was that smoke coiling up from the direction of Brunick’s hut? With a hint of worry, the trainers briskly marched off that way. The door to his house was open, but the smoke wasn’t coming from within: Brunick was outside, working at his forge.

Naivara lounged nearby, mooning in his direction; the Pikachu they had left lay close by, mooning in Naivara’s direction. Seemingly from nowhere, Lauren furiously stormed straight to up the Gym Leader.

How dare he be working in his condition! Did he have any idea how worried they had all been for him? Finishing his work with his good arm, Brunick held the other up as a ward to calm the Researcher down.

A sharp, metallic note sung out as he used tongs to remove something from his quench. He placed two arm rings on his anvil before the group: both were a strange, lustrous white in color, & adorned with what looked to be lion heads on each end.

On one, the faces were turned skywards, while the other’s were downcast. Quickly, Brunick explained what had happened. Sylvie had convinced the beast it had made a mistake, but its pride kept it from admitting this. Instead, he had stopped by the town after leaving Sol’s Bed.

Brunick was barely able to stand by then, but wobbled out to face the lion once more nonetheless. With a brief nod of its head, Solgaleo dropped two hunks of metal from its mouth, before turning to amble away. Brunick had never seen this type of metal before, but was able to recognize its purity.

There was some sort of power lurking beneath its sheen. Whatever it was, it had galvanized him to man his forge. As if another set of hands- paws?- worked through him, Brunick’s work revealed the shape of these rings.

While he finished his explanation, Brunick knelt down on the ground. He stretched out to bow in gratitude to the group for all they had done. Seeing him wince as he stood back up, a miffed Lauren helped him to his feet.

The blacksmith found himself being guided into his house for rest, but managed to say that the arm rings were a gift for their aid. After some deliberation, Bergie & Bronze each put on one of the rings.

A few moments later, Lauren closed Brunick’s door behind themselves. Thankfully, Forgerun hadn’t suffered anything like the damage Drillsberg had, but there was still much to do.

After their recent travails, spending some time in one place didn’t sound like a bad idea to the trainers. It was quickly decided: for the moment, they would allow themselves this time to recover. As sure as the sun sets, there would be plenty more for them to do in the future.